Change Makers What progress have you seen in the expansion of Internet freedom in Africa over the past ten years? YRS Over the last ten years, there have been positive developments in the expansion of Internet freedom in Africa that can be considered as progress, while there have also been developments that can be characterized as regression. Although Africa still lags behind many other regions in terms of the number of people who have access to the Internet and, therefore, can exercise their rights to freedom of expression and access to information online, the sheer number of Africans that are now online enabled by access to mobile telephony, represents significant progress. Clearly, more needs to be done to provide the enabling infrastructure, improve digital literacy, and ensure that access to the Internet and digital tools is affordable. However, it is clear that increased access to the Internet on the continent has also resulted in more citizen engagement in a wide range of issues, including policy debates. There has also been major progress recorded on the continent on the policy front, with the adoption of regional instruments that have helped to expand the policy environment. One such example was the development and adoption of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in November 2019. This was significant because its predecessor, the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, adopted by the Commission in October 2002, as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, upon which both documents are founded, contained no protection for or reference to Internet freedom or digital rights. However, the 2019 document contained extensive references and protections for freedom of expression and access to information online; it provides for a multistakeholder model of regulation of the Internet as a normative standard on the continent and, among other things, imposes a mandatory obligation on States to recognise that universal, equitable, affordable and meaningful access to the Internet is necessary for the realization of freedom of expression, access to information and the exercise of other human rights. It is a matter of concern that many civil society organizations and, many citizens in different countries show no interest whatsoever in engaging policy issues around the Internet. Many of them obviously still lack the knowledge and skills to engage in legislative or policy processes to ensure that laws and policies being adopted at the national level conform fully with international standards and norms. It is, however, gratifying that many more organizations are now involved in policy advocacy than there were 10 to 20 years ago. A CIPESA Series 13