Event |
Dates: 17-18 February, 2026
Location: Balaclava, Mauritius
CIPESA in partnership with Irene M. Staehelin Foundation is hosting a regional engagement with National Human Rights Institutes (NHRIs), law enforcement officers, data protection authorities, communications regulators, and the judiciary from East and Southern Africa on thematic understanding of digital harms and how they can more effectively combat online harms.
Event |
Date: 16 – 20 February, 2026
Location: India, New Delhi
CIPESA will participate at the India AI Impact Summit which is one of the largest gatherings on AI in the global South. It happens at a time when conversations on artificial intelligence are increasingly focused on the impact of AI on live hoods, civic participation and democracy. We look forward to sharing insights from the landmark 2025 edition of the State of Internet Freedom in Africa report which focused on the Implications of AI on Digital Democracy in Africa.
Our research on AI governance in Africa spans its impact on areas such as data protection, algorithmic accountability, disinformation, digital trade, and the political economy of AI. As global norms on AI take shape, we will advance the case for rights-respecting frameworks that center African realities, strengthen democratic oversight, and ensure that AI systems deployed across the continent.
Here are some of sessions you will find us at or drop us an email at [email protected] to schedule a meetup:
Learning Forum (Closed Door)| Host: Center for Communication Governance, National Law University Delhi & Global Network Initiative
February 16, 2026 | 10:00-18:30 (IST)
Data Governance at the Intersection of Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence | Host: Tech Global Institute and the Government of Brazil
Date: February 17, 2026 | 13:30 – 14:25 pm (IST)
Multistakeholder Approaches to Participation in AI Governance (MAP-AI) | Global Network Initiative (GNI) and the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG)
Date: February 17, 2026 | 09:00 – 18:00 (IST)
Roundtable on AI Governance from the South: from redlines to baselines | Host: Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF)
Date: February 18, 2026 | 09:00 – 15:00 (IST)
Platform Governance & AI: Global Majority Perspectives! | Host: SFLC.in and Global Partners Digital (GPD)
Date: February 18, 2026 | 13:30 – 17:30 (IST)
By Digital Shelter |
Digital inclusion is often framed as access and numbers – how many people are trained, device ownership, and how many users are connected. In Somalia, however, the reality is far more complex. While recent data suggest that internet penetration has reached approximately 55 percent of the population, and there are over 10 million internet users, social media adoption remains low and skewed toward male users, with women constituting a smaller proportion of those who are online.
Meanwhile, the political and civic space remains constrained. Due to protracted conflict, fragmented governance and insecurity, Somalia is classified as “Not Free” in global democracy assessments. The country also ranks near the bottom in press freedom indices, with journalists and media houses facing threats, harassment, arbitrary closures, and censorship pressures, particularly in conflict-affected regions, making open expression online and offline perilous.
Young Somali women are joining digital spaces shaped by these fragile conditions, coupled with unequal power relations and persistent safety concerns. Many are navigating unstable job markets, expectations to contribute to family livelihoods, and social norms that continue to question women’s visibility and voice, both online and offline. In such a context, digital upskilling is not merely technical but rather deeply social, economic, and political. If approached narrowly, it risks reproducing existing exclusions by focusing only on tools and outputs.
The Digital Skills for Girls (DS4G) programme by Digital Shelter is designed with this in mind, treating digital skilling and inclusion not as isolated competencies but as entry points into broader questions of participation, agency, and voice within Somalia’s evolving digital ecosystem. Combining practical digital skills, digital safety and rights awareness, DS4G has supported 35 women and girls, conducted monthly meet ups and stakeholder engagements to empower young Somali women.
With initial funding from AccessNow in 2024, the US funding cuts affected the continuity of DS4G. A discretionary award under the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) – an initiative of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)—supported continued implementation through 2025.
As noted by Ali, “At a time when many organisations were forced to scale back activities due to funding instability, CIPESA’s discretionary support allowed Digital Shelter to remain operational and responsive, ensuring that young women continued to access skills and learning spaces designed to support meaningful participation in digital, social and civic life”. He added that through DS4G, Digital Shelter had strengthened its role as a trusted, women-centered digital rights actor with a replicable programme model.
The DS4G’s sessions included graphic design, personal branding, emerging technologies, data protection and privacy, online threats and risks, and career development. A key component of DS4G was the Cyber Safety for Women event, which reinforced digital safety as a collective concern. The event featured a documentary screening on lived digital experiences and panel discussions on gender, online safety, and participation.
“DS4G recognised that technical skills alone are insufficient unless young women are also equipped to navigate digital environments safely, communicate confidently and position themselves for future opportunities,” said Digital Shelter’s Executive Director, Abdifatah Ali.
According to Digital Shelter, the inclusion of graphic design in the DS4G programme was a strategic one. The team argues that sitting at the intersection of creativity, communication, and influence, design shapes how information is interpreted, whose stories are amplified, and which messages gain traction. For the participants of DS4G, many of whom were students or recent graduates, it offered an accessible entry into digital work.
“As the training progressed, participants moved beyond executing tasks to interrogating purpose and impact, asking who messages are for, what they communicate, and how design can support causes, campaigns, and community conversations,” said Ayan Khalif, Digital Shelter’s Program Manager.
Indeed, participant feedback reflects positive outcomes – both skills acquisition and agency. “Before this project, I used social media without thinking much about safety. Now I understand how to protect myself online and how important digital security is for women like us,” said one participant. As part of reflection exercises, participants explored how design could support community initiatives, advocacy efforts and communicate messages. Another participant stated, “The monthly meetups helped me gain confidence. Speaking in front of others was difficult at first, but now I feel more comfortable expressing my ideas.”
