The 20th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) just took place in Lillestrøm, Norway, from 23 to 27 June 2025, under the theme, "Building Digital Governance Together".
The APC network mobilised itself significantly and participated in several sessions. The IGF was again a platform for articulation and dialogue. One big avenue for our collective engagement was our booth at the IGF Community Village. Here are some highlights of our participation at this year's IGF.
The value of the IGF
Our executive director, Chat Garcia Ramilo, brought APC’s perspectives to the main session titled The Impact of the IGF in the Information Society, highlighting that the IGF "is not just an annual event, it's a living ecosystem, a network of regional initiatives, intersession work and relationships that lead to tangible, real-world relationships."
"For over 20 years, APC's contributions have been integral to the IGF's evolution. We've also changed how we think because of the space it offers us. The IGF is a space to listen deeply, to speak, and to act,” she said, adding, “It has amplified voices from the Global South, often those who are marginalised in digital governance conversations."
The IGF, both globally and regionally, has played a central role as a multistakeholder platform that has anticipated and shaped the digital policy agenda. It has provided space to address emerging issues, often before these were taken up in formal intergovernmental forums.
"The IGF is the place where we connect people at the other end of the [internet] breakages to the processes that involve technical coordination, policy and development, as well as practice and innovation," said APC’s Anriette Esterhuysen in the session on Internet Resilience: Securing a Stronger Supply Chain. “This is the place where we try and talk about how this all makes or does not make a difference in people's lives,” she reflected.
On how to strengthen the IGF, particularly the national and regional IGFs (NRIs), Esterhuysen also pointed out, at the session titled IGF Support Association: Sustainable Funding for IGF and NRIs, “The challenge we should all try to tackle collectively is not just one about funding.” She continued, “The sustainability and the ongoing strength of impact of national and regional IGFs also require them to be legitimate, to be inclusive, to be able to play a role at a national level that brings together interest groups and stakeholders that might not find it easy to work together.” Underscoring that these entities need to work together, she said they also should “be able to have the systems, the critical thinking, the processes in place to give them that longer term sustainability.”
Find out more at The IGF We Want campaign.
Digital justice now and in the future
Connecting the IGF with the ongoing World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 20-year review and its upcoming high-level meeting happening from 7 to 11 July this year in Geneva, together with IT for Change, APC launched a campaign to advocate for a bold, people-first agenda to reclaim the digital future. In it, we argue that global digital governance today is largely shaped by corporate influence and state authority, deviating from the ideals set forth by WSIS two decades ago, and present a call to action for WSIS+20 and beyond, offering practical recommendations to ensure transparency, inclusivity and meaningful stakeholder engagement in this review.
Aligning with this, our member Derechos Digitales’ executive director Juan Carlos Lara spoke during the session titled WSIS+20 Review and SDGs: A Collaborative Global Dialogue, asking, “How can we make the so-called digital transformation align with those SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] in ways that are inclusive, accountable and enforceable – effective, in essence?” Among the agendas proposed by civil society organisations, especially from a Global South perspective, he stressed that "digital justice requires fiscal justice, especially from cross-national services and transnational corporations, particularly in regions where under-investment tracks historical inequality as well."
This important reflection echoes the new statement issued by the Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF) calling for the WSIS+20 review to recognise fiscal justice as being integral to bridge digital divides.
Connecting different international processes in another session, the book launch of the NETmundial+10 Statement in the Six UN Languages brought back the participatory and inclusive approach of this document as a key pathway to shape a future of digital justice. “Translating is not apolitical and is not about the literal translation of content from one language to another. Having the Sao Paulo guiding principles in other languages is related to the possibility of appropriating them for a contextual application that responds to the particularities of the challenges of the governance of digital technologies. In this sense, it contributes to a real inclusion of visions, groups and interests, especially those from the margins that are underrepresented in global spaces," APC’s Valeria Betancourt said emphatically.
Tackling gender
The IGF side event “Growing a Movement for Feminist and Intersectional Digital Governance”, organised by the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights (AUDRi), which APC and our member Pollicy are part of, brought together a diverse cohort of feminist and digital rights organisations on the sidelines of the main event for an in-person, interactive discussion in the topic.
One of the contributions discussed was the Feminist Principles for the Global Digital Compact (GDC). Developed in a dynamic and multifaceted process, drawing inspiration and guidance from a range of sources, it proposes 10 concrete steps, from the guarantee of freedom from technology-facilitated gender-based violence to expanding women’s participation and leadership in the technology sector and digital policy making.
Placing women and gender-diverse people in the centre of digital inclusion was also a highlight we brought to this year’s IGF. Addressing the session on Gender Mainstreaming in Digital Connectivity Strategies, APC’s Josephine Miliza noted: “Gender should not be an afterthought, but embedded in the design of connectivity strategies.”
This means, among other things, global commitments should translate into local action by implementing gender-responsive policies and regulations in national plans and regulatory frameworks.
