This week, the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2024 (FIFAfrica24), the continent’s leading event on digital rights, is set to take place from September 24-27, 2024 in Dakar, Senegal. This year’s forum promises to be an exciting convergence of digital rights advocates, the private sector, policymakers, and civil society actors from across Africa and beyond. It also features over 150 expert speakers, participating across 55 sessions.
Now in its 11th year, the Forum is hosted annually by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA). This year, CIPESA is co-hosting the event alongside Dakar-based AfricTivistes, marking a significant milestone in ongoing efforts to advance digital democracy, particularly in Francophone Africa during what has been touted as the Year of Democracy.
FIFAfrica24 kicks off with two days of pre-events (24-25 September), which include strategic meetings and workshops as well as training sessions designed to equip participants with critical skills and foster meaningful dialogue on digital rights issues. This will be followed by two days of public access (26-27 September), where attendees will engage in robust discussions around seven tracks:
· Digital Inclusion
· Digital Resilience
· Freedom of Expression & Access to Information
· Information disorder (mis/disinformation)
· Implications of AI
· Governance and Policy
· Movement Building
In addition to thought-provoking panel discussions and dynamic lightning talks, FIFAfrica24 will host a vibrant exhibition featuring nine exhibitors showcasing their work. This exhibition offers attendees a unique opportunity to explore innovative projects and engage directly with a diverse range of actors driving change in Africa’s digital landscape.
Furthermore, FIFAfrica24 will host a bilingual Digital Security Hub, providing hands-on support in English and French to help participants strengthen their digital resilience. This hub will serve as a crucial resource for activists, journalists, and civil society organisations operating in challenging environments.
As the digital age in Africa continues to evolve FIFAfrica24 offers a unique opportunity to build collaborations and advance digital transformation across the continent.
For more information, visit the FIFAfrica24 website or follow us on social media using #FIFAfrica24 and #InternetFreedomAfrica.
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About AfricTivistes
Established in 2015, AfricTivistes – the African League of Cyber-Activists and Bloggers for Democracy is a pan-African organisation that promotes and defends democracy, good governance and human rights through digital means. Across its programs, AfricTivistes works to foster digital transformation and enhanced citizenship in Africa led by change actors.
About CIPESA
CIPESA was established in 2004 in response to the findings of the Louder Voices Report for the UK’s then Department for International Development (DFID), which cited the lack of easy, affordable and timely access to information about ICT-related issues and processes as a key barrier to effective and inclusive ICT policy making in Africa.
CIPESA’s work continues to respond to a shortage of information, resources and actors consistently working at the nexus of technology, human rights and society. Initially set up with a focus on research in East and Southern African countries, CIPESA has since expanded its efforts to include advocacy, capacity development and movement building across the African continent.
About the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa
FIFAfrica is a landmark event that brings together a diverse array of stakeholders from across the internet governance and digital rights spheres in Africa and beyond to deliberate on critical gaps, challenges, and opportunities for advancing privacy, free expression, inclusion, the free flow of information, civic participation, and innovation online.
Over the years, FIFAfrica has grown to serve as a vital response to the mounting obstacles facing internet freedom across African nations, including threats such as arrests and intimidation of online users, internet disruptions, and the proliferation of laws and inclusive regulations that stifle the potential of digital technology for socio-economic and political development on the continent.
By placing internet freedom directly on the agenda of key stakeholders, including African policymakers, global platform operators, telecommunications companies, regulators, human rights defenders, academia, law enforcement, and the media, FIFAfrica sets the stage for concerted efforts to advance digital rights in Africa and promote the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance.
In 2023, FIFAfrica marked a decade of existence and in 2024, will see the first edition to be hosted in Francophone Africa. Previous editions have been hosted in Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania
