10 Jul 2026 Access, agency, voice: Communities in Global South are shaping another technological world, WACC session tells WSIS Forum
Is there only one possible technological future? A WACC session at the WSIS Forum 2026 this week challenged that idea, bringing together voices from Tunisia, Mexico, and the International Telecommunication Union to argue that communities in the Majority World must be empowered to shape digital transformation on their own terms, not simply be connected to it.
“Other technological worlds are possible, and they are being created by local communities and Indigenous peoples of the Global South, through community radio stations, community connectivity networks, community digital archives, and social and community-based mobile virtual network operators,” WACC General Secretary Philip Lee said opening the 7 July session “Access, Agency, Voice.” during the Forum, a key UN meeting on global digital governance, in Geneva.
Digital sovereignty – “the collective ability of nations and communities to shape, govern, and safeguard the digital infrastructures, data, and standards that underpin their societies, including artificial intelligence” – is a key principle of the UN’s Global Digital Compact, Lee said.
But realizing it will require the Minority World “to relinquish its grip on the development and deployment of digital technologies and encourage the Majority World to develop and deploy its own.”
Enabling communities as co-shapers of digital technology
Roxana Widmer-Iliescu, head of the Digital Inclusion Service at the ITU’s Development Bureau, said the question facing WSIS is not whether technology will keep transforming societies but “who shapes that transformation, who benefits from it, and who is left behind.”
Twenty years after WSIS first convened, she said, billions of people have been connected, but connectivity alone is no longer enough. “Digital transformation will only succeed if communities are not merely connected, but empowered to shape, use and benefit from digital technologies on their own terms.”
Widmer-Iliescu identified three challenges facing the WSIS process:
- Digital inclusion can no longer be measured by access alone, but must include affordability, digital skills, relevant local content and trust.
- Communities must become co-creators rather than consumers of technology.
- Artificial intelligence “can accelerate development, but only if it reflects the diversity of humanity” – otherwise it risks reinforcing inequalities and excluding those least represented in data, design and governance, including women, Indigenous peoples, rural communities, persons with disabilities and older persons.
“Digital inclusion is no longer about connecting people to technology,” she said in conclusion. “It is about enabling people and communities to shape technology so that it reflects their realities, protects their rights and advances their development.”
Go local for digital inclusion
Maroua Ghith, a Tunisian educator and Secretary General of WACC’s partner Local Democracy Association, brought the discussion to the level of local communities and culture.
She contrasted the needs of local communities and cultures in Tunisia with “a world optimized for speed, capacity and commercialization” that assumes “everyone should live and work the same way – a standard profit model.”
Ghith emphasised that empowering local communities’ agency and reinforcing digital inclusion in the Global South also means valuing local languages, which carry communities’ knowledge, identities, and ways of understanding the world.
The right tech solution for each community
Carlos Baca, who works with WACC partner organizations Redes, A.C. and Rhizomatica supporting rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Latin America, offered a similarly grounded perspective.
“[Some] 1.3 billion people remain unconnected. But the solution is not the same for everyone. New solutions are not always the best,” he said.
“Communities want technologies that are useful and meaningful and sustainable – these can include closed internet, radio, mobile. When communities have the tools, capacity, and funding, they can do amazing things.”
Put communities at the center of the WSIS road to 2035
Participating organizations reaffirmed their commitment to continue working together to strengthen capacity-building efforts and create the conditions for communities to create, operate, maintain and sustain their own communication media, connectivity infrastructure and digital inclusion initiatives.
They emphasized the importance of continued cooperation among community actors, civil society organizations, governments, academia and international institutions to advance local agency, digital sovereignty, cultural integrity and inclusive digital transformation towards 2035.
The session concluded with five recommendations for WSIS implementation towards 2035:
- Invest in community-driven digital ecosystems.
- Put communities at the centre of technology design.
- Respect diverse solutions and protect the community governance of technology.
- Build digital capacities that foster empowerment and autonomy.
- Establish funding sources to support community-centred sustainability.
“The challenge now,” the session’s outcome document noted, “is to articulate public, private, and community efforts to ensure that no one is left behind.”
Top image: An interview during Bootcamp 2026 run by WACC partner REDES A.C. for ICT network managers from rural, remote, and Indigenous communities in Latin America. Credit: Redes A.C. Other images: Roxana Widmer-Iliescu, International Telecommunication Union. Credit: WCC/Pauline Tête. Maroua Ghith, Local Democracy Association. Credit: WCC/Pauline Tête.Carlos Baca, Redes A.C. & Rhizomatica. Credit: ITU/Pierre Albouy, on Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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This article was initially drafted with AI assistance and subsequently reviewed and revised by staff.
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