Promoting Effective and Inclusive ICT Policy in Africa

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  HomeCollaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)  /  ADRF
31Aug

CIPESA Announces USD 150,000 in New ADRF Grants

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Ashnah Kalemera | 

The Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is pleased to announce that a total of USD 150,000 has been awarded to 13 entities under the fifth round of the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF). Now in its second year, the latest round brings to USD 564,000, the total amount awarded by ADRF to 45 initiatives working to advance digital rights across the continent. 

The winning entities will undertake research, capacity building, awareness raising, advocacy and stakeholder engagements in 25 countries – Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Togo, and Uganda.

While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining prominence, the field and its intersection with the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and equality remain understudied in Africa. Alt Advisory will map private and public sector AI applications in South Africa and develop a framework for a rights-based assessment of such applications across the region. The research findings will feed into the development of an accessible web-based resource. Further, a series of consultative workshops will be hosted to raise awareness and engage stakeholders on safeguarding human rights in the context of AI, so as to inform future interventions such as a complaints mechanism, best practice guidelines, a model law, or strategic litigation.

Building on work around visualisation of the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, including lockdown restrictions, monetary policy responses and vaccine roll out, Covid Watch Africa will document the digital threats faced by civil society organisations and independent media in Africa and responses in the context of the pandemic. The analysis will inform campaigns and interactive media resources on operational capacity for digital resilience of Covid Watch Africa’s partner organisations and press corps members in 16 countries. 

In the DR Congo, second time grantee Rudi International will continue to foster digital rights among key actors, this time targeting the National Assembly. Under the umbrella of the Association of Young Parliamentarians, Rudi International will engage members of the assembly on the Telecommunications and Technology Committee on the prevailing ICT policy landscape, how to champion positive reforms and ally with digital rights organisations. The engagements will also build the legislators’  digital security knowledge and  skills. 

With a new president in Tanzania, Zaina Foundation will convene a multi-stakeholder dialogue on internet rights and governance to seek the government’s commitments  not to entrench digital repression but to promote progressive legislative and practical reforms instead.

Tunis-based Digitally Yours will study civic technology initiatives by governments and civil society in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan to establish the reality beyond the hype. Through interviews with relevant actors and use-case analysis, Digitally Yours will explore the civic tech platforms’ utility, extent to which they uphold or undermine human rights, and potential for replication. Among the initiatives to be studied are open data portals, eGovernment services, Covid-19 vaccination portals, and online child abuse reporting channels. The findings will be published as multilingual commentaries, videos and podcasts. 

Still on civic tech, and in line with the objectives of Somalia’s ICT Policy and Strategy 2019-2024, the Bareedo Platform will engage local government authorities in Garowe and Mogadishu on digital transformation for efficient service delivery, citizen empowerment and government-citizen interactions through hosting of roundtables and advocacy campaigns. 

In Kenya’s largest informal settlement, Kibera, work by Tunapanda will provide grassroots women human rights defenders and feminist organisations with training on digital literacy, digital safety, content creation, digital rights, anti-censorship technologies, and civic participation online. These efforts will be complemented with the production of podcast series and comic strips to advance knowledge and sustainability in human rights advocacy.

Through digital security capacity building and advocacy, the Gender Tech Initiative will work to counter online gender-based violence against women journalists, bloggers, community leaders, feminists and activists in the northern Uganda districts of Kitgum, Lira, Pader and Nwoya. It will build these actors’ knowledge on the intersection between online gender-based violence and human rights work, and the appropriate response strategies against digital security challenges. Similarly, Girl Up Vine Club will train women, youth and journalists on women’s inclusion and safety online in Sierra Leone, alongside conducting nationwide television and radio campaigns against online sexual harassment. 

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) will raise awareness of Real411 – an independent digital platform for combating digital harms in South Africa through the production of multilingual animation videos on how to spot disinformation, and how to report to Real411. As the Secretariat of Real411, MMA will also develop a communications strategy to ensure wider audience reach, review the platform’s user experience and refresh the format of publication of outcomes of complaints assessments. Established in 2019, Real411 is run in partnership with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF), the Press Council and it is endorsed by the South African government as the mechanism to help combat Covid-19 disinformation. 

