About Africtivistes

The African League of Bloggers and Cyber-Activists for Democracy, commonly known as AFRICTIVISTES, is a pan-African organisation headquartered in Dakar. Africtivistes brings together bloggers and web activists from across the continent to promote and defend democratic values, human rights and good governance through digital technology.

AFRICTIVISTES was founded in November 2015 to connect changemakers across Africa and develop practical, appropriate solutions to the major challenges holding back democratic development and unity across the continent.

As a dynamic organisation spanning African countries, AFRICTIVISTES focuses on consolidating democracy, both within individual countries and, above all, across the continent. By this, we mean any action that advances genuine and participatory democracy, cyber-democracy, e-governance and the effective entrenchment of democratic culture in our countries.

AFRICTIVISTES is a guardian of democracy across Africa. The organisation is committed to intervening directly or advocating for other actors to become involved in political and social change. It leads projects that promote development and civic participation in democratic processes. It also develops strategies to monitor political leaders and track their actions and delivery on promises, in order to encourage transparency and good governance. AFRICTIVISTES is a showcase for enhanced citizenship in Africa.

AFRICTIVISTES’ main areas of work are:

• Participatory democracy;
• Good governance;
• Transparency, particularly open data;
• The fight against corruption;
• A culture of peace; and
• Cyber security.

Our values

Africtivistes are united by the following values:

• We pledge to conduct all our activities within the law.
• We are committed to upholding democracy in our countries and across Africa through participatory citizenship.
• We renew our commitment to non-partisan civic engagement.
• We are committed to safeguarding democratic and electoral processes.
• We are committed to supporting movements and initiatives for participatory democracy.
• We reaffirm our commitment to promoting good governance, strengthening African solidarity and defending human rights.

History of the AFRICTIVISTES network

The creation of social movements in Africa in response to human rights violations, the growth of participatory citizenship and civic engagement, and the spontaneous online solidarity of young Africans all contributed to the creation of a pan-African network: a new generation of African citizens committed to socio-democratic change. Across the continent, citizens have initiated, funded and carried out many civic actions.

In 2008, young Kenyans created a web application called Ushahidi during the post-election crisis. It enabled people living near conflict zones to identify “dangerous places”. The application has since been used around the world.

In 2010, young Ivorians launched #CIV2010 and #CIVSOCIAL, two hashtags linked to civic initiatives addressing the challenges of the election period and the post-election crisis.

In 2012, Senegalese bloggers using #SUNU2012 monitored the entire electoral process with a new digital system for election monitoring and observation, helping to prevent fraud and, to a lesser extent, a post-election crisis. This electronic observation was a breakthrough for civic participation in Africa.

The only tool available to young people was the mobile phone. Their plan was to photograph the results forms at each counting centre, while an app reported the results in real time, informing the general public ahead of journalists.

In 2012, young Ghanaians launched #GhanaDecides, an initiative to promote citizen participation in electoral processes.

From 2012 to 2016, Africa saw many other civic initiatives: electronic election observation through #Vote229 in Benin and #GuinéeVote in Guinea; and monitoring the fulfilment of election promises through Mackimètre in Senegal, Buharimètre in Nigeria, Présimètre in Burkina Faso, Lahidi in Guinea and Talonmètre in Benin. All these projects, except Mackimètre and Buharimètre, were led by members of the AFRICTIVISTES network.

We have observed that elections often trigger crises in Africa. Incumbent parties seek to cling to power, while opposition parties tend to reject election results. In some countries, activists, bloggers, whistle-blowers and sources are viewed by these parties as the new “enemies of the state”.

The involvement of this new kind of citizen — a guardian of democracy — in elections, public administration and demands for accountability strengthens the idea of young Africans taking control of their own future.

Beyond transparency, good governance and accountability, AFRICTIVISTES also carries out advocacy and supports communities, with many of these efforts bearing fruit.

We have now launched a major training programme for civil society media actors and professional journalists. The cyber security programme will equip 500 participants from ten West African countries. Africa Media Cyber Security was launched in Conakry on 17 July 2017. It will cover the four remaining countries — Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Benin and Togo — completing the programme’s first edition before the Ouagadougou Summit in June 2018.

The creation of AFRICTIVISTES has demonstrated the importance of meeting in person to bring together members’ expertise and strengthen joint offline action. For years, members had maintained strong online connections to help build a better and more democratic Africa.