Promoting Effective and Inclusive ICT Policy in Africa

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  HomeCollaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)  /  DigitalInclusion
25Mar

CIPESA-Run ADRF Awards USD 140,000 to Eleven Digital Democracy Non-Profits Amidst Funding Cuts

Author CIPESA Posted on

By Ashnah Kalemera |

With many funders shifting their funding priorities about human rights, governance and livelihood issues, African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), human rights defenders and activists have been severely impacted. As a result, critical programming on civic participation, tech accountability, digital rights and digital inclusion, which was scoring wins in the face of growing authoritarianism on the continent, has been crippled. 

In response to this changing funding landscape, the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) managed by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has awarded USD 140,000 to eleven non-profit organisations as bridging funds. The discretionary awards are aimed at bridging the gap in operations and programming faced by CIPESA’s past and present partners and subgrantees. The funds bring to USD one million the total awarded by CIPESA under the  ADRF initiative since its launch in April 2019.

According to CIPESA’s Executive Director, Dr. Wairagala Wakabi, “anchor institutions such as CIPESA have lost funding and that means many crucial but smaller actors across the continent have equally been affected”. Nonetheless, CIPESA is committed to “defending digital democracy amidst the steady  democratic regression we are witnessing, and the cruciality of funding organisations that are battling rising authoritarianism cannot be overemphasised,” said Wakabi.

The recipient organisations work on various digital democracy issues in 10 countries – Cote d’Ivorie, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Zambia. These organisations work on catalytic issues in difficult contexts and have established track records. The selection of beneficiaries was guided by a survey on the impact of funding termination by the United States (US) government. 

Round Nine ADRF Beneficiaries:

  1. Action et Humanisme – based in Cote d’Ivoire, the organisation works to advance digital accessibility for persons with disabilities. 
  2. Agora, an online activism initiative focused on social accountability in Uganda.
  3. Bloggers of Zambia, whose motto is “Keeping Online Spaces Open” and is pushing for progressive legislative reforms in Zambia.
  4. Digital Rights Frontlines (formerly DefyHateNow), which is at the frontline of countering hate speech and disinformation online in South Sudan.
  5. Digital Shelter, a Somali group working to advance the digital civic space.
  6. Forum de Organizacoes de Pessoas com Deficiencia – FAMOD, which works to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in Mozambique, including the right to information through web accessibility and inclusion through affordable access to technology.
  7. Inform Africa, a media integrity hub in Ethiopia.
  8. Jonction, a Senegalese digital rights advocacy organisation.
  9. Thraets, a tech research lab focused on elections integrity and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content.
  10. Rudi International, a Congolese digital rights advocacy and digital literacy organisation.
  11. Tanda Community Network, based in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, the community network is championing work against Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) alongside efforts to bridge the digital divide.

The survey revealed that following the suspension and eventual termination of U.S. funding, many organisations had reduced the scope of their activities, scaled back staff salaries and benefits, and in a number of cases laid off staff. Over 90% of the organisations surveyed  were uncertain about their ability to maintain operations beyond two months. Only one of the surveyed organisations said it would remain fully operational if it did not receive additional funding.

A staggering 92% of respondents had reduced programming scope and one in three respondent organisations reported that they had slashed staff. For one recipient, over 60% of the team was “not able to continue working in any capacity going forward”. The percentage of US funding was between 20% and 60% of the annual budgets of the organisations surveyed.

Even in the face of a grim funding future, civil society organisations that face harassment and operate in volatile political environments remain resilient. As the head of one of the grant beneficiary organisations stated: “Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury to cease activities”. The same unwavering commitment to continue operations was demonstrated by the DR Congo-based recipient whose digital literacy training centre was robbed during the January 2025 rebel attacks in Goma.

The ADRF provides financial support to organisations and networks to overcome barriers to accessing funding and building a stronger movement of digital and human rights advocates in Africa. The Fund has also built the capacity of initiatives in advocacy, public communication, research and data-for-advocacy. Supported initiatives commend the ADRF as a unique funding initiative that has broken ranks with traditional funders’ structure. See previous ADRF recipients here.

The discretionary round of the ADRF was supported by funding from the Skoll Foundation, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and the Ford Foundation. Other supporters of the ADRF in the past include the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the German Society for International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), the Omidyar Network, the Hewlett Foundation, the Open Society Foundations and New Venture Fund (NVF).

30Jun

Bridging the Gender Digital Divide is Critical for Achieving Digital Rights in Africa

Author Evelyn Lirri Posted on

By Victor Kapiyo |

Digital technologies have created new spaces for interaction and enabled new ways to connect, share experiences, work and build communities. These technologies continue to be influential and have the potential of enhancing growth and expanding opportunities for the realisation of women’s rights in Africa. Indeed, access to the internet and digital devices has become central to the empowerment of women and girls, and in enabling them to realise and enjoy their digital rights. 

