With the achievements that last year brought about at the local, regional and global levels, the beginning of this new year brings renewed challenges – and opportunities – to further strengthen the movement that advocates for community-centred connectivity.

While global dynamics insist on an imbalanced distribution of power when it comes to guaranteeing rights and opportunities, community-centred connectivity initiatives (CCCIs) are forging a path toward more equal access to connectivity. They work to enable an environment that lets them create and grow, to build the capacities and skills required to sustain these efforts and to secure the resources needed for long-term viability. What is more, they do so by placing special emphasis on more vulnerable groups, including Indigenous communities, migrants and refugees, while remaining firmly committed to gender inclusion and environmental care. In this edition, you’ll find stories that reflect this commitment. Join us as we learn from these experiences and the communities leading the way.

Welcome to the 88th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.

Routing for Communities podcast

The Routing for Communities podcast brings us voices on the ground of those building the path to digital inclusion. Discover in season 1 the stories and reflections of initiatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America, like the Mamaila Community Network in South Africa, the experience of Wiki Katat, the first Indigenous virtual operator in Mexico, or the community network in Ciptagelar Traditional Village in West Java, Indonesia.

Visit or revisit these episodes. Find seasons 1 and 2 of our Routing for Communities podcast here, and also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify.

Join in!

Community networks news and stories

• The first CCCI Bootcamp in the Philippines, held near the end of 2025, provided a space for sharing experiences and discussing how to increase connectivity to local communities. The gathering addressed hands-on technical training and social enterprise models to critical discussions on policy advocacy, paving the way to a truly digitally inclusive Philippines with a growing community of practice. Watch insights from the gathering here.
• In Kenya, Garissa County is writing its own story of digital transformation through the Enhanced Digital Access and Community Resilience (EDACR) project, implemented by KICTANet. Community digital champions are training associations and cooperatives in foundational digital literacy skills, providing tools to raise their voices, unlocking pathways to services and improving livelihoods. Read more.
• To strengthen the advocacy resources of communities in Nigeria addressing environmental pollution, the Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI) has deployed low-cost technologies to collect and analyse real-time environmental data, strengthening advocacy, awareness and accountability efforts in the Niger Delta region. Learn more about this development in this video. Read more.
• The first national community-centred connectivity gathering convened in Cuetzalan, México, drawing together initiatives from Mexico and Colombia to reflect on technical aspects like fibre optics and environmental sensors, as well as laws, regulations and sustainability. The gathering was rooted in experiences, knowledge and dreams of strengthening the technological autonomy of the territories. Watch this video that synthesises the spirit of the gathering here. [Available in Spanish, with subtitles in English.]
• "For many years, organisations such as ours in this region, working on communication issues in rural communities, have seen training experiences flourishing in Mexico, Argentina or Brazil, and we have wondered when the time would come that we would have something like that in Central America,” says Catalina Trejos. “That moment has arrived.” She recounts the beginnings of the Central American Training Program in Telecommunications and Broadcasting for Indigenous and Rural Communities, which, beyond technical training, managed to create a space where the collective dream became action. Read more. [Originally published in Spanish.]
• The Local Networks (LocNet) initiative – led by APC and Rhizomatica – partnered with Rede Wayuri, a local network of popular communicators in the Amazon, to provide special coverage of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). This coverage includes a series of four episodes of the Eco Sound Bites that feature interviews with members of local organisations and groups working on socio-environmental justice. Listen to the Eco Sound Bites na COP30 here. [Available in Portuguese, with subtitles in English.]
• From Brazil, Nupef participated for the first time as a UNFCCC observer organisation in the COP30. Being in the Amazon alongside Indigenous peoples, traditional communities, researchers, social movements, civil society organisations and representatives of state parties broadened understanding of how information technologies permeate bodies, territories and lifestyles. [Originally published in Portuguese. Also available in English.]
• “What if the soil in the seedlings could talk?” asks Altermundi from Argentina, working nowadays in the development of a Technological Ecosystem for agroecology. Their aim is to expand the reach of the “LibreIncu”, a real-time monitoring system that measures temperature, humidity, pH levels, conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, recently recognised by local legislature for its contribution to community development, local production, and technological and food sovereignty. Read more.
• From Colombia, Colnodo and the School of Community Networks coordinated the “Community Communication Camp for the Protection of Life in the Territories” in partnership with the Montes de María Collective. Participants developed audiovisual narratives as outcomes of their analysis of their territories with a focus on gender, the environment, advocacy, culture, memory and peace. Watch them and read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• Wireless Planet, from Kenya, hosted a mentorship and peer-to-peer workshop on the AFRALTI campus to discuss the use of the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice. The event was supported by the LocNet initiative with the collaboration of local micro-grantees including Athi CN, Kijiji Yeetu, Digital Rurals and Bahari CBO. Read more.
• Also addressing AI from a community-centred perspective, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) from India facilitated a session on “Inclusive AI: Languages, Literacy & Community Voice” at the CDAC Public Forum and discussed how AI systems intersect with linguistic diversity, social and digital divides, and community agency. Read more.

