Description:

Statistics show that almost 1/3rd of the world’s population is still offline and that the majority of them are based in the global south. It has been reported that one of the challenges to connectivity in the global south is lack of infrastructure, this being linked to lack of proper and enough investments in this area. Only people from cities and urban areas are able to access the Internet thanks to the presence of telecommunication companies, who have the financing mechanisms to deploy these infrastructures.

To this end, communities have come up with innovative ways to keep themselves connected. Key among these are community networks which have been on a steady rise in African countries. The networks provide communities with affordable and meaningful access to the internet and also enable them to enjoy their rights (such as freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of assembly and association) in the online space.
However, despite the relevance of the networks in bridging the connectivity divide and promoting the enjoyment of rights, they face difficulties in sustaining themselves which in the long run hinders their survival and prevents them from thriving. This session will seek to bring the sustainability challenges that community networks face to light in an effort to create awareness among ICT stakeholders in African countries and provide recommendations on what can be done to address this challenge.