© James Morgan / Shoot The Earth / Internet Society
The Community Grants Programme is one of the ways the Internet Society is ensuring the Internet is for everyone.
To read updates on all the projects listed below, visit our blog.
If you would like to apply for funding for your own project, visit How to Apply.
Kranmesh
Wayne Abroue, Global Member
This projects aims to develop and expand the current mesh network in Kranshoek, South Africa, a township near Cape Town that inspired the name of this project. This is primarily a last mile project, into a place which has no access to affordable Internet services. The South African government has indicated that it will supply bulk data in the future, but would leave the last mile up to each individual community. This is where this project hopes to make a difference, as a bandwidth and services provider to small communities of fewer than 5000 people, by supplying wireless data to nodes which can be accessed via wire or wireless AP at the same time.The main outcome of this project is to establish a blueprint for use in all other communities, to copy when national rollout begins. The secondary outcome is to educate, and train individuals to build and manage their own mesh networks in other communities.
Internet Governance and Standards Development Training
Godfred Ahuma, Ghana Chapter
The Internet Society Ghana Chapter designed this project to train 60 participants drawn from all stakeholder groups in government, academia and civil society to better understand the intricacies of Internet Governance arising from issues such as intellectual property, privacy, cyber security, network neutrality, cloud computing, social networks, infrastructure development and Internet standards development.
Open Internet
Alex Blom, The Netherlands Chapter in collaboration with the Sri-Lanka Chapter
The EC BEREC report on traffic management practices in Europe shows us that blocking of VoIP and P2P traffic is common, and that regulating bodies are not willing to take action unless pressed to do so by politicians or large numbers of consumers. This project aims to generate public and authorities’ awareness of this situation by developing two mobile apps (one for iOS, one for Android) that enable users to test in a very simple way whether certain applications are blocked or obstructed by their fixed or mobile Internet provider.
Mapa de Internet
Adrian Carballo, Argentina Chapter
This project is the continuation of a successful project started by the Argentinian Chapter two years ago. The project’s objective is to create a unique web repository containing updated second level information about Internet issues (such as: penetration; information about registries, registrars, ccTLDs, gTLDs, and other organisations that compile this information; legislation; publications of studies in related areas) within the Latin American region, positioning our website as a reliable information repository and reference for all Internet-related issues. Please see the Map de Internet website for more information.
Impact IPv6
Janvier Ngnoulaye, Cameroon Chapter
Following the success of the project Impact IPv6 awarded in 2011, activities will continue in educating and training the key players involved in the chain of development, use and deployment of IPv6 - namely students, engineers and technicians of companies, trainers and teachers in information technology and communications.
Internet Facilities to Remote and Unprivileged Communities
Jean de Dieu Bhenda Nkurunziza, Rwanda Chapter
In Rwanda, primary education goes up to nine years of age at which time young pupils are considered to have acquired knowledge that can help throughout life. In this context, this project aims to promote self-education by establishing two ICT training centers in the remote areas of Lake Kivu and the District of Karongi. The training curriculum will focus on developing young people’s computer skills, and consequently, employment.
Casting a Wider Net - Using IT Technologies to Engage Citizens and MPs in a Democratic Dialogue inter alia Internet Public Policy Issues
Desiree Miloshevic, Serbia Belgrade Chapter
The project consists of building a web application as an interface between citizens and members of parliament, in particular representatives in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (MPs), with an aim to facilitate dialogue, monitor MPs’ activities and their voting history, and ultimately to encourage citizens’ influence on the decision-making processes. The project will demonstrate how the Internet, as an open and interoperable communication technology, can make democratic processes more participatory and improve transparency of decision-making in Serbian society.
Mobile Education
Dragos Onac, Romania Chapter
This project aims to demonstrate how mobile technology can be used in education, to improve teaching processes, course participation and class interaction. Over a period of 11 months, the Romanian Chapter will deploy mobile technologies in two different locations across two target groups: one class of primary school children and one class of young people in high school.
The project will study and measure the impact of mobile technologies in the beneficiaries' lives (both educators and students) and how they are impacting the learning process, with conclusions outlining potential benefits, changes and challenges of a new mobile technology-learning environment.
Improving the Teaching Level of Beijing Daxing District Chengxin School with the Help of Internet
Shen Shuo, Global Member
Beijing Daxing District Chengxin School is located in an outer suburb of Beijing, China. At present it has around 20 teachers and 700 students, mainly children from local villagers and migrant workers. The school faces several challenges, such as the lack of equipment and professional teachers. In this context, the project aims to improve the educational impact of the school by deploying the necessary equipment to connect the school’s existing computers to a LAN and purchase an ADSL connection. Furthermore, the school will construct a small-scale multimedia classroom to create a stimulating educational environment for students and teachers.
Making Bacon - Founding a Python Interest Group in Puerto Rico (prPIG)
Kevin Shockey, Global Member
The main outcome of this project is the creation of a sustainable software development community within Puerto Rico. By following the best practices identified by the Python Software Foundation, "Making Bacon" will become a hub for community networking, sharing, local content creation, and hands-on experience with Python and open source software in Puerto Rico.
She-Programmes
Somolu Oreoluwa, Global Member
She-Programmes will expose girls to technology and introduce them to female role models who are working with and successfully integrating technology into their lives. The girls will participate in a mixture of classes and workshops, presentations, and excursions to technology companies. She-Programmes will be open to girls across Nigeria and take place in a school in a suburb of Lagos state.
Online Empowerment - Lessons in Sensible Internet Usage
Cintra Sooknanan, Trinidad and Tobago Chapter
This project aims to build awareness and sensitisation of Internet use for children in the Caribbean. Specific outcomes include a series of videos and interactive sessions delivered online or via roving terminals. Additional outcomes include increasing knowledge of the Internet Society and the local Chapter, encouraging local content creation, and building trust in the Internet as a tool for educational and economic growth in the region.
Prohibir el Acceso a Internet no es la Solucion
Carlos Vera, Ecuador Chapter
The Internet is an incredibly useful tool to promote school activities and learning, not just a method for accessing video games and other content parents disapprove of, and thus want to prevent their children's access online. This project aims to develop study materials to socialise this concept among responsible adults (primarily parents) and to give complementary talks within the academic community of the city. These efforts will be a pilot with the hope of replicating the programme nationally, and a child therapist is on the project team to assist with producing the digital and print materials in a manner that is appropriate for the parental audiences.