Advocacy Forecast for Africa

Wind, cloud and technological disruptions are ahead of NPOs - change is needed for an impactful advocacy approach in order to survive

In 1995 the answer was nine when asked how many planets our solar system contained. Twenty years later, we have a different answer. Similarly, 10 years ago we were told that the client is king. Today, I guess you hear that the content is.

Operating and living in the same space, the context and knowledge have tremendously changed. The art to communicate, plead for or against a cause, as well as support or recommend a position has been taking in different techniques and canvas.

New buzzwords such as networking and multi-stakeholder are telling us that advocacy is no longer a one man show. Knowledge alone no longer makes an effective advocacy, but rather, collective action from many individuals, communities and organisations that may work both inside and outside the organisation does. This can only create and maintain a collaborative relationship and impactful campaign that is truly inclusive.

Subsequently, as you may have realised, the days of sensational fundraising with malnourished African children are over. With the impact of the increase in Internet access and digitisation of information, a new social consciousness that favours multi-channelling has become not only the object of advocacy but the subject in that it dictates and opposes irresistibly rooted practices, values and marketing strategies.

Also, it is clear that the monopoly of traditional media for advocacy is over. The future looks more like screens and storytelling than just radio and television.

Today’s challenge with campaigns is about delivering the right content to people where and when they want it and to ensure that the content stays on top.

In Africa and all over the world this has become a major challenge threatening nonprofit organisations’ (NPOs) income and traditional business growth prospects.
A growing number of international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are finding their existence under threat as they are challenged to capitalise on changes in technology, audience behaviour, and the availability of data to create innovative and relevant messaging.

Change is difficult for those with a life-long legacy, routine advocacy and work ethic scattered all over the world.

Nonetheless, many NGOs and for-profit businesses are learning and the rise of positions such as Chief Digital Officers and Digital Advocacy tells us just that. The need to redefine their offerings, harness digital technology, and improve stakeholders experience has become imperative.

It is with the above in mind that I presume that a forecast of an impactful advocacy approach in Africa requires considering the following elements:

The Technological Landscape

Mobile Internet: Research firm, Frost & Sullivan predict that by 2016, sub-Saharan Africa will experience the fastest growth in mobile technology at 160 million mobile broadband connections. Mobile and self-service apps are already transforming service delivery and content marketing all over the continent. The fast increase in mobile payment in Africa also tells us about possibilities with NGO donation and crowdfunding.

Data analysis: The increase in connection consequently in data generation offers a brighter prospect. Organisations need to master the use of digital intelligence to track and draw insights from produced content, untapped sources, statistical trends and other criteria to redefine their online advocacy to specific audiences.

Multichannel distribution:  Nowadays what trends online makes radio and TV headline. It is predicted that online media will grow at 20 percent this year. Nevertheless, though digital marketing is considered the future of marketing, traditional media such as print, radio and television still have a role to play. Maximum benefit for advocacy lies on linking these outlets and interconnection between new and traditional media.

Stakeholders expectations: Beneficiaries and donors want immediate results. Funding has declined and traditional proposal obsolete. Innovation seen in one organisation is now expected in the other. Founders are increasingly looking for new ideas that can bring better, cheaper and faster results.

The Wind of Nationalism

Worldwide economic insecurity and nationalist ideologies are on the rise. Africa is not an exception. The identity crisis has led xenophobia and racist attack in many African countries. As resources are becoming scarce, some communities have fallen into narratives of the insider and outsider. As a matter of fact, it seems many organisations have been taking this into account. For example, the change in ‘faces’ of some international campaigns in Africa talks somehow to the present need and belief to have African causes advocated for and by Africans.

The Cloud

The increase in bandwidth capacities resulting from the landing of undersea cables around the continent is a solid platform that steadily allows many organisations to embrace technological benefits, enabling them to outsource and manage their Information technology (IT) needs instantly. Applications which were previously not available due to a lack of internal skills or budget have become readily available to campaigners over the network through cloud computing.

The Fallouts of Ad-vocacy

Years of challenging work and campaigning in the continent have provided many NPOs with a huge membership and readership. The opportunity with the growth in digital media intake in Africa comes with an idea of social entrepreneurship, an expectation that these organisations could translate their online traffic into an income revenue by allowing selective advertising on their platforms rather than just relying on funding and donations.

The Snowden effect

The snowden effect is a pressing need to become conscience about the Surveillance State and what that implies with regard to cyber scrutiny. This talks to safety measures that need to be taken by human rights, environmental and any given organisations lobbying and advocating against State policies or interests.

If you can forget all the above, I would like you to remember the following quote by Campbell Williams:         

“You can’t be in marketing if you don’t understand digital. And you can’t understand digital if you don’t understand technology.”

Either you deal with a product, service or a cause - marketing is the heart of any advocacy effort that attempts to communicate.

Many have written about blurred lines between traditional IT and marketing department on the face of a fast growing online world. The creation of hybrid ‘digital’ positions within organisations speaks of an urgent need to grasp at once communication, technology and socioeconomic trends, threats and opportunities while reaching out.

The change is here and NGOs have to quickly embrace it or die.

- Adam Mukendi Ntala is the Digital Media Manager at SANGONeT (Twitter: @adam_McKendi), published on the NGO Pulse website.

Internet Security – Privacy Is the Exception

"Just because you are not paranoid it does not mean they are not out to get you" - Jacob Appelbaum.

Mobile phones and the Internet allow us to communicate instantly, stay abreast of current events and search for and find information on nearly anything. Telecommunication tools have made us social animals to an extent that we have become insensitive to privacy and carelessly exposed.

