Internet Society Fundamentals aims to develop new community leaders equipped to tell data-driven stories about the Internet Society’s key projects. This will equip members to work with their Chapters to create local awareness, extending the reach of our work for an Internet as a force for good.
In its first year, the program consists of two full weeks of webinars linked to Internet Society projects. Sessions will be held from 12-23 April, 2021.
During each webinar, we will cover the project’s main concepts with a focus on narrative and strategies to approach multiple audiences. In this way, Chapter members can feel empowered to raise awareness through concrete local initiatives that support the development and positioning of the Chapter.
The session focuses on two community networks: BOSCO Uganda located in Northern Uganda, and PAMOJANet in Eastern DRC. They will showcase their respective and practical approach to connecting the unconnected, including governance structures, business models, and technical operations.
La session se concentre sur deux réseaux communautaires: BOSCO Ouganda situé dans le nord de l’Ouganda, et PAMOJANet dans l’est de la RDC. Ils présenteront leur approche respective et pratique pour connecter les personnes non connectées, y compris les structures de gouvernance, les modèles commerciaux et les opérations techniques.
SPEAKERS Chako Armant, La Difference (PamojaNET Community Network) Alva-Ntyo Mihigo, Network Manager, PamojaNET Community Network Daniel Komakec, BOSCO Uganda Okot Solomon Nono, BOSCO Uganda
MODERATOR Jean Louis Fendji – Senior Lecturer, University of Ngaoundere and Research Director, AfroLeadership
Today, Saturday January 2 2021, at 8:30pm EST (01:30 UTC) in the eighth instalment of the Internet Society Livestreaming‘s ‘12 Days of Streams‘ 2020 highlights, we feature the final session – a Summit Roundtable – of Community Network Exchange 2020 (CNX APAC 2020), on December 4 2020. The 4th annual CNX APAC had the theme ‘Meaningful access with Community Networks‘ and comprised 11 sessions over two weeks. The roundtable was the closer, and commences with a summary of all those preceeding sessions from facilitators Sarbani Belur and Sarah Farooqui.
SPEAKERS Onno W. Purbo, Indonesia’s Internet Liberator (Indonesia) Atsuko Okuda, Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific, ITU Mahabir Pun, Founder, Nepal Wireless networking Project & National Innovation Centre (Nepal) Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos, Independent ICT Policy Researcher (Philippines) Osama Manzar, Founder/Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
MODERATOR Rajnesh Singh, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific, Internet Society
Today, Tuesday December 26 2020, at 7:30pm EST (00:30 UTC) in the first installment of the Internet Society Livestreaming‘s ‘12 Days of Streams‘ annual highlights, we feature Dr. Hosein Badran, Regional Technical Advisor – North America, Internet Society giving a presentation ‘Connecting Indigenous Communities: Examples and Lessons Learned‘ on February 11 2020 at NANOG 78 in San Francisco. He covered the recent successful deployment of a private LTE network in the community of Pu’uhonua o Waimanalo in Hawaii, as well as an upcoming deployment in the Northern Canadian community of Uluhokhtak.
Today Monday 7 December 2020 at 12:00 UTC the Internet Society hosts an interactive online panel discussion ‘Building Community Networks in the MENA Region‘. This event promotes a concept new to the Middle East and North Africa region: getting Internet access by creating “community” networks. These are established partnerships between residents of remote areas and major telecommunication companies with simple self-financing, or through an existing civil society organization.
SPEAKERS Jane Coffin, Senior Vice President, Internet Growth, Internet Society Juan Peirano, Senior Policy Advisor, Internet Society Massimiliano Stucchi, Regional Technical Advisor – Europe, Internety Society Ucha Seturi, ISOC Georgia Chapter Robert Pepper, Board Trustee, Internet Society
MODERATOR
Nermine El Saadany, Regional Vice President – Middle East
Most countries have some public funding available in the form of universal service/access funds or others where commercial telecommunications are supposed to subsidize areas of market failure. In many cases, such funds have piled up unused, and in others, they have been misused. The technical capacity of fund operating staff is as important as is their degree of contact with the situation on the ground. Community Networks (CNs), for their part, are often unaware of such funds. This session aims to explore how CNs can tap into such public funds if available.
La plupart des pays disposent de certains financements publics sous forme de fonds de service / d’accès universels ou d’autres où les télécommunications commerciales sont censées subventionner les zones de défaillance du marché. Dans de nombreux cas, ces fonds se sont accumulés inutilisés, et dans d’autres, ils ont été mal utilisés. La capacité technique du personnel de gestion des fonds est aussi importante que leur degré de contact avec la situation sur le terrain. Les réseaux communautaires (RCs), pour leur part, ignorent souvent l’existence de ces fonds. Cette session vise à explorer comment les RCs peuvent puiser dans ces fonds publics si disponibles.