Still on combating online harms, Youth Net and Counselling will address growing misinformation and disinformation in Malawi through bulk SMS dissemination, radio talk shows, social media campaigns, performing arts and capacity building of journalists in fact checking.  

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone youth advocacy and leadership organisation Chozen Generation will work to strengthen the capacity of youth activists and journalists in engagement and advocacy around the Access to Information law, 2013 and the recently passed Cybersecurity Act, 2021. Chozen Generation will also explore regulatory gaps in data protection and privacy, as well as consumer protection. 

Lastly, PolicyLab Africa will develop digital literacy multi-media content and training modules and host digital literacy cafés targeting journalists, media and activists from Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria. 

As with the first and second round of grantees, the fifth round grantees will be eligible for technical and institutional capacity building, including on data literacy and advocacy skills through the Data4Change initiative. 

In the inaugural round of ADRF, initiatives with activities spanning 16 African countries received a total of USD 65,000. The second call for applications saw a total of USD 152,000 awarded to 14 initiatives to advance digital rights through various projects in 18 African countries. In its third round, the ADRF awarded USD 138,000 to 11 initiatives responding to the digital rights fallout from the fight against Covid-19. The fourth round awarded USD 63,000 to eight current or previous grantees to deploy six-months policy advocacy campaigns that further the conversation on internet freedom in Africa. 

The ADRF’s supporters have included the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the Ford Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the German Society for International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), and the Omidyar Network.

29Jul

CIPESA Supports Impactful Digital Rights Media Advocacy in Africa

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Apolo Kakaire |

Civic space continues to shrink across Africa. In recent years, disruptions to the internet and social media applications have emerged as a common trend of digital repression especially in authoritarian countries in Africa. While the Covid-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the immense importance of digital technologies for government and citizen interactions, public services provision, employment, education and commerce, some governments on the continent used the pandemic as an excuse to impose further clampdowns.  

For full realisation of the potential of digital technologies to transform society and economies in Africa during the pandemic and beyond, there is need for continued advocacy to uphold and protect freedom of expression, access to information, and equitable participation online. 

It is against this background that between July 5-9, 2021, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) in partnership with the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) conducted an intensive training course on Digital Rights and Impact Communication for grantees of the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF). The ADRF was launched in April 2019 to offer flexible and rapid response grants to select initiatives in Africa to implement activities that advance digital rights, amidst rising digital rights violations.

The training  equipped civil society organisations (CSOs) with skills, knowledge and tools to effectively communicate digital rights issues and inspired them to approach communication systematically so as to increase the visibility of digital rights issues in different media and to promote public discussion on digital rights issues.

According to Ashnah Kalemera, the Programme Manager at CIPESA, “the training was the result of the realisation that organisations working in the digital rights arena have inadequate skills to effectively and proactively engage the media and to conduct effective public communications.” She added that, as a consequence of this skills gap, “digital rights issues are poorly covered, commonly with limited depth and sensitivity.” 

“Digital rights are a fairly new area of interest, so it is prudent that CSOs working in this space are skilled in pitching appropriate messages in clear language and in making concrete calls to action, especially given that the media is not well-versed or always keen on this subject,” said Kalemera.

The training was preceded by a capacity and training needs assessment which established ADRF grantees’ preeminent training needs as using social media as a tool of influence, communicating research and hard-to sell-subjects, and developing media advocacy strategies. The findings of the assessment informed the development of the curriculum and training resources featuring a mix of trainer-led discussions, experience sharing, case studies, guest lectures, plenary discussions and assignments. 

Sessions during the training included on topics such as Impactful communication and Advocacy, which was led by ACME’s Executive Director, Dr. Peter Mwesige; and Civil Society Relations: Breaking the Barriers, a lecture by Daniel Kalinaki, General Manager, Editorial Nation Media Group in Uganda.  John Baptist Imokola and Dr. Gerald Walulya, both lecturers at Makerere University’s Department of Journalism and Communications, alongside Agnes Tumuheire, Content Manager at Ultimate Media Consults, led the sessions on Communication Planning,  Communicating/ Disseminating Research and Hard-to-Sell Subjects, and Taking Advantage of the Power of Digital/Social Media, respectively.

