Promoting Effective and Inclusive ICT Policy in Africa

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11Jun

Protecting Children Online in Africa Must Move from Policy to Practice

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Patricia Ainembabazi |

Child online safety has returned to the forefront of digital governance discussions across Africa and globally. New regulatory initiatives from the United Nations, the African Union, and industry coalitions reflect growing concern about the risks children face in increasingly digital societies. Yet, while policy commitments are multiplying, implementation continues to lag.

The challenge is particularly acute in Africa, where internet access is expanding rapidly while child protection systems struggle to keep pace. As more children go online, they are increasingly exposed to cyberbullying, online grooming, sexual exploitation, harmful content, privacy violations, and emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled risks such as disinformation and misinformation.

Just last month, the United Nations Human Rights Office called for stronger regulation and government oversight, publishing 10 key points to make platforms safer for children, urging technology companies to embed child safety into their product design and address the growing risk posed by AI. This reflects a broader shift in global digital policy. The Global Digital Compact has committed states to strengthen legal and policy frameworks for children’s rights in digital spaces and to prioritise national online child safety policies and standards by 2030.

At the continental level, the African Union Child Online Safety and Empowerment Policy of 2024 sets out principles on children’s safety and privacy, and participation to guide member states in developing national strategies, while the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), UNICEF, and partners recently launched the Africa Taskforce on Child Online Protection to strengthen coordination among governments, mobile operators, technology companies, regulators, law enforcement, civil society, and young people.

Some African countries are already taking steps to strengthen child protection online. Rwanda is considering restrictions on social media access for children under 16, while Zimbabwe recently approved a National Child Online Protection Policy for 2026–2030 aimed at addressing online sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, grooming, harmful content, sextortion, and privacy violations.

These developments reflect a broader global shift in approaches to child online safety. Australia has legislated to restrict social media access for children under 16, while the United Kingdom recently concluded a national consultation examining age-based protections and enforcement mechanisms. Across several countries, governments, regulators, and civil society organisations are increasingly calling on technology companies to strengthen safeguards and take greater responsibility for protecting children online.

A broader strategy would expand efforts to ensure that while policies and frameworks on child protection are being developed, children are involved. This would help them understand the several platforms available for use, associated risks, pressures, and opportunities for digital life. The Africa Taskforce on Child Online Protection recognises this mode of participation and has now included youth representatives by integrating their voices for a child-centered digital future in Africa. Replicating this approach at the national level, through wide youth consultations, school-based dialogues, child-friendly policy forums, and participatory design of reporting and safety tools, will foster a healthy digital environment for the young.

It is against this backdrop that the Digital Rights Alliance Africa (DRAA) report, “Child Protection and Safety Online in Africa: The Law, Privacy, Challenges and Solutions, provides crucial, ground-level evidence across 10 countries – Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. It highlights the gaps in child safety and protection online despite technological advancement and expansion.

The report highlights several recommendations that could help foster child safety and protection online, which are directed to different stakeholders, including the government, civil society organisations, international organisations, development partners, the technology sector, media, academia, parents, and the general community, and among others include;

  1. Parliaments should enact specific national laws that protect children’s privacy and safety in digital spaces, with clear safeguards tailored to children’s particular vulnerabilities, such as cyberbullying, grooming, online sexual exploitation, image-based abuse, harmful content, misuse of children’s data, profiling, and age-inappropriate design.
  2. Governments should invest in the implementation of national strategies that set out the roles of government agencies, the judiciary, data protection authorities, law enforcement actors, educators, parents, and the private sector in protecting children in the digital age.
  3. Platforms and telecom companies should design child-friendly products and services, minimise the collection and retention of children’s data, introduce age verification and parental controls, publish transparency reports, and submit protection measures to independent audits.
  4. The media should monitor, document, and report objectively, and expose all cases of online child abuse and demand accountability from the responsible parties.
  5. Civil society organisations should engage in advocacy, awareness raising, legal reform, evidence-based research, and documentation of issues affecting child safety online in order to demand and push for accountability of all the relevant stakeholders.
  6. All stakeholders must ensure that children are meaningfully included in innovation and programming, and that children and young people are actively engaged as participants in discussions, collaborations, and co-design of digital solutions.

