Each year, a number of projects around the world receive funding from the Internet Society to do everything from connecting Sri Lankan farmers with up-to-date sustainable agriculture information, to teaching ICT skills to at-risk youth in Africa, to working with local engineers to further their IPv6 implementation knowledge. These projects are planned and brought to life by Internet Society members.The Internet Society today announced funding for 11 community-based Internet projects that will enhance the Internet ecosystem in underserved communities around the world. The Community Grants are awarded twice each year to Internet Society Chapters and Members. Recipients receive up to US$10,000 to implement their projects.

The 11 projects funded in this round of grants will:

• Enable teachers and students in the Sultanate of Oman to produce and share video presentations that meet Omani curriculum standards and students’ needs
• Facilitate access to the Internet via a wireless mesh network for students, parents, and others in rural Panama, enabling them to use their own equipment at home
• Provide research for an evidence-based ICT policy to help bridge the Internet divide in Ethiopia
• Develop online resources to help Internet Society chapters effectively create and implement cost-effective video streaming to its membership and the wider community
• Create a digital community of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Kenya to serve as a virtual mentorship program
• Support the Koh Sirae School in Thailand by enhancing their wireless network, updating the learning center and classrooms with laptops and workstations, and providing furniture for 1,000 children and 53 teachers
• Empower and connect the women of Chuuk State in the Pacific Islands by establishing an Internet-connected computer lab at the Chuuk Women’s Council (CWC) building and offering classes in ICT usage
• Promote child online safety in Uganda by educating children, teachers and parents at three urban schools; developing a user guide; and advocating for sound policies that ensure Internet safety
• Build a collaborative, independent, and transparent observatory that quantitatively assesses the Internet quality in Lebanon to help providers enhance their services and the Lebanese government accelerate the transition to broadband Internet
• Jump start the establishment of an Internet of Things (IoT) community-operated space in the University of the Philippines, where people with shared interests in computers, technology, science, digital art, or electronic art can meet and collaborate
• Initiate a movement that will encourage and facilitate university students majoring in ICT subjects to contribute their knowledge, skills, and time to teach ICT courses at Indonesia’s rural high schools

The next application round opens in September. Additional information is available here on the Community Grants Programme and these winning projects.