ANNUAL REPORT
2018

The 2018 edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch), produced with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in the framework of the Local Access Networks project, focused on the powerful opportunities that community-owned networks offer for connectivity around the world. It was launched at the 2018 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), with the presence of several APC members who highlighted “the many ways to ‘do-it-yourself’ to end digital exclusion.”

The 2018 edition gathered 43 country reports and 8 thematic reports that captured the existence, development, scaling and characteristics of community networks in different contexts, including an understanding of the power relationships and dynamics in the framework of particular community networks and their gender and social impact. APC’s research has been critical not only in bringing to the fore globally, regionally and locally the isolation of marginalised communities by mainstream connectivity models, but also positioning people’s owned networks as one of the main solutions to address this gap.

APC members working on community access issues authored chapters for the publication and had the chance to share their experiences and discuss success factors and barriers for creating local networks, including organisational members AlterMundi, Colnodo, Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), Fantsuam Foundation, guifi.net, Instituto Nupef, Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER), Rhizomatica, Sulá Batsú and Zenzeleni Networks, as well as Steve Song and individual members Andrew Garton and Leonardo Maccari.

The research that APC and partners conducted has been fundamental to understanding the challenges that community networks face in designing and implementing strategies so that people-led networks can blossom and grow.

The Local Access Networks project is an initiative by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica and the Internet Society aimed at exploring the viability of community-based local access infrastructure projects as a means to connect the unconnected. This project gained momentum in 2018 as the community networks movement continued to grow. Through in-depth research, policy advocacy, movement building and support for existing alternative connectivity initiatives, this project considered the possibilities that these networks offer for more inclusive, autonomous internet access for underserved communities, particularly in the global South.

Regional and global alliances of community networks, including APC’s members and partners, and over 150 local access practitioners and advocates were strengthened through at least 15 networking and collaboration opportunities provided through APC’s local access project and its partnerships.

APC’s support in providing technical, policy, regulatory, economic and social (particularly on gender and access) assistance to community networks and initiatives that identified progress in and barriers to their deployment, development and sustainability has lead to the creation of at least three new community-driven autonomous networks in Latin America: RedINC in Colombia with support from Colnodo, and two in Brazil – Boa Vista and Campo Verde in Para state, in collaboration with LASSE at Universidade Federal do Pará.

Throughout 2018, APC also published a monthly Community Networks and Local Access Monthly Newsletter, which continues in 2019, sharing the latest news about community network projects and technology around the world. This contributed to a better-informed community of practitioners with better resources for implementation and operation of more resilient locally-owned telecommunications infrastructure, as well as strengthened the community networks movement.

Meanwhile, APC member organisation Derechos Digitales made use of the small grant programme funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to research regulatory environments for community networks in Latin America. Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) worked on mapping the regulatory environment of community networks in India, Myanmar and Philippines, and Fantsuam Foundation worked on identifying policy and regulatory challenges for community networks in Nigeria.

As part of their work to help expand the profile of community networks and consolidate knowledge around alternative models of connectivity in Africa, APC member Zenzeleni Networks organised and hosted in September 2018 the Third Annual Community Networks Summit in the region, in partnership with APC and the Internet Society.

Attended by small-scale community operators and other stakeholders from 20 African countries, the event was an important capacity and movement-building moment for community networks in the region, which provided technical, sustainability and governance training. The summit attracted over 30 women, a significant increase from the previous year, and gave many participants their first opportunity to participate in a conference and to discuss the future and capability of telecommunications in Africa.

APC published an interview series under the title “What’s new on the spectrum?”, with experts and community network advocates from around the world addressing issues related to electromagnetic spectrum allocation, policy and use. APC’s member in Brazil, Nupef Institute, continued working on its collaborative website https://espectro.org.br, which brings attention to issues around spectrum in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

The “Innovations in Spectrum Management - Enabling community networks and small operators to connect the unconnected” report by Internet Society, authored by Stephen Song, Carlos Rey-Moreno and Michael Jensen, provides new lenses to understand the vocabulary, framework and current landscape for spectrum management. It also makes a detailed survey of the current status of spectrum management in frequency bands used to provide connectivity in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United States. Furthermore, it outlines the basis for an evolving spectrum management ecosystem where complementary approaches can be used to remove barriers and provide support to community networks and small operators.

Confronting one of the main barriers facing local access infrastructure and community network advocates around the world, various APC members and staff advocated for more enabling policy frameworks at local, regional and global levels in 2018. Developing a more conducive regulatory landscape represents a key step in supporting the growth and expansion of people-centred networks.

One important example of this was Zenzeleni Networks’ advocacy for a more accessible and inclusive spectrum policy in South Africa. In partnership with APC, representatives from the community-owned network held a public consultation about the assignment of high-demand spectrum and organised a workshop with government stakeholders outlining policy recommendations for the Department of Science and Technology.

APC also published a number of joint submissions and papers on local access issues with members. Zenzeleni Networks, APC and the University of Western Cape produced a written submission or the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill consultation in South Africa; APC submitted joint comments with the Internet Society on the technical and policy framework for white space devices in Canada; and Pangea founder Leandro Navarro authored an issue paper, published by APC, on using the commons model for networks infrastructure.

A UN resolution on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) follow-up recognised community networks as an emerging topic in response to APC's intervention at the 2018 session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD).

Through APC’s engagement and participation in more than 30 events – key regional and global forums including CSTD, WSIS Forum, global and regional IGFs, ITU, as well as CITEL and CRASA, along with submissions on access-related policy and regulatory processes nationally and regionally – we contributed to increased understanding of APC's people-centred perspective on access, innovative regulatory approaches and public policy recommendations.

APC and its members ensured that community networks were a central topic at multiple high-level internet governance meetings throughout the year, including the Latin America and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (LAC IGF), which was initiated by APC along with LACNIC and Nupef Institute. Several APC members acted as panellists and organised sessions, including one of the forum’s main panels, moderated by APC with members Colnodo and Rhizomatica, which focused on challenges, achievements and experiences on managing community networks in Latin America.

At the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Paris, representatives from AlterMundi, guifi.net and Rhizomatica participated in the Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity, while APC staff and partners organised and contributed to the session on accessing spectrum for community networks. Fantsuam Foundation, Digital Empowerment Foundation and Rhizomatica were also panellists in a session on innovative approaches to connecting underserved areas. In addition, a number of APC members contributed to the report produced as the official outcome of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity's work in 2018.

APC also engaged in other key events such as the African Internet Society Chapters Advocacy Meeting, from 19-21 June in Ethiopia, and the Workshop on "Community networks and reaching the unserved”, organised by the East African Communications Organisation, from 24-25 September in Tanzania.

As highlighted in APC’s article, "Helping women and non-binary communities gain access: Reflections from the Best Practice Forum on Gender and Access on the potential of alternative models of connectivity", including a gender approach to access is key to ensuring equal representation and voice.

APC published several articles on access on the GenderIT.org website, including “Building a movement around community networks and gender equality” and “Gender and community networks: Busking in policy spaces”, both by Kathleen Diga and Nic Bidwell; “Talking community networks at AfChixTech Women Summit 2018” by Kazanka Comfort of Fantsuam Foundation; “What are we looking for?: Research on community networks” by Tigist Shewarega Hussen; and “Gender and community networks: Candid reflections 10 years later”, by Kathleen Diga.

APC contributed extensively to the capacity building of women and other marginalised social groups, given the ties of most of our members with existing grassroots initiatives. Ongoing support was provided to grassroots networks in countries such as Namibia and Honduras, among others. The support from project team members was a key factor for AfChix to be selected as one of the winners of the WomenConnect Challenge in 2018 for building the capacity of African women to deploy and operate community networks.

