Hivos East Africa is organizing a summit on the rise of a new generation of content makers and their role in propelling alternative spaces that bolster free expression. The summit will take place on 4-5 December 2018 in Nairobi.
While the role of critical voices in the shrinking civic space continues to grow dimmer globally, Africa has not been left out of this margin. Threats and intimidation to avenues of freedom of expression such as the mainstream media, bloggers, artivists, activists and human rights have been on the rise in recent times. But even with these harsh realities characterized with regimes that have become intolerant to criticism, there is a new crop of content makers that have begun to bud. These content makers: artists, filmmakers, gamers and musicians are igniting social debate using online platforms.
It is within this context that Hivos East Africa is bringing together content creators from Africa who use digital platforms to create and distribute their work.
This inaugural event will provide an opportunity for the content creators to discuss the challenges and opportunities around content creation in the continent and come up with innovative solutions that would shape the agenda for the Africa context and its subsequent growth.
During the event, Hivos East Africa will execute an innovation competition that will award the three most innovative ideas with up to Euros 5000 seed funding for innovations that address sustainability of online content in Africa.
Under the theme: ‘Redefining the Africa Context Online’ the summit aims to counter Africa’s online narrative that has been greatly influenced by the Western world through dominance on the digital spaces. Topics of discussion will evolve around:
- Influences of the African context online
- Innovating for African Content online.
- Sustainability of Content and,
- Diversity and Inclusion online.
The overall flow of the summit will feature panel, online discussions and a call to action on the future of the African Content online. Some of the contributions from participants will be made in the upcoming Internet Governance Forum in Paris, France and the African Crossroads in Marrakech, Morocco.
We invite interested parties to partner with Hivos through nomination of panelists and sponsor participants to attend the event.
Registration
Feel free to contact our Project Officer, Sylvia Musalagani for further information: +254 254 725 451 729 or summit@hivos.org but please note registration to the conference is by invitation only through this link. Registrations close by 31 October 2018.
About R.O.O.M
At Hivos East Africa, we are giving R.O.O.M to young content creators and artists to continue to add a voice to the shrinking civic space through dialogue, debate and dissent. Through the new program: Resource of Open Minds (R.O.O.M) project is supporting the work of creative content curators such as musicians, artists, filmmakers, gamers and other media producers who are using online platforms to ignite social debate. We believe by giving R.O.O.M to a new generation of artists, society can benefit by expanding spaces of civic freedom where citizens do not have barriers to influence the choices and decisions of the established order.
