National activities

Current

Public policies that negatively impact A2K (2011-2012)

CI is assisting its members at a national level to oppose public policies that impede Access to Knowledge. The members who are leading the two supported campaigns in 2011 are:

• ZACA Zambia - a campaign against customs duty on newsprint.
• FOMCA Malaysia - a campaign against the distribution of PCs without a useable free operating system.

Previous

National case studies

Consumers International has undertaken case study research at a national level on the impact of consumer-friendly copyright limitations and exceptions. You can read more about this research, or download the reports from Israel and Australia as chapters of our book, Access to Knowledge for Consumers: Reports of Campaigns and Reports 2008-2010.

National advocacy and campaigning activities (2009-2010)

As part of its two-year project on Access to Knowledge jointly funded by Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute (OSI), Consumers International has set aside a total of up to USD$40,000 for distribution to CI members who plan to carry out advocacy or campaigning activities at a national level, that support the project's objectives.

The successful applicants were:

• CAI India - To sensitise librarians, information managers and educators on barriers to access and open access to knowledge resources.
• CAO Nigeria - To carry out a national campaign for the amendment of the Copyright Act to make it more permissive.
• IDEC Brazil - To advocate for consumer rights in the new copyright law in Brazil.
• NCF South Africa - To campaign using a social media platform and email about the need for copyright reform, with representation via an online petition.
• RACE Cameroon - To campaign on book prices including research, lobbying and public awareness components.
• ZACA Zambia - To reduce the retail prices of educational books in Zambia by removal of 20% import duty.

Reports from these activities are published in our book, Access to Knowledge for Consumers: Reports of Campaigns and Reports 2008-2010, which you can download for free.