The DS4G initiative has empowered a cohort of young women to navigate digital spaces with confidence and security, equipped with skills to exploit economic opportunities, advocate for change, and engage safely and confidently in community affairs.
Event |
The first Africa Forum of the EU-funded Countering Foreign Interference is set to take place in Dakar, Senegal, between February 09 and 11, 2026.
For more information about this event, click here.
By CIPESA Writer |
Digital technologies are changing how African businesses trade and connect across borders. However, digital trade on the continent remains hugely constrained, including by regulatory fragmentation, infrastructure gaps, and bureaucratic hurdles. How then should African countries leverage the growing digitalisation and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost their digital economies?
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), in 2024, Africa’s exports of digitally delivered services (DDS) were valued at USD 41.3 billion, representing just one percent of global exports. Nonetheless, the continent’s prospects are promising. The WTO and the World Bank project that greater use of digital technologies could boost Africa’s digital services exports by USD 74 billion between 2023 and 2040, doubling Africa’s share of global exports.
Evidently, if African countries do not address existing barriers and take decisive action, the continent risks becoming an even more marginal player in the global digital trade ecosystem. How to bridge the barriers and leverage data and AI to shape digital trade and Africa’s economic future was at the centre of discussions at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Summit 2025, held in Nairobi, Kenya, last December.
A panel on digital trade and the governance of digital and AI economies, where the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) featured, stressed that, although frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol are a step in the right direction, they could fail to significantly grow digital trade if member states lack enabling data and AI governance systems and practices.
Today, DDS account for approximately 35% of Africa’s total services export value, and have been rising at a double-digit rate, outpacing growth in other regions globally. However, growth in digital services trade remains uneven, concentrated in a handful of countries, mostly South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, and Mauritius. Kenya, Nigeria and Tunisia are also notable players but with lower export values than the leading African countries.
Regional initiatives such as the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol can help to expand digital trade beyond domestic markets, including in countries that currently lag. The protocol, which was adopted two years ago, aims to harmonise rules for cross-border digital trade across Africa, including on electronic transactions, data governance, and digital payments. Meanwhile, the African Guidelines on Integrating Data Provisions in Protocols on Digital Trade of 2024, emphasise harmonised data governance as an enabler of secure and inclusive digital trade across Africa.
The African Union Data Policy Framework (AUDPF) similarly provides for interoperable data ecosystems across the continent, that are enabled by harmonised laws that support both innovation and rights protection. The various regional efforts support the dream of a Digital Single Market by 2030, as envisaged by the Africa Digital Transformation Strategy of the African Union.
The region currently lacks an operational continent‑wide harmonised framework for data protection, e‑commerce regulation, digital taxation, or AI governance. This gap raises compliance costs and presents a barrier to businesses that aim to scale operations across borders. This undermines cross‑border digital trade and data flows. Moreover, lack of regulations for paperless trade, including on electronic invoicing, e-signatures and e-contracts, presents an additional hurdle.
On the other hand, high taxes on goods, services, data, and devices drive up costs for businesses, yet several entrepreneurs struggle to access affordable digital financial services, including for effecting cross-border payments. These challenges are made worse by low internet speeds, unreliable electricity supply, as well as weak understanding of export regulations, data protection, and cybersecurity.
Addressing these barriers would offer entrepreneurs a range of benefits. Businesses can reach new customers beyond national borders without investing much in physical export infrastructure, which can reduce costs and expand their market reach. Also, interoperable digital payments can help to minimise settlement delays and overcome currency conversion hurdles.
Projections by a WTO 2025 report show that AI could boost the value of cross-border flows of goods and services by around 40% by 2040, due to productivity gains and lower trade costs. However, Africa’s readiness for AI regulation and uptake, particularly by small and medium enterprises, remains low. The WTO report points to AI’s potential to reduce logistics costs, overcome language barriers, ease regulatory compliance, and boost productivity.
In a March 2025 survey among firms from across the world, the most cited benefits of AI were improved trade efficiency (22%), optimised trade decision-making (14%), expanding the foreign customer base (10%), enhanced supply chain management (9%), and broader import and export product ranges (9% and 8% respectively).
How data and AI are governed is therefore key for the future of Africa’s digital economy. If African countries do not put in place robust and harmonised legislation, they will risk perpetuating patterns of the so-called “AI colonialism” in which African data and users fuel global AI markets yet their economies do not receive proportionate economic benefits. Many African countries are adopting AI in the public and private sectors but lack comprehensive AI-specific laws and governance frameworks and often rely instead on outdated laws that pre-date the current technologies.
The State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2025 report calls for human‑centred AI laws that ensure transparency in algorithms, clear accountability, and effective mechanisms for liability and redress. The report urges governments to strengthen independent AI and data oversight institutions, invest in digital infrastructure and inclusion, expand internet access, and ensure AI tools serve local languages. The report also highlights that Africa’s AI market is projected to grow from USD 4.51 billion in 2025 to USD 16.5 billion by 2030.
Africa thus urgently needs cross-border data governance frameworks that support trusted data flows, reduce fragmented national rules, and establish interoperable standards to boost regional digital trade under initiatives such as AfCFTA and the AUDPF. At the same time, investments in affordable connectivity, local cloud capacity, public digital platforms, and datasets in African languages are essential.
The Summit discussion stressed the urgent need for research to inform policy, particularly on cross-border data flows, AI adoption, and ways for Africa to avoid new forms of dependency while getting greater value from its data and digital innovation.
Also essential is civil society engagement in monitoring the implementation of continental digital trade and data initiatives, supporting harmonisation of policies and standards, and building the capacity of policymakers, regulators, and businesses.
Source: CIPESA – Policy Considerations for Enhancing Digital Trade in East Africa