About Us
DigitalReach was founded in 2019 as an organization that looks into the impact of technology on human rights in Southeast Asia. The organization’s mission is to safeguard digital rights and internet freedom in the region. Our work revolves around our three core strategies which are research and monitoring, advocacy, and community building and empowerment.
Mission
Safeguarding human rights from technological impact in Southeast Asia.
Vision
Creating a digital environment in Southeast Asia that protects human rights.
Research & Monitoring
We monitor the impact of technology on human rights situations in Southeast Asia. The organization monitors and analyzes the situations at the national and regional level. We conduct research including policy analysis and investigative research, and release publications for advocacy on critical topics.
Advocacy
Our advocacy work involves stakeholders at the national, regional, and international level. Our advocacy approach is based on the local context for maximize the impact of our work. We look at possibilities to work with local partners, engage in the regional human rights mechanism particularly at ASEAN, and address the issues of digital rights in Southeast Asia with international stakeholders.
Community Building & Empowerment
Our strategy consists of building a community on digital rights by addressing and tackling impact of technology on the members’ work. We also working with community members to explore how we can work together to empower each other’s work to safeguard digital rights in the region.
Advisory
Cheekay Cinco
Cheekay Cinco has been working in the field of using technology for activism, with a focus on women´s rights, since 1998. Over the past decade, she has done multiple work in the field, including: co-writing the Gender Evaluation Methodology, during her time with the Association for Progressive Communications; facilitating the development of a Video4Change network during her time with EngageMedia. She has been a mentor for the Open Technology Fund (OTF)’s Digital Integrity Fellowship as well as facilitator for unconference style events related to activism, technology and rights. Currently, she is co-writing the Feminist Tech Exchange Reboot, which is a resource for feminist perspective on digital security for trainers.
Hong Phuc Dang
Hong Phuc Dang founded FOSSASIA in 2009 as a community devoted to improve people’s lives through sharing open technologies, knowledge and fostering global connections which later became an established organization that works on open technologies. The organization organizes Open Tech summits, science hack labs, meetups and coding programs with developers, designers and contributors. Hong is also a board director of the Open Source Initiative. She currently acts as the InnerSource manager at Zalando where she helps to bring open source culture and practices within the corporate walls and supports the company to become a good open source citizen.
Damar Juniarto
Damar is an Executive Director of Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet), and organization that works on digital rights in the region of Southeast Asia. He was a Vice President Regional Government Relations of GO-JEK and also a founder of Kesatuan Aksi Keluarga Besar Universitas Indonesia (KA-KBUI), Forum Demokrasi Digital, and Gerakan Masyarakat untuk Demokrasi. He is a prominent human rights activist who is known for his work on issues related to digital rights and online freedom of expression in the region.
Arthit Suriyawongkul
Arthit Suriyawongkul is a computer scientist and anthropologist by training. Since 2006, he has given consultation work working for a number of organizations involving ICT for developments, internet freedom, journalism, and information rights like Mekong ICT Camp, Campaign for Popular Media Reform, Creative Commons Thailand, and Opendream. He co-found Thai Netizen Network in 2008, an organization that works on data protection, online expression, digital self-determination, and participatory governance of the Internet.