The Internet has become indispensable. The question is how should we use it?

I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Jacob Appelbaum, an independent computer security researcher and hacker. Jacob has worked with Wikileaks and many other avant-guardists IT projects. Jacob’s Wiki is one of the few with a category titled: ‘Investigation and detainment’. I was fascinated to hear that he knows, he’s a ‘suspect’ and permanently under surveillance by security services because of his choice to protect his privacy and that of other human right activists.

Listening to questions during the presentation made me think that some human rights and social activists in Africa may be today in jail because they ignored threats to their privacy and to those involved in their projects. Therefore, it is important civil society members working or training on citizen journalism, social media or human rights advocacy take in consideration security of their members and provide them with alternative tools.

Long story short - allow be to present you some facts before sharing with you a number of tools that we can use to protect our self and those we are communicating with:

• We all leave a data trail every time we log into the Internet
• State run telecommunication monopoly provides State with possibility to intercept communication (Waffle Interception which still passive in many African countries)
• Powerhouse telecommunication companies do sell interceptive devices to oppressive regimes. These Support Contracts must be considered as human right violation
• Any document you send via e-mail is lost, out of your control
• Wireless connections in public places or hotels are just as insecure as tablets and smartphone 
• Whoever owns and carries a mobile phone has become a traceable object. The smarter the phone the more data we give away. The truth is iPhone and tablets’ users are more vulnerable understood that these devices can store data about the user without his consent or knowledge

Privacy

• Privacy include your location, relations, hobbies and communications
• We all have something to hide. Today Internet is saying we must share everything. Privacy has become suspicious.
• Whoever abstains to use a mobile phone or to create a Facebook profile is a ‘suspect’. Privacy is longer the norm but the exception
• New surveillance by government and commercial entities is a threat to society

Things we should not take for granted

• ‘Behaviour profiling’ by Google and Amazon can be consider as breach of privacy. How they can read your mind? As we have become dependent of technology – breach of privacy has become moral because it cannot be avoided
• Facebook had complied to US federal law and has provided the US government with data on millions of its users. Now Facebook to data ‘Chat’. Some researches prove a relation between the increase in arrest warrant by police in the USA and provision of users personal data to US intelligence by social media platforms and telecommunication companies

What can we do – SAFETY PLAN

<>If we remove the ability to be identify, we remove the ability to be a target

<>We cannot hide completely but we can use tools that buy us and others time 

1. ToR browser is a traffic analysis privacy with secure backup use by human rights activist worldwide

When you use a Tor client, your Internet traffic is routed through Tor’s network. The traffic travels through several randomly selected relays (run by volunteers), before exiting the Tor network and arriving at your destination. This prevents your Internet service provider and people monitoring your local network from viewing the websites you access. It also prevents the websites themselves from knowing your physical location or IP address – they’ll see the IP address and location of the exit node instead. Even the relays don’t know who requested the traffic they’re passing along. All traffic within the Tor network is encrypted.

Tor strength is on using it to download Martus and then, use them together for greater protection.

2. Martus is an open-source technology tool that assists nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) collect information on human rights abuses. Martus cannot recover your data should you lose you log in. Martus and Tor are the most use tools but activists worldwide to protect their messages, browsing, location and identity. Tor and Martus are runned by volunteers. 

3. Off The Record (OTR) OTR messaging allows you to have private conversations over instant messaging by providing: Encryption (No one else can read your instant messages); Authentication (You are assured the correspondent is who you think it is); Deniability (The messages you send do not have digital signatures that are checkable by a third party. The messages are authentic and unmodified); Perfect forward secrecy (If you lose control of your private keys, no previous conversation is compromised)

4. Red Phone provides end-to-end encryption for your calls, securing your conversations so that nobody can listen in. - Easy to use available for Google and iPhone.

5. Private GSM provides end-to-end encryption for your message/chat. Available on iPhone.

6. Ostel promotes the use of free, open protocols, standards and software, to power end-to-end secure voice communications on mobile devices, as well as with desktop computers.

7. Gibberbot is a secure chat client capable of firewall and filter circumvention, surveillance blocking and end-to-end encryption. Available for Android phones.

8. Text Secure is a security enhanced text messaging application that serves as a full replacement for the default text messaging application. Available for android phones.

9. Crabgrass is software libre web application designed for social networking, group collaboration and network organizing.

Always remember the followings:

• We are not told the whole truth about platform and social media applications we are using.
• There is privacy by policy and privacy by design. Most telecommunication and Internet platforms show what their policy/T&Cs say but not what their design do. Never trust privacy by policy – if you can, verify their codes to see if they don’t do more than what they say
• Any device/app that can help you access/recover your data when you have lost your password  - has total access to your data. Dropbox has become very popular. The fact that it can help you recover your data means it is not 100% secured.

The world is dark, immoral and disturbia. As democratic and repressive regimes worldwide are upping surveillance of their citizens, it is important that self-consciously everyone of us takes action to protect what we still can - our privacy. We are all aware of the rise of extreme right and socialism within many African countries. The attempt the State to control citizens freedom of speech and movement is a new trend in Tanzania where the party system dominated by Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary State Party) through is upcoming leader John Magufuli called "the bulldozer" promises to adopt drastic measures to control citizens and increase the State control over technology and content that is shared internally and externally. Surely, when this happens it will be the retreat of East Africa best democratic country for decades to come.

"Internet insecurity is like HIV – none of us is immune. We all need to use ‘active’ protection" says Jacob Appelbaum.

Please let us know - should you have used any of the above tools.