Dr Grace Githaiga, CEO of KICTANet, emphasizes the urgent need for stronger digital rights coalitions in Kenya, asserting that collective action is crucial for navigating the evolving digital landscape.
“The time to unite is now,” she declared during a virtual KICTANet validation meeting on the needs assessment and curriculum for Human Rights Civil Society Organizations in Kenya, echoing the African proverb: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”
The virtual meeting underscored the critical challenges facing digital rights coalitions. Participants helped validate the findings of the needs assessment research, and identified key challenges and capacity-building priorities.
Needs Assessment: Identifying Critical Gaps
The assessment was led jointly by Ms Grace Bomu who is passionate about Human Development, ICT policy, Digital Policy, and Digital Rights, and Dr Ronald Ojino, an Information Technology Researcher & Consultant.
The research findings focused on identifying priority capacity-building areas to determine the skills and knowledge gaps within coalitions, and understanding the challenges and obstacles hindering effective digital rights advocacy, and assessing awareness levels of key digital rights issues.
Dr. Grace’s message served as a rallying cry for collective action. “The time to strengthen coalitions is critical right now,” she stressed. “If we hope to have these digital spaces remain free, open, and inclusive platforms for engagement, we must work together.”
The initiative is aimed at enhancing the capacity of human rights civil society organizations (HR-CSOs) and their diverse coalition partners in advocating for digital rights.
This initiative, supported by the European Union, is part of the broader Kenya Safe Space Action that seeks to empower these organizations to effectively navigate the increasingly complex digital landscape, fostering collaborative approaches to human rights advocacy and activism.
In light of the rise of digital activism, this project is committed to promoting and safeguarding a democratic, safe, and inclusive digital environment. It recognizes the urgent need for inclusive and rights-respecting governance, providing HR-CSOs with the tools and skills necessary to advocate effectively for the protection of digital rights in an evolving digital era.
As outlined by Dr Grace Githaiga, the KICTANet CEO, during her opening remarks, this project is timely, and thanks to our partners, we seek to synergize and be at the forefront of promoting digital rights advocacy and ensuring tailored approaches to capacity-building initiatives, and “Now is the critical time to strengthen coalitions if we want to create digital platforms that are free, open, and inclusive, allowing us to engage effectively.”
Developing a Tailored Curriculum
Based on the findings from the needs assessment, KICTANet will create a training curriculum focused on foundational professional development in digital rights advocacy. This curriculum will encompass topics such as digital rights principles, online security, effective campaigning, data protection strategies, and relevant legal frameworks.
The curriculum approach was described as a “scaffolding” – a flexible framework which allows organizations to adapt it to their particular requirements. This approach can be likened to buying a house, where you can choose your own tiles, sink, and flooring based on your preferences—making it bespoke and tailored to individual needs, said Ms Grace Bomu.
Going forward, KICTANet will leverage the newly developed curriculum to conduct a series of targeted training workshops designed to impart practical skills and facilitate knowledge sharing among participants towards a robust and informed civil society, committed to advocating for a democratic, safe, and inclusive digital environment for all Kenyans.
