The 2026 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly is just one week away, bringing together over 500 human rights defenders, activists, policymakers, technologists, academics, and more from across the regional digital rights movement. 

DRAPAC26 in Manila, Philippines, is being held at a time when the Asia-Pacific region faces profound and escalating challenges to digital rights and internet freedom, and spaces for rights defenders continue to shrink. 

Hear from the Foundation for Media Alternatives, DAKILA – the Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, and EngageMedia about what you can expect from DRAPAC26 and – if you haven’t registered – why you should consider joining us in Manila. 

DRAPAC is a flagship programme for EngageMedia to bring together civic tech actors from the region – including human rights defenders, advocates, thought-leaders, researchers, policy-makers, and an emerging, next-generation of actors.

Please join us at DRAPAC26, the fourth edition of the regional DRAPAC assembly. DRAPAC26 will be a space for us to think together, learn from each other, shape agendas, make connections, contribute to field building, and reach solidarity in our positions around challenges for the region.

The financing of the civic tech ecosystem is in crisis. At the same time, we face a rise in authoritarianism and democracy backsliding, making working against digital repression risky as well as operationally unsustainable. DRAPAC26 will be a platform for us to think about shared solutions – immediate and long-term.

The digital rights space has been going through a lot in recent years. Funding cuts, attacks on civil society, and the rise of tech oligarchy place the future of digital freedoms and civic space in danger. This is why solidarity within the movement matters now, more than ever. 

On June 8-10, 2026, the digital rights community in the Asia-Pacific is coming together in Manila for DRAPAC26, and the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) is proud to be one of its co-hosts. DRAPAC is more than just a conference. It is a vital space where civil society takes center stage and converges to discuss and debate, strategize and shape the digital future that we imagine for our region, based on our contexts and lived realities.  It brings together digital defenders, human rights advocates, technologists, activists, artists, academia and the private sector for an exchange of ideas and sharing of work and experiences. It is where meaningful dialogues, partnerships, connections and collaboration happen.

To make this convening even more meaningful, we need as many voices as we can, representing as many communities and sectors as possible. We need you. 

As Executive Director of the FMA, a civil society organization in the Philippines built by rights advocates and communities who believe that Filipinos should have access to and be safe on the Internet, I personally invite you to join us in DRAPAC26. Let’s grab a cup of coffee, learn from each other, and imagine a better digital future for all of us, one conversation at a time.

There is no shortage of crises in our region. What we are running out of are spaces where people can gather across movements, disciplines, and borders to imagine what comes next.

For artists, storytellers, educators, students, filmmakers, human rights defenders, and democracy advocates: this is why DRAPAC26 matters.

Today, narratives shape what we believe is possible. They influence our politics, our technologies, our relationships, our fears, and our futures. When these narratives are concentrated in the hands of a few institutions, platforms, and power structures, democracy itself becomes smaller. But when communities build narratives together, they create the conditions for collective action, solidarity, and transformation.

At DAKILA, we believe culture is where movements live, grow, and fight for meaning. Through DRAPAC26, we want to explore how we build shared narrative infrastructure, common resources, and collective imagination that can strengthen human rights and democracy in increasingly complex digital realities.

DRAPAC26 is a space to exchange knowledge, test ideas, build relationships, and create together across sectors and geographies.

If you care about stories, power, technology, democracy, and the futures we are building — we hope you join us.

Because the narratives shaping tomorrow should belong to all of us.

Be part of DRAPAC26

Still haven’t registered for DRAPAC26? Get your ticket at https://drap.ac/26/attendees/ before registration closes on June 7, 2026. Tickets are free for all grassroots human rights defenders and participants who wish to join remotely. All ticket proceeds go towards supporting the attendance of the DRAPAC26 Fellowship cohort. 

For participants joining in-person, check out the Information for Attendees page for instructions, reminders, and other details related to your attendance in Manila.

Remote registration is available for those unable to attend in Manila. Hybrid access is limited to plenaries and select sessions. More information will be made available soon on the Information for Attendees page. 

We invite you to be part of DRAPAC26, and we’d be thrilled to welcome you to Manila.