Welcome to the 44th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.
We have created a platform for community networks to share our experiences and grow together. Please join us at https://communitynetworks.group/
Events and conferences
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All eyes on content: This online gathering will be an opportunity to hear from community networks advocates and content creators about their stories and practices. Join this conversation on 3 March at 13:00 UTC. Read more.
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The Local Networks initiative, led by APC and Rhizomatica, is inviting friends of community networks to a celebratory gathering to highlight the inspirational work done by women on community-led initiatives in different countries. The meeting will happen on 8 March, International Women's Day, at 13:30 UTC. To RSVP and find out more, email cynthia@apc.org.
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Registration for this year's RightsCon is now open. The event will take place from 6 to 10 June entirely online. Registration is available through the RightsCon 2022 platform, with both paid and free ticket options. Read more.
Community networks in news and blogs
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Seven communities from different digitally marginalised areas across South Africa are tackling the digital divide by mobilising a powerful tool: shared knowledge. They are part of the first ever School of Community Networks in the country, designed by Zenzeleni Networks NPC in collaboration with others. Find out more through this Twitter thread.
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An educational programme is sowing community network seeds across Indonesia. Participants from eight provinces were recently involved in a "training of trainers" promoted by Common Room as part of the School of Community Networks Indonesia. Learn more here.
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In Brazil, the Amazon Community Networks School started its field activities with a visit to the Indigenous village of Solimões. This and another six communities in three different states in the country will be part of the School taking place between June and December this year. Learn more about the first preparatory meeting and check out some photos in this post from the Saúde e Alegria Project [available in Portuguese]. Read more.
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In Nigeria, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) launched the first Nigerian School of Community Networks in December last year. Read more.
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Meanwhile in Kenya: From 28 February to 4 March, community members and local organisations will join together to exchange knowledge at the country's School of Community Networks promoted by TunapandaNet Community Network. These national schools in Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa are supported by the project “Supporting Community-led Approaches to Addressing the Digital Divide”. Read more.
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Have you ever thought about what it means to you to be connected to the internet? In this short video from AlterMundi, the people from the GallinatoLibre community network in Argentina talk about their experiences [available in Spanish]. Read more.
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How can we build a supportive and enabling ecosystem for community networks in Africa? KICTANet shares its experience in this informative piece. Read more.
Gendering community networks
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Can community networks build knowledge, autonomy and agency at the local level? This article by Upasana Bhattacharjee for GenderIT.org reflects on community networks not only as a local connectivity infrastructure serving the unserved people and rural areas left out by markets or states, but mainly as a social actor. Read more.
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As part of the same GenderIT.org special edition, this article by Bruna Zanolli highlights the importance of building trust, empathy and feminist guidelines in the community so that their internet infrastructure can contribute to creating resilience. Read more.
News on policy and regulation
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Bringing connectivity to populations underserved by the commercial models is much more than getting a state subsidy. It implies a participatory process involving multiple actors. This is the focus of this piece, highlighting the story of AlterMundi in Argentina as an example of how civil society associations should be a part of the discussion and play a role in decision-making processes aimed at reducing the digital divide [available in Spanish]. Read more.
Tools and toolkits
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This guide builds on diverse field experience to share knowledge on how to build a high frequency (HF) radio station powered by solar energy as an affordable digital telecommunications alternative. The guide is mainly directed to facilitators of community training processes [available in Spanish]. Read more.
Research
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How have women found self-expression through community radio as a low-cost technology while enabling local communities to voice themselves during the pandemic? The experiences and learnings from eight initiatives in India are the focus of the new research report "Community radio enabling women's empowerment in remote communities of India". Read more.
Previous editions
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Previous editions of this newsletter are available here.
This newsletter is part of the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative, an initiative led by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica that aims to directly support the work of community networks and to contribute to an enabling ecosystem for the emergence and growth of community networks and other community-based connectivity activities in developing countries. You can read more about the initiative here, here, and here.
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One more thing! If you have comments about the newsletter or information relevant to the topic that you would like us to include in the next edition, please share it with us at localaccess.newsletter@apc.org.