Gendered experiences

• Nigeria and South Africa’s national strategies for community-centred connectivity were co-designed through multistakeholder processes. Both countries began the operationalisation and implementation of the plans with gender integration identified as a key cross-cutting priority, grounded in women’s lived realities. Catherine Kyalo from the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative proposes a thread to reflect on this. Read more.
• The Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) underscored the importance of integrating digital safety into community connectivity efforts during the Philippine Community-Centred Connectivity Initiatives Bootcamp, held from 26-28 November 2025 in Silang, Cavite. The three-day bootcamp convened community network builders, social enterprise leaders and digital rights advocates to strengthen inclusive and community-driven approaches to connectivity. Read more.
• The Digitruck Salone Project was implemented in Sierra Leone by Media Matters for Women (MMW) in partnership with Close the Gap, and funded through the Internet Society Foundation’s BOLT Grant Program, to address the digital exclusion of rural populations in the country. The project utilises a 40-foot refurbished shipping container converted into a solar-powered classroom to deliver digital skills training to young girls and women entrepreneurs residing in remote villages. Read more.

Enabling policy and regulation

• The High-Level Meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) culminated with the adoption by consensus of the WSIS+20 Outcome Document. This document sets out guidelines for implementing the WSIS vision in the coming years, reflecting both victories and shortcomings in relation to the main recommendations made by civil society and from a Global South perspective. Read more.
• APC’s statement to the UN General Assembly WSIS+20 High-Level Meeting highlights that "If economic and social development are not placed at the heart of the next phase of WSIS, we risk perpetuating a new, quality-based digital divide and missing the opportunity to harness connectivity for a more inclusive and just world." The statement also recommended an inclusive financing task force and stronger Internet Governance Forum (IGF) moving forward. Read more.
• Representing Zimbabwe at the Pulse Research Week, Joseph Bishi from Murambinda Works shared the country’s pioneering efforts in community connectivity. During the event hosted by the Internet Society, UNICEF and ITU, he explained how the country brought connectivity through regulatory innovation and how this is contributing to a regional framework under development by the Communications Regulators Association of Southern Africa (CRASA) and APC. Read more.
• The Digital for Development (D4D) Hub has appointed APC as the new chair of civil society and academia advisory group. The D4D Hub is a strategic EU platform designed to foster multistakeholder partnerships. This role – assumed by Carlos Rey-Moreno from APC’s Local Access Programme – develops coordination among members of the advisory group and the secretariat to ensure a human-centric approach to digital transformation. Read more.
• Governments, the private sector, civil society and United Nations agencies came together on 3 December at a high-level roundtable discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, to tackle the refugee connectivity challenge. The session identified the most urgent actions required to boost digital inclusion for displaced populations. Read more.
• Framed by the T20 task force, a policy brief on Meaningful Access and Local Economic Development: The Dual Impact of Enabling Community-Centred Connectivity has been launched. The brief states that beyond connectivity, CCCIs foster digital literacy, local content creation and economic empowerment. Read more. Find other related T20 policy briefs focused on Digital Transformation here.