Ultimately, for children to stay online, measures must go beyond mere policy expressions and aspirations as reiterated in the Global Digital Compact’s 2030. Laws and frameworks specific to child protection and safety online should be developed and stringently implemented. Moreover, digital service providers must be held accountable, and other stakeholders, including parents, schools, and communities, should join efforts to ensure that children are empowered to safely utilise digital technologies.

CIPESA and partners continue to advocate for rights-respecting policies that advance children’s protection, participation, access, and safe use of digital technologies, while calling on technology companies to embed these principles in platform design, governance, and accountability systems.

10Jun

Overview of CIPESA Policy Submissions to International Bodies and Governments

Author CIPESA Posted on

By CIPESA Writer |

Africa’s digital rights landscape is evolving rapidly, shaped by new legislation, emerging technologies, and recurring threats to civic space. CIPESA has remained actively engaged in documenting these developments, including through the annual State of Internet Freedom in Africa reports and through broader programming.

Over the last few months, we have made submissions to various international bodies and national governments, filed legal interventions, and provided expert commentary to advance internet freedom, digital inclusion, and democratic governance.

Below is an overview of our key submissions and commentaries in recent months.

Engaging Global Bodies on Technology Governance

Submission on How the WHO Digital Health Strategy Should Govern Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): In March 2026, CIPESA submitted recommendations to the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa on the development of the Global Digital Health Strategy for 2028–2033, urging that the strategy be anchored on human rights, equity, and accountability. CIPESA warned that most AI systems used in African healthcare are trained on non-African datasets, increasing risks of inaccurate diagnoses and exclusions, and called for mandatory “explainability” standards, equity impact assessments, and domestic investment in digital health infrastructure.

Recommendations to the OHCHR: Also in March, CIPESA submitted to the UN Human Rights Council under Resolution 58/23 on the risks digital technologies pose to human rights defenders in Africa. The submission examined legal and policy developments, tech-facilitated attacks including against women HRDs, AI-related risks, and challenges facing civil society and companies, while recommending stronger corporate measures to identify, assess, and prevent harm to HRDs. CIPESA submitted comments and recommendations on due diligence and improved responses to digital technology-related risks faced by human rights defenders.

Engaging National Governments on Digital Legislation Commentary on Zimbabwe National AI Strategy: The Southern African state recently adopted its National AI Strategy 2026–2030 (AI strategy)  to guide its digital technology and transformation. The strategy aims to accelerate development, enhance industrialisation, and improve service delivery in sectors such as health, finance, agriculture, education and public administration. The strategy also emphasises building local data infrastructure as opposed to relying on foreign data storage infrastructure while promoting an AI governance approach grounded in Ubuntu, human rights, accountability, transparency and inclusivity. However, an important question is whether Zimbabwe’s approach offers useful lessons for other African countries developing national AI strategies. Find our commentary here.

Submission on the Uganda AI and Emerging Technologies Strategy: In March 2026, CIPESA submitted recommendations to Uganda’s National AI and Emerging Technologies Strategy Taskforce, welcoming the country’s ambition to harness AI for development while cautioning that innovation must be matched with legal, institutional, and ethical safeguards. Find a commentary here.

CIPESA called for a rights-by-design approach including mandatory Human Rights Impact Assessments for high-risk AI systems, algorithmic transparency, local data representation, and meaningful civil society participation in shaping Uganda’s AI strategy.

Outpaced by Its Own Ambition: Can Kenya Bridge Its AI Regulation Gap? This commentary highlighted the raw paradox at the heart of Kenya’s AI, noting that the country is simultaneously sprinting ahead in AI adoption while grappling with a shrinking space for the very digital voices that AI empowers. A key remains between ambition and readiness as the country ranks 93rd in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index, due to persistent weaknesses in infrastructure, implementation, and institutional capacity. Find a commentary here.

Submission to the White Paper on ICT Tax Reduction in Uganda: A year ago, CIPESA submitted a position paper to the National Task Team on Enhancement of Government Revenue from the ICT Sector at the Uganda Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. The paper benchmarked Uganda’s ICT sector tax policies, licensing fees, and regulatory regimes against those of Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Since then various developments have emerged which inform the ICT tax regime in Uganda including the April 2026 passing of the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which rejected the controversial government proposal to impose an 18 percent tax on imported software after lawmakers warned it would undermine the country’s digital transformation agenda.

