"This report provides an overview of the comparative innovation capacity of the Africa region through ICT-centric Innovation policy monitors and shares insights about good practices strengthening the capacity to integrate ICT innovation in national development agendas. Overall, although sub-Saharan
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Africa has benefited from rapidly growing innovation systems, its performance in the three engines of growth must improve for the region to become a real actor on the global stage. Nigeria for example, has an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is performing well, while its technological and innovation ecosystems need further support to turn the country into a thriving digital innovation ecosystem.
To understand these discrepancies, the report introduces two ICT-centric innovation policy monitors: the three engines of growth monitor and the enablers of digital transformation monitor. The report notes that there are many good practices in the region fuelling the entrepreneurial journey. Each practice presented in the report was analysed based on its impact in a third ICT-centric innovation policy monitor, the ecosystem maturity map monitor. Each stakeholder group, at each of the five stages of the entrepreneurial journey, is assessed by its level of engagement to assess the maturity of the ecosystem. For example, the first stage of the journey for entrepreneurs is entrepreneurial interest, while for the public sector, it is having a vision and strategy. The monitor enables stakeholders to visualize the maturity of the ICT-centric innovation ecosystem and identify which practices to keep, which must be improved and which to replace." (Introduction)
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"When DW Akademie started a new media development project on Refugees and Migration in Africa in 2019, we knew our objective: We wanted to find ways to improve access to information for people affected by displacement, to provide channels for these people to express themselves and to improve the dia
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logue between displaced communities and host communities. However, we didn’t know how people in and around our project areas in Kakuma (Kenya), Gambella (Ethiopia), Kagera, and Kigoma (Tanzania) communicated. In the absence of studies specific to these three locations in East Africa, we conducted information needs assessments. We had many questions: What languages do people speak in these communities? Do they have access to broadcast, print and digital media? Which sources of information do they trust? What kind of information is lacking? To find out, we commissioned a Kenyan research consultancy company to do a quantitative survey of more than 1,700 people in and around refugee camps, organize 32 focus group discussions and interview 25 key informants. We found that information seeking and communication habits were radically different in the three locations. While 54 percent of refugee respondents in the Tanzania study listened to radio, the rate was much lower among refugee respondents in Kenya (25 percent) and Ethiopia (20 percent), where local or international organizations and other people were the most frequently used sources of information. Internet usage varied between 9 percent and 39 percent and tends to be higher in urban areas and among host communities than in rural areas and among refugees." (Foreword)
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"This article discusses activists’ need to reflect on how achieving social media visibility might translate into vulnerability. In order to provide activists with a tool for this reflection, the Stepping into Visibility Model has been developed and applied to two case studies: (a) an activist grou
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p in a Brazilian favela using social media for protection against police brutality and (b) a Kenyan photographer, affiliated to an art-ivist (artistic and activist) collective, producing images of Nairobi at night to tackle social anxiety issues. The research draws from sociological insights on the concept of ‘visibility’ and adopts a case study methodology combined with ethnographic approaches. By adopting a Global South perspective, it discusses counter surveillance efforts in ways that go beyond techno-legal solutionism (Dencik et al, 2016) and in periods outside that of big-scale protests (McCosker, 2015). By devising this model, we hope to offer a contribution on how marginalised communities can be better informed when they encounter unintended negative visibility." (Abstract)
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"Self regulation through peer review is a system whereby journalists hold each other accountable for the quality and accuracy of their content. If the Kenyan experience is anything to go by, this measure can provide an additional layer of scrutiny – additional to a state ombudsman or media houses
