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Project

African Digital Rights Network

Many countries in Africa are experiencing a closing of civic space: a reduction in the freedom of citizens to openly discuss politics, criticise government policies, and to take an active part in key decisions that affect their health, education, liberty and livelihoods.

In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, for example, when the government arrested journalists and banned public demonstrations, young people responded creatively, using the internet and mobile phones to open civic spaceUsing SMS, social media, encrypted messaging and even satellite TV to connect, organise, develop policy alternatives and successfully challenge the government narrative.

This Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) funded network, brings together activists, analysts and researchers from seven African countries who have tracked and analysed hashtag campaigns like #BringBackOursGirls in Nigeria and #RhodesMustFall in South Africa and advocated against government-initiated network disruptions including through the #KeepItOn campaignSome members of the network have also organised digital security training for human rights defenders to safely communicate online including in dangerous and restrictive environments.  

The network is also studying the growing use of digital surveillance tools by governments and the employment of ‘coordinated inauthentic actors’ such as so-called troll farmsbot armies and cyborg networks to drown out debate and close civic space online.

Digital rights are universal human rights in digital spaces. They include, but are not limited to, the right to privacy, freedom from violence, freedom of political opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of association. The overall objective of the African Digital Rights Network (ADRN) is to produce better understanding of the actors and technologies involved in the opening and closing of civic space online, and to build the capacity of citizens to exercise, defend and expand their rights online and offline. 

To build the network the Digital & Technology Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies is working with the analyst and author Nanjala Nyabola, Berhan Taye from Access Now, Atnafu Berhane from CARD Ethiopia, Koketso Moeti from Amandla.mobi, Jan Moolman from the Association of Progressive Communications (APC), Juliet Nanfuka from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), Natasha Msonza from the Digital Society of Zimbabwe, Kiss Abraham from New Zambian Innovations, Turgay Celik and Iginio Gagliardone from the University of the Witwatersrand, Anand Sheombar from HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Tanja Bosch from the University of Cape Town, George Karekwaivanane from the University of Edinburgh, Ayo Ojebode from the University of Ibadan, and Sam Phiri from the University of Zambia.

This collaborative research project includes activists, analysts, and practitioners with deep contextual knowledge into a multi-disciplinary research team. The network will begin by producing seven Country Digital Landscape Reports to scope the existing political and technological landscape in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.  

An analysis of existing capacity and gaps will inform the design of a broader programme of research beyond the inception year. We will use the Country Digital Landscape Reports to identify cross-cutting research themes and produce thematic reports that build the knowledge and capabilities of citizens to exercise, defend and expand the rights guaranteed to them in law but denied to them in practice. 

The network is funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) through the United Kingdom Research Institute (UKRI) fund for Digital Innovation for Development in Africa (DIDA) in the research area Digital Rights. 

Africa Digital Rights Network website

People

Amy Cowlard

Senior Project Support Officer

Project Support Officer

Kevin Hernandez

Research Officer

Tony Roberts

Digital Cluster Research Fellow

Recent work

Opinion

Nigeria election: the youth and the Peter Obi option

Any keen observer of social media spaces ahead of Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election cannot be in any doubt about the power that young people have to dictate the direction of national political discourse. Thanks to social media savvy young people, what started as a two-horse race is now...

23 February 2023

Opinion

Living in a digital society – but at what cost?

The digital revolution and access to online spaces has transformed the ways we communicate, work, and organise. It has also become critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - not least SDG target 5b to ‘Enhance the use of enabling technology to promote the...

3 March 2022

Past Event

Defending online civic spaces – lessons from Africa

New digital technologies have enabled the opening and closing of online civic spaces – places that people can organise and demand accountability and action. Watch live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiYt5l6WBZ0 Social movements such as #EndSARS, #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter have shown...

1 March 2022

Opinion

Closing online civic space: protest amid internet shutdowns in Sudan

It is almost two years since I wrote the Digital Rights Landscape report on Sudan, documenting improved internet access alongside increasingly aggressive government action to limit online freedom and close civic space. Unfortunately, not much has changed. In Sudan, like in countries all...

25 February 2022

News

State surveillance of citizens going unchecked across Africa

A new report warns existing laws are failing to protect privacy rights, with governments in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan overreaching surveillance powers to monitor citizens. With mass surveillance in direct violation of citizen’s constitutional rights and...

21 October 2021