Regional Ambassadors Programme (RAP)

CTIN’s Regional Ambassadors

We are excited to extend our flagship Regional Ambassadors Programme (RAP), a programme aimed at strengthening regional connection and participation in the civic tech space.

RAP grew out of CTIN’s intentions to function as a Pan-African Community of Practice (CoP) in response to ever-increasing interest from the wider African civic tech community, a testament to the need for a community for people in this space.

In 2023, CTIN was awarded the Africa Mradi ‘In Real Life’ (IRL) fund by the Mozilla Foundation. The RAP, with the support of Mozilla’s Africa Mradi grant, will run from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. CTIN will continue to promote exciting new African civic tech initiatives, alongside actively branding civic tech through social media campaigns, written articles, convenings and general advocacy within its network and community members.

CTIN is proud to have selected a new North African Ambassador earlier this year. We now can say that we have better representation across the African continent. Meet our RAP Member Organisations:

  1. Pollicy is representing East Africa, 
  2. Magamba Network representing Southern Africa, 
  3. Chad Innovation representing Central Africa 
  4. Co-Creation Hub (ccHub) representing West Africa
  5. and; Technoloxia representing North Africa

Background and context

The Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) is pleased to extend our flagship Africa Regional Ambassadors Programme (RAP). A programme aimed at circumventing our geographic limitations and strengthening regional connection and participation within the African civic tech community. The RAP was initially set up as a one-year partnership, formalised through a cooperative agreement between the Network and the identified regional ambassador organisations. This programme has helped CTIN, as a CoP, to build an active civic tech community, as well as build awareness and strategic ties with innovators, organisations, researchers, practitioners, and other civic tech actors across the continent. In 2023, the RAP is being supported through the Africa Mradi Innovation In Real Life Fund by the Mozilla Foundation. The RAP project objectives focus on:

1. Activism: Identifying and connecting actors in civic tech, digital rights and related communities; 2. Communication & Marketing: The identified civic tech and digital rights initiatives and organisations will be integrated into the CTIN Community of Practice (CoP); 3. Regional Convenings and Showcasing: Regional ambassadors are encouraged to co-plan and co-host one in-person collaborative event per region. These events will enable the civic tech and digital rights community to engage face-to-face, learn about innovations, tools and techniques, share experiences and meet potential collaborators; and 4. Learning: Regional civic tech news/content contribution – CTIN and its ambassadors continuously share the latest civic tech and digital rights news and stories with the wider community.

CTIN recognises the importance of identifying ambassadors that best understand the nuanced experiences of their region and as a result, ambassadors serve a dual purpose of not only representing the CTIN but also championing their regional civic tech actors and landscape. CTIN ambassadors are also chosen on the basis that the candidate organisations could also strategically benefit from playing the role, and not see it as extraneous to their existing mandates. The identified Ambassador organisations are considered to be uniquely positioned to increase our reach and mobilise participation by various civic tech actors across Africa in the CTIN CoP. This is because they have been strategically chosen to represent all the regions of the African continent. Learn more about these ambassadors and the regions they represent below. 

Learn about the ambassadors

Pollicy, Uganda

Pollicy, based in Uganda, functions at the intersection of data, technology and design to improve government service delivery. Pollicy is a portmanteau that stems from Opinion polling and Policymaking. Pollicy was founded and registered in 2016 with a mandate to redesign service delivery for citizens. Pollicy’s work focuses on influencing a culture of responsible data use, promoting appropriate data governance practices and advocating for policies that support an enabling data ecosystem. Pollicy recently celebrated 5 years and their influence has been felt in the community through their projects which include CREATEYOURKAMPALA, Choose Your Own Fake News, Wetaase, Digital Ambassador Program and many more. Learn more about Pollicy. 

