Shaping the digital transition to make it fair and sustainable
Cyber Policy Centre
We are an independent think tank for the advancement of policy and praxis of issues at the intersection of digital technology, human rights, governance and public policy. Our goal is to shape the digital transition to make it fair and sustainable, ensuring that human rights and human agency determine the development and use of current and future technologies in societies. Our work addresses frontier issues pertinent to the African continent such as algorithmic decision making, biometric identification, cybercrimes, open data, data protection, internet of things, smart/open cities, next generation of connectivity, as well as digital rights, digital infrastructure, digital economy & finance and internet governance. Through research and experimentation, capacity development and advocacy we aim to bring pioneering insights and innovative solutions to both public and private actors in the region.

Where we work
Our work on advancing digital policy and praxis is undertaken from a regional hub in Nairobi, Kenya and around Africa, delivering change through national engagement las well as regional influence.

What are our principles?
We view technological development from a perspective of self-determination, social justice, rights and responsibilities We recognize impacts of technological development are particular and context specific and strive to maximize diversity, inclusion and equity at all levels Human freedom, well-being and environmental sustainability of our planet should be enhanced by technology The social, cultural and economic benefits derived from technological innovation should be shared justly.
This is programme area is about re-imagining and finding new ways in which societies take decisions and make rules about how to develop and use new digital technologies, how to and by whom they want to govern data and how to take decisions on the basis of available data. Our focus of interventions includes:
  • Open Data
  • Data justice
  • Digital commons
  • Community participation in data governance
  • Algorithmic fairness & accountability
  • Internet governance
  • Responsible data practices
  • Responsible data practices
  • New business models for technology for good
  • Co-designing new policy and governance frameworks
Agile Governance and Social Justice
Digital Rights
This programme area focuses on enhancing the effective implementation of human rights in the digital realm, and anticipating new ways in which these rights can be exercised. Recognizing the need to rethink the interpretation and formulation of human rights under emerging conditions to ensure they remain relevant and effective. For instance, group privacy as a needed new element of the right to privacy, when dealing with anonymized data sets that might nonetheless identify a certain (location of) a particular group that might make it more vulnerable, for example to ethnic profiling.

Areas of focus include advancing data rights & surveillance resistance and protection of human rights defenders’ holistic security.
Our goal is to shape the digital transition to make it fair and sustainable, ensuring that human rights and human agency determine the development and use of current and future technologies in societies.
Digital Democracy
The programme seeks to protect and nurturing diverse, open and safe digital spaces for organizing and debating, countering manipulation and repression. Work under the programme aims at combating online misinformation and computational propaganda and support data-driven advocacy, storytelling & engagement and advancing AI & big data for democracy and public finance accountability.
The Centre’s programmes address frontier topics including algorithmic decision making, biometric identification, cyber-crimes, open data, data protection, internet of things, smart/open cities, next generation of connectivity, as well as digital rights, digital infrastructure, digital economy & finance and internet governance.
Digital
Economy
The programme’s ambition is to shape the emerging digital economy to bring equal benefits to all and create more sustainable economic models. Our main focus is on advancing policies that enhance the economic potential in terms of (quality) jobs and securing livelihoods particularly for the youth while at the same time focusing on sustainability of new business models

Areas of intervention include:
  • Supporting the nurturing of more sustainable implementation of digital distributed production
  • Creating fairer models of (platform) work in the gig economy.
Digital
Futures
Through research, experimentation and learning, we aim to keep a head of the technological developments curve by developing cutting edge research streams that inform not only the development of new language and alternative narratives but also shapes emerging digital scenarios on frontier technologies.
Through research, social innovation and policy engagement, the Centre aims to bring pioneering insights and innovative solutions to both public and private actors in the region.