"This assessment tool seeks to provide step-by-step advice and concrete recommendations for those wishing to develop a gender approach to cybersecurity policy. Building on APC’s previous work on a human rights approach to cybersecurity, online gender-based violence, and cybersecurity and gender, r
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anging from research to advocacy, this document is part of a framework we have designed to support policy makers and civil society organisations in developing gender-responsive cybersecurity policies. This framework also includes two other documents, and we recommend that those using this assessment tool consult them before putting the principles and processes we outline here into practice: a literature review that explores how cybersecurity as a gendered space has been addressed in research; a document identifying norms, standards and guidelines that cybersecurity policy makers and advocates can draw on when seeking to promote a gender approach within national or multilateral cybersecurity discussions." (Intgroduction, page 4)
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"The pandemic made inequality, discrimination, exclusion and structural inequity more palpable, and rather than stagnating in indignation, it reactivated a sense of rebellion and contestation. The strength and sharpness with which we connect social justice, gender justice, environmental justice, eco
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nomic justice and racial justice with the potentials and limitations of digital technologies is undeniable. Using this intersectional lens, we need to document and build our own narratives about the challenges that we face related to the impacts of the pandemic and reflect on how our advocacy priorities as well as the ways we do advocacy are changing and keep being modified and adjusted. At APC we have strengthened capacity to design and implement collective and contextual community responses to the multiple challenges and crises that we face, while having a greater awareness of the kind of global responses that should be prioritised, based on shared but differentiated responsibilities [...] GISWatch 2021-2022 focuses on responses to some of the fundamental questions brought by the pandemic to inform civil society’s advocacy around digital technology issues and their potential to shape future horizons. As illustrated on our cover, a sustained struggle will be necessary in the years ahead, but not only in the public spaces. A nuanced approach to advocacy will be essential to open multiple ways to bring about positive change." (Preface, page 6)
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"The volume first examines the teaching of media literacy in state-run schools in seven Sub-Saharan African countries as of mid-2020, as relates to misinformation. It explains the limited elements of broad media and information literacy (MIL) included in the curricula in the seven countries studied
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and the elements of media literacy related specifically to misinformation taught in one province of South Africa since January 2020. The authors propose a theory of ‘misinformation literacy’ – six fields of specific knowledge and skills required to reduce students’ susceptibility to false and misleading claims. Identifying obstacles to the introduction and effective teaching of misinformation literacy, the authors make five recommendations for the promotion of misinformation literacy in schools, to reduce the harm misinformation causes. The second report in the volume examines changes made to laws and regulations related to ‘false information’ in eleven countries across Sub-Saharan Africa 2016-2020 from Ethiopia to South Africa. By examining the terms of such laws against what is known of misinformation types, drivers and effects, it assesses the effects of punitive policies and those of more positive approaches that provide accountability in political debate by promoting access to accurate information and corrective speech. In contrast to the effects described for most recent regulations relating to misinformation, the report identifies ways in which legal and regulatory frameworks can be used to promote a healthier information environment." (Back cover)
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"Of the eight countries surveyed here, only four have comprehensive data protection privacy acts in place: Kenya, South Africa, Togo and Uganda. But as these research reports suggest, this is not necessarily a strong indicator of whether a country is committed to privacy rights, or of the efficacy o
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f a country’s legislative environment in ensuring the right to privacy and data protection. Instead, reading across the reports, what can be described as an asymmetry between legislation and practice is evident at different levels. This asymmetry can be political – for example, Togo, an effective constitutional dictatorship marked by fierce government crackdowns on opposition and recent reports of surveillance of religious and political leaders, enacted a data protection law in 2019, and is one of the few countries in Africa to have ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention). Yet, as the country author suggests, “This interest [by policy makers in digital rights] is not necessarily to protect the citizens but rather out of concern to adapt state policies to the global digital situation.” This asymmetry also concerns the regulatory framework for the implementation of a data protection act. Amongst the countries surveyed here, South Africa was the first to pass a protection of personal information act (in 2013), but still has not implemented the necessary regulations to give practical force to the law. In contrast, while Nigeria’s privacy law is still in draft form, it already has what the country author describes as “watershed” privacy regulations." (Introduction, page 5)
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"The world is facing an unprecedented climate and environmental emergency. Scientists have identified human activity as primarily responsible for the climate crisis, which together with rampant environmental pollution, and the unbridled activities of the extractive and agricultural industries, pose
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a direct threat to the sustainability of life on this planet. This edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) seeks to understand the constructive role that technology can play in confronting the crises. It disrupts the normative understanding of technology being an easy panacea to the planet’s environmental challenges and suggests that a nuanced and contextual use of technology is necessary for real sustainability to be achieved. A series of thematic reports frame different aspects of the relationship between digital technology and environmental sustainability from a human rights and social justice perspective, while 46 country and regional reports explore the diverse frontiers where technology meets the needs of both the environment and communities and where technology itself becomes a challenge to a sustainable future." (Back cover)
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"Subgranting is a readily accessible source of short- to medium-term financial support for organisations. It offers a flexibility in disbursing funds that is not often found in donors. It catalyses change in organisations. It can serve as “seed funding”, allowing new organisations to become know
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n in an advocacy space. It allows for experimentation, innovation, and unpredictability. It allows organisations to strengthen the work they are already doing, and empowers them to seek funding elsewhere based on new experiences and knowledge.
