Advocacy

Using an agile approach, we combine scholarship with policy intervention, advocating for a digital society that can transform the lived experiences of marginalised communities and strengthen institutional capabilities for justice and rule of law. Across areas of work, our advocacy strategies and themes underline the need for a 'publicness" approach to technology that is game-changing for those at the peripheries of development. This means advocating from the standpoint of the most marginalised social groups, an explicit commitment to gender equality, strengthening traditional institutions of society during times of technology-mediated flux and consistently calling for the democratisation of technology governance spaces.

In the digital paradigm, human rights, people's control over knowledge, empowerment of disenfranchised groups and gender minorities, and a democratic world order are intrinsically tied to policies on universal access, public software, net neutrality, data justice, algorithmic accountability, platform regulation and more. Our advocacy connects these techno-social themes, spanning local, to national and global sites.

CURRENT PROJECTS

A DIGITAL NEW DEAL: VISIONS OF JUSTICE IN A POST-COVID WORLD

2019 - Ongoing

The Covid pandemic has starkly visibilized the underlying inequality and injustice of the global economic paradigm. It has not only exposed the cumulative failings of the neoliberal order, but also testified to the inevitability of crisis and catastrophe inherent to it. IT for Change participated in the project, 'A Digital New Deal: Visions of Justice in a

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL, 2019

2019 - Ongoing
The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in December 2019 in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. Following this, a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was set up to look into the Bill. The Committee sought comments from the public in general and experts/stakeholders/organizations, in particular, on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 through a press communique dated February 4, 2019. Here are the key highlights from our submission to the JPC.

ADVOCACY - SDGs

2013 - Ongoing
IT for Change has been actively part of global and national advocacy process in the lead-up to the SDGs as well as the review processes that followed the adoption of Agenda 2030. Our interventions have consistently flagged the need for a public goods approach to the development of Internet architecture and a locally embedded approach to institutionalising data for development. We have also highlighted how ICTs are not just a means of implementation but a new global paradigm necessitating the reinterpretation of all targets of Agenda 2030.

ADVOCACY - ICT AND EDUCATION

2008 - Ongoing
Our research and practice informs our advocacy with governments institutions and civil society. We critique dominant technology models that privatize education through outsourcing, or centralize control with education bureaucracies and technology vendors, and through our work, showcase the necessity of and possibilities for making empowering choices of technology in education.

IT FOR CHANGE @ IGF

2007 - Ongoing
IT for Change has been active in the UN IGF, organising workshops, speaking at Opening, Closing and Main Sessions, and engaging with the Dynamic Coalitions. Our interventions have focused on the areas of equitable access architectures, democratic global governance frameworks for the Internet, human rights on the Internet, and social justice in the platform economy.

ADVOCACY - GENDER AND ICT ACCESS

2005 - Ongoing
Connectivity does not automatically guarantee women’s meaningful inclusion into the benefits of the digital economy and society. Exploring policy and programmatic pathways to build access cultures that promote women’s informational, associational and communicative capabilities has been a longstanding preoccupation of IT for Change’s research and policy advocacy.

CAMPAIGNS WE ARE PART OF

Our Advocacy Statements

Anita Gurumurthy at the IGF 2016 Main Session: Connecting Human Rights