In partnership with Zenzeleni Networks, Mesh Bukavu and TunapandaNET, APC organised the Workshop Series: Community Networks that took place at the African Summit on Women and Girls in Technology 2018 in October 2018. The workshop introduced women and girls to the foundation concepts of community networks and provided basics of how to apply these concepts for starting and managing women-led community networks. It also provided a space for women government leaders and policy makers to think of ways they can help in advocating for gender responsive policies that support women who are championing community networks in Africa.

In 2018, Colnodo developed an ICT appropriation project with a gender focus, through a community wireless network in Buenos Aires-Cauca, a rural area of Colombia. This initiative had the support of APC and the accompaniment of the Internet Society, with the aim of connecting, communicating and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of this Colombian municipality.

The municipality of Buenos Aires is located in the northern region of Cauca, with a multiethnic population of approximately 32,645 inhabitants composed of Afro-Colombian communities, mestizas and indigenous reservations and councils.

In the midst of meetings and workshops, Colnodo was able to identify the needs of the community, especially in aspects of ICT training and available means of communication. The planning, design and installation of the cellular and internet telephony network was carried out with the active participation of the community, which was essential to implementing a training plan and basic digital literacy process aimed at the community.

2018 was a year of growth, learning and adaptation for Zenzeleni Networks in South Africa. Through a grant from the South African Department of Science and Technology and the Technology Innovation Agency, they were able to seed a second community-based network, the Zenzeleni Zithulele Cooperative, located in a village about two hours’ drive from the original Zenzeleni Mankosi Cooperative.

This happened in parallel with the opportunity of connecting some local businesses as anchor tenants, which allowed Zenzeleni to switch from their previous TENET connection to commercial fibre. These two changes enabled them to upgrade their backhaul, expand the connectivity in the villages and secure a steady and fast connection for many more people. It was also an important step in testing Zenzeleni's sustainability model.

Zenzeleni is currently in the process of defining and consolidating its vision, developing systems and training to operate in a way that will allow them to remain rooted in their original values, and finding ways to expand the benefits they bring to the community.

In 2019, the work of APC and its network on local access initiatives is set to grow both in reach and impact. Much of this momentum will stem from APC’s follow-up to the Local Access Networks project, entitled “Connecting the unconnected: Supporting community networks and other community-based initiatives”. Undertaken in partnership with Rhizomatica and supported by a Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) grant, the 2019 year-long project will focus on supporting 12 community networks in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the aim of contributing to an “enabling ecosystem for the emergence and growth of community-based connectivity initiatives in developing countries.” The project will have a special emphasis on women-led initiatives and integration of a gender perspective at all levels of project conceptualisation, planning and implementation. APC will offer a number of grants to the participating community networks, including Community Network Learning Grants, Pathfinder Grants and APC Labs Technology Development Grants, with the intention of strengthening the community networks movement through learning and capacity building.

In 2019, APC will publish “Bottom-up Connectivity Strategies: Community-led small-scale telecommunication infrastructure networks in the global South”, a research report that documents the benefits of, and challenges facing, small-scale, community-based connectivity projects. For this, APC researchers visited 10 rural community network initiatives located in the global South for in-field site visits and four further networks were examined via desk research in 2018.

The 38th Human Rights Council session saw the updating of its landmark resolution on “The promotion, protection, and enjoyment of human rights on the internet”. This resolution, first adopted in 2012 and updated every two years, included language and priorities put forward in 2018 by APC and its partners related to issues such as encryption, private sector responsibility, data protection and the gender digital divide.

The 2018 resolution includes new elements concerning the responsibilities of companies; data protection and human rights; secure, confidential and anonymous communications; attacks on freedom of expression; the spread of disinformation and propaganda on the internet; advancing women's rights online; and human rights-based approaches to bridging digital divides. For further analysis of the resolution, see APC’s statement here.

During its 38th session, the Human Rights Council adopted the first-ever UN resolution on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in digital contexts: “Accelerating efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls: preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in digital contexts”. The resolution, which builds upon years of policy advocacy by APC and its network, recognises online gender-based violence as a violation of human rights and recommends the use of international human rights policy to ensure that any response to this growing issue does not further limit the rights of women.

The resolution indicates not just a growing recognition of the risk of violence faced by all women and girls, but also an understanding that there are those who face violence on account of gender and also multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and recognises that a multi-pronged approach working with all relevant parties is required.

The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the elimination of all forms of violence against women specifically addressed online gender-based violence using a human rights lens, which was a key step toward the watershed resolution on online gender-based violence discussed above. APC Women’s Rights Programme had a concrete role in this through the submission sent to the UN Special Rapporteur to provide input for this report.

APC’s support for research, capacity building and advocacy with local partners through presentations at six events and three training workshops on online gender-based violence has led to increased understanding of over 300 civil society, human rights and women’s rights activists on these issues.

During the 37th and 38th Human Rights Council sessions, APC collaborated with members and partners, bringing forward pressing human rights issues through a diversity of submissions and statements: with APC member 7amleh on internet freedoms of Palestinians; with ARTICLE 19, IFEX and Privacy International on secure communications; with the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition on the impact of violence against women human rights defenders and women’s organisations in digital spaces; with the Sexual Rights Initiative on advancing women’s rights in the economic sphere through access and participation in ICTs; with APC members CIPESA, Derechos Digitales and WOUGNET on restrictions to freedom of expression online; and with the Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia, EMPOWER, Justice for Sisters and Pelangi Campaign on human rights online in Malaysia.

In 2018, APC and its network contributed to various treaty body reviews and Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR), influencing rights-based policy in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico and South Africa. In Bangladesh, APC and the Center for Social Activism raised a number of human rights issues and violations in their joint submission to the country’s UPR, including killings of online activists, an ongoing lack of press freedom and state-sanctioned censorship. The report outlined several recommendations, many of which were subsequently accepted by the government.

Similarly, following Cameroon’s UPR process, the government accepted several recommendations that reflected points raised in a joint submission by APC and partners related to the rights to peaceful assembly, association and expression online, and unlawful restrictions on internet and mobile service provision.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concern around low internet penetration and a lack of internet affordability in South Africa in its review of the country’s compliance with treaty obligations, echoing a shadow report by APC and partners.

As a way to reinforce the work in the UPR process, APC joined the UPROAR initiative – coordinated by Small Media in collaboration with a network of digital rights organisations working internationally – to explore digital rights through the lens of the Universal Periodic Review across 21 carefully selected target countries.

The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, presented his report on content regulation in the digital age during the 38th session of the Human Rights Council. Echoing APC’s priorities, the report recommended that platforms model their content guidelines after international human rights standards. APC and Access Now contributed to the Special Rapporteur’s report through in-person and online consultations, as well as written input, which is available here and here.

APC welcomed the report and valued that it examines the obligations and responsibilities of both states and companies, and commended the Special Rapporteur for addressing this issue in a way that is rooted in international human rights standards and reflects the lived experiences of people around the world, particularly groups at risk and people who are marginalised based on sexual orientation and gender identity, cultural, linguistic or political contexts.

Don’t miss the illustrated summary of the Special Rapporteur’s report on content regulation in the digital age that APC developed to highlight key findings and recommendations.

The resolution passed during the 38th session of the Human Rights Council on the “Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls” focused on removing obstacles to women’s economic empowerment. APC joined a group of organisations working on women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights in welcoming the resolution, which “is ground-breaking in its framing of women’s economic rights as being restricted and violated by structural gender discrimination arising from patriarchal economic, social and political systems and by articulating State obligations to change these systems.”

