Community networks newsletter: The power of local and decentralised connectivity initiatives

Community-centred connectivity initiatives (CCCIs) are gaining recognition as a vital alternative to bridge the digital divide, with connectivity shaped by the communities themselves. In this edition, we highlight evidence of their importance: new research on their impact in the Asia and Pacific region, insights on CCCIs from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) review processes, and inspiring stories, including interviews with two women making a difference in the field of community-centred connectivity. One of the women offers a unique Amazonian perspective on digital technologies, while the other teaches cybersecurity to children in her community.

Welcome to the 80th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.

Routing for Communities podcast

• The Routing for Communities podcast invites you on a journey to discover community-led experiences of people who have come up with alternatives to overcome the challenges of digital inclusion in remote, rural and urban areas across the globe. The first season features 12 episodes and it is available here, and also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
• The second season is coming soon! New episodes are on the way, featuring more of the incredible interviews from our first season together. Stay tuned.

Community networks news and stories

• The Community-Centred Digital Access Project is working to improve digital access for marginalised groups across Nigeria by developing community networks that align with the country’s existing National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy. Read more.
• The article "Use of Spectrum to Improve Connectivity for Communities in Remote Areas" narrates Colnodo's experience in Colombia, highlighting that community networks are a sustainable alternative for digital inclusion in rural regions. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• "Nothing about us without us" was the guiding principle of the Resilient and Connected Territories project carried out by the Nupef Institute in Brazil. And it also shaped an event held to celebrate the certification of 10 project fellows and three mentors, which offered a space for collective reflection on the journey so far, and featured a preview of a web series they created during their training programme. Read more. [Available in Portuguese.]
• You can learn more about the Nupef Institute’s partnerships with traditional communities in Brazil in the article "From Isolation to Innovation: How Internet Access is Empowering Indigenous and Quilombo Communities in Northern Brazil". Read more.
• A quiet transformation is underway in the heart of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mycelia Foundation, a young but bold non-profit, is tackling a persistent challenge head-on: the lack of affordable, reliable internet access in underserved neighbourhoods. Read more.

Gendered experiences

• In this interview, Adriane Gama, a native of the Amazon region of Brazil, shares her reflections and draws attention to the critical need for more inclusive and equitable spaces in community networks, particularly for women. Read more.
• Marcela Guerra – a member of the Portal Sem Porteiras community network in Brazil – tells us more about the challenge of tackling issues such as cybersecurity within the school community and shares her experiences and reflections on the intersection between digital technologies, children's education and community engagement. Read more. 

Enabling policy and regulation

• In recent years, community-centred connectivity initiatives (CCCIs) have become increasingly recognised as an innovative, bottom-up solution to address the persistent digital divide by providing connectivity shaped by the community itself. This research report helps us to better understand how CCCIs promote internet access in poor and remote communities, focusing on the region of Asia and the Pacific. Read more.
• The WSIS+20 review and the Global Digital Compact (GDC) offer opportunities to respond to the challenges in meeting universal access goals with commitments and practical measures in support of community-centred connectivity. This policy brief shared at the 2025 annual session of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) proposes a six-pillar plan for diversifying access markets to connect the unconnected. Read more.
• Financing Broadband in Hard-to-Reach Communities: This article looks at how the broadband gap can be solved, while noting that the right financial support to get investment to the places that need it most is still missing. Read more. 

Publications, research and toolkits

• The early 2000s saw the rise of streaming media, which has dramatically increased data consumption by internet users. To meet this demand, community-centred connectivity providers must purchase backhaul connections with greater and greater capacity as well as reliability. This paper is intended as a resource for them to better understand the evolving landscape of backhaul options. Read more.
• The digital divide is a form of social exclusion that disproportionately affects Indigenous peoples. In Oaxaca, long-standing inequalities hinder access to digital technologies. This study examines the social, economic, cultural and geographic factors shaping Indigenous communities' access to ICTs, along with digital inclusion policies aimed at closing the gap. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• Karrot is a free/libre and open source tool for grassroots initiatives and groups of people who want to coordinate face-to-face activities on a local, autonomous and voluntary basis. Find out more about it in this interview with Nathalie Szycher, an engineer and member of their team, on what free software can mean to self-organising and local communities. Read more. 

Events

• The Africa Tech Policy Summit 2025 is set to take place from 12 to 16 May in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together policy makers, private sector leaders, academia, civil society and tech innovators. Read more.
• Convening under the theme "Building Digital Governance Together", this year's Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will take place from 23 to 27 June in Norway. Read more.
• The webinar "Digital Transformation and Meaningful Connectivity in the BRICS" took place on 16 April. It explored how these countries are approaching digital transformation, and the strategies and policies they are putting in place to support meaningful connectivity. Watch the recording here.

Funding opportunities

• Institutions in Africa who actively advocate for community-centred connectivity initiatives and policies that promote affordable, universal and equitable access to the internet are invited to nominate a candidate for  the position of Africa policy coordinator for the Local Networks (LocNet) Initiative. Applications are being accepted until 2 May. Read more.
• The R&D Ambassadors Program aims to formalise collaboration between key technology leaders in the community and LACNIC to achieve strategic objectives in the development of internet infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean. Applications will be accepted until 28 April. Read more.
• Líderes is a LACNIC programme that provides funding and mentoring to support research on selected internet governance topics as they are perceived from within different communities. The call for applications is open until 9 May. Read more.
• The 2025 IEEE Connecting the Unconnected Challenge is now open. Interested individuals can submit a 500-word abstract on an innovative early-stage project or concept aimed at increasing internet access for the 2.9 billion people still without connectivity by 16 May. Read more.
• The NGI Zero consortium has awarded 56 new projects with grants for improving core technological building blocks. You can also apply for funding before 1 June 2025.
• 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. Its next window for applications will be open from 15 July to 27 August 2025. Read more. 

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 it you can find a document outlining 13 guiding principles for developing community-centred connectivity initiatives and much more.

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. 

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