How can governments, international organisations, private companies and civil society work together to close the digital divide? The Global Digital Compact (GDC) is an opportunity for civil society to contribute to establishing agreed principles for digital governance that support human rights, social justice and sustainable development and that can form the basis of a longer-term framework for accountable and inclusive internet governance – and broader digital governance. Part of the process of drafting the GDC is a series of thematic deep dive sessions held from March to June 2023.
The first deep dive session was held on 27 March 2023 on the theme of digital inclusion and connectivity, to discuss issues like "the need for specialized agencies, innovative financing, regulatory environment, affordability, digital literacy/skills, trust, privacy, safety and violence online, critical thinking/media literacy, content (e.g. e-government), satellites and community networks, responsible tech companies, cooperation and partnership among stakeholders, and prioritizing women and girls."
The APC network's interventions at this session included:
We also interviewed Julián Casasbuenas at Colnodo about their experiences with community networks and civil society participation in the GDC process:
At the #GlobalDigitalCompact deep dive on #DigitalInclusion, APC member @Colnodo presented their work with community networks and the importance of connecting all people.
— APC (@APC_News) May 1, 2023
We spoke with @jcasasbuenas about #CommunityNetworks and the GDC process.https://t.co/Eb9iM0XHjP pic.twitter.com/MUgu1zbP1C
Cover image via Mission of Rwanda UN Twitter account.