The trainees from Cohorts one and two of the programme were handed attestations of completion in a graduation ceremony held at Strathmore University, Nairobi.

According to Paradigm Initiative, this is part of efforts to bridge unemployment challenge in Kenya which has started bearing fruit following the graduation of this first batch of students from under-served communities under the LIFE Legacy Programme.

The event was graced by Mr. Timothy Were, ICT deputy director at the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy in Kenya, who highlighted the critical role of digital skills in today’s economy and the importance of empowering youth from underserved communities.

“The LIFE Legacy Programme represents more than a training course; it embodies a powerful vision of empowerment, inclusion, and opportunity… By focusing on digitally excluded individuals who lack skills, confidence, and opportunities, this programme is contributing towards bridging the digital divide and unlocking the potential of young people from underrepresented backgrounds,” Mr. Were noted.

Speaking at the same occasion, Gonline Africa Founder, Alphonce Odhiambo said with the graduation of the first and second cohort of students, a lot more needs to be done for the youth, and the role of organisations working in the digital sector is to collaborate and see how to position them in the digital economy.

Khadijah El-Usman, Paradigm Initiative’s senior Programmes Officer, Anglophone Africa, traced the origins of the LIFE Legacy programme, highlighting its impact on underserved youth and communities across the African continent.

On her part, Judith Ogutu, Paradigm Initiative’s communications manager, indicated that besides the LIFE Legacy programme, the organisation also advocates for digital rights, contributes towards policy development and scrutinises the state of digital rights and inclusion on the continent. She  presented the organisation’s digital advocacy tools, Ayeta, Ripoti, the Londa report and the short films inspired by the report.

Launched in 2007 in Ajegunle, Nigeria, the Paradigm Initiative LIFE Legacy Programme has expanded to multiple African nations.

Since its inception in Kenya in September 2023, the programme has trained 80 young individuals from Kibera in Nairobi and Tana River in Coastal Kenya, equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in the digital age.

The LIFE Legacy Programme, an acronym for Life Skills, ICT Skills, Financial Readiness, and Entrepreneurship Skills, aims to create opportunities for youth to access internships, online work, or entrepreneurial ventures, enabling them to earn immediate and sustainable income.

The programme, which is currently being implemented in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe has impacted the lives of more than 150,000 young Africans on the continent.

Recall that the Nigerian Parliament (National Assembly) held a public hearing on Friday December 23rd, 2022 on the Bill.

Unfortunately, the notice provided for this public hearing was short and the content of the draft amendment was not made public.

PIN said, “We have seen this draft law, and can confirm that the provisions have far reaching implications for civil liberties, the media, social media platforms and other technology companies. In a nutshell, this is another attempt at social media (plus others) regulation.

“We have put together an advocacy note to help you understand this development better. Pease share this information across your network and the public.

“We are currently working on our written submission to the National Assembly and we will be happy to share with you once finalized”.

Recall that PIN, a social enterprise that builds ICT-enabled support systems and advocates for digital rights in order to improve the livelihoods of under-served young Africans, had instituted a court action against NITDA.

The organization has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to determine, among other things, whether NIITDA has the powers to propose or formulate any regulation, framework or guideline which directs or purports to direct, mandate or purport to mandate, dictates or purports to dictate the protection of personal data in Nigeria.

The organisers made this known in a press statement issued on Monday, August 22, 2022, three months before the conference.

In recent times, there have been several attacks on digital rights in Africa. Digital rights are human rights in online spaces. These rights include but are not limited to, the right to privacy, freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of information and communication, gender rights, and the right to freedom from violence.

Citizens’ digital rights are breached if they are the subject of digital surveillance; if they are covertly targeted with disinformation to manipulate their beliefs and behaviour; if their mobile or internet connection is restricted; or if they are arrested or attacked for expressing a political opinion online.

Research shows that Africa has become the most censorship-intensive continent across the globe, responsible for 10 (nearly 53%) of the cases in 2021. Africa led the social media shutdown numbers during election days (3 out of 4 total cases were in Congo, Uganda, and Zambia). Chad blocked the internet following a raid at the property of Yaya Dillo, a representative of Chad’s government opposition. 

The Nigerian government suspended Twitter in Nigeria, the announcement came two days after the microblogging site removed a tweet by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Violation of digital rights in Africa has become a prevalent issue and if proactive steps are not taken, it may persist.

It is therefore imperative to have an intellectual conversation on safeguarding the digital rights of African citizens before, during and after elections. The one-day conference will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2022, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, with the theme Protecting Digital Rights in Closing Spaces. 

The conference will have 4 breakout sessions focused on data privacy, public accountability, the inclusion of People With Disabilities (PWDs) and insecurity and others.

According to BudgIT’s Global Director, Oluseun Onigbinde, “there is no better time to emphasise the need to discuss long-standing and emerging issues with digital freedom in Africa. This includes policies and legislations that have either aided digital rights violations or improved freedom of expression, right to privacy,  right to digital access, and many more. This year alone, we have seen how several African governments, including the Nigerian government, tried to stifle access to freedom of expression on different digital platforms, against the ideals of democracy everyone should stand for. The NMCG will avail stakeholders, state actors and the civil society with the opportunity to co-create means of addressing the current loopholes”.