The 25 trainees, who included the executive leadership, programme and communications officers from ADRF-supported organisations operating in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, worked to develop internal communications strategies and drafted campaign materials.

Experience from such communication-related training shows that having the right mix of senior staff and implementers from an organisation is a prerequisite for success. Communication being a management function, it helps that the key decision makers share the same vision, outlook and attitude to communication with those that handle the day-to-day communication functions. 

Select participant testimonies“I was very interested in understanding how the media works.  Since I don’t have experience working in media houses, it was a good opportunity to discuss how to engage with the media.” Blaise Ndola, Rudi International – DR Congo.

“I am happy to have participated in this training. The delivery method was well thought-through, the materials were easy to access and understand and the mentors were amazing. Many important questions were answered as a result of this training. [I am] grateful for the opportunity to learn from experts in those fields!” Ayaan Khalif, Digital Shelter – Somalia.

“What l really enjoyed were mostly issues to do with how communities have to embrace digital rights so that they see the benefits that come with digital rights, and the roles CSOs have in ensuring our communities are aware of their rights. And also on issues of media relations strategies how best to come up with a working strategy for the diverse communities we serve.” Michelle N. Q Mulingo, Zimbabwe Centre for Media and Information Literacy (ZCMIL).

Going forward, digital rights advocacy CSOs would benefit from investing in the journalism they want to see. Possible avenues include offering reporting grants to facilitate higher quality research than that done by journalists through media houses’ limited resources.  Follow ups with the trainees/grantees is also necessary to ensure application of acquired skills and knowledge. Moreover, given the fairly high staff attrition rate in CSOs it would be useful to regularly conduct these kinds of training if impact communication is to gain traction in the digital rights arena.

03Jun

CIPESA, Rudi, Support Formation of Digital Rights Lawyers’ Coalition in DR Congo

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Ashnah Kalemera |

A coalition of public interest lawyers has been formed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) with an aim to promote digital rights in the central African country. Comprising advocates from six cities- Bukavu, Goma, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Lubumbashi and Matadi – the coalition will provide support to members to grow their skills in digital rights litigation, and promote collaborative advocacy and research with other digital rights actors in the country.

The inaugural membership received two-days skills and knowledge building on the sidelines of the 2021 Haki Conference, which was organised by Rudi International. Hosted in partnership with the North Kivu Bar Association, the training benefitted 19 lawyers and explored DR Congo’s technology policy and legislative environment with a focus on consumer protection, data protection and privacy, and cybercrime as well as national trends in government internet controls. 

The role of strategic litigation in digital rights protection was also explored, drawing from the experience of an ongoing case against the 2018 internet shutdown. At the time the case was filed, blockages to communications were a persistent occurrence in the expansive country amidst growing concerns around access and affordability, surveillance, censorship and disinformation. Participants also benefited from a foundation course in digital safety and security. 

As part of the Haki Conference, members of the coalition deliberated on the need for a legal and regulatory framework responsive to the evolution of digital technologies in DR Congo and the role of the legal fraternity in the wider push for digital rights in Africa’s fourth most populous country. 

According to Rudi International’s Executive Director, Arsene Tungali, the formation of the lawyers’ coalition “adds more voices to the digital rights cause and has helped to enlarge Rudi’s network of supporters and allies.” He added: “Rudi is proud to have championed this initiative and to have been able to bring together a group of talented Congolese lawyers, equipped them with the basics and given them the opportunity to network among themselves.” 

The formation of the coalition and initial capacity building efforts were supported by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF). The initiative in Congo builds on CIPESA’s efforts to foster digital rights in Africa without leaving out key actors, such as legislators, the judiciary, bureaucrats, and private lawyers, who are crucial to the success of efforts like litigation, legal reforms, and enforcing respect for laws and rights. 

To this end, CIPESA has previously supported the 2019 Annual Jurists Conference of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya chapter, where we conducted a digital rights strategic litigation training for judicial officers. This training followed a similar one on advancing collaboration in strategic litigation for digital rights which drew on learning from our case studies on strategic litigation suits in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Similarly, at the 2020 Africa Law Tech Festival, we held sessions on strategic litigation and the digital economy that explored business models in the digital economy and rights-respecting policy approaches to advancing innovation, sustainable development and state revenue collection in the digital era.

