Africa’s internet access has increased dramatically over the last 10 years with over 520 million people, or 40% of the population, now with access to the web. This has opened up many new opportunities for socio-economic development, including the potential for the internet economy to contribute nearly $180 billion to Africa’s economy by 2025.
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However, this rapid growth has also brought new challenges, including privacy and security concerns, bullying and harassment, hate crimes, fake news, political targeting and manipulation, terrorist recruitment and promotion, and financial scams. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made these issues worse, with a 30% increase in cyber attacks.
Africa Online Safety Fund
Africa Online Safety Fund will finance innovative existing and new solutions that address one or more of the safety issues the internet facilitates throughout Sub-Saharan Africa with a priority in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana. This call for proposals focuses on innovations that have:
- Innovation & Replication – what is the level of novelty in the intervention/service? Can it function as a model for other interventions? Does it replicate other successful online safety interventions from different geographies?
- Social Impact – what is the scale of the online safety problem being addressed? What is the potential social impact of the intervention? What is the potential impact if the intervention is scaled beyond the current plan? Can it in fact be ramped up? (Is it cost effective, sustainable, and replicable?)
- Management Team – what is the strength and experience of the management team and the precedent set by the team in terms of cooperation, achieving goals, and beneficiaries served?
- Financial Efficiency – is the funding requested an efficient use of resources? How does the amount requested, scope of the problem to be addressed, and beneficiaries to be reached compare to other applicants?
- Sustainability – can the intervention planned become financially sustainable beyond this grant? If so, how and to what scale?
Africa Online Safety Fund has three categories of funding for for projects that address women and children’s online safety specifically, as they are the most targeted communities in this regard.:
- $50,000 for Transformative projects that are larger in scale, reach multiple geographies and or potentially large numbers of beneficiaries, and be scalable as a solution.
- $25,000 for Maturing projects that are intended to test ideas at a larger scale, try new ideas within existing projects, and reach new audiences.
- $10,000 for Catalytic projects that are intended to be smaller, targeted, and potentially only locally or culturally specific.
Apply Now! Deadline is April 30, 2023
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