Community Networks > Community Networks Success Stories

Community Networks Success Stories

Nepal: Bringing the Internet to One of the Remotest Places on Earth

Children in the Khumjung school are more excited about their computer class than usual. The reason? They’re finally using the Internet—after years of learning about it only through textbooks. All thanks to a local initiative, in partnership with the Internet Society, that built the highest community network in the world.

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a boy sitting in front of the computer in a classroom smiling
a man standing on a ladder installing Internet hardware

Tuskegee, Alabama, United States

Alabama entrepreneur Boyd Stephens partnered with the Tuskegee Housing Authority and revisited a century-old idea to empower people through connectivity, bringing social and economic development to the local community.

a woman looking at the phone sitting at the top of the hill

Mamaila, South Africa

Kgopotso Magoro, inspired by an OpEd that claimed that “coming from a rural area is like being cursed” for the lack of opportunities available, started a journey that would lead to the creation of the Mamaila Community Network.

Chak 26 S/P, Pakistan

Combining Revolutionary Technologies to Grow a Better Future

What happens when two technical revolutions collide? Digital Dera unleashes human potential in rural Pakistan.

Baltimore, United States

Building an Internet Oasis in the City’s Connectivity Deserts

An effort to connect community centers during the pandemic now serves thousands of people.

Two men setting up antenna

Barefoot Wireless Engineers, India

An idea expands from a single community to a web of engineers, connecting thousands to opportunities.

Learn how a pilot community network in Chanderi sparked a global movement, using human networks to grow the Internet.

Buenos Aires, Cauca, Colombia

To overcome decades of conflict and isolation, a Colombian community builds their own network. With the right policies they might be able to use it.

Learn how the community and local organizations are working to change regulations and reconnect to the world.

Murambinda, Zimbabwe

A community network in Zimbabwe grows from cyber café to local hub of knowledge, healthcare, and development.

Learn how a community in Murambinda paved their way to connectivity, marked the start of a new era, and realized the Internet as a place of possibility.

Two men setting up antenna

Waimanalo, Hawai’i

An independent nation in Hawai’i builds the Internet from the ground up, connecting to its sovereignty and to the world. Since the deployment, people in Pu’uhonua o Waimanalo had the services they needed just before the COVID-19 outbreak while also increasing economic exchange.

Learn how local champions and partnerships guided their journey to connectivity.

Wireless For Communities

Wireless for Communities (W4C) is an award-winning program, initiated in 2010 by the Internet Society Asia-Pacific Bureau. The W4C program provided last mile connectivity to rural and remote areas of the Asia-Pacific using wireless technologies.

We are working to support 100 more solutions to connect the unconnected in communities all over the world, and you can be part of it. Join us.

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Image copyrights:
© Nyani Quarmyne, © Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), © J.J. McQueen, © Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), © Elyse Butler, © Internet Society / Christian O’Flaherty