African Philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’ central to digital inclusion on continent – Paradigm Initiative

By Hans Ngala

Some 623 attendees have rounded off with three days of discussions, workshops and interactions all centered around the concept of ‘digital ubuntu’ – an idea borrowed from the broader South African philosophy of ‘ubuntu’ (I am because you are); looking at everything from policy regulations to artificial intelligence and gender inclusion in Africa’s digital spaces at the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF25) in Lusaka, Zambia.
The Forum is an annual event hosted since 2013 by Nigeria-based digital rights group, Paradigm Initiative.
Defining “digital ubuntu” in the South African Journal of Industrial Engineering, Mangaroo-Pillay, Roopa and Maisiri refer to it as “the idea of people collaborating to solve a problem digitally” – which is what DRIF25 was all about.
Addressing the attendees from 66 countries during the opening ceremony at the Mulungushi International Conference Center, ‘Gbenga Sesan, Paradigm Initiative’s Executive Director said he hoped that they would leave empowered and more knowledgeable with regards to digital rights issues on the continent and South-South cooperation on digital rights and inclusion.
He also observed that “These are very interesting times. We started the year in our development sector and particularly, digital rights with some very interesting news about shrinking funding”
“We were already dealing with shrinking civic spaces and we also seem to have a challenge with shrinking legitimacy” Sesan told participants. “But the good news is that we are unbowed. We continue to work on the issues that demand attention”.
Two sessions at the Forum were led by Cameroonians. Desmond Ngala, a digital rights advocate, and president of Civic Watch Cameroon, the lead organization behind the #defyhatenow initiative in Cameroon, spoke on “Bottom-up Approaches to Peace building and Democracy: Capacities Development’s Actions to Promote a Safe Digital Space in Cameroon”.
The second Cameroonian panel discussion was on “Cameroon’s New Data Protection Law: Implications for Privacy, Journalism, and Governance in the Central African Region” and was moderated by Giyo Ndzi, a journalist and communications officer for Paradigm Initiative. On the panel were the Honourable Agho Oliver, a Cameroonian Member of Parliament who spoke on the legal aspects of this newly adopted personal data protection law; Mr. Colbert Gwain, a digital rights activist and communications specialist who looked at the Law’s implications for civil society organizations in Cameroon and Hansel Ngala who spoke on its implications on journalism.
Various participants from different countries had different motivations and reasons for attending the pan-African and global event.
“My motivation for attending DRIF25 was basically to understand how digital privacy works and knowing my rights when it comes to digital aspects” said Olga Emma, a participant from Cameroon. “From the sessions I attended, I was able to pick out a thing or two about digital rights, digital privacy and I think that’s not something that many people know a lot about” she added.
“I mainly work with tech and I learned about DRIF from my manager who learned about it from social media and felt this would be a great way to meet civil society organizations and key actors in the civic space in Africa” said Clifford Ouma, an attendee from Kenya. Ouma added that “I was blown away by the sheer size of the digital ecosystem and being from a primarily tech background like I said, this was new to me. But I also enjoyed how the various sessions were structured around various themes, making it easy to follow the conversations”.
There was also the screening of a Paradigm Initiative-produced movie titled “Whispers in the Wires” which encourages Africans to collaborate across borders to resist repressive governments who shut down the internet, given that the internet is now a crucial tool for daily life even in remote parts of the continent.
Attendees gave mostly positive reviews of “Whispers in the Wires” and Paradigm Initiative was encouraged by some viewers to ensure that the movie gets wider dissemination across Africa.
South-South cooperation was huge at the event, with many attendees from other Global South countries such as Brazil, India and Bolivia.
“I came to DRIF because my organization has a relationship with Paradigm and we were invited to talk about digital security,” said Rafael Bonifaz from Ecuador. “I also enjoyed the commitment to digital security by the people here in Africa because I come from Latin America and we don’t have something like DRIF. Africa is huge and diverse, so learning from different cultures has been interesting” said Bonifaz who works with an organization called Derechos Digitales (Spanish for ‘Digital Rights’).
He further commented on the session on digital surveillance in Africa, noting that “they were talking about surveillance in different African countries but that’s the reality and also the reality in Latin America – our governments like to surveil us but they don’t have that much oversight because there is no one watching the watchers and that is really dangerous”.
For Kenyan attendee Jane Muhia who works with Oxfam in Nairobi “The thing I would like to see more of is maybe more government participants, government stakeholders. I haven’t really met many representatives of government entities and I hope that the organizers can think about this in the next editions of DRIF”.
Paradigm Initiative executives announced that DRIF26 is scheduled for Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 14 to 16 April 2026.