Engaging the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)

ACHPR Resolution 630 on Monitoring Technology Companies: In March 2025, the ACHPR adopted Resolution 630, a timely step toward holding technology companies accountable for information integrity in Africa. CIPESA welcomed the move, contributed recommendations across key regional forums, and looks forward to strengthening the newly developed guidelines through the review process.

Prioritising Human Rights Defenders: CIPESA reviewed the Draft Declaration on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Africa, which seeks to help restore civic space for the effective protection of human rights. In its submission to the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, CIPESA highlighted the draft’s strengths, weaknesses, and gaps, and offered practical recommendations to align it with continental and global standards, particularly the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Find the submission here

Supporting the Ratification of the AU Disability Protocol: CIPESA has consistently called upon African Union member states to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa. Our submission to the ACHPR Working Group on the Rights of Older Persons and People with Disabilities in Africa (April 2022) argued that ratification is a matter of utmost priority and that without it, the digital rights of persons with disabilities across the continent remain inadequately protected.

Contributing to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Joint Stakeholder Submission on Tanzania’s Digital Rights Record: Ahead of Tanzania’s fourth cycle UPR before the UN Human Rights Council set to take place in November 2026, CIPESA, alongside the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and JamiiAfrica, submitted a joint stakeholder report documenting the state of digital rights in the country.

While acknowledging positive developments including the enactment of the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022, and reforms to the Media Services Act, the submission highlighted persistent concerns: the use of vague laws to suppress online expression, the blocking of platforms including Clubhouse, X, and JamiiForums, a nationwide internet shutdown during the 2025 general elections, and the escalating threat of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) against women journalists and activists.

The submission called on Tanzania to repeal or amend vague and overly broad laws, comply with international human rights standards on internet access, establish judicial oversight over surveillance, and invest in digital rights literacy.

Rwanda’s fourth cycle UPR review: Rwanda had its UPR review in January 2026 where following the November 2025 pre-session in Geneva, several permanent missions expressed eagerness to advance strong recommendations for Rwanda, and CIPESA’s evidence and recommendations were expected to inform their engagement during the formal review.

A joint submission by CIPESA and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) noted that digital technologies have expanded the avenues through which women are targeted, often enabling harm that is faster, more pervasive, and harder to remedy.

Rwanda’s UPR presented a timely opportunity to adopt meaningful, future-focused reforms that uphold human rights, ensure accountability, and create a digital environment where all citizens, especially women, can participate safely, freely, and equally.

Since the review, the Rwandan government has noted they would undertake national consultations with relevant stakeholders to assess the recommendations and determine its position.

Liberia’s fourth cycle UPR review: CIPESA, in collaboration with the West Africa ICT Action Network (WAICTANET), submitted a joint stakeholder submission for Liberia’s consideration during the 50th session of the UPR. The joint submission observed that, although Liberia has taken preliminary steps towards aligning its domestic legal and policy framework with applicable regional and international human rights standards, substantial legal, institutional, and enforcement gaps persist. It called for the Government to adopt comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity legislation; safeguard the right to freedom of expression online; ensure accountability for violations against journalists, human rights defenders, and online actors; strengthen transparency and effective access to information; and implement targeted measures to bridge the digital divide.

Malawi’s fourth cycle UPR review: A joint submission was made by CIPESA alongside the The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), the International Press Institute (IPI), the University of Birmingham, and Small Media, on digital rights in Malawi. The submission recommended law reform, full implementation of the Access to Information Act, affordable and inclusive internet access, independent oversight for digital rights violations, operationalisation of the Data Protection Act, protection of encryption, and safeguards against unlawful spyware use.

Looking Ahead

Across these engagements with the ACHPR, the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council, the WHO, and national governments in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, CIPESA’s work reflects a consistent commitment to promoting inclusive and effective use of ICT in Africa for improved governance and livelihoods.As the digital governance landscape continues to shift, our submissions serve as a continued resource for policymakers, civil society, the media and other entities committed to advancing internet freedom in Africa.