SPEAKERS / CONFERENCIERS Dr. Charley Lewis, Independent Analyst, Researcher and Educator/Analyste, chercheur et éducateur indépendant Nthabiseng Pule, Project and Outreach Manager for the Cybersecurity Capacity Centre for Southern Africa (C3SA)/Responsable de projet et de sensibilisation, C3SA Victor Asante, Senior Manager, GIFEC/Cadre supérieur, GIFEC
MODERATOR / MODÉRATRICE Eleanor Sarpong, Deputy Director & Policy lead Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)
FACILITATOR / FACILITATEUR Verengai Mabika, Senior Policy Advisor – Africa, Internet Society
From 20 November to 2nd December 2020 theInternet Society in collaboration with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, and other partners, presents Community Network Exchange 2020 (CNX APAC 2020). The 4th annual CNX APAC will have the theme ‘Meaningful access with Community Networks‘ with ten sub-themes that will address various dimensions related to meaningful access with community networks and how local communities can leverage them. Webinars will be held online over 5 days, with 2 sessions per day, plus a final closing roundtable. All webinars will begin at 06:00 UTC
20th November
Session 1: Community Network Models & Best Practices
Gustaff Harriman Iskandar, Bandung Center for New Media Arts (Indonesia) Ritu Srivastava, Chair, IEEE Working Group Grades of service in rural areas Senthil Kumar M, Founder/CEO, Geomeo Informatics (India) Peter Bloom, General Coordinator/Founder, Rhizomatica MODERATOR – Rajnesh Singh, Regional Vice President Asia-Pacific, Internet Society
Session 2: Access during the pandemic: Saving Democracy, Citizenship & Education
Talant Sultanov, Chair, Internet Society Kyrgyz Chapter Svetlana Zens, Senior Programme Associate, Digital Rights, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) Ananda Gautam, Program/Policy Officer, Internet Governance Institute (Nepal) MODERATOR – Osama Manzar, Founder/Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
23rd November
Session 3: Policy & Regulation for Mass Adoption of Community Networks
Carlos Rey-Moreno, Co-Lead Networks Policy and Strategy, Association for Progressive Communications (Spain) / Co-Founder of zenzeleni.net (South Africa) – Achia Nila, Founder/CEO, Women in Digital (WIDBD) (Bangladesh) John Jack, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Vanuatu Government Teddy Woodhouse, Research Manager for Access and Affordability, , World Wide Web Foundation, UK (United Kingdom) MODERATOR – Sarah Farooqui, Research and Advocacy Manager, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
Session 4: Community Networks as a Model to fight Misinformation & Fakenews
Waqas Hassan. President, Internet Society Pakistan Islamabad Chapter Lisa Garcia, Executive Director, Foundation for Media Alternatives (Philippines) Heru Tjatur, Web Development Consultant (Indonesia) MODERATOR – Osama Manzar, Founder/Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
26th November
Session 5: Gender Sensitive Community Networking
Shalini A, Project Officer, Janastu (India) Maureen Hilyard, Former Chair, Board of the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC) (Cook Islands) Sarbani Belur, Senior Research Scientist, Gram Marg Yumna Panday, Project Support Coordinator, Zenzeleni Networks (South Africa)
MODERATOR – Anju Mangal, Asia Regional Coordinator, Alliance for Affordable Internet (Fiji)
Session 6: Content, Context and Community for Community Networks
Ramprasad Venkatesha, Programme Manger, BAIF Development Research Foundation (India) Michael Suantak, Founder, ASORCOM (Myanmar) Maureen Hernández, Systems Engineer, Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela)
MODERATOR – Udita Chaturvedi, Team Lead, Knowledge Communication & Dissemination, Dasra (India)
30th November
Session 7: Community Radio & Broadcasting with Community Networks
Laila Ndagire, Developmental Journalist, Producer & Presenter, MAMA FM (Uganda) Venu Arora, Co-founder & Director, Ideosync Media Combine (India) Bazlur Rahman, CEO, Bangladesh NGOs Network for radio and Communication
MODERATOR – Osama Manzar, Founder/Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
Session 8: Training & Cadre Development for Community Networks
John Dada, CEO, Fantsuam Foundation (Nigeria) Sylvia Cadena, Head of Programs, APNIC Foundation (Australia) Ritu Srivastava, Chair, IEEE Working Group Grades of service in rural areas
MODERATOR – Naveed Haq, Regional Infrastructure and Connectivity Director, Internet Society (Pakistan)
2nd December –
Session 9: Partnerships & Collaborations for Community Networks