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internal quality controls – that is both quick and less prone to political interference. Having edited the the 'Media Observer' and contributed several reviews, I offer the following seven measures to take to ensure your own peer review programme is an effective tool in the fight to restore audience trust: Guard goodwill [...] Make it part of a routine [...] Consider hiring a public editor [...] Regularly review editorial policies [...] Communicate openly about external forces [...] More carrots, fewer sticks [...] Supplement with a mentorship programme." (Making peer review work for you, page 20-22)
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"[...] Radio is still the region’s most popular medium, especially in rural parts of the region where the majority of the population still live. The little advertisement revenue that still goes to media houses in the region lies in the hands of very few media outlets with a national reach. Most of
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these are entertainment-focused commercial radio stations. Most of the digital media revenue from advertisers go straight into the hands of big-tech corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. The little that remains is shared among social media influencers and fad bloggers. Smaller radio stations and digital publications in the region have been forced to find alternative models to finance their operations. These include partnerships with development agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and religious institutions. There are numerous opportunities in the digital space than those in legacy media – or traditional media (such as print and analogue broadcast media) – can still take advantage of to achieve sustainability. Paywalls, a model introduced by Kenya’s leading newspapers the Daily Nation and The Standard on their digital publications can be replicated across the region. The radio of the future will need to converge with digital media if it is to maintain its position as the most preferred medium." (Summary of findings, page 2-3)
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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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"Almost half of women respondents had been sexually harassed at work (47%). Women were twice as likely to experience sexual harassment at work than men. For one in two women, the harassment was verbal (56%), and for one in three, it was physical (38%). Only 30% of cases of sexual harassment were eve
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r reported to management. Fear of reprisals is the most common driver behind non-reporting. But lack of faith in the organisation’s management and awareness of reporting systems also plays a part. When they did receive formal complaints, news organisations took action in 42% of cases. Persons in authority are the perpetrators of sexual harassment in four out of ten cases, either as a direct supervisor (21.5%) or person from higher management (19.5%). Sexual harassment is often taking place openly: 46% had witnessed at least one incident, with 16.5% stating they had seen five or more cases. Non-conforming individuals experienced sexual harassment almost as often as women. One in two (50%) had been verbally harassed, and 36% had been physically harassed. Of the 32 managers interviewed, more than half had been sexually harassed. Only three reported this. Some 47% said their organisations had no sexual harassment policy, and then, of those where a policy existed, just 17% knew its contents." (Main findings, page 5)
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"Digital feedback has large potential for consumer protection. The customer experiences shared in the different social media channels have proven to be a rich source of information with the potential of answering a large number of questions. Who will make use of this data and methods going forward,
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and how will it benefit people? Regulators, who can apply new approaches to have automated tools for market monitoring, providing real-time statistics and early warning signs on action that should be taken, so that issues can be addressed earlier, with the potential for more cost-effective interventions; financial Inclusion donor organizations, which have a mandate to ensure that the growth of financial services goes in line with consumer protection and is socially responsible; Innovation for Poverty Action, by adding a new data approach to inform new experimental interventions; consumers themselves, as digital communities begin to form around creating transparent information about providers." (Executive summary)
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"Efforts to establish or improve national identification systems in Africa have coincided with the increasing deployment of mobile technology. This has led to the prioritisation of digital “solutions” for facilitating forms of identification and registration – often via biometric attributes [.
