Global Public Policy Advocacy for Information and Communications for Social Justice And

Global Public Policy Advocacy for Information and Communications for Social Justice and Sustainable Development

Application for Support for APC’s Communication and Information Policy Programme (CIPP) for 2006-8

Prepared by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

April 2006 for the Ford Foundation

Contacts:

Anriette EsterhuysenWillie Currie

Executive DirectorCommunications and Information Policy

PO Box 29755, Melville 2109Programme Manager

South Africa Cell No: +1 646 249 0600

Tel. +27 11 726 1692 Email:

Fax +27 11 726 1692

Email:

Table of Contents

1.Executive Summary

2.Recent APC Achievements in ICT Policy Advocacy

3. CIPP priorities for 2006-7

3.1Africa ICT Policy Monitor

3.2Latin America and the Caribbean ICT Policy Monitor

3.3Asia ICT Policy Monitor

3.4National ICT Policy Capacity Building and Advocacy

3.5Global ICT Policy Advocacy

4.APC Organisational Profile

4.1Legal identity

4.2Budget and proportion requested from Ford

4.3Staff

4.4Governance

4.5Diversity

4.6APC Websites

5. APC Members in March 2006

6.APC funding partners from 2000 – 2005

.

1.Executive Summary

This document serves as a request from APC to the Ford Foundation for a renewal of the Foundation’s support of APC’s work, particularly in relation to civil society engagement in global policy processes. It consists of a short overview of recent achievements and plans for 2006 and 7. APC’s Strategic Plan for 2004-8 is attached a reference document that includes detailed goals and activity plans. Background information on the APC that was included in APC’s initial request to the Ford Foundation is mostly excluded.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has been building an international community of organisations concerned with civil society’s use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)[1] for sustainable development, social and gender justice, since its founding in 1990. APC’s work takes place at global, regional, thematic and national levels. This community has expanded to include more than 40 members and at least as many partners.

With the conclusion of the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005, and considering both the achievements and oversights of the process, the role of APC’s community of members, partners and strategic allies is more relevant than ever.

APC’s primary goal is to empower and support civil society organisations (CSOs) and citizen movements through the use of ICTs. In recent years this role has expanded into the terrain of working, with others, for enabling policy, planning and implementation processes in the area of ICTs for development that allow individuals and organisations to utilise the potential of ICTs for improving their lives at economic, social, cultural and political levels. For people who are socially and economically excluded, access to relevant information, and to the means to communicate their needs and concerns can make an immense difference. APC works to help increase excluded communities’ access to information and communication tools, infrastructure, capacity and decision-making processes.

Our Strategic Plan, a document developed with our members during 2004, frames APC’s vision for the period 2006-7. But it is also shaped by our ongoing interaction with many organisations, individuals and communities we work with in the course of our work in ICT policy, capacity building and women’s empowerment.

For the period January 2006 to December 2007 APC will continue to focus on the strategic priorities identified by our members in November 2003[2] and developed in our Strategic Plan for 2004-8:

Promoting and facilitating strategic use of ICTs by civil society organisations

Strengthening APC and civil society organisations’ role and engagement in ICT policy processes

Growing and strengthening the network of CSOs promoting the use of ICTs for social justice and development

APC’s strategic priorities and actions are crosscut by two additional themes:

Our commitment to sustainable development, and

Our commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Foundation has a copy of APC’s 2004-8 Strategic Plan.

In APC’s Communications and Information Policy programme (CIPP) we will focus on follow up on the World Summit on the Information Society, linked to national policy advocacy, open access to the internet, integrating ICTs into development planning at national and regional levels, human rights and the freedom to make use of ICT access and tools for public participation, and global internet governance as a platform of consolidation civil society participation in international decision-making processes, with particular focus on open, universal and affordable access to the internet. Implementation takes place in collaboration with members and partners. In particular we will produce an ‘Information Society Watch’ report to monitor implementation of WSIS goals.

The Women’s Networking Support programme will continue to advocate for gender to be given central consideration in national and global ICT policy processes and strengthen the impact and profile of the gender and ICT portal, as a resource for policy makers.

From 2005 to 2007 APC will also be focusing on institutional strengthening[3], particularly to develop systems and procedures that meet the specific needs of a ‘distributed’ organisation and a growing network of members. The APC team will remain as small as possible, and work from sites around the world to ensure that we remain closely connected to our members and partners.

APC is requesting support over a minimum period of two years to support the implementation of our global ICT policy activities. The specific activities to be supported form part of the Communications and Information Policy Programme:

• Global advocacy on open, universal and affordable access to the internet through engaging two global policy spaces: the Internet Governance Forum and the WSIS Implementation Action lines C2 and C6
• Linking this global advocacy to regional and national advocacy processes on open access to the internet in Africa, Latin America and Asia
• Nurturing and growing the existing network of APC members and partners engaged with ICT policies
• Using this network to produce an annual ‘Information Society Watch’ report that monitors implementation of goals set by governments during the WSIS

2.Recent APC Achievements in ICT Policy Advocacy

Impacting on decision-making processes

During 2004-5, the key achievement of the CIPP at global level was in engaging with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). APC exerted influence on the resolution of the policy issues regarding internet governance and financing (ICT for development) ICTD in the second phase of the WSIS, and highlighted human rights issues and how they relate to information and communications during the Summit in Tunis in November 2006. Throughout we used our large international network.