Speaking on the development, ‘Gbenga Sesan, the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative (PIN) said: “This year’s conference comes at a very important time that we are seeing unending policy threats, citizen advocacy against closing civic spaces and upcoming elections in various African countries. NMCG 2022 will discuss how various African governments are introducing new policies and legislative proposals that promise to fight online harms but target dissenting voices, as well as analyse recent efforts that have demonstrated what’s possible when civil society and citizens fight to keep civic spaces open. With upcoming elections in Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries, the conference comes at a great time to discuss what various stakeholders must do to maximise digital opportunities during such important events”.

According to EiE’s Executive Director, ‘Yemi Adamolekun, “We underestimate how much of our lives are shaped by digital tools. We also underestimate how much governments around the world are threatened by spaces they can’t control. We look forward to exploring these issues during the conference!”.

More information on the 2022 Conference is available on the website. You can book a seat here.

The appointment by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, is a major milestone for Mr. Gbenga Sesan and the Pan-African digital rights and inclusion organization as it is an endorsement to its role in expanding digital rights and freedom on the continent.

Other eminent persons appointed on the panel are Mr. Vint Cerf (United States of America), Mr. Hatem Dowidar (Egypt), Mr. Lise Fuhr (Denmark), Ms. Maria Fernanda Garza (Mexico), Toomas Hendrik Ilves (Estonia), Ms. Maria Ressa (Philippines and United States of America), H. E. Mr Alkesh Kumar Sharma (India), H. E. Ms. Karoline Edtstadler (Austria) and Mr. Lan Xue (China).

Mr. Gbenga Sesan welcomed the appointment saying he was honored and looking forward to serving the world alongside the high-level leaders and also influencing digital policy globally.

In an announcement made on Tuesday, August 16th, 2022, the UN Secretary-General indicated that the Leadership Panel has been established as a strategic, empowered and multi-stakeholder body to support and strengthen the Internet Governance Forum. It is also in line with the IGF mandate and the Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.

The Panel will address strategic and urgent issues and highlight Forum discussions and possible follow-up actions in order to promote greater impact and dissemination of IGF discussions according to its Terms of Reference.

The 10 distinguished members who will serve for a two-year term during the 2022-23 IGF cycles were appointed following an open call for nominations and in line with an equitably distributed, multi-stakeholder configuration of ministerial-level Government representatives, executive-level representatives of the private sector, civil society and the technical community, as well as “at-large” prominent persons in the field of digital policy. 

The Panel also consists of five ex-officio members who are senior representatives of the current, immediately previous, and immediately upcoming IGF host countries, the Chair of the Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group and the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology.

They are; H.E, Mrs. Huria Ali Mahdi, IGF 2022 Host Country (Ethiopia), H.E. Mr Yuji Sasaki, IGF 2023 Host Country (Japan), H.E. Mr. Krzysztof Szubert IGF 2021 Host Country (Poland), Mr. Paul Mitchell, Chair of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group and Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill, Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology. 

The IGF is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society that took place in 2005. In the Tunis Agenda, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance.

The mandate of the Forum was extended for another 10 years in December 2015, during the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes. The 17th edition of the Forum will take place from 28 November to 2 December 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

About PIN

Paradigm Initiative (PIN) is a social enterprise that builds ICT-enabled support systems and advocates for digital rights in order to improve the livelihoods of under-served young Africans. The organization’s digital inclusion programs include a digital readiness school for young people living in under-served communities (LIFE) and a software engineering school targeting high potential young Nigerians (Dufuna). Both programs have a deliberate focus to ensure equal participation for women and girls.  

The digital rights advocacy program is focused on the development of public policy for internet freedom in Africa, with offices in Abuja, Nigeria (covering the Anglophone West Africa region); Yaoundé, Cameroon (Central Africa); Nairobi, Kenya (East Africa), Lusaka, Zambia (Southern Africa), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Dakar, Senegal. 

Paradigm Initiative, which is this year celebrating its 15th Anniversary, has worked in communities across Nigeria since 2007 and across Africa since 2017, building experience, community trust and an organizational culture that positions us as a leading social enterprise in ICT for Development and Digital Rights on the continent.

Paradigm Initiative is also the convener of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF), a pan-African bilingual forum held annually since 2013.

The Digi-Talks with Focus, according to Valery Njiaba | Communications Officer | Paradigm Initiative, will run between February 15th and March 7th, 2022, in Cameroon, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia.

“It will feature the screening of Focus, a look at the findings of the Londa report, an open conversation on the state of digital rights and inclusion, questions and answers, and debates aimed at enhancing digital rights in all the host countries.

“Paradigm Initiative will convene these sessions with local partners in each country bringing together diverse audiences over half a day”, he said.

The sessions, TechEconomy.ng gathered, will also provide opportunities for engaging conversations and to make key recommendations to enhance digital rights on the continent.

To enhance digital rights and combat online violations in Africa, PIN will be presenting its tools of impact such as ripoti.africa a platform that enables online users to report digital rights violations in Africa including breaches of online privacy, and ayeta.africa a toolkit for African digital rights actors aimed at addressing the growing need to safeguard activists, journalists, whistleblowers, and others working with sensitive information in the global South.

More About Paradigm Initiative:

Paradigm Initiative is a Pan-African social enterprise that works to connect underserved young Africans with digital opportunities and ensures the protection of their rights.

Across its regional offices in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and beyond, Paradigm Initiative works to connect underserved African youth with improved livelihoods through digital inclusion and digital rights programs.