CIPESA Archives – Page 2 of 5 – Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)

22Nov

Uganda Set to Harness Data as A Critical Resource for Socio-Economic Development

CIPESA November 22, 2024December 3, 2024

By Edrine Wanyama |

On November 19, 2024, Uganda’s Ministry of Information, Communication Technology, and National Guidance (MoICT&NG) validated a draft data strategy, marking a significant milestone in the country’s digital transformation journey. This process follows a 2022 review that identified critical weaknesses in Uganda’s data-sharing ecosystem, including limited data sharing, fragmentation, silos, lack of common standards, and low trust in the system.

The strategy is a cornerstone of the Uganda Digital Transformation Road Map, which drives the Digital Uganda Vision and the country’s broader Digital Revolution agenda. Its goal is to foster a data-driven environment that stimulates innovation, economic growth, and social development. The strategy focuses on three main pillars: data governance, data infrastructure, and strategic data utilisation for efficient and effective use of data.

A robust institutional framework is central to the strategy, comprising a National Data Steering Committee, a National Data Office, and links to data personnel within various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Additionally, the strategy emphasises the importance of a comprehensive legal and policy framework aligned with national, regional, and international standards.

Uganda’s data protection framework is still in its early stages, with enabling legislation passed in 2019 and implementing regulations adopted in 2021. However, the framework has faced criticism for lacking clear oversight mechanisms and prioritising government access to individuals’ data—justified under national security and lawful purposes—over the protection of data and privacy rights.

The adoption of this data strategy has the potential to introduce stronger oversight and policy guidance, effective stakeholder engagement, and improved monitoring and evaluation in data management processes. This would pave the way for a robust, data-driven economy in Uganda.

Dr. Wairagala Wakabi, Executive Director of CIPESA stated, “Uganda’s Data Protection Strategy coincides with the recent African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Resolution on Promoting and Harnessing Data Access as a Tool for Advancing Human Rights and Sustainable Development in the Digital Age (ACHPR/Res.620 (LXXXI) 2024). If rightly applied and implemented within the existing data governance frameworks at the African Union level, its aims, goals, and objectives cannot be defeated.”

As Africa slowly moves towards a harmonised data regime, Uganda’s strategy represents a key step toward achieving the African Union’s goals. It has the potential to enhance governance, public service delivery, and economic growth while contributing to the continent’s broader socio-economic transformation within the digital economy.

08Mar

Inspiring Inclusion on Women’s Day 2024

Brian March 8, 2024March 9, 2024

By Juliet Nanfuka |

Today, the world celebrates International Women’s Day 2024 under the theme of #InspireInclusion, which encourages the realisation of a gender-equal world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. However, amidst the global celebration, it is crucial to spotlight the persistent challenges faced by African female journalists, both online and offline.

A 2020 global survey conducted by UNESCO confirmed a disturbing trend: online attacks targeting women journalists are on the rise at an alarming rate. These attacks are part of a deliberate strategy to intimidate, degrade, and silence women in the media industry. Such violence aims to instill fear, undermine professionalism, discredit journalistic integrity, erode trust in factual reporting, and ultimately stifle women’s active participation in public discourse especially as these attacks don’t just affect the targeted journalists – they also impact their sources and audiences, encourage self-censorship leading to a chilling effect on freedom of expression and access to information.

Research shows that the tactics used to attack women journalists is dominated by online trolling which often takes the form of gendered and sexualised attacks and, often involves body shaming. Trolling which has evolved into the practice of coordinated cyber armies that run campaigns – sometimes sponsored by some government officials and other powerful political actors.

It should be noted that online violence also shifts into offline spaces – with potentially deadly consequences. However, despite this, there remains a disturbing trend, particularly for African women journalists who experience online abuse – they often hesitate to seek justice and, when they do, encounter challenges in having their complaints taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.

Notably, the low levels of digital security skills and the inadequacy of existing laws in tackling trolling and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV), only exacerbate the challenges African women journalists face in the profession.

African female journalists are instrumental in conveying key narratives, shedding light on issues of importance, and amplifying marginalised voices and concerns. However, the increased affronts to their profession and presence in online discourse encourage self-censorship and unmeasurable impact on access to information and freedom of expression of this key segment of society.

In the first Africa Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety Report released in 2022, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reiterated the growing presence of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) as a deterrent to press freedom, especially for women.

It is against this backdrop that CIPESA has consistently pursued various interventions aimed at enhancing the safety and inclusion of women in online spaces. Some of the initiatives have been specific to addressing the needs of African women journalists, such as a Media Masterclass and Reporting Grant, research into online safe spaces for women, both of which were conducted under the WomenAtWeb project of Deutsche Welle (DW). Further, CIPESA gave grants aimed at enhancing gendered digital inclusion and women journalists’ safety under the Africa Digital Rights Fund to beneficiaries in Somalia, Malawi and Tanzania, as well as in Ghana and Nigeria.

This year, in partnership with the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) of UNESCO, CIPESA is supporting media development efforts to promote a safe, independent, and pluralistic press, including through addressing the gender dynamics of media freedom and journalists’ safety in Africa.

