| |
|
Access Now marks 10 years of resourcing digital rights activism
|
|
|
|
A decade ago, Access Now launched its Grants program with the aim of directly supporting organizations resisting digital rights violations. Since then, we’ve awarded 415 grants worth a total of more than USD $10 million to community-based, frontline, and feminist organizations across 68 countries; giving them the resources needed to develop and deploy solutions that best meet their communities’ needs. To mark 10 years of this work, this special issue of Access Now Express celebrates 10 such grantees. To help us continue our work around the world, please consider making a donation to Access Now. 
|
|
Meet the Digital First Aiders
Vita Activa: standing up for those who speak out
Vita Activa, a helpline that supports journalists, activists, human rights defenders, women, and LGBTQ+ people facing online gender-based violence, operates on the premise that “emotional and empathic care is for everyone.” They’ve developed a range of resources to protect not only individuals, but also entire movements, including a bilingual English-Arabic psychological first aid manual to help women journalists and activists navigate online harassment and trauma. Their digital security vision is all about “reclaiming space; about being safe, visible, and happy on our terms.” Follow their work on Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, or X.
|
DIG/SEC Initiative: taking digital security on the road
Uganda-based DIG/SEC Initiative delivers digital safety support directly to journalists and activists in under-supported grassroots communities, for whom digital security can sometimes be a matter of life-and-death. From sharing tips on how to safely document human rights violations, to creating digital safety mentorships, they focus on designing and implementing uniquely tailored digital security solutions with each at-risk community. Follow their work on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X.
|
Sursiendo: viewing digital rights as collective justice
Sursiendo supports human rights defenders and social organizations in Mexico, and across Central America, that remain “deeply committed to fighting for social justice” despite systemic barriers. For Sursiendo, enabling these groups to exercise their digital rights means helping them to “establish sustainable digital care practices” and “taking the time to listen,” in order to “accompany without imposing, share without replacing, and learn without exploiting.” Follow their work on Mastodon, Telegram, or X.
|
Meet the Community Defenders
Haki na Sheria: fighting for the right to exist in the digital era
Haki na Sheria is a Kenya-based organization tackling issues of statelessness and digital ID that disproportionately impact marginalized Northern Kenyans. After taking up the case of 40,000 ethnic Somalis unable to obtain ID cards, for instance, they won a major victory “for safeguarding the right to identity in the digital age,” when a court ruled that these individuals should be registered as Kenyan citizens, not as refugees. They fight for a future where “digital rights frameworks are shaped by the lived realities of the most marginalized.” Follow their work on LinkedIn or X.
|
Nubian Rights Forum: shaping systems that recognize humanity
Nubian Rights Forum (NRF) supports historically marginalized communities in Kenya, specifically members of the Nubian ethnic minority facing systemic exclusion. These include people like Hassan, denied an ID for four years due to his Nubian heritage, until NRF helped him navigate the appeal process, document his family lineage, and obtain his ID. Ultimately, NRF envisions a world “where empowered communities are the co-creators of the policies and platforms that shape their own lives.” Follow their work on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
|
KRYSS Network: tackling taboos about online violence
KRYSS Network works to create safer online spaces for Malaysia's girls, women, and non-binary young people, who can struggle “when it comes to exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion.” A lack of awareness about the lasting mental health impacts of technology-facilitated gender-based violence inspired their new microsite intended to break down barriers to talking about this subject; part of a wider effort to build “an online ecosystem based on gender equality, non-discrimination, and feminist principles.” Follow their work on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
|
VOICE: shaping digital spaces into platforms for empowerment
Bangladesh-based organization VOICE builds journalists and human rights defenders’ capacity to resist digital rights violations, which are “deeply personal threats to their livelihoods and safety.” With a particular focus on supporting women entrepreneurs, Indigenous communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people living in rural or semi-urban areas, their goal is to empower civil society “to shape digital spaces into platforms for empowerment, resilience, and collective storytelling.” Follow their work on Facebook, Instagram, or X. 
|
Meet the Frontline Fighters
Athan: defending digital freedom
In Myanmar, where the military junta’s digital repression restricts freedom of expression in every way, Athan supports people at risk “simply for speaking out.” This includes providing immediate assistance, including safe housing, digital risk mitigation, and relocation support, to journalists and activists forced to flee for their own safety. Athan envisions a future Myanmar where at-risk groups “are the leaders shaping digital freedom” and where “digital spaces remain tools for resistance, connection, and freedom.” Follow their work on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X.
|
YODET: creating windows to the world
YODET supports human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society actors impacted by conflict-related internet shutdowns in Yemen, which have proliferated since a civil war began in 2014. During a 2022 blackout, for instance, their emergency internet centers became a “window to the world,” helping more than 50 beneficiaries continue documenting human rights violations and coordinating humanitarian efforts. As they explain, digital activism in Yemen “is often the only viable form of resistance,” and it must be safeguarded to protect and empower the most marginalized voices. Follow YODET's work on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or X.
|
Anonymous MENA-based grantee: a voice for human dignity
This organization, whose identity we are protecting for their safety, supports lawyers, journalists, and activists working in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries where “surveillance is constant, online content is censored, and investigative journalism is punished with imprisonment.” By documenting internet censorship, exposing spyware abuses, and providing expert legal and technical guidance, their work protects the internet as “the last breathing space for freedom; the last domain where those who have no voice can still try to be heard.”
|
What comes next, and how to help
As we look to the future, and the challenges it holds, we believe that standing in solidarity with community-led, frontline, and feminist groups is more important than ever. But we need your help. Please consider making a one-off or recurring donation to Access Now, to help us continue defending and extending the digital rights of people and communities at risk worldwide. 
|
|
|
|