Women and girls in Africa form a key constituency and a distinct category in their experiences in using the internet compared to men and boys. Plan International points out that while technology and the internet can be a great enabler for women and girls, lack of opportunities and skills, and fear of discrimination, could prevent many from using and creating digital tools and online content. 

Indeed, the growing digital gender divide in access to the internet in Africa limits the potential of the internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to contribute to achieving gender equality, women’s rights and digital rights for women and girls. Notably, there is a substantial divide between men and women in internet access and use globally, as a majority of the 2.9 billion people who remain unconnected are women and girls. 

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in 2013, only 37% of all women were online, compared to 41% of all men. In 2017, the global internet penetration rate for men stood at 50.9% compared to 44.9% for women. This increased in 2019, with ​the proportion of women using the internet globally standing at 48%, compared to 58% of men. In 2022, 62% of men were using the internet compared to 57% of women, meaning that the global internet use gender gap stands at 8%. However, this divide is more glaring in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), many of which are in Africa, where only 19% of women used the internet in 2020, compared to 86% in the developed world. 

Furthermore, the digital gender divide in Africa has continued to widen as most of the new internet users since 2013 were men. According to the GSMA, women in developing countries are 14% less likely to own a mobile phone than men and are less likely than men to utilise mobile data, social media applications or SMS services. Sub-Saharan Africa still has the most expensive data prices in the world, according to the 2021 Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing Report, with the average price for 1GB of mobile data coming in at USD 6.44. An analysis by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) shows that 1GB of mobile broadband data became less affordable in 2021 than in 2020, following the impact of Covid-19, with the cost increasing by 12% in the LDCs.

Access remains critical to achieving digital inclusion. In countries such as Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe evidence of the digital divide exists as shown in the table below. The high cost of access is driven by taxes such as those introduced in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia which are paid prior to accessing the internet and social media platforms. In some countries like Uganda, in addition to the high taxes, some social media platforms like Facebook are still blocked and are only accessible through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Further, save for Zimbabwe and Lesotho, the remaining countries fall below the average internet penetration rates in Africa and globally. With respect to mobile penetration, with the exception of Mozambique and Uganda, the other four countries reviewed in this blog – Lesotho, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are ranked above the African and global average, according to the Datareportal. 

Notably, all six countries fall below African and global social media use rates.  Despite being ranked highest among these countries, Lesotho still stood at 18.7% below the African average. However, it is important to note that there is limited availability of reliable gender-disaggregated data in Sub-Saharan Africa, where inequality is at its greatest.

The 2018 After Access study on “Understanding the Gender Gap in the Global South” revealed that poorer countries from Africa such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Mozambique, showed high gender disparity in ICT access and use, with women being on the lower end. Further, sex, income, education and location were significant determinants of whether people used the internet, with women having a lesser chance and lagging behind men. The study also found that women who were more educated, with higher incomes, and living in urban areas were likely to have greater access to the internet than those in rural areas generally. 

The cost of devices was the primary barrier for the unconnected, while the price of data services was the main barrier for those who were connected. In rural areas, access to electricity was a greater challenge than mobile coverage. The study also revealed that the knowledge of the internet was lower among women in rural areas, with only 35% indicating knowledge of the internet. Indeed, sex remains a key determinant of the probability of an individual owning a mobile phone. These findings are not unique and could mirror the situation in other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently, several instruments such as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), African Platform for Action, the Dakar Declaration of 1994, the Beijing Platform for Action of 1995, the Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of women’s rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights call for the promotion and protection of women’s digital rights. These instruments, which enjoy wide acceptance in the continent, highlight the need for stronger protection of women’s rights and could present an opportunity for the use of ICT to empower women, including through the promotion of universal internet access. 

Additionally, governments according to an A4AI report are missing out on USD 1 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) as a result of women’s exclusion. The report notes that governments are not adopting the policies needed to bridge the digital gender gap, with 40% of 29 countries studied in 2020 lacking meaningful policies or programmes to expand women’s access to the internet. 

Empowering women and girls through the provision of meaningful access to the internet and digital technologies could undoubtedly provide them with opportunities to start businesses, and to access education, health, social and financial services. It could also be a powerful tool to enable women and girls to participate in governance, to associate, assemble and express themselves on digital rights issues that are dear to them and to develop relevant content for their empowerment. In addition, there is a need to increase women’s representation in leadership and decision-making roles within the ICT sector.  

Therefore, in order to bridge the gender digital divide, African governments need to urgently implement legislative, policy, administrative and practical measures to address the existing structural inequalities in income, education, and employment opportunities, and stem the political, economic, legal, cultural, technological and social barriers that lead to the exclusion of women and girls from accessing and using the internet and ICT. These measures should include developing affirmative action that ensures that more women and girls have access to affordable internet and digital devices, meaningful connectivity and sound digital literacy and skills. Finally, closing the digital gender gap will require that countries collect and share gender and age disaggregated data on access and use of ICT in order to help track and evaluate progress and shape policies geared towards promoting the enjoyment of digital rights by women and girls on the continent.

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