Annual
report

With the support of a subgrant, Rhizomatica, an APC member in Mexico, was able to make improvements to HERMES (High-frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System), a software system created by them to enable digital information sharing over shortwave radio.

HERMES is an ideal technology for very remote and unconnected populations. The support provided allowed Rhizomatica to increase HERMES’ energy efficiency, its performance (throughput, capacity), its ease of use, portability, privacy and robustness to support unconnected rural and Indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon and northern Mexico.

With support of a subgrant, APC member in India SPACE Kerala started looking at what technology can do to mitigate the effects of climate change. They worked with other civil society organisations, a global community of technology developers, and local and regional governments to build a model for disaster preparedness, leveraging community-based open data repositories.

The initiative started with developing detailed geospatial information of the area using the OpenStreetMap platform and allied tool sets. The data generated was analysed using free/libre software GIS tool chains. They also created locally useful solutions such as flood modelling and alert mechanisms. The project focused on engaging the youth and students, shaping the discourse on climate change and creating awareness on how human activities are aggravating the damage. One of the objectives of this initiative was to develop a replicable set of methodologies and resource materials that will enable others, beyond Kerala’s population, to benefit from these tools.

With the support of a subgrant, APC members Zenzeleni NPC and Computer Aid International collaborated towards the deployment of an international Solar Learning Lab (SLL) in rural South Africa, integrating it into the Zenzeleni Mankosi community network.

The SLL is a global initiative that provides access to technology in marginalised and remote communities by reusing and converting shipping containers into solar-powered computer classrooms. These labs create a safe space for community members to access devices, training and support to utilise ICTs and the internet.

This initiative represented an essential step towards making the Zenzeleni community network accessible and valuable to the whole community, as it increased people’s access and skills to use ICT devices. It was also a valuable step to increase the sustainability of the network, as the Solar Learning Lab offers new and affordable services to the community and thus expands the local Zenzeleni cooperative business. Lastly, a solar-powered lab was also seen as a good example for general awareness raising about how critical environmental issues can be addressed.  

For Computer Aid International, this represented an opportunity to deploy a SLL in an area where the cost and reliability of the connectivity to provide the labs with was not an issue as it usually is, as well as the chance to install a SLL in a space that offered good opportunities for ongoing sustainability after the initial set-up.

With the support of a subgrant, APC member in Nigeria Fantsuam Foundation was able to develop a proposal to access the MTN backbone so that it could resume its critical services in education and health care.

After five years of unsuccessful efforts to gain access to cable on the grounds of corporate social responsibility, Fantsuam engaged the services of a consultant to develop a proposal for access to the MTN backbone. This proposal included a one-year subscription to C-band, a period that was long enough for Fantsuam to activate its resilience strategy for sustainable funding that will provide continuity to the access granted.

The access gained through this subgrant provided the much-needed relief for Fantsuam to reconnect with its students, continue its work with the proposed rural community networks, and continue its support for its host rural communities.

With support of a subgrant, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), an APC member in Nigeria, held the second Bauchi Feminist Internet School (BaFIS) online. The objective of the BaFIS is to produce digital inclusion champions who will join other champions for bridging the gender digital divide in the country.

The school, which brought together 25 participants, fostered deeper reflection on and understanding of the Feminist Principles of the Internet and the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms, as well as a greater understanding of digital exclusion and gender, through digital rights advocacy strategies.

The school also dealt with preventive measures against COVID-19, organising and managing community responses to the pandemic, and trained participants to become catalysts in linking community responses to higher levels of response to COVID-19 in the country.

With the support of a subgrant, APC member in Paraguay, the Association of Technology, Education, Development, Research and Communication (TEDIC), reissued their Antivirus series with new content focused on digital and emotional security through webinars, flyers and an Antivirus Party.

During the emergence of COVID-19, TEDIC created the Antivirus series, which shared analysis and resources on the implementation of technology such as apps, platforms, drones and use of personal data, as well as identity hacking on social networks, gender-based violence on the internet, work at home and digital detox, among others. The series included webinars, Instagram talks, articles and communication pieces.

With support of this subgrant, APC member in Pakistan Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) examined the levels at which the digital gender divide affected women and gender minorities during the pandemic in the country. This was further connected with MMfD’s larger advocacy to bridge this gap and engage in policy interventions to make the internet accessible, safe and inclusive for everyone.

