Deadline: 6 December 2019

The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has announced the 2nd round of Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF).

The ADRF offers flexible and rapid response grants to select initiatives in Africa to implement activities that advance digital rights, including advocacy, litigation, research, policy analysis, digital literacy and digital security skills building.

Themes

2 Round of ADRF seeks to support initiatives in various thematic areas, including but not limited to the following:

• Access and affordability
• Access to Information
• Cybercrime
• Data protection and privacy
• Digital economy
• Digital Identity (ID)
• Digital security
• Diversity and inclusion
• eGovernance
• Freedom of expression
• Hate speech
• Innovation for democratic participation, transparency and accountability (civic and social tech)
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Network disruptions
• Strategic litigation
• Surveillance

Funding Information

• Grant amounts range between US$ 1,000 and US$ 20,000, depending on the need and scope of the proposed intervention.
• The grant period will not exceed 10 months. It is anticipated that around 15 grants will be awarded in this round.

Geographical Coverage

Round two of ADRF is open to organisations based and/or operational in Africa and with interventions covering any country on the continent.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Fund is open to organisations and coalitions working to advance digital rights in Africa. This includes but is not limited to human rights defenders, media, activists, think tanks, legal aid groups, and tech hubs.
• Entities working on women’s rights, or with youths, sexual minorities, refugees, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
• The initiatives to be funded will preferably have formal registration in an African country, but in some circumstances organisations and coalitions that do not have formal registration may be considered. Such organisations need to show evidence that they are operational in a particular African country or countries.

Eligible Activities

The activities that are eligible for funding are those that protect and advance digital rights. These may include but are not limited to research, advocacy, policy analysis, litigation, digital literacy and digital security skills building, and participating in digital rights legal and legislative processes.

Ineligible Activities

• The Fund shall not fund any activity that does not directly advance digital rights.
• The Fund will not support travel to attend conferences or workshops, except in exceptional circumstances where such travel is directly linked to an activity that is eligible.
• Reimbursements for costs that have already been incurred.
• The Fund shall not provide scholarships.
• Fund recipients are excluded from receiving more than one grant at a time.

For more information, visit https://cipesa.org/2019/11/call-for-applications-round-two-of-the-africa-digital-rights-fund-adrf/