Anju Mangal, Asia Regional Coordinator, Alliance for Affordable Internet (Fiji) Leandro Navarro, Associate professor, Technical University of Catalonia (Spain) Sarbani Belur, Senior Research Scientist, Spoken Tutorial, IIT Bombay (India)
MODERATOR Jane Coffin, Senior Vice President, Internet Growth Internet Society (USA)
Session 10: Connecting Indigenous Communities
Emani Lui, Founder & Director, Makanet (New Zealand) Nasir Hashmi, Community Network Implementor Mark Buell, Regional Vice President – North America, Internet Society
MODERATOR Maureen Hilyard, Development Consultant & Founder, The Cook Islands Internet Action group (CIIAG) (Cook Islands)
4th December – Roundtable Summit
SPEAKERS Onno W. Purbo, Indonesia’s Internet Liberator Indonesia) Atsuko Okuda, Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific, ITU Mahabir Pun, Founder, Nepal Wireless networking Project & National Innovation Centre (Nepal) Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos, Independent ICT Policy Researcher (Philippines) Osama Manzar, Founder/Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation (India)
MODERATOR
Rajnesh Singh, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific, Internet Society
Effective engagement of communities is critical for the success of community networks. This session tries to understand community engagement approaches, how to map the stakeholders and communications channels for an inclusive, people-centered, locally-owned community network.
Un engagement efficace des communautés est essentiel au succès des réseaux communautaires. Cette session tente de comprendre les approches d’engagement communautaire, comment cartographier les parties prenantes et les canaux de communication pour un réseau communautaire inclusif, centré sur les personnes et détenu localement.
HONORING CHIEF KARIUKI / HONORER CHIEF KARIUKI
Joesphine Miliza, Project Manager, TunapandaNET Community Network Dorcas Muthoni, Afchix
SPEAKERS John Dada, Fanstuam Foundation (Community Network) – Nigeria Ditshego Magoro, Zuri Foundation (Mamaila Community Network) – South Africa CHAKO Armant, La Difference (PamojaNET Community Network) – DRC
On Monday and Tuesday July 20-21 2020 at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) theInternet Society Haiti Chapter (ISOC HT) hosts two days of intensive workshops the ‘Community Networks Haiti Webinars‘. The webinars are aimed at introducing Community Networks to Government Organisations, Internet Service Providers, telecommunications companies as well as the general public in Haiti. In the sessions, Internet Society staff plus successful Community Network builders will provide an overview of what Community Networks are, how they can contribute to connecting the unconnected to the Internet, especially in rural and underserved areas, plus the benefits of their deployment including how Community Networks can enhance local economies.
Les lundi et mardi 20 et 21 juillet 2020 à 10 h 00 HAE (14 h 00 UTC), la section Internet de la société haïtienne (ISOC HT) organise deux jours d’ateliers intensifs, les «Community Networks Haiti Webinars». Les webinaires visent à présenter les réseaux communautaires aux organisations gouvernementales, aux fournisseurs de services Internet, aux entreprises de télécommunications ainsi qu’au grand public en Haïti. Au cours des sessions, le personnel de l’Internet Society ainsi que les constructeurs de réseaux communautaires à succès donneront un aperçu de ce que sont les réseaux communautaires, comment ils peuvent contribuer à connecter les personnes non connectées à Internet, en particulier dans les zones rurales et mal desservies, ainsi que les avantages de leur déploiement, y compris comment la communauté Les réseaux peuvent améliorer les économies locales.
SPEAKERS Obed Sindy, Chair, Internet Society Haiti Chapter Max Larson Henry, Transversal Wilson Fievre, Director IHSI Jane Coffin, Internet Society Shernon Osepa, Internet Society Juan Peirano, Internet Society Max Stucchi, Internet Society Jean Marie Altema, Profit Development Consulting Reynold Guerrier, GSIS Lilian Rojas, Colnodo (Colombia) Ucha Seturi, Telecom Operators’ Association of Georgia Karla Velasco Ramos, Rhizomatica (Mexico)
Internet Society Fundamentals aims to develop new community leaders equipped to tell data-driven stories about the Internet Society’s key projects. This will equip members to work with their Chapters to create local awareness, extending the reach of our work for an Internet as a force for good.
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