By Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), December 2016

Although in a number of countries the gender dimension of the digital divide has been bridged, this is not so in Nigeria where there is huge differential between men and women in terms of access and use of the internet. Within the country, it is worse in the states in the northern parts of the country. This is due to a number of factors including culture, religion, education and attitude.

In an effort to understand this and to develop appropriate strategies for digital inclusion of women in the region, CITAD undertook a pilot research aimed to understand the factors that inhibit the effective use of the internet by women in the north. This paper is part of the research undertaken in Bauchi and Keno, with support of APC, which funded the project with a subgrant.

The report presents the findings of a study on what governments are doing to inhibit citizens’ access to ICT, for example content blocks, censorship, filtering, infrastructure control, law-making, court cases; how governments are using ICT activity and data to monitor citizens; and how government bodies and functionaries are using propaganda, impersonation, threats, cloning, and other tactics to shape online content in their favour.

Full country reports are available for ten countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The research was conducted as part of CIPESA’s OpenNet Africa initiative (www.opennetafrica.org), which monitors and promotes internet freedom in Africa.

Over the past years, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have been actively engaging in local, regional, national and international matters with or against the public and private sectors ever since their genesis. This paper examines the role of NGOs in Zimbabwe by analyzing the dynamics of ICT on NGO relations and their direct causal effects on the promotion of sustainable development. Through a qualitative secondary study approach which was enabled through a content analysis, the paper illustrates various factors affecting the sustainability of ICT for NGOs in Zimbabwe. The paper explores the challenges being faced by NGOs in trying to maintain sustainable
development through the usage of ICT and web-enhanced tools in Zimbabwe. The paper establishes that government interference, financial instability, poor infrastructure, low technical expertise among citizens, effects of HIV/AIDS, desire to maintain status quo constrained the implementation of ICT by NGOs to achieve sustainable development.

This is a joint stakeholder contribution to the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism for Uganda. It focuses on women’s rights and the internet in Uganda. It explores the extent of implementation of the recommendations made in the previous cycle of the UPR and also identifies emerging concerns in Uganda regarding women’s rights online.

This article explores the persuasiveness of women’s rights activists in Africa and proposes ways in which activists can counter the silence of men when it comes to these issues.

Caroline is the West and Central Africa Programs Coordinator for the Coalition of African Lesbians. Based in Johannesburg, she is interested in how the internet can be a catalyst for women's rights and sexual rights activism. In her blog she writes about the challenges and realities that feminist in West and Central Africa face. She relates her blog to the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms, where she cites principles on Gender Equality and Marginalised groups and groups at risk. Click here to read her blog

This a report by the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development Working Group on Broadband and Gender. The report reveals that almost three quarters of women online have been exposed to some form of cyber violence, and urges governments and industry to work harder and more effectively together to better protect the growing number of women and girls who are victims of online threats and harassment.

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) looked at internet rights and democratisation, with a focus on freedom of expression and association online. This Special Edition, analyses more than 60 country and thematic reports in order to better reveal and build understanding of the broad range of practical actions and strategies that activists are developing.

Natasha Msonza from Her Zimbabwe shares her views on women's experiences online, this post was written during her participation in the Gender and Internet Governance Exchange program in Addis Ababa, 2015.

Sandra Kambo is from Kenya where she works at AS&K Digital Communications, as a software and test engineer. She has practiced in this role for the past six years, while being in the ICT industry for over a decade npw. In her blog post she reflects on her experience at the African School on Internet Governance and how it can be applied to eveyday life situations from her country's perspective.

This is the last in a series of mini editions highlighting the “End violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project. Drawing on documented case studies, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) research documents some of the characteristics of online violence against women, including different routes women took in search of protection and remedies for these situations.

This report emerges from research carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between November 2013 and April 2014 by Si Jeunesse Savait and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Mobile phones had been the most frequently involved platform in the cases of technology-related VAW explored by the local research team. In all three of the cases, the survivors were victim to multiple acts of violence, either by the same person or different people who, for the most part, were in better control of the technology than the victims.

Human Rights groups and organisations responded to internet shutdown in Uganda during national elections through a joint letter to the African Union, Ugandan Government and other important parastatal institutions. The letter expressed the through the shutting down of the internet, human rights violations were committed.

This is the sixth in a series of mini editions highlighting the “End violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project. Each edition focuses on one country in which the research was conducted, and brings together major findings, and interviews with the research teams. Drawing case studies, the Kenya research documents the local characteristics of online violence against women, including an exploration of the policy and political background of the situation around technology-related violence. In the research some interesting themes/trends were picked up and some valuable recommendations were made.

The Association for Progressive Communications, APC, organized a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet in Port Dickson, Malaysia, bringing together 50 participants from six continents comprising gender and women’s rights activists, LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex) movements, internet and technology rights organizations, and human rights advocates. The goal of the meeting was to bridge the gap between feminist movements and internet rights movements and look at intersections and strategic opportunities to work together as allies and partners. In thinking through these issues, the participants at the meeting developed a set of 15 feminist principles of the internet. These are designed to be an evolving document, and you can join the discussion and debate on the evolving set of feminist principles of the internet here: http://erotics.apc.org or email erotics@apc.org