The past year was a true test for anyone defending a digital future that serves social, gender and environmental justice. In a year marked by severe global funding cuts and the increasing use of technology in ways that harm marginalised communities and the planet, our latest annual report, which has just been released, reveals how our network is actively shaping technology for the common good.
During 2025, our staff and network of members and partners worked across 63 countries. In partnership with our financial supporters, through APC's subgranting we directly supported 206 initiatives in 48 of these countries, most of them in the Global South. Together, we built common agendas, while ensuring the presence of rights and justice perspectives in digital tech discourses. We act collectively to shape digital standards, policies, processes and norms, while nurturing our own collective capacity for safety, care and resilience. We shared resources and knowledge as a way to learn, grow and thrive.
But how does all this translate in practice? In a five-part series, throughout the month of October, we will be republishing the experiences gathered for the report’s impact section. They are organised according to our five outcome areas, which are the pillars of APC’s current strategic plan. Here you will find highlights from the report that illustrate how the APC community is taking action on the ground.
As pointed out by APC’s executive director, Chat Garcia Ramilo, the stories presented in this report are more than just a chronicle of our work. "They are part of our collective memory and a reminder of what we can achieve together, even in difficult times. As we look ahead, we carry these experiences with us as a foundation for strengthening collective organising in the coming years."
Read on for the fifth piece of the series, focusing on how our community is creating and sharing resources and capacity to learn, grow and thrive.
Shared resources and capacity to learn, grow and thrive
Across the network, APC's subgranting strategy demonstrated how resources can build capacity, foster regulatory change, strengthen collective action, and support communities to defend their rights and territories. APC's subgranting programme creates chains of change from resources to capacity building, from capacity to engagement, and from engagement to institutionalisation, supporting technical and policy outcomes, as well as movement building across fields. In 2025, over USD 1.5 million was distributed through 206 subgrants in 48 countries, 45 of them in the Global South. Alongside our subgrants, our APC Member Engagement and Travel Fund also helped members engage and participate in strategic events and spaces. During 2025 these included RightsCon, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the Commission on the Status of Women, World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)-related events, the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) and regional capacity-building workshops.
Amongst other impacts, through subgrant support, we built the capacity of community centred-connectivity initiatives across regions. In Kenya, Tanda CBO used a subgrant to train and mentor 11 community organisations. This resulted in 13 licence applications and four successful licences. Individuals trained through the programme went on to take key leadership positions within the newly formed Association of Community Networks in Kenya. Also in Kenya, we helped the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) connect 200 more members of the community to its second community network set up in the country. Meanwhile, in South Africa, Zenzeleni Networks conducted an audit of six community networks, resulting in them collectively registering as a public benefit organisation and strengthening their sustainability. In Colombia, our member Colnodo worked with community networks to co-design environmental monitoring kits. Communities used these kits to collect local data on deforestation, agricultural burning, and air and water quality, demonstrating how connectivity can serve environmental stewardship. We also ran a community network bootcamp in the Philippines through the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia and Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement with support from the Internet Society, which brought together 25 participants over three days to share their experiences, map structural barriers, co-learn technical skills and initiate action plans grounded in local knowledge. We also supported the work of rural community case managers in Nigeria through our member Fantsuam Foundation. The case managers live in the communities they support and are trained to act as first responders and first aid providers to residents.
We strengthened the response to technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) in Asia and supported strategic planning on digital rights and feminist organising in Uganda. In Bangladesh, we tackled the threat of TFGBV through a project run by our member Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication. The project aimed to support approximately 30 university teachers from 15 universities and 50 other stakeholders in an effort to establish stronger frameworks for preventing and responding to gender-based digital violence. In India, we supported APC member Point of View in an initiative that aimed to strengthen the responses available to women, including young women from low-income communities, sex workers, LGBTQ+ persons and persons with disabilities, when they face image-based abuse. We also supported the organisational strategic planning of our member Pollicy in Uganda. This involved a three-day staff retreat to allow the organisation to navigate a leadership transition while responding to complex global and regional challenges affecting digital rights and feminist organising.
We helped journalists and community media, as well as human rights defenders, in Latin America and Asia. We provided emergency support to our member Media Matters for Democracy to sustain its Digital Rights Monitor during a period of severe financial strain; it remains Pakistan’s only digital rights journalistic platform. In Mexico, REDES A.C. created a forum for Indigenous media outlets and civil society to build a shared agenda that allowed the development of an enabling regulatory environment in the country. We also supported journalists and human rights defenders in Bangladesh and Taiwan. We increased their online safety in Bangladesh through supporting a capacity-building initiative aimed at strengthening the digital resilience of both national and grassroots-level actors, developed by our member Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE). Meanwhile, our member Open Culture Foundation raised awareness about open source digital safety tools for human rights defenders in Taiwan.
We supported advocacy for privacy rights and a campaign against internet shutdowns during elections in Uganda and Tanzania. In Uganda, Unwanted Witness worked to ensure that digital technologies used in elections respected the right to privacy, while in Tanzania, our member Zaina Foundation campaigned against internet shutdowns during their general elections in October.
Our members also launched digital training initiatives, building capacity among the youth and the judiciary, as well as in entrepreneurship and innovation in underserved communities. In Colombia, Colnodo trained 150 students from schools in Bogota in digital safety through its Digital Safety School, while a Digital Security School run by eQualitie and DreamSpace Academy was supported in Sri Lanka. The school is dedicated to empowering underserved communities through education, innovation and entrepreneurship, and also provides digital security services to journalists, media organisations, activists and human rights defenders across the country. In Nigeria, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) worked with its eRights partners and trained junior judges and lawyers at municipal level to strengthen the judicial response to digital rights violations in the country. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, APC member EsLaRed received support to build an online digital repository of training resources.
We strengthened civil society’s knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for policy, legislation, gender and advocacy. With APC support, the Digital Justice Network launched their report “Research on AI Policy and Issues in Key Areas in South Korea: Public Sector, Law Enforcement, Education and Social Welfare”, which analyses the standards for AI regulation, implementation status, and actual or potential problems in key areas including public administration, law enforcement, education and social welfare. The Digital Justice Network also launched the “Generative AI Guide for Civil Society” that originated from the realisation that civil society organisations and activists need help in establishing generative AI policies and properly using these tools. Meanwhile, the Centre for Multilateral Affairs released the report “Examining the Governance Frameworks and Gender Dimensions of Artificial Intelligence Policy in Uganda", as well as the policy brief “Advancing Inclusive and Contextually Relevant AI Policies in Uganda", which offers recommendations such as ensuring equitable representation of women and marginalised groups in AI policy-making bodies.
We funded environmental justice and sustainable computing through our members working in Spain and South Africa. Long-term member Pangea used a small grant to strengthen its eReuse initiative, and to explore building common agendas on digital technologies and environmental justice in the APC community. Meanwhile, Computer Aid International built its staff and marketing capacity in South Africa to increase its distribution of second-hand devices in the country.
We helped raise awareness of technology and mental health issues in Paraguay. Mente en Línea-Plus is an initiative from APC member TEDIC aimed at updating and expanding educational materials on mental health and technology. In collaboration with PsicoFEM and the Paraguayan Association of Psychiatry, their project raised awareness of data detox, techno-stress and screen time, as well as children's privacy and the impact of digital exposure on their mental health.