Documenting Ten Years of Challenge and Innovation: The APC Annual Report 2000 APC celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2000. The APC Annual Report 2000 documents APC's work in 2000 and takes a look back at our history, through over sixty pages of specially commissioned stories. The report is the start of an online collection that will be developed by people who been part of APC over the years. THE COMPLETE APC ANNUAL REPORT 2000 Complete version, includes "Looking Back on APC's First Decade" and "APC Annual Report 2000" (PDF - 1,133 Kb) OR download zipped PDF (968Kb) APC ANNUAL REPORT 2000 Short version, includes "APC Annual Report 2000" only (PDF - 398Kb) OR download zipped PDF (303 Kb) You will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDF files.

Articles on APC's Past Work

2001 APC Annual Report by APC

Much of our work during 2001 reflected our action area priorities: Internet Rights for Civil Society; Mobilising Participation; and Building Information Communities. APC also addressed internal challenges in 2001, particularly in relation to the need to retain a clear and unique focus in an expanding "ICT for justice and development" universe, ensure long-term sustainability and cope with growth in membership and project activity.

2002 APC Annual Report by APC

The use of ICTs by civil society has been central to APC since our founding and we have been working on ICT policy issues since 2000 when APC members identified ensuring internet rights for civil society as a priority. But in 2002 we started to delve beneath the surface of the challenges our communities confront and instead of responding to the symptoms, find ways to help civil society anticipate and plan for the challenges in their policy environment at home or in their use of ICTs in their workplace.

2003 APC Annual Report 2003: The year technology policy became social policy by APC

In spite of the wide range of activities that took place during last year, for APC, 2003 is memorable for one particular process that galvanised our efforts - the World Summit on the Information Society which took place in Geneva in December 2003. WSIS was a watershed in public participation as information and communications policy shifted from the obscure world of techno-jargon to be recognised as social policy that affects everyone. From APC's perspective as a network of ‘social techies’ this was a major break-through.

2004 APC Annual Report: Technology policy globally continued to dominate by APC

Training African community technicians to set up wireless internet access points, making the case for women's involvement in technology policy, convincing the world's governments that the internet should be considered a global public good. 2004 was another busy year for APC.

APC documentation 1987-90 archived by APC founder by Mitra Ardron

A collection of documents, scans, budgets, leaflets and a few emails from the early days of GreenNet, EcoNet, PeaceNet and the first year of the APC. The period is 1987-90.

APC's First Decade: A chronological look at APC's history by APC

APC celebrated its 10th anniversary during the 6th APC Council meeting, held in Visegrád, Hungary in May 2000. But the history of the APC's pioneering role in enabling social movements to benefit from the potential of ICT (information and communication technology) can be traced back to 1985. These chronological notes include only a small selection of the events and achievements that stand out as milestones for APC and its members.

Arid Lands Information Network-Eastern Africa Annual Report 2004 by ALIN-EA

Arid Lands Information Network-Eastern Africa (ALIN-EA) is a non-profit, non-political NGO –and an APC member in Kenya-, which promotes exchange of ideas, information and experiences among change agents working in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Eastern Africa. Currently, the Network has over 1000 members working hand-in-hand with communities in the arid areas of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. During this year, ALIN took the leadership of the Kenya Civil Society Caucus to the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). It enabled the Network to fundraise to undertake activities such as training civil society members on policy matters, linking them with other similar bodies and participation in the summit in Geneva in 2003. Other post WSIS activities have been undertaken with considerable success.

Creating Community Wireless in Africa by Anna Feldman and Sarah Hawkins

There is no shortage of efforts to improve Internet access in developing countries. What makes the Association for Progressive Communication's Community Wireless Connectivity Project unique is that rather than just providing wireless technology, it teaches the community to build the technology itself.

Czech TICs in 2002: Report on the activities of Econnect, Internet service provider to civil society in and beyond Prague by Econnect

A year of achievements and challenges from APC's member in the Czech Republic, Econnect. Includes their work putting civil society information online, and building tools for social justice work. In 2002, Econnect, which hosts the websites of hundreds of non-governmental organisations had their own website knocked offline as their server rooms went under water during severe flooding in August but a website dedicated to helping the emergency efforts went online just three days later.