Enabling community-centred connectivity
Continuing the engagement with the digital inclusion topic, our network noticed that community connectivity initiatives’ role in closing the persistent gap has been increasingly recognised in many internet governance forums, and this year’s IGF was no different. During the session titled Bridging the Connectivity Gap for Excluded Communities, we heard a prime example of how this cooperation is instrumental to building a more inclusive and community-centred digital future, as explained by Thobekile Matimbe from our partner Paradigm Initiative. She said, "One of the key [...] things in the work that we've done is under the Local Networks initiative together with APC.” She added, “It's [crucial] to highlight the importance of social impact when these community-centred connectivity initiatives are being rolled out, ensuring that communities are also on board and at the table, articulating the vision of these initiatives so that there's tangible, meaningful benefit for [them].”
Liza Dacanay from APC member ISEA participated in this panel, showcasing experiences and learnings from integrating community-centred connectivity initiatives (CCCIs) within social entrepreneurship, social enterprise development, and social and solidarity economies.
Despite the achievements shared, creating financing mechanisms to address the needs of these types of initiatives has been a challenge, dating back to WSIS two decades ago, and little progress has been made to date. Our Local Networks team announced the launch of an important new publication, Self-sustaining financial solutions for community connectivity, during the session by the same name. During the session, speakers highlighted the limited access to capital and a restrictive regulatory environment. Promoting a financial ecosystem that understands these initiatives, and aligning philanthropic funding with investment capital, emerged as key steps to moving forward. And this is precisely what the new publication aims to address.
During the NRI collaborative session on Sustainable Models for Community-Based Connectivity, Lilian Chamorro from our member Colnodo shared the following insights to overcome persistent challenges. She said, “It’s necessary to recognise the diversity of connectivity possibilities. Large operators do not respond to community needs; so other models are necessary, oriented by principles of sharing and community and entailing access to universal funds."
APC's Josephine Miliza also highlighted the importance of innovative financing and investment mechanisms for community-centred connectivity initiatives at the Policy Network on Meaningful Access. “There are several opportunities for communities to be able to self-provision their infrastructure and support is required for them.” She went on to explain: “As these are small-scale operators, we need to be able to adapt the financing mechanisms so they reflect the needs of those communities. Public funds such as the universal service funds can actually be allocated to these models."
“I believe there are too many conversations about costing and not as many about how investment could be used differently, how to enable other models,” said APC’s Carlos Rey-Moreno during the Innovative Regulatory Strategies to Digital Inclusion session. “We need to establish innovative financing and investment models that allow these small and localised operators to thrive. I have the feeling that in the financial sector, a lot of the focus has been on supporting the interests of capital, and not supporting the interests of people,” he added. Capacity building was another necessary step he highlighted, while lauding the previous week’s launch of the first course for ICT network managers at the community level in Africa after five editions in Latin America (including one ongoing this year).
Crises and conflict
As we witness the escalation of crises, conflict and war in the world, protection of core internet infrastructure and ensuring access to the internet in these contexts was also a key priority for our network. During this year's IGF, this Best Practice Forum (BPF), co-coordinated by APC, used its main event to focus on the topic (see the recordings below)
“In Gaza, we have been witnessing the collapse of the entire telecommunications system,” shared Jalal Abukhater from Palestinian member organisation 7amleh. Abukhater joined the session Securing Access to the Internet and Protecting Core Internet Resources in Contexts of Conflict and Crisis remotely because the ongoing war in the region had led to the closure of the airspace. “Gaza Strip has experienced repeated and deliberate blackout, including right now,” he added, describing the destruction of fixed land line infrastructure and fibre networks by Israeli forces during the past few weeks.
As part of the Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition, APC, which supports 7amleh's #ReconnectGaza campaign, reinforced their call on the international community, humanitarian agencies and telecommunications regulators to treat this blackout as an emergency.
In the framework of the IGF 2025, we actively engaged with policy and governance dialogues and contributed to exploring norms – both voluntary and those that are enshrined in international law – oriented towards safeguarding internet access and stability during times of crisis and conflict. We also discussed the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders such as governments, the private sector, the technical community and civil society in implementing these guidelines and overseeing compliance.
Mobilisation
While multiple sessions were taking place, in the IGF Village the APC booth was a dynamic hub, showcasing our network and serving as an active space to connect with staff, members and partners who were attending in person. One of the highlights was sharing information about our ongoing campaigns and the call for joint action, such as The IGF We Want campaign, the Digital Justice Now! Call to Action and the Full Picture Campaign – a powerful campaign by APC's Our Voices, Our Futures (OVOF) project that explores how misinformation and disinformation intersect with digital technologies and how we can reclaim our digital world.
These campaigns provide an avenue for us to continue mobilising towards building common agendas as we prepare for the upcoming event on the WSIS+20 review.
The IGF Village was also a place to share more about APC’s African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) in a booth shared with the South School, focusing on capacity building as an avenue to bring more voices to the decision-making tables.
More about IGF 2025 in the words of our members:
- IGF 2025: Thinking about the sustainability and future of national and regional initiatives by Arsène Tungali, Rudi International
- Issues discussed in the AI session at the 2025 IGF by Byoung-il Oh, Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet
- Urgent gaps in addressing internet censorship and fragmentation by Michel Lambert, eQualitie
- Reflections from IGF 2025: Deepening connections and shaping digital futures by Meg Soriano, EngageMedia
- My journey as a digital rights advocate elevating Tanzanian voices at the Internet Governance Forum by Zaituni Njovu, Zaina Foundation