APCAs DRAPAC26 concludes, our latest Seeding Change story by @APC and @EngageMedia looks back at DRAPAC25 and the role of communities of practice in strengthening digital rights movements across Asia-Pacific.
📖 Read the story: https://www.apc.org/en/blog/seeding-change-building-collective-power-digital-rights-across-asia-pacific
From fostering new connections to building collective responses to shared challenges, the Assembly shows how collaboration and solidarity help sustain movements over time.
Seeding change: Building collective power for digital rights across Asia-Pacific
How do we build collective understanding of rights-respecting technologies in a way that drives change and strengthens digital rights movements? It requires more than technical expertise or isolated acts of advocacy. Meaningful and sustainable change calls for communities of practice, which means spaces where activists, technologists, researchers and policy makers can come together to understand shared challenges, exchange knowledge and imagine different futures. This was precisely the motivation behind the Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly, which has been held annually since 2023.With increasingly complex digital rights environments and contexts, DRAPAC provides a consistent space where challenges can be discussed collectively and where frameworks can be developed through regional cooperation. “The DRAPAC Assemblies have primarily been a space for human rights defenders working in the Asia-Pacific to work on collaborative, co-created solutions to shared digital rights challenges in the region,” explains Sara Pacia, Digital Rights Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC) Project Lead at EngageMedia.As DRAPAC26 draws to a close in Manila (Philippines), bringing together more than 500 digital rights activists, policymakers and academics from across the region, a look back at the event's previous edition with APC member EngageMedia highlights how this is an ongoing learning process. Creating spaces for collective learning and actionOganised by EngageMedia together with Architects of Diversity, the Centre for Independent Journalism, the Initiative to Promote Tolerance and Prevent Violence, and Sinar Project, with the support of APC, the 2025 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC25) brought together hundreds of participants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The three-day gathering reflected the growing urgency and complexity of digital rights work across Asia-Pacific. Topics of note included governance of artificial intelligence, platform accountability, digital security and movement sustainability.For the APC network, DRAPAC has become an important gathering each year to strengthen connections across the region. APC and its members contributed to 20 sessions during DRAPAC25, sharing experiences and approaches while learning from the many communities working at the intersection of technology and social justice. The value of the network extends beyond financial support and includes “expertise and willingness to collaborate and co-create,” affirms Pacia. “The APC network members have always been generous in sharing their work and their time with DRAPAC's attendees, and this continued engagement (especially with advocates and attendees newer to digital rights advocacy) is so important in strengthening and expanding the movement.” This high level of engagement was mirrored in the newly concluded 2026 edition.Growing a diverse, intergenerational movementA central feature of DRAPAC25 was the commitment to expanding participation within the digital rights movement. While the Assembly remains a gathering for human rights defenders working on digital issues, organisers have increasingly sought to welcome participants whose work intersects with technology in different ways. This included journalists, environmental advocates, labour organisers, technologists, policy makers and younger advocates entering the field. Of the 531 people who attended in person, 162 were aged 30 or under, representing a significant increase compared to the previous year. “In our efforts to expand the digital rights movement, we also have made concerted efforts to ensure that younger advocates are supported to attend the event,” remarks Pacia. Participants engage with a booth between sessions. Photo: EngageMedia This focus on intergenerational exchange is important for a movement facing rapidly evolving challenges and shrinking spaces. New technologies often emerge faster than policies can respond to them. Bringing diverse perspectives together helps build stronger and more resilient approaches. The Assembly also prioritised inclusion in programme design. Session proposals were determined based on relevance, diversity, uniqueness and regional importance, with organisers explicitly avoiding all-male panels and encouraging younger representatives to participate as speakers, facilitators and moderators.The organisers also continued exploring hybrid participation models. While technical challenges affected livestreaming during the first day, the team adapted by moving to alternative platforms for later sessions. These experiences highlighted the ongoing importance of committing to accessible and open technologies for large-scale gatherings. As an organisation committed to the use of free and open source technologies, EngageMedia continues to prioritise these approaches while recognising the challenges involved in creating inclusive spaces on a regional level. Learning, adapting and improving togetherDRAPAC25 hosted more than 100 activities. One key area of discussion revolved around the governance of artificial intelligence. As governments across Asia-Pacific develop policies and frameworks around AI, civil society participation is essential to ensure that these approaches are grounded in human rights and public interest principles.DRAPAC25 included a half-day consultation with Malaysia’s National AI Office, creating an opportunity for civil society actors to bring their perspectives into national AI governance conversations. “Malaysia is the second country [along with Indonesia] where we conducted capacity-building training on AI governance for national civil society organisations (CSOs) and supported their interface with the government,” notes Pacia. While the consultation was one part of a broader capacity-building effort, it represented an important step in strengthening connections between digital rights advocates and policy makers. The aim is to respond to technological developments but also to ensure that communities affected by digital policies have a meaningful role in shaping them.Building lasting relationshipsWhile panels and workshops were crucial elements throughout the event, many meaningful outcomes happened through informal conversations and relationships built between participants. A connections map developed during DRAPAC25 documented nearly 100 new connections across more than 130 organisations from almost 25 countries. These relationships focused on shared challenges, including freedom of expression, surveillance, accountability, AI governance, feminist approaches to technology, and digital security. The DRAPAC25 connections map is showcased to participants. Photo: EngageMedia For many participants, the Assembly became a place to share ideas and identify opportunities for collective action. Some of the dialogues explored alternatives to big tech models, including discussions around the Fediverse, privacy-respecting tools and community-led approaches to connectivity.This emphasis on relationship-building reflects a broader understanding of the importance of strengthening a movement. It highlights that change does not happen only through campaigns and policies; it grows through solidarity and the ability of actors across different contexts to recognise shared struggles.Sustaining the future of digital rights organisingThis spirit of collaboration is at the heart of DRAPAC. Rather than treating digital rights as a siloed field, the Assembly recognises that technology is connected to wider struggles for equality, environmental justice, labour rights, gender justice and civil society engagement.Its importance lies not only in the conversations that happen during the Assembly itself, but in the collaborations and shared commitments that continue afterwards. Many of these have been documented in the DRAPAC25 public report released by EngageMedia in November 2025. And with the latest edition of DRAPAC wrapping up this week, many of the lessons learned have been applied and the APC network has continued to demonstrate its commitment to engagement around emerging technologies and governance. More than ever, we see that shrinking civic spaces, as we saw with the cancellation of the 2026 RightsCon summit, pose a grave challenge to the work of civil society oragnisations. This is precisely why DRAPAC is a critical and much-needed forum for ensuring that digital technologies are shaped by the communities they affect.This piece is a version of the information provided by EngageMedia as part of the project “2025 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly”, implemented with the support of a grant from APC and adapted for the “Seeding change” column.Did this story inspire you to plant seeds of change in your community? 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