Impact Amplifier, Google launch African Online Safety Platform

Impact Amplifier, with the financial support of Google.org, has launched its African Online Safety Platform (AOSP).

The Africa Online Safety Platform is an Africa-wide project and part of Impact Amplifier’s broader intention to address African Online Safety at a systemic level. The platform provides a rich repository of research, education content, funding opportunities and ways to seek help after an online crime.

The African Internet safety ecosystem is hindered by several issues, key among them is the lack of a central repository of all the online safety research that has been conducted on a broad spectrum of issues in Africa; lack of a central repository for education material for the plethora of online safety challenges relevant for African users; the absence of legal and social media platform support systems that are less complex and time consuming; and underfunding of the needed interventions.

The AOSP has been built to address all these challenges by providing a repository of research, education content, funding opportunities and ways to seek help if an online crime has occurred, say its promoters.

The platform is intended to address the complexity of understanding how online safety issues are affecting different parts of Africa, how to keep everyone – particularly young people – safe online, how to teach online safety formally in schools and at home, and how to get help if a crime or other violation has occurred, among others.

The official inauguration event saw experts reflect on online safety innovators from South Africa and Kenya who discussed some of the complexities and solutions to staying safe online in Africa.

The panellists from South Africa were Managing Director, Wolfpack Information Risk, Craig Rosewarne and Director/Executive Lead, Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC), Camaren Peter. Those from Kenya were Dennis Ratemo, Programme Manager, Terre des Hommes and Martha Sunda, Executive Director, Childline Kenya. Their discussions underscored the importance of solutions that are suited to local contexts in Africa.

Google SA Country Director, Dr. Alistair Mokoena, during the launch, said: “We first partnered with Impact Amplifier in 2020, when we announced the initial fund. We have now launched version 2.0 to show that we remain committed to providing sustained and dedicated support to the online safety ecosystem in Africa in order to ensure that vulnerable populations are protected from online harms and reap the benefits of the Internet. We encourage the relevant parties to use this amazing new education and research resource and to apply to the fund”.

Impact Amplifier Director, Tanner Methvin also noted that “with over 570 million people having access to the internet in Africa, reflecting just under 47 per cent of the continent’s population, online safety concerns deserve utmost attention”.

He added that the new platform offers innovative approaches to addressing the complex safety issues the Internet presents. “These range from unique ways of combating mis- and disinformation, tracking of cyber criminals, supporting journalists targeted with hate speech and bullying, integrating online safety training into school curricula, and much more,” he said.

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