Africa’s leading digital rights and inclusion organisation, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has this quarter engaged more than 1,300 stakeholders across 11 countries through 26 forums, training sessions, and policy dialogues on election monitoring, judicial capacity building, inclusion, and grassroots digital literacy.
The engagements focused on safeguarding elections in Zambia, The Gambia and Ethiopia, and on training judges on Artificial Intelligence and data privacy in Nigeria, as well as uniting policymakers, lawyers, journalists and communities to build a safer, more inclusive digital future for the continent.
In partnership with Meta, PIN trained 35 judges across two cohorts in Lagos, Nigeria, in privacy, data protection, Artificial Intelligence and digital evidence, marking a milestone in preparing Nigeria’s judiciary to adjudicate legal disputes in an increasingly digital society.
The organisation further scaled up its Digital Rights and Elections in Africa Meetings (DREAM) in Ethiopia, The Gambia and Zambia, equipping 110 civil society actors, media professionals and election bodies with the tools to monitor and document digital rights violations and protect online civic spaces during politically sensitive periods.
Paradigm Initiative’s Digital Rights Academy (DRA) reached more than 100 lawyers, advocates and law students across Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, sharpening their skills in strategic litigation and in accountability for digital rights violations.
In addition to the above, PIN hosted a Digital Policy Engagement Roundtable, convening 34 stakeholders, including organisations of persons with disabilities, to advance accessibility in digital policy. Separately, Afrocities roundtables in Nigeria and Tanzania, which brought together 80 participants, examined how informal workers can gain fairer access to digital social protection and financial systems, while a Zambia Ministerial Roundtable aligned national digital priorities with the global WSIS+20 review process.
The second quarter further provided an opportunity for the organisation to roll out the Digital Rights and Inclusion Board Learning Experience (DRIBLE) Ambassadors Training, strengthening participants’ capacity to deliver digital rights education through innovative, experiential learning approaches. This led to a deeper understanding of digital rights and inclusion and an increased appetite for practical digital rights education. The sessions were delivered in Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal, reaching 315 stakeholders.
The Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum 2026 (DRIF26) held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire under the theme, Building Inclusive and Resilient Digital Futures, convened 415 stakeholders from over 39 countries from across the world. The event facilitated dialogue, partnerships, and knowledge exchange on important issues shaping the continent’s digital future. The forum was attended by policymakers, civil society representatives, media practitioners, academics, legal experts, technologists , human rights defenders and development actors to advance collective action on digital rights and inclusion.
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