Press release from the Internet Society. Grants have been awarded to nine programs that expand Internet use around the world. At least four will reach Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria. Two others will cover parts of Africa.

Washington, D.C. USA and Geneva, Switzerland, 3 July 2012 – Nine community-based initiatives that advance Internet access, leadership, education, and development have been selected to receive grants from the Internet Society. Internet Society Community Grants are awarded twice each year and recipients receive up to US$10,000 to implement their projects.

The projects funded in this round of grants that will improve communities in Africa:

• Generate a public framework for the global governance of identity management solutions. Major priorities include the preservation of online privacy and multistakeholder participation.
• Develop IPv6 training in Zimbabwe for university and service provider engineers
• Empower youth in Somalia with Internet skills through training centers
• Update and translate IPv6 book developed by Internet Society into other languages
• Offer solar powered computer access to primary school students in Bamako, Mali
• Improve infrastructure at St. Louis College in Jos, Nigeria to extend Cisco Networking Academy to the entire school of 700 girls

“We are extremely pleased to be able to support these nine remarkable projects,” said Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer at the Internet Society. “The Internet Society is a strong advocate of equal access to the Internet for all people. The Community Grants program is designed to encourage innovative thinking by supporting outreach efforts that address the humanitarian, educational, and societal aspects of online connectivity. These nine grantees reflect the values and goals that the Community Grants program has been created to help advance. We applaud the Internet Society Chapters and members who are giving their time and talents to help others through these initiatives.”

This is the 15th round of Community Grants since 2005, and applications will open again in August 2012.

Additional information on the Internet Society Community Grants program is available at http://www.internetsociety.org/communitygrants.