In line with the resolution on online gender-based violence (GBV), this resolution strongly condemns discrimination and GBV against women and girls in all its forms, including in digital contexts. The resolution recognises the role that the internet and ICTs can play in eliminating obstacles to women’s economic empowerment, as well as ways in which they can perpetuate discrimination against women and girls. It calls on states to enact legislation and undertake reforms as appropriate to realise the equal rights of women and men to economic and productive resources, including appropriate new technology. It also calls upon states to implement policies and actions to facilitate women's and girls’ access to ICTs and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to support their labour market entry.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on “The right to privacy in the digital age”, incorporating important points brought forward by APC and civil society partners.

The resolution not only highlights privacy as a gendered issue, but also demands an end to unlawful government-led surveillance, and stresses the need to enshrine the right to privacy in the development of machine-learning technologies as well as the collection and storage of personal information, particularly biometric data.

As an organisation that has worked at the intersections of women’s rights, sexual rights and technology for more than two decades, APC welcomed the focus of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy on “gender perspectives on privacy” and inputted into the report that is in development.

APC also made a submission to the OHCHR’s Working Group on Business and Human Rights on the impact of the policies and practices of internet intermediaries (as business entities). The submission addressed the ability of women and LGBTIQ communities to access, shape and use ICTs within the context of the full realisation of their human rights.

The African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms gained new momentum in 2018 as the initiative’s Secretariat and Coalition expanded the scope of their work through a new, funded initiative led by APC, “Securing human rights online in Africa through a strong and active ‘African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms’ network”.

Originally launched in 2014, the Declaration is a Pan-African initiative that promotes a rights-based approach to internet policy in the region. To facilitate the coordination and encourage implementation of this policy framework, a Secretariat and Coalition of 23 organisations were established. The current initiative aims to empower this Secretariat and Coalition, in partnership with civil society, media and human rights defenders, to bring human rights to the forefront in digital policy processes across the region and, specifically, to promote the Declaration’s uptake in national jurisdictions.

APC also joined the reference group of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to revise the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, which will take into account the impact of ICTs.

The annual Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) was held in Accra, Ghana, from 27-28 September 2018. Jointly organised by APC member Collaboration for International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) and the Media Foundation for West Africa, the event brought together diverse groups and sectors, including human rights defenders, government officials, journalists, developers, business representatives and more, to discuss the advancement of internet freedom on the continent. Representatives from APC and member organisations, including the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNet) and Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), spoke at the event.

During the forum, CIPESA launched its fifth annual report on the “State of Internet Freedom in Africa”, with a focus on privacy and data protection in the region. The report synthesises research on 13 African countries, highlighting a worrying trend toward greater digital surveillance by African states, a lack of comprehensive privacy laws and low levels of public awareness around data protection.

In 2018, the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) launched a research project exploring the role of internet companies in upholding and promoting the exercise of human rights online, with the support of an APC subgrant.

With a focus on Kenya and making use of the Ranking Digital Rights index and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, KICTANet created a policy brief mapping the terms of use and privacy policies of these local intermediaries from a rights-based perspective. The initiative aimed to encourage policy advocacy, capacity building and ongoing research in this area.

In recent years, Macedonia has been rocked by political turmoil, leading to restricted rights both online and offline. Following the success of the Internet Freedom Summit held in the country in 2016, Metamorphosis Foundation worked to create awareness and understanding of digital rights and freedoms among civil society organisations, journalists, the legal community, law enforcement and youth, primarily through the delivery of training workshops and organisation of multistakeholder public events.

The organisation additionally performed an assessment of the state of internet freedom in Macedonia through monitoring and reporting on court cases related to data, privacy and use of new technologies.

With the support of an APC subgrant, Lebanon-based organisation Social Media Exchange (SMEX) launched the #IstiqlalRaqmi (#DigitalIndependence) campaign in 2018 to build public awareness and support for digital rights in a country where widespread government surveillance and censorship are the norm.

The project involves a series of public events and workshops designed to foster understanding of the importance of online freedoms among the Lebanese public, as well as specific capacity-building and engagement work with women, the LGBTIQ community and youth.

In light of an alarming and violent crackdown on freedom of expression in Bangladesh in recent years, Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE) undertook a review of legislation, regulations and policies related to internet and social media use, with the support of an APC subgrant. With at least 15 local human rights defenders and activists killed in the country between 2013 and 2017 and government censorship of platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, the project was particularly timely.

This initiative focused particularly on the loosely worded Information and Communication Technology Act of 2006, which has been used aggressively by law enforcement to criminalise free speech. The organisation hopes to develop policy recommendations and build online activists’ capacity to avoid internet censorship and maintain personal safety.

APC launched a three-year project aimed at protecting and promoting respect for freedom of religion and expression online in South and Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan. The initiative, titled “Challenging hate narratives and violations of freedom of religion and expression online in Asia” and funded by the European Instrument For Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), came at a time of growing populism, authoritarianism and increased incidents of violence related to religious expression and diversity across the region.

The project aims to increase the availability of information about trends, opportunities and challenges pertaining to freedom of religion and expression in the region, raise awareness about the violation of these rights among target groups across the five countries, build the civil society sector’s capacity to counter online hate speech related to beliefs and religion, establish and strengthen networks of individuals and organisations to leverage opportunities for policy advocacy and, finally, encourage the creation of artistic and critical content that is “secular, diverse, inclusive and rights-respecting on issues related to religion.”

Access to information is not only a fundamental human right as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but it is something that the Kenya-based Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) is also passionate about. In 2018, with support from the UKaid and USAID, ALIN implemented a seven-month project dubbed, “Enhancing Access to information held by Meru County Government”.

The project addressed limited access to information on preparation and submission of budget estimates during the public hearing on budget in Meru County, Kenya, the low understanding of the importance of public participation, as well as the scarce understanding by citizens on their right to access information and low capacity of non-state actors to engage Meru County government. Through this project, “ALIN has provided a link to accessing crucial development information for the residents of Meru County. We have also been empowered to influence development decisions in Laare,” said Suleiman Tembo, a Laare Resident from Meru County.

ALIN increased access to simplified information on governance and devolution as a result of the 1,114,734 curated SMS disseminated to 40,098 Meru County residents. In addition, ALIN trained 75 non-state actors on Web 2.0 and communications skills, which have helped them to enlighten the public on resources that have been allocated to specific community projects as well as playing a pivotal role in citizen engagement and advocacy.

Almost 10 years ago, Asociación Trinidad of Paraguay, together with a dozen civil society organisations, formed the Front for Children and Adolescents to secure the commitment of presidential candidates to 20 points, including increased investment in health and education in the social sector.

In the elections of 2018, they repeated the experience of the 20 points but it was now strengthened by more than 20 organisations and two networks of children and adolescents that interact and communicate through WhatsApp and Facebook.

The work of these organisations benefits from the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which allow them to keep in permanent communication, sending audio messages, podcasts, videos and other types of information as part of their monitoring of government compliance with the commitments for the next five years.

On 16 June 2018, one day after the inauguration of the new president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez, the aforementioned commitments were ratified and the Ministry of Children and Adolescents was created for the first time.

2018 was a key year in Chile for the recognition of online fundamental rights, their importance and the need to have instruments to promote and protect them. In sight of the 32nd session of the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, Derechos Digitales embarked on the arduous task of ensuring that the protection of the different ways in which people exercise their rights online were part of the list of recommendations received by the Chilean state.

This involved the difficulty of opening up space in an extensive range of equally legitimate and important petitions. However, the effort paid off and numerous states made recommendations related to online rights, particularly women’s rights, protection of privacy and the need to improve the standard in the use of surveillance technologies. It was not a task that Derechos Digitales undertook alone, as they had the support of ProAcceso Foundation, Privacy International, Smart Citizenship, IFEX and APC.

