Community networks newsletter: Discover the new season of our podcast, an online training opportunity and more

In this edition, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new season of our Routing for Communities podcast. Building on the inspiring stories from the first season, this new chapter dives deeper into the core themes that shape these bottom-up initiatives, bringing back the voices of those leading them. We’re also excited to share the recently announced call for applications for the community network managers training course, which has been running since 2019 in Latin America and is being expanded to include Africa this year. 

Also in this edition, you will find a thoughtful analysis about the impact of community-centred connectivity initiatives from the Global South on policy and regulation, the agendas of the upcoming IGF and WSIS+20 events, and much more. Together, these stories and insights highlight the vital importance of connectivity that is grounded in the real needs of communities.

Welcome to the 81st monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives

Routing for Communities podcast

• We are very pleased to announce the launch of the second season of our Routing for Communities podcast. In four new episodes, we'll take a deep dive into community-centred connectivity initiatives addressing what “meaningful” signifies for these communities in different life contexts.
• The first episode of the new season focuses on how communities have developed strategies to bridge the digital divide, while also reflecting on an important question: What changes when the internet connection is centred in communities? 
• The Routing for Communities podcast is available on this page, as well as on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify. 

Community networks news and stories

• Derechos Digitales participated in the launch of the project "Connecting the Unconnected: Community Internet Networks as a Vehicle to Reduce the Digital Divide in Rural Areas of Colombia", led by Colnodo in collaboration with the European Union, the Colombian national government and rural communities. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• Also in Colombia, and with the accompaniment of Colnodo, the La Cachuda community network was inaugurated in Valle de Cauca department. The project's partner organisations chose IMT (international mobile telecommunications) technology and an energy autonomy system based on solar power for their accessibility and sustainability. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• Committed to ensuring that the needs and visions of communities should guide the design and implementation of technologies, the Local Network Initiative (LocNet) led by APC and Rhizomatica is supporting a growing community of practice focused on the development of solar-powered sensors for agricultural, environmental and territorial monitoring. Read more.
• How can we bridge the digital gap in a nation of thousands of islands and diverse cultures? To answer this question, the changemakers of Ashoka followed the journey of Gustaff Iskandar from Common Room in Indonesia, going from urban to the rural contexts. Read more.
• In Pulo Aceh, in Indonesia again, FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All is carrying out a pilot project with coastal communities to develop sustainable digital solutions that are directly customised to their needs, strengthening climate resilience and building digital expertise. Read more.
• What if connectivity was born from within the territory, instead of coming from the outside in? This article gathered the voices of experiences from Latin America describing how community networks emerge as a fruitful possibility for a practical and political answer to this question. Read more. [Available in Portuguese.]
• “The Masewal people teach us that Yeknemilis, or the Good Life, is also built on what we hear and see on our screens.” In the framework of a Mexican Senate discussion about the national telecom law, Adrián Lopez from LocNet and REDES A.C. reflects on how this process is an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to generate technological innovations based on other values. Read the blogpost here. [Available in Spanish.]
• The Resilient and Connected Territories project led by Instituto Nupef launched a new series of videos and a podcast, produced by young people and leaders from traditional communities (quilombos) in Brazil, telling the stories of their territories through their own voices and perspectives. Watch the first video of the series, called Território Livre, Natureza Viva (Free Territory, Living Nature) here. [Available in Portuguese.] 

Gendered experiences

• To mark International Girls in ICT Day 2025, celebrated on 24 April to encourage girls and women to pursue careers in information and communication technology (ICT), the Internet Society Foundation highlighted three projects that are connecting, training and empowering girls around the world using technology and the internet to shape a more inclusive future. Read more.
• The recent edition of GenderIT reflects on how research can be a political act that disrupts knowledge formation, serving as an entry point for networking, connecting and movement building. It invites us to take a leading role when addressing digital inclusion and empowerment, particularly in relation to closing gender gaps, addressing technology-facilitated violence against women, and tackling other intersectional inequalities. Read more. 

