Pan-African organisation, Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has released its 2025 Annual Impact Report, highlighting a year of exceptional organisational delivery and sustained impact across its digital rights and digital inclusion initiatives in Africa and the Global South. Internally, 2025 was marked by a consolidated media reach of 3.07 billion, a digital inclusion reach of 1,830 across five key initiatives, the training of 282 stakeholders in cyber law engagements, 55 events recorded, 11 strategic litigation cases, including one landmark privacy ruling. Through its Life Skills, ICTs, Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Legacy programme, PIN delivered digital literacy and skills training across 13 African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The initiative targeted young people, women, educators, and underserved communities, strengthening digital skills, employability readiness, and awareness of online rights.
In addition, PIN trained over 250 judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers across Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia through its Stemming the Tides of Abuse in Nigeria’s Digital System (STANDS) programme and related cyber law trainings, contributing to early shifts in adjudication and enforcement practices. These figures reflect the organisation’s strengthened operational systems and consistent delivery across research, advocacy, strategic litigation, convenings and digital inclusion programmes, in a year marked by constrained funding and the ever-increasing need for digital rights interventions.
“Even though 2025 tested that conviction with the threats that accompanied it, digital expansion continued at pace… 2025 was also a year that reminded us of what is possible when people commit to doing much-needed work well,” said ‘Gbenga Sesan, the organisation’s Executive Director.
Against this backdrop, the report situates broader sector-wide developments across Africa and the Global South, revealing a widening gap between rapid digital expansion and the protection of human rights, thereby undermining privacy, freedom of expression, and civic participation. According to the report, 2025 saw a surge in vague cybercrime and cybersecurity laws, increasing risks of surveillance, censorship, and disproportionate enforcement. At the same time, internet shutdowns, online harassment, and platform restrictions continued to disrupt civic space, particularly during elections and periods of political tension.
“Governments accelerated the rollout of digital infrastructure while, in too many cases, sidelining the rights frameworks that should govern it. New cybercrime laws were passed in the dead of night. Internet shutdowns were deployed as tools of political convenience. Journalists, human rights defenders, women, and young people continued to bear the heaviest costs of a digital environment that treats rights as a footnote,” commented ‘Gbenga Sesan.
Despite the challenges faced in the sector in 2025, the report highlights, remained a year of sustained impact for PIN, driven by its sponsors, Board of Directors, team, partners, and supporters across the continent. It also reiterates the organisation’s commitment to advancing a rights-based digital future where innovation does not come at the expense of inclusion, safety, or freedom of expression.
Download the full report here.