31May

The Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) Awards USD 63,000 in New Advocacy Grants

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Ashnah Kalemera |

Eight current or previous grantees of the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) have been awarded grants to scale their digital rights policy advocacy efforts. Across six countries – Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Somalia – the thematic focus of the advocacy intervention areas includes women’s rights online, digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, social media regulation, and digital entrepreneurship. One initiative, with a continent-wide focus, will explore digital authoritarianism. 

The grants, totalling USD 63,000 were awarded under the fourth round of the ADRF which sought to deploy six-months policy advocacy campaigns that further the conversation on internet freedom in Africa. 

In Somalia, the Women in Media Initiatives in Somalia (WIMISOM) will conduct three roundtable engagements – in Garowe, Mogadishu and a nationwide one – to further raise awareness about women’s digital rights issues and push for policy and practice reforms that contribute to the development of a safe and empowering online environment for women and girls. Targeted stakeholders will include government institutions mandated to address gender inequality and development of women and girls’ rights, ICT ministries and regulatory bodies, women’s associations and networks, social and human rights activists, technologists and innovation hubs, telecommunications operators and digital financial service providers. These efforts will build on previous ADRF-supported advocacy campaigns as well as skills and knowledge building on women’s safety and security online in Somali territories. 

Similarly in Namibia, the local chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) will run a nationwide campaign on gender-based violence online with the aim to inform the review of the Data Protection and Cybercrime bills, as well as amendments to the Combating Domestic Violence Act 2003. The campaign will feature surveys alongside analysis of the bills, which will feed into multi-media survivor stories, safety and security tips, and a citizens’ call to action/endorsement on the need for safe spaces online. Under the inaugural round of the ADRF, ISOC Namibia was supported to work with women parliamentarians, political activists and various other actors in a campaign to tackle politically motivated gender-based violence online during the November 2019 elections.

In Mozambique, the continued push for digital inclusion through web accessibility campaigns will see  Forum de Organizacoes de Pessoas com Deficiencia (Mozambique Disabled Persons Orgazations Forum) – FAMOD – engage disability rights organisations (DPOs), web developers and the government to create an open source, open access library of reusable code for accessible web components to support online entrepreneurship, eLearning and access to eServices. 

Still on digital inclusion, in Cote d’Ivoire, Action et Humanisme will build on previous ADRF-supported stakeholder dialogues on internet accessibility for persons with disabilities to further engage with DPOs, entrepreneurs, activists, and telecommunications operators to develop policy recommendations on internet accessibility and affordability for persons with disabilities.  The recommendations will be tabled before policy makers and government entities. 

Building on from the success of the “protect our online space” series of dialogues supported by the ADRF under Round 2, Digital Shelter went on to host monthly coffee meet ups to promote engagement on digital rights in Somalia. In continuation, Digital Shelter will engage key stakeholders including journalists, women’s rights groups, ICT ministry officials and the Office of the Prime Minister on the need for legal and regulatory frameworks that promote safety and security online. Specifically, Digital Shelter will advocate for building mechanisms to combat cybercrime including bullying, trolling and harassment. Furthermore, Digital Shelter will engage the Ministry of Trade, innovation hubs and academia on skills and knowledge building in digital rights and digital entrepreneurship targeting youth. 

Despite having in place a Digital Economy Blueprint whose vision is a “digitally empowered citizenry living in a digitally enabled society”, Kenya introduced an inhibitive digital taxation regime in 2020. In this regard, Mzalendo Trust will convene forums on challenges faced in the country’s digital economy. The first forum will bring together key stakeholders from the ICT sector, including private sector alliances and associations, civil society organisations, economic think tanks, the Kenya Revenue Authority, academia, the Ministry of ICT, the Ministry of Trade, and the business community to deliberate on inclusion in the digital economy. 

The second forum will convene policy makers including Committees of Parliament and the recently established Office of the Data Protection Commissioner on policy frameworks for consumer protection in the digital economy. Wider awareness raising within the project will take the form of social media chats, publication of policy briefs and commentaries. 

Many countries on the continent are moving towards social media regulation. The Senegalese government is among those that have initiated steps to put in place a regulatory framework for social media. Jonction Senegal will analyse the draft bill on social media regulation and engage stakeholders through targeted convenings and online campaigns on the proposed law’s provisions on  free speech and censorship. 