This was an important victory, which allowed Chileans to have instruments that ensure greater attention to issues related to fundamental rights in cyberspace. Derechos Digitales also believes that the experience gained can be significant for other organisations in other latitudes and they are eager to share it.

EngageMedia collaborated with filmmakers Kyal Yi Lin Six and Joosk Studio, and digital rights group Myanmar ICT for Development Organization(MIDO), to produce films for advocacy and movement building not just in Myanmar, but also throughout Southeast Asia.

The two short films produced – It's Time to Talk and Are You Ready? – present compelling visual stories on some of the most pressing digital rights issues in Myanmar: online harassment and article 66D of the Myanmar Telecommunications Law. The journey that led to the creation of both films is a long but rewarding one involving EngageMedia's two major programs: Digital Rights and Video for Change.

In June 2015, EngageMedia held Camp Chindwin, a Southeast Asia video camp. Three years later, filmmaker participants of the Camp Thet Phang Kha of Joosk, Kyal Yi and King Catoy, reunited to co-create short films.

In October 2017, EngageMedia hosted COCONET, a Southeast Asia Digital Rights Camp, where participants hatched the idea of collecting and producing films to help digital rights advocacy initiatives. A year later, APC, MIDO and EngageMedia, collaborators of COCONET, created this Myanmar Digital Rights Films Project.

EngageMedia believes that film collaboration projects help strengthen social movements by fostering and mobilising networks of media makers and activists formed in previous initiatives. The films produced also serve as materials for rights activists.

In 2018, US-based LaborNet held educational meetings on the effect of the gig economy on drivers and tech workers who are contracted out. The meetings in San Jose, California, were sponsored by unions in Silicon Valley and UBER Lyft organisers. Tech service workers and computer workers discussed the effect of new technology on their lives, the role of robotics, as well as how they are organising to form unions and defend themselves. They also discussed the growing racial discrimination and xenophobia that is threatening them and their familes as a result of the election of US president Donald Trump. These panels were broadcast live on www.labortech.net.

LaborNet is supporting the development of an international labor streaming channel that workers and unions throughout the world can use to broadcast their rallies, press conferences and actions, and is working to link up tech workers globally.

LaborNet also supported the international campaign to defend journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, with educational forums and rallies at the UK consulate in San Francisco and US Federal Building. The attack on Assange and WikiLeaks and the growing use of spying software against journalists and whistleblowers is something that LaborNet continues to focus on.

In 2018, with the support of an APC subgrant, PROTEGE QV implemented a research project on the nation’s situation with respect to the 13 key principles of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms adopted by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.

On 27 December in Yaoundé, Cameroon, PROTEGE QV hosted an event to present the study, entitled "Watching Cameroon through the lenses of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms".

This study, which involved institutions working on ICTs, human rights, Cameroonian civil society, online and print media, as well as many other ICT players, was part of the awareness-raising efforts carried out by PROTEGE QV on the level of application of the key principles of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms in Cameroon and presented suggestions for improvement. The meeting was also attended by Canadian APC member Alternatives' trainees present at PROTEGE QV, who are part of the International Youth Internship Program.

During the meeting, the designers and authors went through the different components of the research: the survey on the understanding by Cameroonians of the key principles of the African Declaration; the articles presenting the application of these principles in Cameroon; and finally, the development of the evaluation index of the application of the key principles in Cameroon. The event was closed with exchanges and debates on the content of the study and many other topics related to the state of ICTs in Cameroon, after which all participants were presented with a copy of the study.

The year 2018 saw a spate of internet shutdowns that hindered public access to information and communications, particularly throughout the African continent, where many APC members are based.

APC’s community worked hard in countering this trend and raising awareness about the power of internet disruptions to stifle public debate, social action and dissent, particularly during electoral periods.

The #KeepItOn campaign, of which APC is part and which brings together civil society organisations, activists and citizens to combat this practice, was a key effort on this front, producing statements and joint letters on keeping the internet open and secure in Ethiopia and Pakistan, among other regions.

In 2019, APC and its network will continue to build momentum around protecting and promoting digital rights in numerous ways – from policy advocacy to panels to new projects. APC will continue to advocate for stronger resolutions around digital issues in 2019 at the 40th session of the Human Rights Council and highlight the need for gender-responsive approaches to defending data privacy in a digital age, as well as to push for greater protection and promotion of diversity of religion and belief online and offline.

The African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms Secretariat and members of the Coalition will meet in 2019 to put together a strategic plan to build a more rights-based online environment in the region and to establish a sub-granting initiative to promote uptake of the African Declaration at national and regional levels. The Secretariat will also hold its next consultative meeting.

APC will launch an exploratory initiative titled “Putting cybersecurity on the rights track” with the support of Mozilla to develop a research and advocacy strategy to ensure that cybersecurity, policy and norms are influenced by civil society and progressive techie voices and consistently integrate a rights-based approach.

Among other exciting activities, the “Challenging hate narratives and violations of freedom of religion and expression online in Asia” project will host a camp, with the participation of activists and artists who will come together to exchange strategies and coorganise concrete activities to tackle hate speech.

APC will also join its member Social Media Exchange (SMEX) as implementing partner in the project CYRILLA: Global Digital Rights Law, which seeks to map and analyse the evolution and impacts of legal frameworks in digital environments.

APC will continue joining efforts with other organisations in Africa and Latin America to engage with the regional human rights instruments towards addressing digital rights issues.

In August, during the 2018 Latin American and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, APC and Internet Society’s Special Interest Group of Women (Women SIG) hosted a FemHack Party that brought together feminist organisations to present their initiatives on feminist activism on the internet in the meaningful venue, Centro Cultural Tierra Violeta.

Around 80 participants, mostly women and LGBTIQ activists, gathered to present and share their aims and projects in Latin America, open opportunities to networks and get to know new organisations, activists and initiatives in the region. The many presenters highlighted women and sexual rights activists' involvement in projects and debates regarding internet rights, development and policies. This was the first time a FemHack Party took place in the context of a regional IGF, with the first one taking place in 2016 during the global IGF in Guadalajara, Mexico.

In 2018, APC increased the understanding and positive reception for the Feminist Principles of the Internet (FPIs) as a framework for movement building and analysis through development of FPI resources, including producing translations and organising local conversations, presentations and discussions on FPIs at 10 events with over 250 women's organisations, activists, groups and partners.

The Making a Feminist Internet (MFI) gatherings aim to surface the need for more context-specific conversations with a range of actors within the feminist and women's movements. In October 2018, in Belgrade, Serbia, APC Women’s Rights Programme organised the first regional MFI meeting in Central Asia and Central Eastern Europe, to understand the challenges in movement organising in this particular region. It was a two-fold event organised in collaboration with One World Platform, the Alternative Center for Girls and TRAG Foundation, which brought together 50 activists working on gender-based violence as well as with girls, queer and LGBTIQ organising, feminist funds, women's political participation and feminist collectives.

This meeting was a challenging and valuable space, which began with participants questioning if there was even a “movement” and went on to focus on how to build trust, transparency and accountability in movements in the digital age, discussing issues such as the politics of organising online and offline, formal and informal work, intergenerational cultures, the dynamics of organising in recognition of the politics of memory in a post-conflict context and the commodification of knowledge, among others.

GenderIT.org, a platform for feminist reflections on internet policies that started in 2006, has continued to grow and surprise everyone in 2018. The GenderIT.org platform was upgraded to be more readable and functional for writers, readers and viewers, now accommodating a variety of different formats and better showcasing the visual work of campaigners and artists.

The Take Back the Tech! gathering that took place along with a Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) Safety Reboot in August 2018 in Nepal, spawned a massive starburst of ideas and images that inspired the edition, “Technology for feminist creativity and care”, which contained brilliant work on illustrations, articles, stop motion videos and feminist super heroes.

