The Global Digital Empowerment Network drives impactful change across the Global South through a dynamic mix of research, advocacy, workshops, and scalable models tailored to local contexts. By generating evidence-based insights and amplifying community voices, the network shapes inclusive digital policies and practices. Its on-ground workshops build critical digital skills, while proven models are adapted and scaled to reach underserved populations. This page highlights how our partners are taking these digital empowerment frameworks to the last mile; bridging access, skills, and opportunity for communities often left behind.
Community Network Xchange – Asia Pacific
(CNX-APAC): Fostering Meaningful Digital Access
As part of its commitment to advancing inclusive digital ecosystems, partners of the Global Digital Empowerment Network (GDEN) actively engage in the Community Network Xchange – Asia Pacific (CNX-APAC). Now in its ninth year, CNX-APAC serves as a key platform for knowledge exchange and collaborative action, centred on the theme ‘Meaningful Access, Data & Hyperlocal Communities’…READ MORE
DEF at Justicemakers Mela
Partners of the Global Digital Empowerment Network (GDEN), Digital Empowerment Foundation, participated in the Justicemakers Mela 2024, hosted by Agami in Bhopal on November 29–30. This vibrant and experiential gathering brought together over 700 practitioners—including grassroots organisers, paralegals, technologists, artists, and legal innovators—to explore how justice can be reimagined as a lived…READ MORE
DRAPAC Digital Rights National Meet-up
On 3rd June 2025, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) participated in the DRAPAC Digital Rights National Meet-up in Bengaluru, a closed-door gathering of civil society organisations, researchers, technologists, and movement-builders working at the intersection of rights, digital governance, and justice in India. Held under the Chatham House Rule, the meet-up created a space for candid exchange on emerging challenges, shared strategies, and opportunities for solidarity in the …READ MORE
Digital Citizen Summit 2025: People and
Platforms- Let’s Talk Accountability
As part of their continued efforts to shape inclusive and rights-based digital ecosystems, partners of the Global Digital Empowerment Network (GDEN) are proud to support the seventh edition of the Digital Citizen Summit (DCS), taking place on 14–15 November 2025 in Hyderabad. Organised by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in collaboration with the Centre for Development Policy and Practice, and with support from…READ MORE
JUST AI – DEF’s Vision for Ethical,
Community-Centric AI
Just AI, an initiative of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), champions ethical, rights-based artificial intelligence rooted in India’s constitutional values of equality, dignity, and the right to information. Recognising that technology is never neutral, Just AI addresses the structural inequalities embedded in AI—across caste, class, gender, and language. READ MORE
Requiem for Justice: Amplifying Freedom of
Expression through Art, Advocacy & Archives
Organised by Landscapes of Hope and Action for Hope, this global convening brought together 25 civil society and cultural organisations to explore the intersections of freedom of expression, artistic resistance, and digital justice.
DEF shared insights from its national network of 24 organisations working on language preservation, circular economy, artistic expression, and digital archiving in India. READ MORE
DEF at RightsCon 2025: Championing Community
Voices in Digital Rights
As part of the Global Digital Empowerment Network (GDEN), the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) actively contributed to RightsCon 2025 in Taipei—one of the world’s foremost summits on human rights in the digital age. Supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and A-CODE, DEF brought grassroots perspectives from South Asia into global conversations on internet governance, misinformation…READ MORE
SoochnaPreneur Model Expands to Cameroon:
Taking Community Information Access Global
As part of the Global Digital Empowerment Network (GDEN), the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has expanded its flagship SoochnaPreneur model to Cameroon, bringing its grassroots approach to digital inclusion beyond India. Recognising that access to public information is a basic right—yet often denied in rural communities—this initiative trains local youth, especially women, to become community information entrepreneurs. READ MORE
Digital Necessities, Access and Exclusions: DEF
Engages Global Health Students in Amsterdam
The Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) recently held a session with students from the Global Health programme at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, focusing on the growing digital divide between the West and South Asia. The session was led by Osama Manzar, Founder-Director of DEF, and explored the realities of digital access in India, the implications for public health and development, and the work DEF has done over the past two decades…READ MORE