A crucial publication commissioned and published by WACSI, this work equipped civil society organizations with essential knowledge to protect their digital infrastructure. In an era of increasing cyber threats, it emphasized the importance of digital security for the sustainability and effectiveness of civil society initiatives, enabling organizations to maintain their operations and safeguard their data.
Over the last two decades, technology tools available for
Civil society actors in Africa have tremendously evolved.
Journalists and activists relied mostly on print media to call
out dictators and authoritarian regimes. To avoid being
incarcerated, they hid their identities or never stayed
in one location. Today, they use digital technologies
to mask their identities and digital footprints, and
communicate in real-time with informants and reporters
using technologically advanced tools. To keep pace with
the world and be effective in the work that they do, such
media and civil society actors have had to embrace new
and emerging technologies to facilitate their work. They
make use of technological options like cloud, virtual
private network (VPN), servers, WhatsApp, biometrics,
co/remote working, payment gateway, among others.
Over the last two decades, technology tools available for
Civil society actors in Africa have tremendously evolved.
Journalists and activists relied mostly on print media to call
out dictators and authoritarian regimes. To avoid being
incarcerated, they hid their identities or never stayed
in one location. Today, they use digital technologies
to mask their identities and digital footprints, and
communicate in real-time with informants and reporters
using technologically advanced tools . To keep pace with
the world and be effective in the work that they do, such
media and civil society actors have had to embrace new
and emerging technologies to facilitate their work. They
make use of technological options like cloud, virtual
private network (VPN), servers, WhatsApp, biometrics,
co/remote working, payment gateway, among others. card payments. As many as 85% of NGOs in Africa have
adopted the use of social media (mostly Facebook and
Twitter) to engage and disseminate information to
followers. And almost 60% regularly send email updates
about their work and projects, and at least 35% adopt
either WhatsApp or Facebook to communicate with
supporters and donors.
This massive adoption of technology comes with gains
as well as issues and challenges. Technology ultimately
serves to bridge the gap between people and businesses.
It connects and interfaces lives, infrastructures and
processes in society. However, technology puts sensitive
data and information closer to users, making the data
and its users more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Boles
(2013)1
argues that civil societies are some of the least
aware of this.