The open call for articles on online violence, harassment, privacy, anonymity, security, sexuality, encounters online with self and community, intersectionality, issues for transgender people online, digital economy in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan and North Africa and South Asia as part of the All Women Count project, led to the publication of 39 articles that covered these issues from several countries. These included Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, and also addressed intersections of gender with disability, race, caste and ethnicity.

A mapping study on gender and digital technology carried out in 2017 by APC highlighted the critical gaps in the research around gender equality and technology in middle- and low-income countries, and the impact this has on internet policy development and decision making, particularly in terms of addressing needs of women, gender diverse and queer people.

In 2018, APC in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), launched the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN) to counter this gap in the research landscape for the next three years. The network is engaging with researchers from around the world, but especially in the global South, to explore new approaches to digital research built around the Feminist Principles of the Internet and feminist research practices and values, such as situatedness, positionality and intersectionality. The network is establishing the foundations to build the field and generate substantive evidence to drive changes in policies and discourse around internet rights, from meaningful access, to datafication, online gender-based violence, and digital labour.

The 2018 edition of the annual Take Back the Tech! campaign was held from 25 November to 10 December. Under the theme Magic Formulas, the 16-day campaign prompted activists to concoct fresh feminist strategies to fight against online gender-based violence and test out new recipes for building knowledge and taking action to develop a feminist internet.

Many APC members participated in the campaign, developing both online and offline events and activities to raise awareness among local communities and contribute to a global discussion around promoting women’s rights and freedoms online. Campaign highlights included One World Platform’s 16 video interviews with feminist activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Nigeria-based Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)’s workshops for secondary students and radio and television appearances; Colombia-based Colnodo’s e-book publication, podcast and human rights workshop; and Foundation for Media Alternatives’ online spotlighting of local activists and university workshops in the Philippines. Several other APC members, including Bytesforall Bangladesh, Derechos Digitales, Media Matters for Democracy, Point of View, Sulá Batsú and WOUGNET, also made exciting and diverse contributions to this year’s TBTT! campaign.

In August 2018, a Take Back the Tech! global meeting was held in parallel to the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) in Dhukilel, Nepal, bringing together campaigners from around the world to discuss online gender-based violence, digital expression of sexuality and gender identity, and the challenges and opportunities presented by current technologies.

The result was galvanising, injecting fresh ideas into a movement seeking new creative voices and approaches and sparking challenging conversations while prioritising self-care. Read an illustrated love letter to the TBTT global gathering, an account of how to make your own hero and various reflections on feminist creativity and care.

In 2018, APC’s “Exploratory Research on Sexuality and the Internet” (EROTICS) initiative, initially established in 2009, wrapped up a two-year project in South Asia: “Building EROTICS Networks in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.”

This initiative expanded India’s participation in the programme through ongoing partnership with APC member Point of View, and brought in new organisations, Women and Media Collective from Sri Lanka and LOOM from Nepal, to contribute to the research and advocacy network.

Drawing on the diverse expertise provided by the global EROTICS network, this project enabled sexual rights activists in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to engage politically with the internet as a public space and counter technology-related violence against women and LGBTIQ people.

Código Sur, based in Costa Rica, launched the Feminist Learning Community with the support of an APC subgrant. This initiative was designed to strengthen and build the capacity of feminist and LBTI movements in Central America by offering training around physical and digital protection and communication.

The project consisted of three unique workshops in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, with 180 feminist and LBTI activist participants, designed to address relevant concerns within the specific country context. In addition, the project sought to open a conversation around feminism and digital safety with the general public, create a network of discussion groups, and develop a regional assembly to evaluate the outcomes of the learning community and further regional strategic planning around these challenges.

In November 2018, 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media published a quantitative and qualitative research study on the phenomenon of gender-based violence (GBV) online in cooperation with Kvinna til Kvinna Foundation. The research focused on Palestinian women and activists in Jerusalem, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and came to the shocking conclusion that one third of the women were subjected to violence and harassment online.

GBV online is an increasing phenomenon throughout Palestine and covers a wide span of activities, including hacking accounts, extortion, receiving of inappropriate content and the publication of personal details. According to the main researcher of this report, Shahrazad Odeh, “This is a comprehensive study and the first of its kind that shows us the magnitude of the phenomenon and its extent. The study will also serve as a basis for the work of the Palestinian institutions concerned with combating gender-based violence on the internet and social networks.”

Panellists and participants at the 2018 Internet Freedom Forum (IFF) – which took place in Nigeria’s capital Abuja – expressed concern over the growing level of violence against women online, especially in the rural areas in developing countries where access to the internet for women and girls remains a challenge.

“De-toxicating the Net: Addressing Hate Speech and Gender-Based Violence Online” was the theme of a parallel panel organised by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) at the IFF, as part of its long-standing campaign to make the internet safe and secure for women, with support from APC. Gender activist and panellist Ene Ede of Search for Common Ground noted that unless authorities come up with stiffer laws and make sure that these are functional, gender-based violence against women online will continue to prevent women and girls from leveraging the unlimited opportunities the internet offers to them. In their separate contributions, panellists Salmat Abdulwaheed of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre and Maryam Ado Haruna of CITAD gave instances of how women celebrities, academics, entrepreneurs, other professionals and students were either harassed or intimidated online in Nigeria on the basis of their gender. Afterwards, they recommended measures capable of taming violence against women online. Participants from over 13 countries concurred on the need to seek ways to end acts of online harassment of women.

As 2019 progresses, APC’s Women’s Rights Programme initiatives will continue to grow and develop in collaboration with APC members. The Feminist Internet Research Network will hold its inception meeting in early 2019, bringing together APC staff and participating members to discuss the roll-out of the project. Watch out as well for the proposals submitted for research funding on themes such as access, online gender-based violence, economy and labour, and datafication.

And more Making a Feminist Internet gatherings are coming up in 2019! One in Africa, around movement building, and another one in Southeast Asia, which will explore the intersections of gender, sexuality and technology.

In addition to the annual TBTT! campaign, the All Women Count: Take Back the Tech! four-year project will continue to develop in 2019, building the capacities of feminist activists and bringing the Feminist Principles of the Internet to life, while the “Expanding the EROTICS network in South Asia” research initiative will shed light on sexual and digital rights in the region.

The sixth African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) took place in Zanzibar from 11 to 16 October 2018 with the participation of 34 fellows from a range of sectors and backgrounds and 21 faculty members. The highlight of the School was a practicum in which participants had to tackle an actual internet-related policy challenge and come up with an agreed solution or statement. The programme also included a session on gender and internet governance and the use of the Feminist Principles of the Internet as a tool for applying a gendered lens to internet governance. It also addressed the potential of community-based and local infrastructure initiatives to respond to the persistent digital exclusion problem.

As pointed out by the 2018 participants, the most valuable outcome from the School was the learning of new skills and gaining a deeper understanding of multistakeholderism, negotiations and reaching consensus. They also highlighted the opportunities offered for networking, learning from the experiences of peers, as well as learning from experts. The reflections and takeaways shared by AfriSIG 2018 participants attest to the school’s impact and importance. Read all the blog posts from the 2018 participants here.

AfriSIG has also propelled internet governance conversations in national contexts throughout Africa. In the past few years, schools have sprung up in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and West Africa, organised by alumni who bring training and expertise gained at AfriSIG back to their local jurisdictions.

APC continues to see the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – both as an annual global event and a multitude of national, regional and intersessional processes and events – as critical for bringing together key stakeholders in physical and digital spaces for policy dialogue, collaboration, capacity building and networking.