MMfD’s campaign Hamain Kaisa Internet Chahiye (Urdu for “What kind of internet do we want”), which focused on involving regular internet users in the discourse on internet-related policy making, recognised growing challenges in access. In Pakistan, almost 142 million people remain unconnected, and digital inequalities continue to be on display in the country. The digital gender divide continues to widen, with women and gender and sexual minorities having limited or no access to the internet given the cultural, economic, geographic or household restrictions that are enforced through multiple means. This divide was furthered in the health care emergency context, when the internet has proved not only to be a primary source of essential information, but also the only way for entertainment, work, studies, seeking a sense of community and communication.

With the support of this subgrant, APC member in Uganda Unwanted Witness published a report titled “Uganda’s Digital ID system: A cocktail of discrimination”, which presented the findings of a study that sought to establish the impact of a national identity card system in Uganda (commonlyknown as “Ndaga Muntu”) on people’s economic, social and cultural rights, in relation to the state's obligations to provide services. 

Since 2014, the government developed and iterated on a large scale multiple campaigns to register all Ugandans with a National Identification Number (NIN), and intensified these efforts after the enactment of the Registration of Persons Act in 2015.

The report highlighted that while the ID system was meant to empower citizens and enhance government transparency in the country, it was found to be excluding, as it makes it mandatory for all citizens to present an ID before accessing both public and private services as well as risking data privacy amidst an insufficient regulatory framework. Findings of this report successfully made it to debate in the Parliament. In his statement to Parliament, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Obiga Kania, acknowledged the numerous challenges faced by Uganda’s ID system, currently excluding over 17 million Ugandans.

To counter the shortcomings of this system, Unwanted Witness seeks to consolidate previous efforts by undertaking concerted campaigning for a dignified ID system that respects privacy, inclusion, user value, user control and security.

With the support of this subgrant, Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor, also known as EMPOWER, an APC member in Malaysia, showcased the impact of discriminatory citizenship laws and policies on Malaysians in transnational marriages and their non-citizen spouses and children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Annually, there are 100,000 Malaysians marrying non-citizens, and this campaign intended to expose the failure of the Malaysian government in respecting and protecting the rights of these transnational families, with special emphasis on how women in these marriages are disproportionately affected.

The campaign opened up safe spaces and platforms for democratic discussions online to provide the affected persons with avenues to discuss the rights violations they experienced pertaining to immigration, especially during these unprecedented times. The project also held the Malaysian government accountable in promoting and protecting the human rights of Malaysians and their transnational families through direct engagement between affected persons and policy makers to exert pressure regarding the need to adopt special measures and reform policies and laws with the help of evidence-based resources and lived realities of the affected persons.

With the support of a subgrant, APC member in South Korea, the Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet, conducted research to identify the problems posed by the monitoring system introduced by the government during the pandemic.

The monitoring system implemented by the government utilises mobile phone location data, usage records of credit cards and transportation cards, and CCTV footage to track the movements of confirmed patients. In addition, it uses the so-called base station investigation method to find out who was in a particular location at a certain time. Despite such excessive measures violating the right to privacy, there have not been enough safeguards to protect personal data, such as deletion of personal data after a certain period of time or pseudonymisation of data. Civil society organisations have also expressed concern that this system – created in a time of crisis – is likely to become a daily monitoring system in post-pandemic times.

The study led by Jinbonet, titled “COVID-19 and the Right to Privacy: An analysis of South Korean experiences”, compared this system to those of other countries, drew up alternative measures to respond to a pandemic properly without violating the fundamental rights of individuals in the name of public health, and carried out a campaign to revise the current legislation.

With support of this subgrant, APC member in Taiwan Open Culture Foundation (OCF) produced a series of reports and advocated to the government regarding the problems of rolling out digital ID cards in the context of the pandemic. This digitised identification system is being implemented in a country where people normally have low levels of understanding of the digital risks involved in such a measure, and a high dependence on the government. In addition, the pandemic context made people more accepting of the monitoring imposed by the Taiwanese government – which promotes the digital ID cards policy by providing unilateral information coming from Europe and the United States, saying nothing about the risks of it.

OCF worked to raise awareness around the need for protection of Taiwanese citizens’ private and personal information and the potential risk to digital privacy posed by digital ID cards, and called on the government to not abuse citizens’ private information. OCF also promoted the exchange of experiences with digital ID cards with international organisations.