Phillip Ayazika

Phillip is a Program Manager at Pollicy, an award-winning East African feminist civic technology collective, where he oversees and coordinates various projects, products, and strategic initiatives. He also engages Pollicy’s community to achieve meaningful discourse while building long-term, sustainable partnerships. Phillip also oversees the development of innovative strategies that improve grass-roots citizen engagement and participation in policy dialogue.

Magamba Network, Zimbabwe

Magamba means ‘Heroes’ or ‘Freedom Fighters’. It all started when two young Zimbabweans, Comrade Fatso & Outspoken, met at a poetry slam and battled each other – with words. Magamba Network, based in Zimbabwe, has grown into Zimbabwe’s leading creative organisation and one of the country’s trailblazers in digital media and youth engagement. Magamba was born at a time of hyperinflation, disillusionment and political oppression. The network emerged in 2007 and was all about inspiring young people to be part of the change our country desperately needs. And Magamba decided to do that using fun, creative tools that speak to young people in a language they understand: from hip-hop to satire, from social media to innovation.

Magamba Networks Open Parly Africa project is a cutting-edge open data project using digital media, urban culture and civic tech to track and aggregate parliament data, defend civic space and increase young people’s participation in national political processes with operations in Zimbabwe (Open Parly ZW), Zambia (Open Parly ZED), Nigeria (Open Parly Nigeria) and Kalfadhi (Open Parly Somalia). 
Follow them on Twitter and Facebook

Harvey Binamu

As Magamba Network’s tech officer, Harvey spearheads technology strategy and development, overseeing research, team management, and infrastructure alignment with our strategic goals. My contributions span various domains including Civic Tech Strategy and Expansion, Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and Hardware and Software Development.

Chad Innovation, Chad

Chad Innovation represents a community of young volunteers, Chadians and foreigners, entrepreneurs, executives, and students whose objective is to raise awareness, mobilize, engage and equip young Chadians to learn and explore careers in entrepreneurship to build a resilient generation. young Chadian leaders.

During the pandemic, Chad Innovation built a digital citizen platform, available through the web but also accessible via conventional telephones with real-time medical assistance and providing information relating to the evolution of the pandemic in Chad.  Chad Innovation also led a campaign to sensitize citizens, in particular, young people, women and vulnerable groups (including people living in rural areas, nomads, and people with disabilities) on their rights and civic duties for the 2021 presidential elections through campaigns awareness using digital tools especially – Disco – where we sell music on tape, disk or USB in Africa in major markets. This led to Chad Innovation being selected by FHI360 to carry out awareness-raising actions for peaceful and united citizen participation in the transition process by USAID after the tragic death of the former President using digital tools (Social media, citizen tech platform, etc.).

The CTIN programme will enable Chad Innovation to learn and expand its network in Central Africa and the rest of the continent. 
Follow them on Facebook and Twitter

Hamid Khayar Oumar Defallah

Hamid Khayar Oumar Defallah is an individual with a passion for technology, urban development, and civic engagement. Hailing from Ndjamena, he pursued his education as an IT Engineer at Bangalore University. In 2016, he was recognized as a Mandela Washington Fellow, showcasing his dedication to leadership and positive change. Despite opportunities abroad, Hamid made a conscious decision to return to his homeland, Chad, with a mission to contribute to its development. In 2018, he founded Chad Innovation, an NGO and Tech Hub based in Ndjamena that provides advice, support, training, and incubation for actors in the digital ecosystem to promote and advance innovation and entrepreneurship in Chad. in 2020, he was appointed by the President of the Republic of Chad to lead the country’s audiovisual digital transition. His expertise and visionary approach have proven instrumental in harnessing technology for societal advancement.

Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), Nigeria

Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) is Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space where work to catalyze creative social tech ventures takes place. The HUB is a place for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria. CcHUB is a Pan-African innovation hub with tremendous experience in accelerating technology adoption across Africa. Amongst other areas, CcHUB contributes to good governance through initiatives that bridge the gap between the government and its citizens. ccHub’s most recent initiatives include GoVote and Data 4 Governance. 

