Community Networks and Local Access Monthly Newsletter - Number 41

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Illustration: Gustavo Nascimento

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Welcome to the 41st monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

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

  • From 25 to 29 October, the Internet Society (ISOC) is organising a community networks week in Latin America and the Caribbean, sharing regional resources online and promoting live dialogues on Twitter. Read more.

  • How to manage and monitor large networks? What are community networks and community-based telecommunications networks? These are some of the aspects that will be addressed at WALC 2021. The workshop will be held between 15 and 19 November. Find out more here (in Spanish). Read more.

  • The official opening of the IGF 2021 preparatory and engagement phase will be held on 1 November at 12:00 UTC, including a session about universal access and meaningful connectivity, where community networks and capacity building will be on the agenda. Read more. 

  • The Tech for Democracy online event will take place between 8 and 12 November. On 9 November, the session "Making digital tech work to democratize local communities and support environmental justice" will address community-based connectivity initiatives. Read more. 

  • Focused on the Asia Pacific Region, the Community Network Exchange 2021 will occur on 15, 17 and 23 November with the theme for "Community Networks for Social Good". The agenda is available here and registrations should be open soon. Read more.  

Resources from past events

  • The 2021 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) has brought together actors from digital ecosystems worldwide, including community networks builders and members. This piece from Fatou Sarr brings more information about this year’s experience. Read more.

  • The online event Building an enabling environment for community networks in Brazil took place on 20 October, featuring the launch of the recommendations from a policy brief, a manual and a video introducing what community networks are and how people who are interested can start one. Read more.

  • The second session of the Virtual Summit on Community Networks in Africa season 2021/2022 happened on 27 October and explored strategies and tools for implementing network monitoring for community networks. The recording is available on the event's page. Read more.

  • CSCW 2021 kicked off with a keynote address by Josephine Miliza, highlighting the importance of community networks for digital inclusion and sharing some concrete examples from inspiring initiatives in Africa. This Twitter thread gives more information about it. Read more.

  • Community networks were also highlighted at this IEEE Virtual Salon about connectivity and access in the era of COVID-19. Read more.

Community networks in news and blogs

  • As part of the materials recently launched in the online event Building an enabling environment for community networks in Brazil, this video highlights some of the main aspects of community networks for people who are not yet familiar with the concept or the field. Read more.

  • The project "La antena de las mujeres" (Women’s Antenna) seeks to address the threats to Cabecar culture and language by establishing a local community network that will provide Cabecar women with the tools to integrate young people in knowledge exchange processes using digital technologies. Read more.

  • AlterMundi launched the new documentary "Comunidades Haciendo Internet - Nuevas Redes" about the experience of using LibreRouter/LibreMesh technology, showing both concepts relevant to community networks and testimonials from co-creators of their friendly networks (available in Spanish). Read more.

  • During 2020 APC worked towards empowering marginalised communities so that they could use and benefit from the internet during the pandemic, helping to create an enabling environment for community networks. Check out the achievements in this area in 2020. Read more.

  • In this interview, Servelots tell more about their work towards connecting the unconnected to enable content creation by all, for all. The organisation recently joined the APC network. Read more.

Gendering community networks

  • This piece tells how BAIF partners with community members to create a digital ecosystem in the tribal village of Pathardi, India. One of the featured initiatives is a women-led digital system of financial, utility and governance services. Read more.

News on policy and regulation

  • This executive summary presents the main recommendations from a policy brief focused on regulation and formulation of public policies towards an enabling environment for community networks in Brazil. The summary was delivered by APC to the Brazilian telecommunications agency Anatel, in order to contribute to the advancement of initial steps taken by the agency in the country. Read more.

  • This article from IBEBrasil addresses the right to the interconnection of community networks and policies related to access to backhaul infrastructure in Brazil (available in Portuguese). Read more.

Tools and toolkits

  • The recently launched "Manual de Redes Comunitárias" (Community Networks Manual) gathers information from concrete experiences of community networks in Brazil and Latin America to answer questions such as: What are community networks? What are the different kinds of community networks? How can you plan, implement, install and manage one yourself? Available in Portuguese. Read more.

  • The Nupef Institute launched a comprehensive online training aiming to support the process for the creation and maintenance of community networks (available in Portuguese). Read more.

Previous editions

  • 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. 

Invite others to subscribe to this monthly newsletter here!

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.

 



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