Launching travel support applications for RightsCon 2026
October 31, 2025 • Community Experience • 4 min read
Launching travel support applications for RightsCon 2026
October 31, 2025 • Community Experience • 4 min read
Daphne Ugarte
Community Experience Manager
As part of our Community Support Fund initiative, travel support applications for RightsCon 2026 (May 5–8, Lusaka, Zambia and online) are now open! In this blog post, we are sharing information about our approach to the fund for our upcoming summit and important dates to keep in mind in the coming months.
Each edition, our Community Support Fund helps us bring a broad range of critical perspectives to RightsCon, especially of those that are often underrepresented in global fora like ours, ensuring that our summit remains accessible to individuals and communities without financial resources or institutional support. The fund provides both travel and connectivity support to civil society members who would not be able to attend the summit without our support, whether in-person or online.
Reflecting on our improvements from RightsCon 2025
Ahead of RightsCon 2025, based on the feedback of our community, we established key objectives and priorities to improve and expand the scope of the Community Support Fund. In practice, this meant directing more resources towards the fund’s budget, adjusting our timeline to give participants greater flexibility in planning their participation, increasing the level of travel support, strengthening our visa support process, and developing more spaces for community care.
The outcome of the changes we incorporated were encouraging. We were able to provide travel support to 50% more participants than we did in 2023, and by working closely with local partners and the Taiwanese government, we facilitated visas for 362 community members. Different mechanisms and spaces to support participant safety and well-being were also offered including trained psychosocial support for both in-person and online participants.
Our approach for 2026: building on our Community Support model
As we plan for RightsCon 2026, we are focusing on building on these efforts, carrying forward what worked well in 2025, identifying where gaps exist, and where we can improve.
Our approach to the fund will continue to be aimed at delivering quality support to participants, while adapting certain elements of our process to reflect the context in Zambia. In practice, this means taking into account local costs when defining the scope of funding, and working closely with our partners to make travel logistics smoother for participants, especially for those that face travel barriers or are travelling from the most distant regions. As we did in 2025, we’re working closely with the relevant ministries in Zambia to facilitate the visa process, and to ensure our timeline aligns with the country’s visa processing schedule.
We also want to acknowledge the challenging environment in which many of us are operating, where funding cuts have had a direct impact on our community. During our last summit, we doubled our investment into the fund to be able to support each funding recipient more holistically. For 2026, we are committed to maintaining the same level of funding, despite the financial constraints we face as an NGO. At the same time, we believe in being transparent about our limitations, as each year the demand for funding continues to exceed the resources we have available. For RightsCon 2026, we anticipate being able to support approximately 70 participants.
While all participants are welcome to apply, we will prioritize applications from session organizers, speakers, and facilitators whose participation directly impacts our program. We ask those who have access to other sources of funding, to secure funding independently or only select partial support when applying for travel support.
For more details about what’s included in the Community Support Fund, as well as eligibility requirements and selection criteria, visit our website or application portal.
Our timeline for important dates
- October 31, 2025: Travel support application launch
- Early November 2025: Registration launch
- Early January 2026: Travel support applications close
- Late-January 2026: Travel support notifications released
- February: Visa invitation letter launch
- Mid-February 2026: Connectivity support applications launch
- Mid-March 2026: Connectivity support applications close
- Late March: Connectivity support notifications released
- Mid-April: Platform opens
- May 5-8, 2026: RightsCon
For RightsCon 2026, travel support notifications will be sent to applicants three and a half months before the summit, compared to five months in 2025. While this represents a shorter timeframe, it aligns with Zambia’s 90-day visa validity period. This means that fund recipients will receive their notifications ahead of the e-Visa application window, which all nationals are eligible to apply for.
We recognize that a shorter planning window may affect flight ticket prices. Our team is working to secure promotional fares for RightsCon participants with major airlines flying into Lusaka, and we’ll share more information.
Visit our website for more details about the venue, travel, and visa information for Zambia. And stay tuned as we will continue to update our website with more information in the months to come.
As always, we’re open to feedback on how we can continue to improve our model of support. If you have any questions or suggestions, reach out to us at [email protected]. You can also check out the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website for more information.