Working on the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms and together with the Informal Coalition on Financing ICTD, APC was able to:

• assist in breaking the deadlock over the Digital Solidarity Fund (paragraph 28 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society[4])
• help create a space for open access models
• work with others to open a space for a virtual financing facility to emerge as a virtual forum

Working on the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and together with the Internet Governance Caucus in civil society, APC was able to:

• assist in policy advocacy with respect to the Internet Governance Forum
• together with the Informal Coalition on Financing, support a range of measures to increase access to the internet in developing countries
• support the focus on capacity building with respect to internet governance in developing countries
• develop a set of recommendations to WSIS on internet governance[5]

CIPP also engaged in regional WSIS processes in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and South Asia through the work of the ICT Policy Monitors.

At the national level, CIPP began implementing national advocacy campaigns on ICT policy as part of CATIA (Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa) in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal and as part of BCO (Building Communications Opportunities) in Uganda and Bangladesh and together with IICD (International Institute for Communications and Development) in Bolivia and Ecuador. Some achievements:

• LAC Policy Monitor consultancy work for UNESCO for the development of guidelines for governments for the formulation of National Information Policies
• approval of Kenyan National ICT Policy by parliament in Kenya as a result of APC supporting the growth of a national network, KictaNet (Kenyan ICT Action Network) and developing the draft policy

Mobilising participation and building capacity

One of our greatest achievements has been to mobilise civil society participation. APC has:

• mobilised -+ 500 CSOs by facilitation of online and offline spaces for all regional and many thematic caucuses in the WSIS
• produced discussion papers on ICT policy, published the updated GEM tool in print and online versions, contributed to several books dealing with the WSIS, human rights and ICTs, and ICTs for development
• increased the traffic to our website to its current level of well over 3000 individual visits per day
• conducted policy training workshops in Africa and Latin America that empower CSOs to engage in ICT policy at global, regional and national levels
• through this training helped increase the capacity of at least 250 people in ICT policy advocacy
• grown and diversified our membership to reach a total of 41 organisations from 32 countries, and

Publications, research and information dissemination

Among the most dynamic activity has been:

the Gender IT Policy monitor[6], launched in March 2005 by APC’s Women’s Networking Support Programme. It has become a focal point for gender and ICT policy advocacy and is generating new content and analysis;

• WSIS research ongoing : WSIS – Phase 2: the involvement and impact of developing countries coordinated by Prof. David Souter and to be released in April 2006
• Assessing Communication Rights: AHandbook, WSIS, Tunis, 14-18 November 2005 produced by CRIS.
• Summitry and strategies. What in the world is going on at the World Summit on the Information Society? Index On Censorship (Sep 05) articles/2005-10-19-banks-en.html by APC’s Karen Banks
• The right to development in MIT publication "Human Rights in the Global Information Society" by APC’s Anriette Esterhuysen
• Chapter on participative policy formulation by Anriette Esterhuysen and one on gender and ICT by APC Chair, Natasha Primo in GKP publication ‘Access, Empowerment & Governance - Creating a World of Equal Opportunities with ICT’ gkps_portal/view_file.cfm?fileid=3502

3.CIPP priorities for 2006-7

Goal: Build more inclusive ICT decision-making processes by facilitating civil society engagement through building their capacity and supporting advocacy, at national and international levels. Civil society inclusion in policy-making will lead to their involvement in implementing and monitoring policies, and ultimately to societies in which there is greater citizen participation.

For detail on programme activities refer to the Strategic Plan. CIPP’s priorities for 2006-8 involve four focus areas:

• Global advocacy on open, universal and affordable access[7] to the internet through engaging two global policy spaces: the Internet Governance Forum and the WSIS Implementation Action lines C2 and C6
• Linking this global advocacy to regional and national advocacy processes on open access to the internet in Africa, Latin America and Asia
• Nurturing and growing the existing network of APC members and partners engaged with ICT policies
• Using this network to produce an annual ‘Information Society Watch’ report that monitors implementation of goals set by governments during the WSIS

At the global public policy level, we intend to participate in the process of constituting and participating in the deliberations of the Internet Governance Forum, concentrating on human rights and the internet, in particular, civil and political rights regarding freedom of expression and the right to privacy and socio-economic rights with respect to universal open access to the internet.

At regional public policy levels, we intend to engage in post-WSIS follow-up and implementation processes in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in particular working with civil society partners to engage the UN regional economic commissions which have been tasked to coordinate WSIS implementation (Tunis Agenda paragraph 101)

At national public policy levels, we intend to introduce open access models to networks, knowledge and free and open source software into our national advocacy campaigns in Africa, Latin America and South Asia. For example, there may be an opportunity to develop a municipal network in Kinshasa on an open access basis or develop an open access broadband policy in Bangladesh.

