Foundation Projects

Switch! covers Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Viet Nam.

Participants are women and gender diverse people working in the Internet technical sector who want to improve their professional credentials. They work with a National Coordinator based in each of the participating economies to develop their own Professional Development Plan tailored to their own career goals. As part of that plan, they can select training and mentoring courses from eligible providers. The project is vendor neutral and allows training from over a hundred providers. Costs are covered by the project.

National Coordinators work closely with participants, helping them along the way, and each economy has a National Event for participants to network and learn from each other.

You can discover activities in each economy below:

Switch! 2024

Switch 2024 launched on 11 April. It had 150 participants (25 per economy) including 139 women, and 11 gender diverse people.

Key statistics:

• Number of technical trainings completed: 906
• Number of certificates: 712 (52 professional certifications, the rest from training, workshops)
• Key technical areas that had a lot of interest from participants: Information Technology, Cyber Security, Network Operations, Internet Routing, Network Security
• Key leadership areas that had a lot of interest from participants: Leadership and Self-development, Public speaking, English, Project Management
• Representation activities: 47 (attending conferences, events or network operator groups)

Why launch the Switch! Project?

There is still a big disparity in the workforce between men employed in technical roles vs women and gender diverse professionals. The APNIC Foundation identified that although there are many initiatives that support women and girls to study STEM careers or pursue leadership roles, there was a need to provide concrete and actionable support for women and gender diverse people, already employed in technical roles in the industry, that had limited access to professional development opportunities that were matched to their personal development, availability, capacity and aspirations.

Through consultations with project participants and some of their employers, the following scenarios were identified:

1. Most professional development opportunities provided by employers, were structured addressing their short-term organizational needs, and in most cases didn’t consider pathways for career development.
2. When women and gender diverse leaders with a strong technical background were promoted to management, their vacancies were filled without considering retaining or improving the limited diversity in those teams as part of succession planning/recruitment.
3. The high cost of professional certifications, the time required for preparation and the limited support available were clear barriers for technical skills development.

The APNIC Foundation established Switch! to fill those gaps and respond to the individual needs of highly motivated women and gender diverse people in the industry so that they can positively and proactively contribute to the development of the industry, as they define their own goals and receive tailored support to achieve them.

Background

In May 2020, the APNIC Foundation received a grant from the Government of Australia to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of women and gender diverse technical staff working on Internet network operations and security in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. This project was completed in early 2022.

• Read about the SWITCH SEA project.

Following the completion of the project, the Foundation secured an increased funding contribution to the initiative from the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust, and was rebranded. The additional funding allowed for the expansion of the project to Lao PDR and Timor Leste. At the end of its first year as Switch!, the number of participants more than doubled from 74 before the relaunch to 161 under Switch!

Participants work closely with a national coordinator assigned to each economy. They work collaboratively around regional activities and are supported by members of the Foundation team and a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor.

Participants work closely with a national coordinator assigned to each economy. This collaboration allows participants to:

• Improve their research, management and public speaking capabilities;
• Share their technical knowledge, operational expertise and advice with the technical community at events and publications for local, regional and international participants; and
• Join in protecting an open, free and secure Internet in their areas.

In the beginning, as the project took place during the pandemic, the activities and supported provided was conducted entirely online. That support allowed many of the participants to remain engaged during the extended lockdown periods in the economies. As restrictions eased, the national coordinators organized Switch! national events held in each of the six economies as well as other community engagement and networking opportunities. At these events, participants come together, network, and share their stories of professional and personal development.

• Meet the national coordinators
• See pictures of the National Events on Flickr
• Watch the session on Switch! At APNIC 57 (Youtube)
• Watch the gender and diversity session at APNIC 57 featuring Switch! participants (Youtube)

This is a multi-year activity. For budget information, see the relevant annual reports.

Related:

• Annual Report 2022
• Annual Report 2023
• SWITCH SEA project
• APNIC Foundation session at APNIC 54 (Youtube)
• Fostering technical community action on climate and inclusion (APNIC 55 - Youtube)
• APNIC Blog: APRICOT 2023 through the eyes of Switch! participants
• Foundation Flickr albums including National Events