We look forward to welcoming you in Zambia and online (May 5-8, 2026)!
Read the latest from RightsCon
As part of our Community Support Fund initiative, travel support applications for RightsCon 2026 (May 5–8, Lusaka, Zambia and online) are now open! In this blog post, we are sharing information about our approach to the fund for our upcoming summit and important dates to keep in mind in the coming months.
Each edition, our Community Support Fund helps us bring a broad range of critical perspectives to RightsCon, especially of those that are often underrepresented in global fora like ours, ensuring that our summit remains accessible to individuals and communities without financial resources or institutional support. The fund provides both travel and connectivity support to civil society members who would not be able to attend the summit without our support, whether in-person or online.
Reflecting on our improvements from RightsCon 2025
Ahead of RightsCon 2025, based on the feedback of our community, we established key objectives and priorities to improve and expand the scope of the Community Support Fund. In practice, this meant directing more resources towards the fund’s budget, adjusting our timeline to give participants greater flexibility in planning their participation, increasing the level of travel support, strengthening our visa support process, and developing more spaces for community care.
The outcome of the changes we incorporated were encouraging. We were able to provide travel support to 50% more participants than we did in 2023, and by working closely with local partners and the Taiwanese government, we facilitated visas for 362 community members. Different mechanisms and spaces to support participant safety and well-being were also offered including trained psychosocial support for both in-person and online participants.
Our approach for 2026: building on our Community Support model
As we plan for RightsCon 2026, we are focusing on building on these efforts, carrying forward what worked well in 2025, identifying where gaps exist, and where we can improve.
Our approach to the fund will continue to be aimed at delivering quality support to participants, while adapting certain elements of our process to reflect the context in Zambia. In practice, this means taking into account local costs when defining the scope of funding, and working closely with our partners to make travel logistics smoother for participants, especially for those that face travel barriers or are travelling from the most distant regions. As we did in 2025, we’re working closely with the relevant ministries in Zambia to facilitate the visa process, and to ensure our timeline aligns with the country’s visa processing schedule.
We also want to acknowledge the challenging environment in which many of us are operating, where funding cuts have had a direct impact on our community. During our last summit, we doubled our investment into the fund to be able to support each funding recipient more holistically. For 2026, we are committed to maintaining the same level of funding, despite the financial constraints we face as an NGO. At the same time, we believe in being transparent about our limitations, as each year the demand for funding continues to exceed the resources we have available. For RightsCon 2026, we anticipate being able to support approximately 70 participants.
While all participants are welcome to apply, we will prioritize applications from session organizers, speakers, and facilitators whose participation directly impacts our program. We ask those who have access to other sources of funding, to secure funding independently or only select partial support when applying for travel support.
For more details about what’s included in the Community Support Fund, as well as eligibility requirements and selection criteria, visit our website or application portal.
Our timeline for important dates
- October 29, 2025: Travel support launched
- November 5, 2025: Registration launch
- Early January, 2026: Travel support applications close
- Late January, 2026: Travel support notifications released
- Mid-February: Visa invitation letter launch
- Mid-February 2026: Connectivity support applications launch
- Mid-March, 2026: Connectivity support applications close
- Late March, 2026: Connectivity support notifications released
- Mid-April: Platform opens
- May 5-8, 2026: RightsCon
For RightsCon 2026, travel support notifications will be sent to applicants three and a half months before the summit, compared to five months in 2025. While this represents a shorter timeframe, it aligns with Zambia’s 90-day visa validity period. This means that fund recipients will receive their notifications ahead of the e-Visa application window, which all nationals are eligible to apply for.
We recognize that a shorter planning window may affect flight ticket prices. Our team is working to secure promotional fares for RightsCon participants with major airlines flying into Lusaka, and we’ll share more information.
Visit our website for more details about the venue, travel, and visa information for Zambia. And stay tuned as we will continue to update our website with more information in the months to come.
As always, we’re open to feedback on how we can continue to improve our model of support. If you have any questions or suggestions, reach out to us at [email protected]. You can also check out the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website for more information.
We look forward to welcoming you in Zambia and online (May 5-8, 2026)!