How we work
The Greater Internet Freedom (GIF) program is a four-year, global program that brings together a wide network of actors to preserve an open, interoperable, reliable and secure Internet — and by extension, protects the individuals, civil society organizations (CSOs), media outlets and vulnerable groups who rely on it to realize fundamental freedoms. Through its dual objectives of enhancing digital security for civil society and media and increasing citizen engagement in Internet government, GIF considers and supports all aspects of the digital ecosystem.
Managed by Internews in collaboration with USAID, the GIF Consortium funds and directs projects to advance Internet Freedom (IF) all over the world. This includes supporting digital security capacities, data awareness, and activism on behalf of an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet. Internews’ deep commitment to trust and local capacity building forms the core of our technical approach and implementation. GIF partners work to achieve our mutual goals as follows:
Centering regional and local organizations at the forefront. By enabling local and regional partners to lead the work, GIF supports local actors to build stronger networks with peer organizations in their regions and around the world, gain technical expertise from international organizations, and share lessons learned to transfer specialized skills disproportionately held at the global level.
Ensuring that the enabling environment for digital ecosystems is rights-respecting, by:
- Building multistakeholder coalitions to strengthen public sector engagement and ensure that tech companies are meeting their human rights obligations.
- Partnering local actors with international legal experts to protect human rights
- Localizing successful international methodologies
The GIF Consortium aims to build and expand resilient IF communities locally, regionally, and globally.
International NGO (INGOs) Partners are technical experts who provide specialized technical assistance to the rest of the Consortium members, as well as support knowledge exchange and strategy development across the Consortium. There are currently five (5) INGO Partners.
Regional Partners directly implement and inform highly technical IF work at the regional and local levels. With the support of GIF Consortium members and resources, Regional Partners serve as the lead implementers of GIF activities in their regions; support the implementation of Local Partners; and ensure that local contexts are better reflected in global IF norms and dialogues. There are currently nine (9) Regional Partners.
Resource Partners provide digital resources and infrastructure to vulnerable beneficiaries to increase their overall organizational security posture and resilience. This support includes the provision of software licenses, helpline infrastructure setup and secure website hosting. There are currently four (4) Resources Partners.
Local Partners implement in-country activities in coordination with the Regional Partners and INGOs, in support of overall GIF objectives. GIF has supported over 70 Local Partners to date
GIF has incorporated a learning, monitoring and evaluation system that enables the consortium to track its progress towards the main objectives and adapt to the dynamic situations of this challenging digital environment.
This collaborative work will build the collective knowledge and capacity of the internet freedom community. We aim to enable new actors to occupy the digital rights and safe space and demand greater Internet freedom.
