APC 2025 Annual Report: Strengthening Digital Rights and Civil Society Solidarity

• The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) focused its 2025 efforts on civil society resilience, inclusive digital governance, corporate accountability, and strengthening its network amid shrinking civic space and increasing digital threats.
• Operations spanned 63 countries, with over $1.5 million distributed through 206 subgrants across 48 nations, primarily in the Global South.
• Key achievements included securing a permanent mandate for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and providing technical and safety support for activists worldwide.

Core Strategic Priorities

• Strengthening civil society resistance and solidarity.
• Advancing inclusive digital governance and alternative technological systems.
• Holding big technology corporations accountable while challenging authoritarian control.
• Bolstering the internal APC network to support grassroots organizing.

Key Areas of Impact

• Internet Governance and Policy: Played a pivotal role in the WSIS+20 process to ensure the permanent mandate of the IGF and successfully integrated stronger human rights language into global digital policies.
• Advocacy and Digital Justice: Campaigned for digital rights in Palestine, opposed internet shutdowns in Myanmar and Tanzania, and elevated the voices of women human rights defenders regarding technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
• Grassroots Support and Capacity Building: Distributed over $1.5 million to 206 initiatives, focusing on technical outcomes, gender inclusion, and environmental justice. Supported the development of free environmental monitoring tools in Nigeria and Colombia and fostered community-centered connectivity across three continents.
• Feminist Internet Initiatives: Confronted gender-based violence by helping feminist organizations build research capacities and promoting secure alternatives, including the use of free/libre and open source software (FLOSS).