Peter G. Mwesige, Ph.D., giving opening remarks
08Jun

Stakeholders Call for Digital Transformation That Bridges Business and Digital Rights in Uganda

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Doreen Namuyanja |

Uganda is embracing the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as drivers of national development. Both promise efficiency, improved service delivery, financial inclusion, and economic growth. However, as the country advances its digital transformation interests, questions linger on the adequacy of safeguards for citizens especially where business and rights intersect.

These questions were at the centre of a  High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Business and Digital Rights convened by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)  on May 7, 2026, under the Advancing Respect for Human Rights by Businesses in Uganda (ARBHR) project, supported by Enabel and the European Union (EU). The dialogue brought together 81 individuals representing government officials, civil society actors, private sector representatives, researchers, and digital innovators to reflect on the growing recognition that digital transformation is not simply a technical process, but also a governance and human rights issue that demands transparency and accountability.

The discussions at the dialogue revealed a tension between innovation and human rights. Systems such as digital identity (ID), payment platforms, and data-sharing frameworks   centralise enormous amounts of personal data and are reshaping power relationships between citizens, the government, and corporations.

Participants noted that in the absence of strong governance frameworks, these systems can enable exclusion, surveillance, and misuse of personal information. Further,  concerns were raised about fragmented systems across government agencies, weak interoperability, and limited public awareness regarding how personal data is collected, stored, and shared.

Meanwhile, as emerging technologies such AI take hold in the country,  the Uganda National AI Landscape Assessment positions  AI as a key digital technology driver to drive economic growth.

However, the Assessment documents the absence of a dedicated AI policy and regulatory framework, a shortage of AI skills, and insufficient collaboration between academia and the technology sector. Similarly, like its counterpart governments across Africa, Uganda is increasingly investing in DPI systems including digital ID and payment systems,  as well as data exchange frameworks. DPI is being positioned as a key pillar of digital transformation strategies across Africa. However, DPI  systems remain heavily reliant on public data and algorithmic decision-making. Thus, if   designed and deployed without sufficient citizen participation, independent oversight, legal safeguards, and alignment with the public interest, they risk becoming tools of exclusion, exploitation, and foreign dependency.

Various efforts related to the adoption of emerging technologies are underway.  Ambrose Ruyooka, the Assistant Commissioner at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Uganda noted that the Ministry is taking a cautious approach to regulation by prioritising standards, policy guidance, and institutional learning before introducing binding laws. This includes efforts to domesticate the UNESCO Recommendations on the Ethics of AI and a Readiness Assessment process. The dialogue also came on the heels of the Ministry’s call for stakeholder input to the National AI and Emerging Technologies Strategy – signaling a growing policy focus on responsible digital transformation.

Further he stressed that in the midst of AI, stakeholders should not be “passive consumers” of the digital economy but actively “participate in shaping it” while pointing out that participation requires local technical capacity to “build, operate and audit” systems such as AI and DPI systems independently.While government efforts are laying the foundation for AI governance, businesses also have an obligation to innovate responsibly and adopt robust human rights due diligence processes to support regulatory compliance and foster trust and sustainability.

At a broader level, the dialogue demonstrated how digital rights are increasingly intertwined with economic rights and social justice. As a result, corporate responsibility can no longer be limited to traditional labour or environmental concerns. Companies are now expected to consider how their digital operations affect privacy, equality, freedom of expression, and access to information.

This shift is especially significant for Uganda’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), many of which are digitising rapidly but often lack the resources and expertise needed to manage cybersecurity and data effectively.

Presentations from implementing partners, including the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Evidence and Methods Lab (EML), Wakiso District Human Rights Committee (WDHRC), Boundless Minds, and Girls for Climate Action (G4CA), highlighted both the scale of the challenge and the potential for practical intervention. Partner interventions on digital rights and cybersecurity are strengthening awareness and practices among entities – both rural and urban.

The European Union’s (EU) Commitment to Human Rights in Business

Laurianne Comard, Programme Officer at the EU Delegation to Uganda,  noted that the EU and its member states are currently among Uganda’s largest investors in the private sector, with over 1.4 billion euros deployed to foster sustainable economic growth and high-value exports. Specifically, she stated that the EU supports Uganda’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights with over 20 billion Uganda Shillings, with a specific focus on strengthening human rights practices in business operations, particularly around labour standards and women’s rights.