Publications, research and toolkits

• “A tree is known by its fruit: Growing community-centred connectivity for inclusion, equality and sustainability” is a research paper that provides a historical perspective of how investments in the telecommunications industry have been made over the years and how effective they have been in closing the digital divide. With a special focus on the socioeconomic and environmental-related impacts of community-centred connectivity, the research recommends creating an enabling environment for CCCIs, as well as designing different innovative financing strategies to scale these solutions. Read more.
• Despite four years of unfulfilled promises and public funding being diverted away from local infrastructure toward satellite providers, Connect Humanity’s 2025 report reveals how communities, capital and capacity successfully converged to build sustainable solutions for closing the digital divide. The report highlights a groundbreaking chapter on investment readiness for community networks – developed in collaboration with APC – which analyses networks across Africa, Asia and Latin America to demonstrate how facilitating finance can support locally-driven connectivity rather than distant corporate solutions. Read more.
• How should a community respond when a data centre is to be built? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, as it will depend on the discussions within each territory. However, there are international and Latin American experiences that can serve as inspiration. These experiences are compiled for consideration by local communities and authorities in the DataCenterBoom! repository, an initiative of the Latin American Terraforming Institute, developed with support from the Mozilla Foundation. Read more.
• The monthly interview series "Building a Free Internet of the Future" brings a three-way conversation with the people from the Teamtype project, which enables real-time collaborative editing of local text files. The project focuses on technology, engineering, peer-to-peer collaboration and a desire to empower people to be independent of big corporations and their cloud servers. Read more.
• Amid growing concern over the colonial foundations and global social and ecological impacts of digital technologies, Dorian Cavé and Rainer Rehak from the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin examine whether digital tools can be reimagined through decolonial practices. Drawing on documented community networks, their article explores how information and communication technologies can support emancipatory movements while remaining entangled in the colonial infrastructures they seek to transform. Read more.
• From Rhizomatica in Mexico, Erick Huerta and Peter Bloom were interviewed by Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan for the “Utopias” podcast to share their journeys as pioneering digital technologies activists, supporting traditional and Indigenous communities. The podcast presents a new narrative of life futures based on a set of conversations that celebrate the work and perspectives of “dreamers”, as it is described. Listen to the episode here.
• The report “Redes na Floresta” presents a mapping of the main challenges of connectivity in the Brazilian Amazon territory, based on an active analysis of actors from different sectors (government, public management, technical areas, civil society and research) and from a legal/regulatory analysis of universal connectivity policies in the region. Read more. [Available in Portuguese.]

Events

• The ISOC learning platform is sharing seven moderated courses for February 2026 in English, focused on various topics, with online exercises and exams. All are free and offer certificates. The organisation also announced that the course will also be developed in Spanish in the near future. Read more.
• The 2026 Kenya School of Internet Governance (KeSIG) will be held online from 22 April to 15 May. The deadline for applying is 10 April. Read more.
• Organised by Access Now, this year’s edition of RightsCon will be held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 5 to 8 May 2026. As a hybrid event it will also allow online participation. Read more.
• Team CommUNITY has announced that the 2026 Global Gathering will be held from 4 to 6 September in Estoril, Portugal. Read more. Find out how to apply for the Equity Fund for those willing to participate from at-risk communities or operating in low-resourced environments.

Funding opportunities

• The call for narratives on community-centred connectivity initiatives and environmental justice is still open. With the acceleration of climate change and multiple environmental disasters related to it, the LocNet initiative and partners want to gather knowledge on how community networks can contribute to environmental justice. If you have stories, case studies or reflections to develop in this intersection, join the call and share your proposals in different formats and creative ways. Soon deadline: 31 January. Read more.
• The recently launched rdcl::tools is an initiative for the development of new tools that address threats to digital rights. Through open calls it selects projects to create devices and systems including wearables, resilient communication networks, experimental software, interactive prototypes and other inventive applications of technology. Read more.
• AU–EU Youth Action Lab: 2026 Powershifting Grants is open, devoted to youth-led organisations in Africa or Europe working to drive meaningful change. The grants are now accepting applications from community-driven and cross-border youth initiatives, to empower young leaders to co-create solutions, influence policy and build organisational capacity. Read more.
• The NGI Zero Commons Fund is open till 1 February 2026. The fund calls for open source projects that “reclaim the public nature of the internet". Applications are open to any individual or organisation working on free and open source software and hardware, open standards, open data and AI, open science, creative commons and open educational resources. Read more.
• WACC Global is seeking a consultant to develop a position paper on the link between climate justice and communication rights. The document would bring to life how communication issues, policies and innovations – including media and digital technologies – impact the response to the climate crisis. As a key tool for international advocacy, the paper will feature case studies of local communities. The application deadline is 6 February 2026. Read more.

Community networks learning repository

Have you already visited our learning repository? If not, you are specially invited to discover this collective online space for storing and exchanging resources useful in training processes, with a focus on materials made for and by community networks.

The platform brings together manuals, research papers, reports and publications that feature a wide variety of experiences, technologies and methodologies. Explore the platform and discover this rich diversity of resources.

You are also invited to share if you or your organisation have developed proposals devoted to community-centred connectivity. We encourage you to upload them to the learning repository and help us expand this space. Contributions in all languages are welcome.

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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