Empowering Communities: Connectivity Initiatives for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific

In late 2025, the Government of Spain will host the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The Summit will bring together more than 2,000 high-level representatives of governments, civil society leaders, and policy-makers from around the world to exchange experiences, best practices, and progress on open government initiatives and implementation on key issues. At the 2025 OGP Global Summit, we will recognize the most promising and impactful reforms submitted to the Open Gov Challenge through the Open Gov Awards, celebrating innovation and progress in open government.

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Asia Centre’s 9th Annual International Conference will revolve around stories of resistance and pushback in defense of civic space in Asia. This topic is pressing and timely given the widespread contraction of civic spaces in the region, which poses a threat to the future of democratic societies. Registration is open to all presenters and participants from academic institutions, media outlets and journalist associations, businesses, national and regional civil society organizations, international NGOs, political parties, parliaments, government agencies, and intergovernmental organizations to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking. Researchers and practitioners wishing to present papers or share their experiences are invited to submit a title and abstract of 300–340 words in English, together with a biographical paragraph of 100 words, here. For those submitting papers, full papers should be 5,000 words (Please refer to the Style Sheet Guidelines). Following the international conference, the Asia Centre will publish the Conference Proceedings. Guidelines for the Conference Proceedings can be found here. Please contact us at contact@asiacentre.org Register here

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EngageMedia is organising Open Tech Camp 2025 – an unconference (or user-generated conference) that brings together digital technologists and social activists from across Asia-Pacific in a collaborative learning space dedicated to human rights tech. This two-day event fosters co-learning on privacy-respecting, secure, and open digital technology, enabling participants to build capacity and resilience in the face of digital threats. It is specifically designed for: Technologists interested in developing or customising tools for social change initiatives. Human rights defenders addressing internet freedom, digital rights, and online safety issues. Advocates, academics, and civil society practitioners passionate about advancing inclusive and fair digital ecosystems. Link to registration: https://forms.digisec.wiki/techcamp25

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