In 2018, APC engaged actively in these spaces that culminated in the global IGF that took place in Paris, France, from 12 to 14 November. This event was valuable for networking, forming new relationships, as well as connecting with existing partners, taking stock and planning further collaboration, in addition to opportunities for bilateral consultations and meetings and to talk with UN actors. In line with its priorities for the 2018 IGF, APC organised and participated in several workshops and meetings related to access, human rights, gender, cybersecurity, and strengthening inclusive, interconnected internet governance processes.

Throughout the year, APC was also involved in community intersessional activities such as the Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity, the Dynamic Coalition on Gender and Internet Governance, the Best Practice Forum (BPF) on Cybersecurity, and the BPF on Gender and Access, which was very valuable for continuity and ensuring that the work moves forward.

The IGF was also the scenario where APC launched the 2018 Global Information Society Watch report on community networks providing analysis of the many ways to "do-it-yourself" to end digital exclusion. APC also hosted with Hivos/Digital Defenders Partnership a Disco-tech pre-event on disability and accessibility to the internet which, along with the Point of View-organised session “I Can't Use This App: Closing The Web Accessibility Gap”, sparked important conversations around internet accessibility.

In 2018, APC members and staff helped to organise and participated in regional internet governance forums around the world.

The 11th edition of the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (LACIGF) was held from 31 July to 2 August 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. APC participated in the Programme Committee for the LACIGF, and led the organising of sessions on algorithms and their impact on social equity, disinformation and its impact on freedom of expression, and developments, challenges and perspectives of managing community networks.

APC staff and members were involved in several workshops and sessions at the Asia Pacific Region Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF), which took place in Vanuatu on 13-16 August 2018. The theme of the event was “Empowering Communities in Asia Pacific to Build an Affordable, Inclusive, Open and Secure Internet”, and APC raised important issues around freedom of expression, privacy and ICT laws in Asia, online gender-based violence and internet platforms’ responsibility, and digital cooperation. APC actively participated in the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and Programme Committee for the APrIGF and was also extensively engaged in the drafting of the outcome document.

The 2018 African IGF took place in Khartoum, Sudan on 4-6 November. The seventh edition of the event brought together over 300 participants under the theme “Development of the Digital Economy and Emerging Technologies in Africa”. APC facilitated sessions on human rights, internet shutdowns and community networks, and supported a feminist protest at a main session, as well as moderating a panel on trust and security.

Representation and meaningful engagement from the global South in internet governance processes have a significant impact in favour of a more inclusive, transparent, accountable and rights-responsive internet. Following this principle, APC supported and facilitated the participation of over 60 civil society organisations and actors from the global South to meaningfully and effectively engage with internet governance processes.

APC facilitated the participation of at least 10 civil society actors and activists at national, regional and global Internet Governance Forums, leading to increased participation of diverse voices at these events, and also supported the participation of 20 women’s rights, sexual rights and internet rights activists among APC members and partners in regional and global internet policy and governance processes. APC members were also able to participate in a wide range of events such as the Internet Freedom Festival, RightsCon, the UN High Level Political Forum, the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa, Feminist Tech Exchanges and the African School on Internet Governance, as well as global and regional Internet Governance Forums, due to APC’s support.

APC members, staff and other partnering civil society actors played important roles in convening and organising internet governance processes nationally, regional and globally through participation in the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group and Best Practice Forums, as well as regional multistakeholder steering committees and drafting committees. This participation resulted in increased and more diverse presence of civil society voices and perspectives in internet governance forums as panellists, speakers, organisers of sessions, and active members of IGF intersessional dynamics. One significant outcome of APC’s impact in 2018 was the inclusion of a community networks main session at the LAC IGF for the first time.

In 2018, UNESCO member states endorsed the Internet Universality Indicators. These core principles were developed by APC on behalf of the Internet Indicators Consortium, a group that includes ICT Development Associates, Research ICT Africa and LIRNEasia. Led by David Souter, the project involved multiple consultations, as well as pre-testing and piloting of indicators over an 18-month period. Several APC members contributed as well to the development of the indicators during the consultation process. The framework is intended to enable civil society actors to assess and advocate for internet on a national level that adheres to the ROAM principles (Rights, Openness, Access and Multistakeholder).

The final report of the UNESCO Internet Universality Indicators was approved by the International Program for Development of Communication Council during its 31st session on 21 November 2018.

APC contributed to outcome documents, conclusions and recommendations that reinforced inclusion, transparency and respect for human rights as key elements of a free and open internet.

In addition to the contributions made to UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators, APC contributed to normative documents on cybersecurity. APC helped to shape international cybersecurity standards by participating in the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace’s norm on the protection of the public core of the internet, which was included in the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace and gained the support of the European Parliament. Due in part to APC’s advocacy, the Paris Call includes a relatively strong human rights focus and recognised the importance of community networks, the gender access gap, and the protection of online privacy as important emerging topics of relevance to implementing World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goals.

“Looking back or looking forward?” was the title of the first piece in David Souter’s column on APC.org, Inside the Information Society, published more than three years ago. Inspired by this question, the blog has continued to feature articles – including 26 in total in 2018 – on issues ranging from jobs and employment policies in the digital age to the impact of the internet on democratic politics and growing up online, all with a cross-cutting human rights-based approach to ICTs.

In early 2018, Souter summarised current trends in the Information Society as follows: “We used to see the Internet as all important in the Information Society, because it was the cutting edge at the time of the World Summit on the Information Society (2003/2005). The cutting edge today’s with other new technologies – artificial intelligence, robotics, algorithms, big data, ‘smart’ systems, autonomous vehicles, coming trends like quantum computing, the interface between information technology and sectors like biotechnology. These make use of the Internet but they do not belong to it; the Information Society is a bigger and more powerful phenomenon than Internet and is no longer driven by it.”

For three years now, the Inside the Information Society column has been exploring what’s happening in this rapidly changing environment and questioning the assumptions that underpin our thinking. Souter’s writings take a fresh look at issues that concern APC, its members and the wider APC community, which in 2018 included the entries available here.

As 2019 progresses, planning for the major regional internet governance events and the global IGF is well on its way. For our part, APC is looking ahead to see how we can support our members and leverage key events in order to influence more inclusive, transparent and democratic internet governance processes worldwide.

APC will be working directly with several national and sub-regional internet governance schools in Africa to provide advice and support, and will also be participating in the first ever North American School of Internet Governance taking place in November 2019 in Montréal, Canada.

The 7th edition of AfriSIG will be held in September in Chad, immediately prior to the African Internet Governance Forum, the 2019 edition of European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) is to be held in Germany, AprIGF 2019 will take place in July in Russia, the LACIGF will be held in August in Bolivia, and the 14th annual global IGF is scheduled for 25-29 November in Germany. These are just some of the spaces where APC and its members will be actively engaged throughout 2019.

APC will also support and engage in initiatives aimed at applying the UNESCO Internet Universality Indicators at national levels, particularly in Latin America.

Check back as we prepare for and reflect on another season of forums, schools and events exploring the best way to collectively govern our complex, evolving digital world.

"Disability is not about the person, it’s about the interaction between the person and the environment," was an idea repeated by several participants at the 2018 Disco-tech event co-organised by APC and Hivos/Digital Defenders Partnership, which took place prior to the Internet Governance Forum in Paris.

The presentations at 2018’s Disco-tech were inspiring, showing a diversity of voices and a range of experiences, with 10 speakers from Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Kenya, Ireland, Sweden and the United States.

The speakers raised the need to include persons with disabilities in the decision making around closing the accessibility gap. While they acknowledged the availability of standards and means to make services accessible, they called for more will, policy enforcement, awareness and education skills to bring the technologies to those who need them.

Disco-tech 2018 from APC on Vimeo.

