Post Status: Complete
Main Project Location: Dakar
Project country/countries: Senegal
Project dates: 2013 –
Last updated: 31 October 2023

Brief overview of the Case Study   

The African League of Cyber-Activists and Bloggers for Democracy, commonly known as AfricTivistes, is the union of bloggers and web-activists from the continent and its diaspora to promote and defend democratic values, human rights and good governance through digital means. AfricTivistes was created in November 2013 with the aim of networking all the actors of change in Africa in order to bring concrete and appropriate solutions to the major problems that slow down the development and unity of the continent.

The Africtivistes are united by the following values:

They are committed to conducting all their activities within the legal framework
They renew their commitment to non-partisan citizen politics
They commit themselves to ensuring electoral and democratic processes
They aim to strengthen democracy, good governance and human rights through information and communication technologies

AfricTivistes is committed to intervening directly or indirectly in the various processes of political and social change. It conducts and pilots development projects and citizen involvement in democratic processes. It develops strategies to monitor political leaders in their actions and in the fulfilment of their promises to encourage transparency and good governance. It is a window on augmented citizenship in Africa.

The challenge or problem

In Africa, over the course of the past few decades, it has been observed that technology is one of the fastest growing fields and good governance, participative democracy, transparency, and the culture of peace have been falling by the wayside while corruption and insecurity have thrived. The intersection of these two occurrences needs to be focused upon.

The solution that was implemented

Building and deploying community dynamics
Design and integration of high value-added projects focusing on youth, leadership, citizen engagement and social transformation
Capacity to mobilise on issues of public interest
Strong influence in cyberspace
Expertise in digital project management, IT security, open data, media solutions, augmented citizenship, etc.
Promotion and development of digital content
Development and deployment of IT solutions to strengthen freedom of expression and access to information

What results were achieved?

AfricTivistes, as a dynamic organisation that covers all African countries, focuses on the consolidation of democracy, not only at the level of each country but also and especially at the continental level. By consolidating democracy, they mean any action towards real democracy, participatory democracy, e-democracy, e-governance and the effective anchoring of democratic culture in their respective countries.

Lessons and recommendations

The organisation is today the most influential youth network in French-speaking Africa, serving as a force of contestation (public policies and governance), a force of proposal (innovative solutions, new citizen dynamics, inclusive projects and approaches) and a force of contribution (empowerment programmes, co-construction and collaboration for an open governance policy). AfricTivistes is made up of several profiles, the majority of which are civil society information actors (bloggers, digital influencers, citizen journalists, etc.), activists, computer scientists, journalists, open data experts, digital technology training experts, lawyers, citizen networks and movements, etc.

Case study images