Advocacy for rights-respecting cybersecurity legislations: we have been engaging relevant stakeholders at the national and international levels to push for the formulation and implementation of human-rights-respecting cybersecurity standards, policies and legislations. In Ghana, we have been working with the National Cybersecurity Centre (now Cybersecurity Authority) and civil society organisations to promote security and safety in the country’s cyberspace. This is done through direct engagements and public forums.
Empowering women with online safety and digital skills: research has shown that the inequality between men and women in the offline world are largely experienced in the online world. Even though practically every aspect of human life has been moved online, lots of women are being left behind as majority of them remain unconnected. The organisation has been engaging governments about improving the landscape (in terms of infrastructure and affordable access) to make it relatively feasible for more women to connect to the online world. We have also been engaging government, civil society organisations and the media about empowering women to take advantage of digital technologies and online opportunities. The organisation has also been providing capacity building for female journalists, bloggers and entrepreneurs (at entry-level) with digital skills and online safety practices. These activities are largely implemented in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Monitoring & reporting digital rights and online expression violations: as part of the digital rights programme, we monitor, document and report on violations on digital rights and online expression. The reports are issued as alerts and statements and subsequently collated and analysed into quarterly reports that highlight trends and emerging issues. The alerts and reports are used as advocacy materials for the demand of internet freedom. We also produce policy briefs with policy recommendations for policy makers about digital rights and cybersecurity issues.
African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms: we work with a coalition of freedom of expression and digital rights organisations across Africa to promote the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms – a set of principles put together to promote human rights standards and principles of openness in internet policy formulation and implementation on the continent.
Engagement at UN level: The MFWA has been engaging in the processes surrounding the Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of ICTs. As part of this, the organisation engages some Diplomatic Missions of West African countries to advocate for their buy-ins and get them to make submissions about human rights perspectives in the OEWG processes. The engagements are also used to encourage the Diplomatic Missions to make inputs into country-level implementation processes on cybersecurity and other digital rights issues.