Course-Correcting on Inclusion

Participants also noted that public participation in digital governance remains limited. Several civil society actors argued that consultations around national AI strategy have not been broad enough, particularly for rural communities, labour unions, youth groups and persons with disabilities. Frameworks developed without broad public engagement risk lacking legitimacy and failing to address the lived realities of those most affected.

The dialogue also reflected on the NAP on Business and Human Rights and the consultative processes underpinning its evaluation and development of NAP II. Lydia Nabiryo, Assistant Commissioner at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, acknowledged that the government is actively working to broaden participation in the NAP’s revision.

Her remarks were a candid recognition that the first NAP, while a significant milestone, left representational gaps, and that those gaps are now being deliberately addressed. She noted, “If you have noticed this time round, we are having a more inclusive dialogue with stakeholders that were not necessarily represented in the first NAP. So, not only is the government evaluating, but we’re also course correcting.”   

Participation should not only be limited to policy processes. Shane Ssenyonga, an innovator, pointed out the need for collaborative spaces that support entrepreneurs and businesses to build scalable solutions that are responsive to social, cultural, and economic realities.

Recommendations for Action

The dialogue called for stronger human rights safeguards and access to remedy within digital transformation strategies and business operations. The strategies should be in harmony with existing digital laws and policies and strengthen oversight and enforcement by relevant institutions. For businesses, adoption of forward looking internal policies and risk management practices was emphasised to ensure trusted deployments and reduce barriers to uptake. Advocacy, documentation, and digital literacy interventions remain critical to public education and compliance monitoring.

08Jun

CIPESA Annual Report 2025 Highlights Agility in A Changing Funding and Policy Landscape

Author CIPESA Posted on

By CIPESA Writer |

The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is pleased to present its 2025 Annual Report. Made possible by a wide network of collaborators across Africa and beyond, our work reflects a year marked by agility, resilience, and responsiveness amid rapid shifts in technology, policy, and governance.

Across Africa, governments rapidly expanded the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), including national digital ID systems, surveillance tools, and e-government platforms, reshaping how power is exercised, services are delivered, and citizens engage with the state. At the same time, digital platforms remained central to political and civic life, amplifying both civic participation and manipulation.

Through our research, advocacy, and partnerships, the report highlights how digital transformation is reshaping everyday life and why protecting civic space and digital rights remains more important than ever.

Over the year, our work moved beyond who participates in digital governance across Africa to strengthening the quality and influence of that participation. We are deeply grateful to all our Network of allies whose support made our 2025 work possible.

In a year marked by significant shifts in the global funding landscape, their continued trust and commitment to digital rights in Africa was both enabling and affirming.

We remain committed to advancing an open, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital ecosystem in Africa, confident that when evidence, advocacy, and collective action come together, meaningful change is possible. Read more on the report below.

CIPESA Annual Report 2025
29May

Lessons from Ethiopia’s Disability Inclusion Conference for Africa’s Telecom Sector

Author CIPESA Posted on

By CIPESA Writer |

On April 24, 2026, Safaricom Ethiopia Telecommunications convened a Disability Inclusion Conference in Addis Ababa. While opening the conference, Safaricom Ethiopia CEO, Wim Vanhelleputte emphasised the importance of involving persons with disabilities in the design of digital products and services by invoking the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us.”

The conference, which brought together stakeholders from government, academia, tech companies, Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs), and civil society, nevertheless highlighted a more persistent reality. For the approximately 15-17 million Ethiopians living with a disability, roughly one in six people, the disconnect between policy commitments and lived reality remains significant in access to services and devices.

As Abayneh Gujo, Executive Director of the Federation of Ethiopian Associations of Persons with Disabilities (FEAPD), noted during the conference, the disconnect continues to affect access not only to digital services, but also to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. Many other African countries face a similar gap.

A Sector That Continues to Treat Accessibility as Optional
Findings from a CIPESA report, Access Denied: How Telecom Operators in Africa Are Failing Persons with Disabilities, show that major telecom companies across markets in Africa continue to treat accessibility as a secondary consideration. The study assessed 10 telecom companies in Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. For example, staff were untrained and often unaware of what accessible products existed. Procurement policies did not require accessibility features, while physical access to sales outlets was poor. Discounted rates for persons with disabilities were virtually non-existent, with only Vodacom South Africa offering them in the form of a modest SMS bundle for customers with hearing impairments.

