Change Makers

How can we ensure that marginalized communities, such as
women, youth, people with disabilities, and marginalised groups,
are included in efforts to promote Internet freedom in Africa?
In proposing and advancing multi-stakeholder
approaches to Internet governance, it is imperative
that each of the stakeholder groups is inclusive. It is
incumbent on civil society actors to play their
traditional role of advocacy in this regard. They
should champion the cause of inclusivity. Not only
should the civil society sector include
representatives of the marginalized groups within
their fold, they need to elevate and amplify the
voices of such groups. Civil society actors will not be
credible or effective if they are not themselves
inclusive. Civil society organizations should make
deliberate efforts to support or conduct research to
ascertain how new policy proposals or the content
of proposed laws will likely impact members of the
various marginalized groups and feed their findings
into the policy or legislative process to properly
address the issues.

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A CIPESA Series

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