Since its inception in 2015, ccHUB has celebrated milestones that assert its mandate to increase civic participation and engagement and to enhance public service delivery. The CTIN Regional Ambassador Programme provide a platform to impact and mobilize West African stakeholders through civic tech initiatives to promote transparency, accountability and public participation.
Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Medium and LinkedIn.

Yvonne Eweka Ogieomo

Yvonne is a social development professional and an adept social innovator who is passionate about development for social change and has led several successful programs. She is the Project Manager of GoVote – a project of Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) empowering Nigerians to participate in elections and be Active Citizens. She currently also leads the team in the Technology and Society Practice at Co-creation Hub (CcHub). Yvonne comes with over 12 years of experience in programme management, working with highly technical and specialized teams across issues of governance & elections, security & justice systems, gender & inclusivity, education & sustainable communities.

Technoloxia, Tunisia

Technoloxia is a North Africa-based team that aims to inform and influence tech policy processes, engage in multidisciplinary research, litigate tech law and advise on a diverse range of tech policy issues in the region. As an advocate for civic engagement and technological innovation, Technoloxia has dedicated several of our projects to fostering positive change by leveraging the power of technology to empower individuals and communities. One of our projects focused in particular on documenting and advocating for civic tech initiatives in North African countries. A full season of our podcast, Digitally Yours, was themed “Beyond the hype: Civic tech in North Africa” and was composed of a collection of interviews with a variety of experts and local actors in the fields of civic tech and gov tech in North Africa. These conversations were assembled with the ambition to share knowledge and contribute to the ongoing efforts to bring different perspectives from the region. The interviewees’ profiles were as follows: journalists, activists, business owners, policy experts, technologists, academics, lawyers, and human rights researchers. Recommendations from these conversations have been compiled in a final report and disseminated to the larger worldwide community. We have also covered regional and country-level initiatives during the pandemic and provided advisory on the North African region to continental and international partners.

Yosir Jouini

Yosr Jouini is an interdisciplinary researcher studying emerging technologies and their social implications in the global South. She is the director of Technoloxia, a technology & innovation centre based in Tunis, Tunisia. She is also the host of the Digitally Yours podcast, which specializes in digital rights.

Follow Yosr on Twitter

What to expect from the programme

The ambassadors will be responsible for several activities in their regions, including:

  • Identifying Civic Tech actors in the region

Regional ambassadors will be responsible for ongoing scanning, identifying and sharing of civic tech actors and activities in their respective regions.

  • Regional member integration into the network

Once regional ambassadors have identified the civic tech initiatives, they will facilitate the integration of these organisations into the CTIN’s Community of Practice (CoP). 

  • Collaborative engagement 

Under the ambassador programme, CTIN and each regional ambassador will co-plan and co-host one collaborative event. 

  • Regional civic tech news/content contribution

In order to highlight regional African civic tech stories, the ambassadors will also be expected to share the latest civic tech and related news, features and stories with CTIN in order for CTIN to share with the wider community. 

Look out for more announcements about the programme on all our platforms. Join the network here

Participation at CTIF & Jamfest 2023: #AfricaFlows

This year, we were very fortunate to bring all 5 RAP Members to Johannesburg to speak at CTIF & Jamfest 2023 in October. CTIF & Jamfest is an inspiring annual convening of African civic tech and media innovators. This year’s theme was #AfricaFlows and demonstrated the value of collaboration and collective action, using civic tech as an enabler for digital transformation, civic activism, civic empowerment, digital rights and healthy democracies across Africa. CTIN prioritised active participation of the RAP members in the CTIF programme and each RAP member presented at the conference, as a panel speaker, facilitator or Masterclass host. The CTIF convening also provided a useful platform for RAP members to network and build connections amongst diverse actors in the civic tech, media and governance sectors.

Special Thanks to:

The Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) is a Mozilla IRL Fund Awardee that connects technologists,
activists, and public servants across Africa.

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