The board members and staff of the Association for Progressive Communications got together in the last two weeks of March 2006 for the annual coordination of projects, evaluations of programmes and new injection of guidelines from the board.
In the far-reaching hills of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, about 30 APC-ers participated to assess projects, map the work of APC programmes (policy, capacity-building and women) and plan future actions. The leitmotiv of APC’s activists – internet and ICTs for social justice and sustainable development – was there to be put to the test, and so it was.
In the midst of a universe of calmness, occasional harassment by frivolous monkeys, hordes of zebras passing by and running dassies, the international non-profit’s online workers crafted what will become the next ventures in policy and gender advocacy, technological training and media partnerships.
The twelve days of meeting were kick-started by the board meeting, followed by the staff meeting. Aside from the many networking opportunities, staff and board members discussed the state of projects, such as the wireless, the communication strategy, the more than 40 policy portals in the APC network, as well as the APC organisational consolidation efforts including a new intranet and online project management system.
APC presently has 41 members throughout the world, approximately 25 staff of whom most are part-time and eight people – from APC member organisations – on the board of directors. The board’s next meeting is expected in Prague, in early September 2006.