Doing Progressive Work Online before the Existence of the Public Internet: A personal account from a Tanzanian communications activist by Fatma Alloo

Initially the women of Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA) were apprehensive about email and Internet but after making contact with an APC member, they became the first NGO to work online in Dar es Salaam. Through the Internet, TAMWA has been able to be a part of a global movement opposing violence against women and focusing on issues of women's reproductive and economic rights. TAMWA founder, Fatma Alloo, tells us the story in a personal account.

Enabling Civil Society Participation in Global Policy-making: The APC and the United Nations by Rory O'Brien

Policy formulation is no longer solely a prerogative of national governments and intergovernmental organisations - the new information and communications technologies (ICTs) allow grassroots groups from around the world to contribute to the policy processes. Since its founding in 1990, the APC has worked closely with the United Nations to assist civil society organisations to participate in global policy-making through the use of ICTs.

Interdoc: the first international non-governmental computer network by Brian Martin Murphy

This paper tells in detail a little known story from the annals of computer networking history. In the early 1980s a small group of international non–governmental aid giving organizations developed their own network using available technologies to empower groups that worked for social and economic justice. Interdoc had member institutions from four continents... The network was used to inform and empower worker organizations, link grassroots activists, facilitate community–based research and education, bridge international political fault lines, collect and circulate human rights data, and disseminate information on sustainable development. Interdoc and its members were a precursor to, and helped facilitate the founding of the Association for Progressive Communications which grew to be the world’s largest computer networking institution serving non–governmental organizations dedicated to human rights, social, economic and environmental justice, and political change during the 1990s. Published by: First Monday, volume 10, number 5 (May 2005),

Need and Chance: APC in the Global South and the rise of some strong Southern members by Roberto Elissalde

The emergence and growth of three APC member organizations in the countries of the Global South ,– in South Africa, the Czech Republic and Colombia – are compared and contrasted in this study by Roberto Elissalde.

The Internet in Africa: Donors’ mystical belief in the potential of IT by Kate Wild

In its pioneering work in Africa the collaboration between APC and its members and partners, together with a small group of visionary donors produced significant impact by enabling NGOs to communicate electronically. Can donors and African institutions continue to work together to ensure that the Internet revolution works to the benefit of Africans? An African Internet community exists. To expand it will require donors to be less messianic, less competitive, and less needful of identifying their own one-and-only, true Internet silver bullet says author Kate Wild. Donors must follow their own ‘knowledge’ rhetoric and learn more effectively from their partners on the ground.

The Pegasus Story by Ian Peter

Ian Peter was the Founder of Pegasus Networks in Australia, and one of the original Directors of APC. This is his personal reminiscences of starting an early APC member organization in the Pacific.

The story of APC member in South Africa, the Community Education Computer Society (CECS) by CECS

CECS is the oldest South African computer training non-governmental organisation (NGO) established in April 1985 for the technological empowerment of the historically disadvantaged.

Where do we go from here? APC after the Internet Explosion by Mark Surman

APC’s members were often the first providers of electronic communication technologies in their countries. The explosion of the Web was a watershed for APC and its members: there was at once tremendous competition and huge new opportunities to strengthen civil society using the Internet. The result was a multitude of new services offered by APC members, including training, Website development, web publishing software, portal sites and content, and APC strengthening its roles as a pioneer of practical and relevant uses of ICTs for civil society, and as an international facilitator of civil society's engagement with ICTs and related concerns, in both policy and practice.

Whose “information society”? by Anriette Esterhuysen

Was WSIS worth it? The general verdict on the recent United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in December 2003 was a thumbs-down. The Summit outcomes were limited after an arduous and expensive process. However, argues Anriette Esterhuysen, APC executive director, from the perspective of many civil society organisations that participated actively, the WSIS has created a new opportunity for solidarity across ideological, sectoral and geographical divides.

Women’s Networks and ICTs: The character, achievements and challenges past and present of the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme by APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP)

The APC WNSP began in the early 1990's and is one of the strongest women's Internet-based networks in the world. This article is based on texts from the Women in Sync Kit - a three-part publication on women's electronic networking [1].