
While developing the Tropical Whitefly Project for the CGIAR based at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture – CIAT, a nomination call from our late colleague Alicia Richero launched Sylvia Cadena’s remarkable career.
In June 2003 and as a Young Professional Awardee, Sylvia was assigned to work in Montevideo, Uruguay alongside Ben Petrazzini, Director of the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas. At ICA, Sylvia supported a wireless networks development project called WiLAC to develop a Map of Connectivity in the Americas, the establishment of the FRIDA Program (the regional fund for digital innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean), and various other initiatives.
Sylvia’s partner, Germán Valdez, was at the Latin American and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC) office in Montevideo, addressing internet policy development and enhancing support to the technical community in the region. When the IDRC assignment ended, Sylvia was offered short-term contracts to support projects in the region. For five years, they lived in Uruguay where their son Gabriel was born.
The family moved to Brisbane in 2008 and, by the time Sylvia arrived, IDRC was working with the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and the Internet Society on the creation of the Information Society Innovation Asia Fund. APNIC offered her a Project Officer position to establish the ISIF Asia fund, which is now in its 15th year of operation and known as one of the region’s most established internet development funds. APNIC is an open, member-based, not-for-profit organisation whose primary role is to distribute and manage internet number resources (IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers) in the region’s fifty-six economies.
In 2010 Sylvia led the negotiations with IDRC and with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) to establish the Seed Alliance, a collaboration between the FRIDA Program and the ISIF Asia fund. The Alliance invested in internet development and innovation across the global south from 2011 until 2017 and supported the development of the FIRE Program, the African Fund for Internet Research and Education.
After ten years of managing the fund, Sylvia was appointed Head of Programs at the start of the APNIC Foundation in December 2016, working on the management, design, and implementation of collaborative programs and projects. The Foundation’s mission is to increase investment in internet development in the Asia Pacific region, through education and training, human capacity building, community development, research, and related projects and activities. Now, Sylvia is Head of Programs and Partnerships, coordinating the investment strategy of the Foundation across three main areas: Inclusion, Infrastructure, and Knowledge through a variety of funding mechanisms, as well as supporting the establishment of partnerships with donors and philanthropists interested in the development of the Internet.
Sylvia writes …
“The staff at the IDRC Montevideo office and LACNIC became our family; since we arrived and we have remained in contact ever since… we miss them dearly.
“IDRC has always been there for me throughout my career. They were the very first donor that 6 supported the work I was doing at Colnodo with the Neighborhood Information Units in Colombia back in the early 90s (an earlier version of a telecentre) and continued to offer me opportunities to learn and meet people working on internet development until now.”
“Our son Gabriel is studying nursing at the University of Queensland. He is an avid musician and baseball player and, despite the pandemic and a few injuries that have gotten in the way, he was part of the U18 National Baseball Squad”.
Shaun Bona
Bulletin No. 70
January 2023