In August 2018, the town of Dhulikhel outside of Kathmandu, Nepal, was the scenario for the convening of 19 feminist digital security trainers and facilitators from a range of countries and contexts. Surrounded by the majestic mountains, the participants held a safe space to explore how to respond as trainers to the multitude of needs from organisations on the frontlines of queer organising, sexual and reproductive health, land and environmental rights and indigenous organising.

The FTX Convening enabled deep and intimate sharing of strategies, tactics, frustrations and remedies to build self-awareness and self-confidence for trainers and facilitators. It also provided a space to share experiences of using, adapting and localising the FTX: Safety Reboot training curriculum modules.

The work of feminist digital safety trainers is often not recognised in some human rights spaces, where a one-size-fits-all approach rules, so bringing a holistic and care approach is crucial. The digital “layer” can either add greater stress or, if approached through fun, creativity and care, can open up a space for activists to become curious and confident in taking digital, physical and emotional safety as critically interlinked to well-being.

As one of the participants expressed, “The facilitators did a great job in order to provide space for us to speak about the work we do in terms on safety and security, as well as discuss our personal challenges and success stories as well.”

With support of APC, in September 2018, BlueLink launched the campaign "Free Speech vs Hate Speech: Online security for environmental, gender and human rights activists in Bulgaria". This campaign researched the forms, roots and consequences of online hate speech against civil society activists in the country and gave a start to effective counteractions that activists could use in their work.

A one-day workshop gathered social researchers, NGO representatives and activists to discuss definitions, forms and mechanisms of online hate speech, and to exchange practical experiences and expertise to identify action and policy responses to hate speech online. The event created a safe space for participants to share experiences and to help them realise that they are not alone, and that there are resources they could use to protect themselves from abuse.

As a result of this process, an analytical report was produced to raise understanding and awareness of the online hate speech presence in Bulgarian social media. The report includes an analysis of online hate speech roots, the difference between hate speech and free speech, the potential impact on civil society and society in general and their online behaviour, and possible tools and actions which might be used by civil society activists to counteract online hate speech against them and against their causes.

The Malezi Community Digital Hub is a programme led by the Computer Aid Kenya office with a view to establishing one of the only hubs in one of the most vulnerable communities in Kenya. Less than a handful of NGOs work in Kitui Ndogo slum due to its hazardous sanitation problems, security issues, and its relatively small size (compared with Kibera slum). It has been neglected by the local government administration, which does not have the resources or willpower to address the numerous, complex challenges that face the residents of this community.

Malezi School is a private institution with a population of 230 students from class 1 to class 8, paying a monthly fee of KES 350 (USD 3.5); 20% of the students are sponsored by the school paying no fees, including three kids with special needs. By developing the digital hub at the school ground, Computer Aid will enrol 25 teachers from five schools into ICDL training (ICDL is the world's leading computer skills certification), getting them certified in information technologies skills which will enable them to, in turn, train their students and be able to implement the digital curriculum in their courses. The digital hub will serve the teachers and students in Malezi school as well as another five neighbouring schools with an average student population between 80 to 150 students each.

After years of on-ground experience in delivering functional digital literacy through hands-on training and workshops in rural and tribal communities, New Delhi-based Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has now designed and developed START. As a digital and media information literacy (MIL) toolkit, START has been designed exclusively for first-generation technology users – who may or may not be traditionally literate and may only rely on oral communication – to promote digital inclusion and fight information poverty.

START is a 45-hour curriculum that covers 40-odd topics that take a student through a learning journey of understanding parts of a computer, learning to use essential applications, exploring the internet for contextual relevance, leveraging the power of social media, keeping oneself safe online, and becoming a conscious consumer and producer of information online. The pedagogy for START focuses on hands-on training and workshops in rural and tribal communities through activities and “gamification” of topics.

In 2018, DEF incorporated a module on Fighting Fake News in the START toolkit, which helps social media users, particularly WhatsApp users, in learning how to spot and verify misinformation on a daily basis. Under a partnership with WhatsApp, DEF was able to take this module to 35,000 individuals across 11 Indian states, targeting police officers, district administrations and college students at the city level and last-mile WhatsApp users at the village level.

During 2018 Nodo TAU achieved great progress in the generation of knowledge and expertise on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). One of the concrete advances made was the creation of jobs managing computer waste for young people in vulnerable situations and living in marginalised neighbourhoods in the city of Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, and at the same time making a contribution to the improvement of the local environment.

Nodo TAU coordinated a training course on computer assembly and maintenance with young people, after which eight of them will work in the local waste management plant that will begin operation in 2019.

At the end of the year, the trainees visited two recycling plants in the cities of La Plata and Buenos Aires, where they were able to learn from similar operations and gain a better sense of the activities they will be carrying out in 2019.

The Female Hackathon, a methodology developed by the TIC-as Programme of the Cooperativa Sulá Batsú in Costa Rica, is an approach that offers girls and young women the opportunity to create technology, combining technical, leadership and digital-based entrepreneurship skills. It is a process lasting one month, where participants are trained and accompanied, after which they spend two consecutive days developing a technological prototype that is later introduced in a public presentation.

The fifth edition of the Female Hackathon in 2018 addressed the theme "satellite technologies”, and gathered 70 girls and young women ranging in age from 16 to 30, who worked distributed in 15 teams to develop solutions aimed at fostering the local development of the city of Limón.

The Feminine Hackathon is an initiative that unites the efforts of many people, institutions and companies, to create a safe space in which girls and women can think, create and grow together with technology. The 2018 edition was organised by the TIC-as programme from Cooperativa Sulá Batsú and the Inter-American Development Bank, in partnership with other organisations, ministries and companies.

The adoption and use by APC members and staff of free and libre open source software (FLOSS) systems installed and promoted by APC increased in 2018 through extended use of Nextcloud online cloud service, OnlyOffice collaborative suite and other advanced FLOSS tools and features, the update of several FLOSS online systems used by APC (LimeSurvey, CiviCRM and others), as well as further development of several FLOSS systems built in-house by the APC team in support of APC’s internal communications processes.

The number of initiatives by members on FLOSS and other sustainable, collaborative and privacy-enabling technology has increased with six grants provided to members working on these initiatives.

In 2018, APC, together with members MayFirst/People Link, GreenNet, Riseup, Colnodo, eQualit.ie, Pangea, Kéfir, Código Sur and Mallory Knodel, continued collaborating within the broad InfraRed partnership that seeks to build community-based alternatives to online services by global monopolies.

The InfraRed initiative comprises over 20 independent, feminist, cooperative, anti-fascist and alternative service providers from 19 different regions that have come together in solidarity to support one another in their shared work.

The FTX: Safety Reboot new modules will be launched, after having integrated substantial learnings gathered through using the modules at various events.

Look out for two Disco-techs in 2019! We will host one during RightsCon in Tunis and another one during the Internet Governance Forum in Germany.

Our main website, apc.org, had 658,252 unique visitors and 1,194,057 visits in 2018. Our social media influence grew across all APC accounts, especially on our main Facebook and Twitter accounts. As of the end of December 2018, APC had over 7,200 followers on Facebook (compared to 6,000 followers in January 2018). The number of Twitter followers also increased impressively, with APC’s main institutional Twitter account, @apc_news, reaching the milestone of 10,000 followers. Our flagship accounts on campaigning for women’s rights online, @takebackthetech and @dominemoslastic grew exponentially as well.

APC was cited by the media 132 times in 26 different countries and in nine languages, and referenced by 30 academic publications. APC also implemented a formal content partnership with Rising Voices, a project of Global Voices, which focused on featuring content related to community networks and local access.