In recognition of Women’s Month, a series of workshops will be hosted alongside Digital Security Cafes for women journalists, media practitioners, and content producers in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The workshops will include discussions based on the findings of Africa Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety Report with a focus on elevating awareness of what can be done to pursue more inclusive measures for women journalists.

Further women’s month efforts will be a webinar on African women in politics with the aim of highlighting the importance of increased political inclusion of women in politics. The role of active online engagement will be highlighted as a key driver enabling the needs of women in politics in various African countries and as a tool to participate in the information society meaningfully. More importantly, the webinar will cast a spotlight on how women in active politics in various African countries are pushing back against the negative narratives online and the role that actors such as policy makers and platforms have to play in addressing TFGBV associated with political spaces and discourse.

22Mar

African Countries Engage in Regional Dialogue Over Internet Universality Indicators Study

CIPESA March 22, 2022February 7, 2023

By UNESCO |

On 16 March 2022, UNESCO, jointly with the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) convened a regional dialogue on implementing Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators (IUI) in Africa.

The event, supported by the International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC) of UNESCO, gathered a number of leading national actors and experts who shared best practice and lessons learned from implementing national assessments of ROAM-X indicators in Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger and Senegal.

Juliet Nanfuka representing CIPESA opened the session by recalling that the event builds on CIPESA’s joint efforts and long-term partnership with UNESCO to raise awareness on the intersection of access to information and application of the ROAM-X indicators initiated at World Press Freedom Day celebrations in 2018 and the same year’s Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa as part of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI).

Xianhong Hu, UNESCO’s focal point of the ROAM-X project, presented the global progress of assessing ROAM-X indicators in 45 countries and highlighted Africa as the leading continent with 17 countries having undertaken the assessment. Ms Hu stressed the urgent need to scale up the ROAM-X indicators’ assessments in more African countries to promote meaningful connectivity and humanistic digital transformation for advancing human rights and sustainable development.

“Africa needs to adjust its digital policy to be more inclusive and the ROAM-X indicators assessment would make a huge difference to support African countries’ inclusive digital transformation and build evidence-based policies.” Dorothy GordonChair of UNESCO’s Information For All Programme (IFAP)

Giving perspectives from West Africa, Professor Alain Kiyindou, Lead researcher of the assessment in Benin and Niger, pointed out the gender inequalities in access to Internet and in the workplace and called for more inclusion of African actors and vulnerable groups in the digital space as well as in the composition of national Multi-stakeholder Advisory Boards and research teams.

Also giving a West African perspective, Dr. Gideon Anapey, researcher for the assessment in Ghana, stressed that, “For African Member States to engage with UNESCO and initiate the ROAM-X project in the region, there is a strong need for capacity building that consists in deepening awareness on ROAM-X, fostering various stakeholders’ engagement, covering ICT integration and inclusion”.

Aderaw Tassew, Mr Asrat Mulatu (Ph.D), both representing Ethiopia and Ms Grace Githaiga from the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) presented on how they approached the assessment in their respective countries alongside highlighting the potential opportunities held by the indicators. Despite vast dissimilarities between the two countries in Internet access, they noted shared challenges unveiled by the assessment including on data collection, funding, political instability, weak legal frameworks and political will, digital literacy gaps, and various levels of the abuse of digital rights.

UNESCO and CIPESA jointly call for more African countries to take up the national assessment of ROAM-X indicators to promote Internet reforms for advancing media freedom and digital rights in Africa. Following the webinar, in-country training sessions on the indicators will be conducted by CIPESA in Cameroon, Malawi, Namibia, Somalia and Uganda. Member States that are interested in getting involved are invited to reach out to CIPESA: [email protected].

In 2015, the 38th General Conference of UNESCO endorsed a new definition on the Universality of the Internet based upon four principles – Rights, Openness, Accessibility to all and Multi-stakeholder participation- the ROAM principles. The four pillars outline a comprehensive framework for the assessment of national digital landscapes towards focusing on multiple dimensions of human rights, open Internet, quality of access and inclusive multi-stakeholder governance, promoting the growth and evolution of the Internet, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This article was first published by UNESCO on March 22, 2022

10Jan

Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2020

The Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (#FIFAFRICA) is a landmark event that convenes various stakeholders from the internet governance and online rights arenas in Africa and beyond to deliberate on gaps, concerns and opportunities for advancing privacy, access to information, free expression, non-discrimination and the free flow of information online on the continent.
Click here to see the event information.

28Sep

About FIFAfrica

admin September 28, 2017

The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) and the Association for Progressive Communication (APC) are proud to co-host the 2017 edition of the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica).

This year’s Forum will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, thus expanding the physical footprint of the Forum which has since inception in 2014 been held in Kampala, Uganda. The landmark event convenes various stakeholders from the internet governance and online rights arenas in Africa and beyond to deliberate on gaps, concerns and opportunities for advancing privacy, access to information, free expression, non-discrimination and the free flow of information online.

The Forum brings together human rights defenders, journalists, government officials, private sector players, global information intermediaries, bloggers, developers, the arts community, law enforcers and regulators – all of whom have a role to play in advancing internet freedom in Africa.

Highlights at FIFAfrica include the launch of the annual State of Internet Freedom in Africa research report, the commemoration of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) that falls on September 28, digital security clinics and this year, an exhibition showcasing the work and products of various players in the internet freedom arena in Africa.

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