Enabling policy and regulation

• Global South experiences are shaping global policy on connectivity, and their role in advancing digital inclusion was evidenced in two significant international forums recently. Learn more about them and how this could help foster enabling environments at the local level. Read more.
• The Kenyan Universal Service Fund (USF) Strategy 2023-2027 has been launched. The purpose of the fund is to support widespread access to ICT services and promote capacity building and innovation in services in the country. Community-centred connectivity was included as part of the strategy, with a plan to deploy 40 community networks during the implementation period. Read more.
• As part of the discussions in Mexico on the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Bill, REDES A.C. presented a technical analysis both in the Chamber of Deputies and in a panel discussion held in the Senate. The analysis urges the incorporation of the demands of Indigenous, Afro-Mexican and community media into the proposed reform. Watch a presentation by Erick Huerta in the Senate in this video and read the complete analysis here. [Available in Spanish.]

Publications, research and toolkits

• In Brazil, the evolution of the internet is managed by a multistakeholder model coordinated by CGI.br and NIC.br. They recently launched the results of a research study on the use of information and communication technologies in Brazilian households, sharing evidence about the digital divide in the country. Read more. [Available in Portuguese.]
• The scientific publication Revista Escribanía is calling for articles for its upcoming edition “Telling stories and connecting in the time of platforms: New digital narratives from the Global South”. Find out how to submit a proposal for an article here. [Available in Spanish.] 

Events

• The Blended Training Programme for ICT Network Managers is accepting applications until 9 June 2025 for those working in rural and remote areas and Indigenous communities across Latin America or Africa. The programme is a collaborative initiative led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), APC, AFRALTI, Rhizomatica and REDES A.C. It includes five online courses, running from 23 June to 14 December 2025. This will be the first edition in Sub-Saharan Africa (apply here) and the fifth edition in Latin America (apply here). For any questions, please contact cnlearning@apc.org.
• This year's edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be held from 23 to 26 June in Lillestrøm, Norway in a hybrid format, with a significant focus on community-centred connectivity. The deadline for registration is close: 1 June. Register here and consult the programme here.
• The Battlemesh V17 unconference will take place from 10 to 16 June 2025 in Sundhausen, Germany, with talks and workshops on technical and political issues related to mesh networking, wireless community networks and OpenWrt firmware development. Read more.
• The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development is going to be held in Sevilla, Spain, from 30 June to 3 July 2025. Read more.
• The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 High-Level Event 2025 will take place from 7 to 11 July at Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland. Consult the registration process and agenda here. You can read more about a community-centered connectivity agenda in this policy brief prepared for WSIS+20. Read more.  
• The Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) 2025, hosted by Paradigm Initiative, was held at the end of April in Lusaka, Zambia. Under the theme “Promoting Digital Ubuntu in Approaches to Technology”, the forum created a vital space for re-imagining digital futures centred on African philosophies of communal well-being and interconnectedness. Read more. 

Funding opportunities

• The goal of the NGI Zero Commons Fund is to reclaim the public nature of the internet. Its call is now open, but the deadline is coming up soon, on 1 June. Consult the application guidelines here and find out about other active funds here.
• The Connecting the Unconnected funding programme supports communities and local organisations working to build and expand internet infrastructure to connect people living in rural, remote and low-income areas. Community networks, cooperatives and other forms of complementary access solutions are eligible. Its next window for applications will be open from 15 July to 27 August 2025. Read more.
• The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives is calling for proposals for small, high-impact projects developed by small local civil society organisations in the Global South. The potential focus areas include gender equality, human rights, education and climate action. The application deadline varies by country, with many closing in May and June 2025. Find out about your country's inclusion and general information about the Fund here. 

Community networks learning repository

This repository is a collective online space to store and exchange resources that can be useful in training processes, focused on materials made for and by community networks.

In this issue we invite you to consult a very recently published publication that proposes a progressive and decolonial approach to digital ecosystems ahead of the WSIS+20 review (available in Spanish, French and English). 

Remember that this repository is open to contributions and suggestions of resources developed for the capacity building of communities for their digital inclusion.

Find out more!

This newsletter is part of the Local Networks initiative (LocNet), a collective effort led by APC and Rhizomatica in partnership with grassroots communities and support organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. It aims to directly support meaningful community-centred connectivity initiatives, while contributing to an enabling ecosystem for their emergence and growth. 

Previous editions of this newsletter are available here.

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