January 26 2023, Africa Meetup
From TCU Wiki
| Africa Meetups |
Date: Wednesday, January 26th
Time: 3pm SAST / 1pm UTC / 4pm EAT / 8am EST
Who: Facilitated by Mardiya & Tawanda
Where: BigBlueButton link will be shared in the following rooms on the IFF Mattermost one or two hours before the start of the meeting: Sub-Saharian Africa.
- Don't have an account to the IFF Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.
Notes: Please put notes here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/africa-meetup
Notes
Community health
- Needing stillness
- Catching up with work and chaos of january
- Feeling okay, and trying to rest before the world gets more hectic
- Exhaustion from everything especially from the current loss we are experiencing
Updates and News
- DDP is expanding into larger francophone Africa, and would be reaching out to specific people in the community for consultants in the region.
- Rutendo, a community member, is working on a AI and gender mainstreaming in Africa podcast, and is looking for community members or suggestions of people who might be interested in speaking.
- Given the current climate, the community needs a repository of people to reach out in the different African regions for immediate support on security, safety etc.
- In Africa, before we delve into circumvention conversations we need to address and implement data protection and governance. There is an imminent need for more countries to lobby and sign the Malambo convention
- Circumvention events and gatherings need to assess what each community or location needs at a specific period to tailor the gathering towards such needs rather than being generic.
Upcoming Elections in Africa, Optimism and Concerns
- Election in Nigeria : While there might not be any critical digital security threats, physical security is still major concern especially regarding polling station violence. Mis/disinformation is also a significant issue, however, younger people online are pushing back by responding to propaganda with verified and more accurate information.
- In Zimbabwe, there is increased surveillance, and actions by the state to shrink the civic space, through its new bill that has found many CSOs in contempt. Meanwhile given its violent histories, outcomes from the elections may not be positive.
- Learning from Kenya: Last year, Kenyan CSOs, grassroots organizations and other stakeholders collaborated to forecast and anticipate outcomes of the election.Their techniques included, assessing their histories, to create a risk mitigation plan and strategizing on ways to implement it. They also mapped the work of other advocacy groups regarding the elections, and designed campaigns, briefs, and counter strategies in the event there were any internet shutdowns. Meanwhile KICTANET deployed a team of online observers who provided real-time and updated information on each event during the election.