Lastly, leveraging its wide cross-national network of individual contributors and partners in the journalism, not-for-profit, legal, private sector, academia, tech, policy, innovation and activism spaces in Africa, Global Voices – Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa will convene a design workshop to explore the impact of digital authoritarianism on the African continent and make recommendations that foster an online space that promotes digital rights and an inclusive digital economy. The recommendations will form the basis of a white paper for wider policy advocacy on issues including access, affordability, infrastructure, safety and security online.

The ADRF is an initiative of Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), established in 2019 to offer flexible and rapid response grants to initiatives in Africa to implement activities that advance digital rights, including advocacy, litigation, research, engagement in policy processes, digital literacy and digital security skills building. The ADRF’s supporters have included the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the Ford Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the German Society for International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), and the Omidyar Network.

Call for Proposals: Defending Digital Rights through Policy Advocacy
15Feb

Call for Proposals: Defending Digital Rights through Policy Advocacy

Author CIPESA Posted on

Call for Proposals |

Since its launch in 2019, the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) has worked to grow the number of individuals and organisations that work to advance digital rights in Africa through rapid response and flexible grants. Furthermore, the fund has provided technical and institutional support to further enhance grantee’s efforts and ensure sustainability.

Inspired by the exceptional work of grantees to date, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has partnered with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) to support select current or previous ADRF grantees to deploy a six-month policy advocacy campaign that furthers the conversation on internet freedom.

Building on existing efforts, recipients will be encouraged to use the Democratic Principles for an Open Internet and/or the Open Internet for Advocacy Playbook as a framework for the advocacy campaigns focused on advancing internet freedom. Recipients will also be encouraged to engage with diverse stakeholder groups in the advocacy projects, including local private sector organizations, and government ministries focused on the digital economy when relevant. 

Grant amounts will range between USD 5,000 and USD 8,000 based on the need and scope of the proposed intervention. 

Applicants MUST be a previous or current ADRF grantee organization.

The deadline for submissions is March 5, 2021. 

The application form can be accessed here.

Duration

The grant period will last approximately six months. (Approximate start date: April 2021)

Expectations 

  • Implement a policy advocacy initiative that promotes and protects digital rights at a local, national, or regional level. Advocacy plans must articulate how the project contributes to conversations on advancing internet freedom and outline the potential impact of the project activities. Applicants are strongly encouraged to incorporate the use of the Democratic Principles for an Open Internet and/or the Open Internet for Democracy Advocacy Playbook in proposed advocacy initiatives. Preference will also be given to project plans that demonstrate: A) the desire to implement a policy advocacy campaign that furthers the conversation on the intersection between internet freedom and an inclusive digital economy; and B) the ability and/or interest to engage with diverse stakeholder groups such as local chambers of commerce, business associations, economic think tanks, and/or entrepreneurs.
    • Examples of what projects might entail include:
      • Organizing an advocacy campaign to raise awareness aimed at equipping policymakers with information about the pitfalls of policies inspired by digital authoritarianism. 
      • Conducting multi-stakeholder workshops or roundtable discussions and developing a policy paper that provides key recommendations on how a proposed government action or policy could be improved to advance the development of an online space that promotes digital rights and an inclusive digital economy. 
  • Provide frequent updates to CIPESA on progress made during the advocacy initiative, and seek guidance from CIPESA as needed. 
  • Prepare a short report on the project activities and outcomes from the advocacy initiative, to be shared with CIPE and CIPESA. The report should also include a list of key stakeholders that were involved in any advocacy-related activities, such as multi-stakeholder dialogues. 
  • Participate in a regional dialogue focused on how to advance digital rights across Africa. (Location and dates TBD). 

Selection Criteria 

  • Demonstrated track record from the organization’s work as a current or previous ADRF grantee organization. 
  • Strength, feasibility, and anticipated impact of the proposed project.
  • Ability to travel and present at a regional dialogue which furthers the conversation on internet freedom (location TBD; costs covered for one representative from each selected organization; In-person participation in the event is contingent on health considerations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected candidates are expected to participate online if the events are moved online due to COVID-19).
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