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..] Research ICT Africa (RIA) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) partnered in 2020 and 2021 to investigate, map, and report on the state of digital identity ecosystems in 10 African countries. The project looked at local, digitised (in full or partially) foundational ID systems in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The project set out to contribute to the broader question of whether digital identity ecosystems increase choices and opportunities for Africans, or whether they exacerbate the multidimensional aspects of digital inequality on the continent." (Executive summary)
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"This essay centres on the role of religion in the era of Covid-19. We juxtapose social media and religious practices in a way that challenges the conventional religion of the pulpit to deconstruct the myths and misconceptions around spirituality in the era of Covid-19. We show the transformation of
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worship from physical worship places, particularly churches, to virtual engagements through social media. Through observation, close relations’ accounts, personal experiences and media perspectives, we analyze the politics that surrounded religious observances in the first 7 months of Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya. We make a case that, discoveries made in these seven and other months to come, will most likely influenced the myths and misconceptions about religion and religious practices in the country. From these accounts, we project a future that is likely to reap from the benefits of technology, and especially social media, which has revolutionized exchange of ideas, sermons, prayers and music. We challenge the very notion of pulpit religiosity, and the myths and misconceptions that religion cannot be without physical fellowships." (Abstract)
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"The study aims to gather information and develop a better understanding of the community radio landscapes in different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, in order to identify needs, opportunities and potential partners for developing a programme of support for community radio on the continent. The envisa
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ged programme of support should be based on a productive model that takes into account the range of circumstances in Sub-Saharan Africa, its subregions as well as the selected countries. This report presents a descriptive analysis of the community radio landscape in 11 francophone, lusophone and anglophone countries from West, East and Southern Africa." (Purpose of the study, page 12)
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"This report assesses the extent to which the public participated in three recent ICT policy and law-making processes. These include the National Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Policy, 2019, the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, and the Data Protection Act, 2019 [...] Gener
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ally, the government is yet to put in place a holistic, multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder, mechanism for public participation. For example, the Public Participation Bill, 2019 which could provide the framework for effective public participation, has not yet been enacted. Specifically, the three ICT processes were marked by cross-cutting inconsistencies in the interpretation and application of public participation. State agencies failed to: inform the public with objective, baseline research to enable stakeholders to understand the problem or need to be addressed by a process, and solutions proposed; consult stakeholders, and provide them with sufficient time to contribute to public calls for input, or give feedback on the consideration of stakeholder submissions; involve stakeholders to contribute to the processes from the beginning, avail equal opportunities for different stakeholders to contribute to the processes, or avoid duplication of processes; and, collaborate with stakeholders in decision-making to ensure consensus and balancing special interests against stakeholders’ inputs, evidence and facts." (Executive summary)
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"This report has documented the surveillance measures and practices in Kenya and Uganda during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The key trends include poor oversight over COVID-19 data collection, the lack of independent data protection authorities, the use of telecommunications data to ‘t
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rack and trace’ individuals, the surveillance of public spaces using CCTV and biometric technologies, the possession of broad search powers by medical and public health officers, and a lack of transparency and accountability by state and nonstate actors. Also, the coronavirus apps deployed in both countries presented new challenges including their limited impact and effectiveness, non-compliance of the apps with privacy standards, their inadequate privacy policies, and a lack of transparency in partnerships. While international human rights law and the constitutions in both countries guarantee the protection of the rights to privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression and information, these were not complied with during the pandemic period. The result is an overall expansion of the surveillance environment in Kenya and Uganda, leading to interference with, and infringements and violations of these rights, a situation which is worrying if left unchanged." (Conclusion, page 20)
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"The survey found that 58% of Kenyans interviewed consume TV content on a typical day. This translates to approximately 16,740,493 Kenyans aged above 15 years who consume TV content. This is a drop from 74% of the respondents recorded in the 2020 survey. Across the regions, 60% of persons in North E
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astern, 57% of people in Western, 45% of people in Nyanza and 42% of people in Coast regions do not consume TV content. The average time per day spent watching TV was calculated to 2 hours. This is lower than the global average time spent watching TV, which is 3 hours, 24 minutes. Approximately 19% and 64% of the people access TV content via Pay TV decoders and free to air set top boxes. The most watched content on TV includes news, entertainment, religious and sports content, with at least 11% of all the mentions made by respondents. A total of 70% of the content consumed is on local TV content, compared to 30% of foreign TV content. Citizen TV, KTN Home and NTV had 27%, 11% and 9% of all the mentions respectively, as one of the 3 most watched TV channels by respondents. Some of the respondents could not however distinguish between KTN Home and KTN News. Across the country, radio content is consumed by 74% of Kenyans on a typical day. This translates to approximately 21,459,073 Kenyans who consume radio content. This proportion is not different from the proportion recorded in 2020 survey. The average time per day spent listening to radio was calculated to 2 hours. This is higher than the global average time spent on listening to radio, which is 1 hour [...]" (Executive summary)
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