APCNews reached its newsletter number 281, moving to a multilingual approach that was also applied to APC’s social media presence. We went from three newsletters to a single, multilingual one gathering greater attention and a larger audience, reaching 16,872 subscribers, reflecting a huge increase in subscribers since January 2018 (6,020 in English, 1,395 in Spanish and 369 in French).

APC regional member networks were strengthened in 2018 by identifying regional issues and priorities, leading to the development of regional plans, during the regional meetings held in different locations.

Face-to-face member meetings were organised in five regions in 2018: the African regional members meeting was held in Accra, Ghana on 29-30 September, the Asia meeting in Bangkok, Thailand on 14-15 September, the Europe meeting in Ohrid, Macedonia on 21-22 September, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 29-30 July, and the North America meeting in Toronto, Canada on 14-15 May.

In 2018, there was an unprecedented level of engagement and collaboration in the network, with a total of 61 representatives of 50 member organisations, eight individual members, and 20 APC staff members participating in the regional member meetings.

The APC Council meeting was held online from 3 to 19 December 2018. A total of 59 people signed in to this meeting, with 35 member organisations represented, as well as 12 individual members.

Thanks to the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), APC awarded 13 project grants and 16 research and advocacy grants to members in 2018 through the small grants programme, which disbursed a total of USD 336,437. These grants enabled a wide range of APC members to actively contribute to implementing APC’s Theory of Change and Strategic Plan for the period 2016-2020.

The results of an evaluation of the subgranting programme conducted in 2018 was highly positive, and members expressed very strong support for APC to continue with – or even expand on – its subgranting initiatives.

In the meantime, 26 Member Exchange and Travel Funds (METF) grants were awarded in 2018, totalling USD 33,961. Through the METF, APC facilitated collaboration among members towards building their capacities and advancing shared advocacy goals at various events, including the Internet Freedom Festival, RightsCon, the UN High Level Political Forum, global and regional Internet Governance Forums, the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa, Feminist Tech Exchanges, the African School on Internet Governance, the Making a Feminist Internet meeting, and others.

An evaluation report with recommendations for improved management, reporting and knowledge sharing by recipients of METF grants revealed that 84% of the beneficiaries find the METF grants useful to further their work and the work of the network.

The internet envisaged by activists back in the late 1980s is very different from the centralised, platform-dominated space available today. Mitra Ardron, currently an individual member who was part of a founding member at the time APC was born, joined the Internet Archive as their technical lead for decentralisation in 2017 to look at how a larger site could use decentralised tools like WebTorrent, IPFS and GunDB in order to re-decentralise the web.

“It was challenging as those tools are still not production-ready,” Ardron said, adding that nevertheless, they did launch a version of the Internet Archive’s UI at dweb.archive.org during the Decentralized Web Summit held in August 2018. That work formed the basis for a set of servers that run a miniaturised version of the Internet Archive (e.g. on a Raspberry Pi) which they hope to launch in late 2019 after some testing by community networks.

Pangea was founded on 23 November 1993, and on that same date, but in 2018, it commemorated its 25th anniversary with a party at the Lleialtat Santsenca space, a local cooperative that forms part of Barcelona’s social economy movement.

During the evening, stories about the foundation and evolution of Pangea throughout these years were shared by some of the Pangea’s founders, including Leandro Navarro (the current vice-president) and Miquel Colomer, along with Clara Massip from Edualter, a project that grew out of Pangea, Assumpció Guasch, who has been working on gender issues in Espai de Dones for years and volunteers with the association, and Xavier Bustamante, a software developer in the eReuse.org project that was also spawned by Pangea.

After that, Pangea’s president Paco Cascon and Lorena Merino presented the annual report produced for this anniversary and Maite Antolínez read for the audience a short story from Gustavo Duch, director of Soberania Alimentaria magazine, written for that day. They also played games about technology and society highlights during these 25 years, and some former members and volunteers shared their experiences and memories of their time in Pangea.

They spent the evening meeting friends, old and new members, and old staff members and volunteers, while listening to a special playlist from the Free Music Archive. All the best for the next 25 years, Pangea!

2018 was a great year for Rudi International, a non-profit organisation based in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and an APC member since July 2018. During that year, they started a school renovation project on Idjwi Island, in the eastern DRC.

This primary school with more than 200 students was in bad shape: the walls and roofs were built using substandard materials that would often fall when facing strong winds, and the students would get wet whenever it rained, obliging them to stop their classes until the rain stopped. There were no windows or doors installed, and the students were sitting on top of pieces of wood and writing on their laps for the past few years since the school has been in existence.

Since one of Rudi International’s main objectives is to promote access to quality education for children and adults, they gathered support and were able to provide this school with improved facilities, such as new desks in all six classrooms, installing windows and repairing the walls as well as the roofs to make them stronger and resistant to wind and heavy rain.

They are thankful for the support received from a sister Canadian organisation that has also been supporting Rudi’s sewing project in Goma, which recently had 10 young women graduating from it after a 10-month training programme.

In 2015, APC individual member and filmmaker, musician and writer Andrew Garton spent near on six months in India as a guest of the Digital Empowerment Foundation where he worked on the feature documentary Ocean in a Drop.

At the time he was not aware how much material he would return to Australia with. Not only had he completed a film, but a book followed. Then a short film series, after which APC approached Garton about producing a podcast. Right to Know took just under three months to produce. It comprises four episodes from an ethnographic perspective exploring the impact that access to the internet is having on rural and tribal communities in India’s north-east. Right to Know takes the listener on an aural journey into parts of the country few urban Indians have visited.

Filled with soundscapes and field recordings, the project took the author deeper into the world that DEF’s community workers and technicians, rights advocates and trainers are immersed in, a world at a crossroad between oral traditions and a wide world of differing opinions and attitudes. All in all, the most impressive of encounters had been meeting people who had not yet forgotten how to remember. And a lot of their stories emerge from the Right to Know podcast.

Karen Banks, currently operations director at APC, was recognised in November 2018 with the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 for her extraordinary, unique and long-lasting contributions towards the development, use and study of the internet for the public good.

“Banksie” is a networking pioneer who has worked with information and communications technologies and their applications as tools for social change since 1990. She is from Melbourne, Australia, but has been a resident of the UK since 1990.

APC congratulates all the awardees and thanks the Oxford Internet Institute for this initiative and for recognising outstanding women like Karen Banks who have made a great positive impact in the internet world, focusing on improving people’s lives.

Alternatives, an APC member in Canada, provided APC members and partners with the opportunity to host a total of 40 young Canadian professionals through the International Youth Internship Programme, carried out with the support of the government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.

APC was chosen to host three interns for a six-month internship in Johannesburg (from August to December 2018). A number of APC members also hosted interns: Colnodo in Colombia (two interns), Foundation for Media Alternatives in the Philippines (three interns), Sulá Batsú in Costa Rica (three interns), One World Platform in Bosnia and Herzegovina (two interns), PROTEGE QV in Cameroon (five interns) and WOUGNET in Uganda (two interns).

APC’s membership has consistently increased for the last few years: 2018 came to an end with two new organisational members and eight new individual members.

The APC network is now larger and more diverse than ever, with 58 organisational members and 35 individual members from 72 countries, as well as stronger in terms of meaningful collaboration and partnership with new members with critical expertise related to issues of priority to APC, including policy advocacy, community networks, FLOSS and a feminist internet.

During 2018, 141 various stakeholders including staff, members, partners, beneficiaries, political allies, influencers and donors participated in the evaluation of APC’s Theory of Change and Strategic Plan for 2016-2019, leading into the process for developing the Theory of Change and Strategic Plan for 2020-2023. Keep an eye out for the upcoming plan for the next strategic cycle!

In 2019 APC will host a second cohort of interns in partnership with APC member Alternatives in Canada.