We also intend to participate in campaign work with regard to intellectual property rights and trade-related ICT issues.

As a crosscut through all this work we will be supporting, growing and nurturing existing networks and trying to incubate new networks.

During 2006-7 CIPP’s activity lines will concentrate on the following priorities:

3.1Africa ICT Policy Monitor

Growing the user base and content partnerships of the French and English online policy resources[8]

Research and implementation around municipal networks in Africa

Campaigning for ‘open access’ regulation of bandwidth. This involves ensuring that large scale bandwidth initiatives like the RASCOM satellite and the EASSy (East Coast of Africa) undersea cable are approached as public interest infrastructure with access sold in a manner that is transparent and affordable and campaigning for open and transparent access to the SAT3 West African undersea cable once the current period of monopoly control expires in April 2007

Facilitating debate and discussion and collaboration between civil society, regulators and policy makers, and the media and the private sector on ICT issues in Africa

Collaboration with governments in the regional implementation of WSIS and regional ICT strategies (e.g. Africa Plan of Action)

3.2Latin America and the Caribbean ICT Policy Monitor[9]

National policy advocacy and capacity building in Bolivia, Ecuador and Jamaica

Participation, and ensuring the inclusion of civil society, in the implementation of the regional strategy, eLAC Action Plan 2007 and WSIS regional implementation in collaboration with APC partners and members

Collaboration with the community media sector on ensuring access and enabling policy for ‘civil voices’ to be heard

Research into universal access funds, open access models and new technologies as a means of developing advocacy around new approaches to ICTD

Working in collaboration with partners to develop an approach to monitoring and engaging with regulators on the implementation of ICT policy that affects development zones

3.3Asia ICT Policy Monitor

Regional policy advocacy workshop for South Asian organisations (Dhaka, April 2006) and support for national initiatives

3.4NationalICTPolicyCapacityBuilding and Advocacy

Expand the network of national ICT Policy Portals maintained by members and partners[10]

Support national policy advocacy initiatives in Senegal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo (DRC), Uganda, Bangladesh and India.

3.5Global ICT Policy Advocacy

Goals and strategies for CIPP’s global advocacy

The primary goal of CIPP’s global ICT policy advocacy is to continue in the post-WSIS environment to open a space for placing the issue of universal and affordable access to the internet on the agenda of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and to advocate open access models as an appropriate global public policy for addressing universal and affordable access. Currently, data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) indicates that 5% of the people in developing countries have access to the internet as compared to 45 % in developed countries. This translates into the startling figure that some 4 billion people in developing countries do not have access to the internet. As the internet is rapidly becoming the primary form of networked communication in the world, the medium of social and economic transactions and the point of connection to the global economy, lack of access is becoming a serious disadvantage to the people in developing countries and is likely to further exacerbate global tensions between developed and developing countries. Paragraph 72. of the Tunis Agenda for the InformationSociety requires the UN Secretary-General, in an open and inclusive process, to convene, by the second quarter of 2006, a meeting of the new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue—called the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Among other tasks, the mandate of the IGF is to:

a. Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet, and,

e. Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world.[11]

In its advocacy in the second phase of WSIS, APC advocated for the inclusion of this language in the WSIS documents and is in a good position to follow through with this global advocacy process at the IGF. More details on the development agenda on internet governance are contained in the following paragraph 50 of the Tunis Agenda:

50. We acknowledge that there are concerns, particularly amongst developing countries, that the charges for international Internet connectivity should be better balanced to enhance access. We therefore call for the development of strategies for increasing affordable global connectivity, thereby facilitating improved and equitable access for all, by:

1. Promoting Internet transit and interconnection costs that are commercially negotiated in a competitive environment and that should be oriented towards objective, transparent and non-discriminatory parameters, taking into account ongoing work on this subject.
2. Setting up regional high-speed Internet backbone networks and the creation of national, sub-regional and regional Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).
3. Recommending donor programmes and developmental financing mechanisms to consider the need to provide funding for initiatives that advance connectivity, IXPs and local content for developing countries.
4. Encouraging ITU to continue the study of the question of International Internet Connectivity (IIC) as a matter of urgency, and to periodically provide output for consideration and possible implementation. We also encourage other relevant institutions to address this issue.
5. Promoting the development and growth of low-cost terminal equipment, such as individual and collective user devices, especially for use in developing countries.
6. Encouraging Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other parties in the commercial negotiations to adopt practices towards attainment of fair and balanced interconnectivity costs. [12]
7. Encouraging relevant parties to commercially negotiate reduced interconnection costs for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), taking into account the special constraints of LDCs.

APC prepared the ground for this paragraph in advocating around international interconnect costs at PrepCom-3 of the WSIS in Geneva during September 2005, by amongst other activities commissioning a discussion paper on ‘Interconnection Costs,’[13] and is well-placed to follow the issues through at the level of WSIS policy implementation. APC included the issue of affordable access to the internet in its recommendations to WSIS on internet governance.[14]