These shortcomings reflect a sector that has long treated accessibility as optional, often framing it as corporate social responsibility rather than a legal obligation. There has been progress since the report, but it has been driven by individual company initiatives rather than coordinated, sector-wide change anchored in regulatory standards and enforceable requirements.

Even where accessibility features exist, accessible smartphones, assistive technologies and mobile data remain out of reach for many persons with disabilities, especially in rural and low-income settings. This is because access depends not only on whether technologies are available, but whether people can afford to use them consistently over time. Studies, including by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), identify affordability as a major barrier to digital inclusion, yet telecom pricing and product design still rarely reflect the realities faced by persons with disabilities.

What Ethiopia Must Do
Ethiopia has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and has disability-related provisions in existing laws. However, the country still lacks a comprehensive and enforceable disability rights law. Such a law should set clear obligations on telecom operators, broadcasters and digital service providers, including standards for accessible customer care, websites, mobile applications and emergency communications. In the absence of such a framework, accountability rests largely on goodwill.

Beyond legislation, Ethiopia has an opportunity to use its newly established Universal Access Fund, administered by the Ethiopian Communications Authority, to finance accessible digital centres, assistive devices, software, and skills-building programmes for persons with disabilities. As the country expands its digital public infrastructure, such as mobile money, e-government services, and digital identity systems, accessibility cannot remain an afterthought that is addressed only after systems are deployed.

What Telecom Operators Must Do
Based on CIPESA’s research, telecom operators need to prioritise accessibility by establishing an accessibility function at the senior management level, and embedding universal design into products and services from the earliest stages of development. As Karen Smit, Accessibility Lead at Vodacom Group, noted, many of the barriers experienced by persons with disabilities are created not by disability itself, but by how technologies, systems and environments are designed.

Operators also need procurement policies that require accessible handsets to be stocked across outlets, including in rural areas, alongside practical training for customer-facing staff on accessibility and assistive technologies. Regular user experience research with Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) should become standard practice rather than a one-off consultation exercise. As Vanhelleputte argued in his opening remarks, inclusion is not about designing for persons with disabilities, but designing with them.

One finding from CIPESA’s research still stands out. Several operators do not have reliable data on the number of customers with disabilities. Disaggregating customer data by disability status is a necessary foundation for any serious inclusion strategy.

Operators should also recognise that accessible design is good business. Captions, voice navigation and simplified interfaces benefit older users, people with low digital literacy and anyone navigating a screen in difficult conditions. Features initially developed for persons with disabilities, such as audiobooks and voice-based tools, have often become popular and proved beneficial to broader groups of users.

Safaricom Ethiopia can build on Vodacom’s accessibility initiatives in South Africa and Safaricom Kenya’s disability employment targets and digital skills programmes to move from commitments to measurable implementation. This includes conducting accessibility audits across retail outlets and digital platforms, improving accessibility across customer service channels, embedding accessibility into services such as M-PESA, and establishing sustained partnerships with DPOs to support ongoing user testing and co-design.

At the Addis conference, Vanhelleputte noted that accessible e-learning, telemedicine and mobile money can help bypass barriers that have historically excluded persons with disabilities from economic and social life.

According to Dr Wairagala Wakabi, the Executive Director of Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), the next step for telecom operators is ensuring that these commitments are reflected in everyday customer experience, backed by clear targets, public reporting, and sustained engagement between telecom operators, regulators, government, civil society and organisations of persons with disabilities.

From Commitment to Action
Some civil society actors are doing their part through research, advocacy and sustained engagement. However, this is not a substitute for what regulators, governments and telecom operators are obliged to do through enforceable commitments, clear standards, and measurable implementation.

For Africa’s estimated 260 million persons with disabilities, digital inclusion must stop being a conference theme and start being a measurable reality. As governments digitise banking, identity systems, healthcare and public services, inaccessible digital infrastructure increasingly means exclusion from economic and civic life itself.

CIPESA will continue documenting these gaps, engaging stakeholders, and holding the sector to account until meaningful inclusion is achieved.

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