 has awarded $320,000 to 18 initiatives in Africa to strengthen digital rights, inclusion){kind=link}
The Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) has awarded $320,000 to 18 initiatives across 14 African countries to strengthen digital rights, inclusion, and online safety in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
The grants will support efforts ranging from data protection and artificial intelligence governance to combating technology-facilitated gender-based violence, improving digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, and expanding online civic participation among youth and refugees.
The latest funding round brings total disbursements by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), which manages the fund, to $1.3 million since the ADRF was launched in 2019.
“The overwhelming number of applications received in this round reflects the changing funding landscape for digital rights and democracy in Africa,” said Dr. Wairagala Wakabi, CIPESA’s executive director. “The ADRF continues to bridge the prevailing funding gap and expand into new geographies and constituencies.”
This round received a record 430 applications, the highest since the fund’s inception, with new participating countries including Guinea, Liberia, and Madagascar. Previous rounds received between 120 and 283 applications.
Grantees span the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, among others.
Projects targeting digital accessibility will support persons with disabilities through training, platform audits, and inclusive design advocacy. Other initiatives will focus on youth engagement in digital democracy, women’s participation in AI governance, and strengthening responses to online harms such as misinformation and harassment.
Several grants will also address technology-facilitated gender-based violence through training for judicial officers, safety toolkits for women, and research into regulatory gaps. In addition, new projects will examine data governance, refugee digital rights, and cybersecurity risks facing journalists and human rights defenders.
The fund has also expanded into emerging areas such as artificial intelligence ethics, cross-border data rights in refugee settlements, and the impact of generative AI on political discourse.
CIPESA said applications were reviewed through multiple internal and external expert committees to ensure transparency and alignment with digital rights priorities.
The ADRF continues to position itself as one of the continent’s key funding mechanisms for civil society groups working on digital governance, rights protection, and technology accountability.