• Transparency in deciding how funds are disbursed is essential. APC has tried different models for subgranting, including a centralised decision-making model, which offers autonomy for member organisations to decide on a project’s focus within a broad framework of shared objectives; a decentralised model with a thematic focus, working with members and new partners; and a collective decision-making model, that is issue based, working with a network of like-minded activists. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and the most appropriate mechanisms for transparency might depend on the size of the project or initiative, and the overall objectives of the subgranting work.
• Clear communication is necessary for meeting concrete deliverables, for growing a community or network, and for transparency. Make sure meanings are aligned and shared, even in like-minded networks. This streamlines the process, avoids disappointment, and ensures clearer outcomes.
• Subgranting can be used effectively for outreach to meet and work with new organisations at the local level, growing a network or membership base, and increasing the profile of an organisation at the grassroots level.
• Thematically focused or issue-based subgranting programmes can encourage a greater level of interaction between organisations, and allow cross-border advocacy with the potential of amplifying advocacy impact. However, collaboration needs to be created – it does not happen on its own. It requires processes and specific considerations, such as the type of decision-making structure to follow, thatcreate the context for cooperation to happen." (Key lessons from APC’s subgranting work, pgae 50)
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"This report offers an overview of journalism training and education centres in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on 10 countries. Although the primary emphasis of this research was on institutions such as universities, schools, colleges and institutes, we took a loose definition of ‘centres’ to incl
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ude some initiatives in the non-profit sector, as well as those closely aligned to the commercial media. The purpose was to try to identify trends in journalism education and training in sub-Saharan Africa, challenges and areas of creativity and teaching, and what we called ‘centres responding to a changing environment’. The last mapping study of journalist training centres across the continent appears to have been done over 10 years ago by Unesco, although country-specific studies have subsequently emerged. Journalist training needs are also currently being researched in at least two new studies that are likely to appear soon. This report then should be read in the context of these studies." (Page 8)
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"This review looks back over 11 years of civil society advocacy in the information society – a total of 510 country reports published in Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) from 2007 to 2017. It covers a period of important global shifts, from the exponential growth and influence of social
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media, to the turbulence and hope of the Arab Spring, to revelations of widespread state surveillance. It offers a summary of what internet rights activists wrote about, what they found important, the challenges they faced, and what they felt needed to be done to strengthen a people-centred information society." (Back cover)
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"The fourth annual report looks at jobs in the newsroom, fake news and fact-checking journalism, and highlights the problem of threats to media freedom in South Africa. In a survey conducted across a range of newsrooms both big and small, it found that young, black women journalists are more likely
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to find work in South African newsrooms than any other demographic. The survey also confirmed that, with one or two exceptions, young, less experienced journalists are writing the news we read every day. While its overview of honours research into fake news suggests there might not be as much of it circulating in this country as we imagine, it also found that fact-checking journalism has yet to gain the traction in South African newsrooms as a marketable genre in the way that it has elsewhere in the world." (http://journalism.co.za/resources/state-of-the-newsroom)
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"This report responds to the opportunity provided by the WSIS+10 review which will culminate in 2015. Its purpose is to collate civil society perceptions of the changes that have taken place over the last ten years since the WSIS Declaration of Principles was adopted in 2003. The results are being u
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sed as input to the formal WSIS review process, as well as to strategise around civil society joint agendas and common positions. To this extent it contributes towards addressing two problems: An apparent absence - in most parts of the world - of a people-centred approach to information and knowledge-sharing society policy and regulation - and the fragmentation of the communications rights movement, which had mobilised so intensively to ensure that a people-centred approach informed the outcomes of WSIS." (Introduction)
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"GISWatch has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy at local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. Each year the report focuses on
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one particular theme. GISWatch 2009 focuses on access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy. It includes several thematic reports dealing with key issues in the field, as well as an institutional overview and a reflection on indicators that track access to information and knowledge. There is also an innovative section on visual mapping of global rights and political crises. In addition, 48 country reports analyse the status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while six regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends." (Back cover)
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