Nadine is the Co-Founder and Associate Editor of Afia-Amani Gran-lacs, a community based online media outlet that serves communities in the North-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is passionate about freedom of expression online and has previously served as a media consultant for Internews and was a 2022 Fellow with Media Defence.
Nelson Otieno Okeyo is a Kenyan litigation and compliance lawyer, academic and a legal researcher. He is passionate about human rights and data protection regulation in Africa with a particular bias to regulation of drones and design of data protection impact assessments.
Nelson’s current engagements include conducting doctoral research at the University of Bayreuth where he also doubles as a Teaching and Research Assistant to the Chair of African Legal Studies. His research focuses on role and impact of stakeholder voices in design and implementation of data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) in Africa. The research is conducted as part of International Doctorate Programme on Business and Human Rights at the Centre for Human Rights in Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Nelson finds happiness in holding one-on-one conversations with real human subjects on wide range of issues. When he is home, he prefers to play his favorite hymnals on his acoustic (Ibanez) guitar during his free time. He is also exploring his newly found love for snow hiking and bowling, often in company of friends.
Togolese technology enthusiast Afi will study digital transformation and the digital economy in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Togo during the Covid-19 pandemic, to determine value and innovation opportunities as well as challenges.
She is a member of the organising committee of the Internet Governance Forum for Youth in West Africa and has also served on the United Nations Internet Governance Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG). She holds a Masters and Bachelors in Information Technology from Sikkim Manipal University.
Melissa is a Program Project Officer with the Civic Tech Innovation Network at Wits Governance School, based in South Africa. She holds an honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Linguistics and Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University.
Her work at the Civic Tech Innovation Network and Jamlab (also at Wits) focuses on digital innovation in Africa, including digital journalism and media, and promoting the growth and development of appropriate and effective uses of digital technologies in connecting government and citizens, in public participation, in transparency and accountability, and in delivering public services. In 2019 she was part of the Index on Censorship Youth Advisory Board – a project by Index on Censorship aimed at engaging with young people aged 16-25 from around the world and gathering their views on freedom of expression issues.
Dunia is a legal consultant, who has previously worked as an Almami Cyllah Fellow with Amnesty International (United States) and as a Human Rights Officer at the East Africa Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Dunia also worked as a Program Officer on Ending Violence against Women and Girls at UN Women Ethiopia, and on child protection issues with UNICEF Ethiopia.
She holds a Master of Laws in National Security from Georgetown University Law Center and a Master of Arts in Human Rights from Addis Ababa University. Dunia is the first Africa Fellow for Georgetown’s LAWA program to earn a Master of Laws in National Security. She earned her bachelor degree in law from Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. Dunia is a member of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), the Ethiopian Bar Association, and the Ethiopian American Bar Association.
For her fellowship, she will study the role of the internet and access to information during 2020 elections in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Somalia.