How Is Technology Influencing Youth Activism and Accountable Governance?

Technology | Innovation | Leadership Ethel Cofie US Secretary of Commerce tweeting about Ethel Cofie 6 Ethel Cofie speaking at Global Entrepreneurship Summit Morocco

YOUR OPPORTUNITY EXAMPLES CONTEXT THEN AND NOW

CONTEXT THEN AND NOW

African youth will lead the world… 5 Data ›40 % of World’s population an d workforce will sit in Africa ›Opportunity or Challenge ?

Expansion and Creation of new Channels o Mobile First(Only Continent) o Cheaper Internet Cost o Explosion of Social Media o End to End Encryption of Peer to Peer Networks Technology, How far we have come …

The combination of cheap Nokia mobiles, liberalization of telecom licenses and pre paid subscriptions, steeped the trajectory for mobile. GSMA :500 million mark in Q1 2013, increasing by about 20% year-on-year. Connections are expected to grow by a further 50% (250 million connections) over the next five years. Even telecoms underestimated the market. The business plan for the Kenyan telecom Safaricom in 2003 was to have 500,000 mobile phone subscribers by 2013: traders, priests, taxi drivers, prostitutes—people willing to pay a premium to stay in touch. Safaricom hit 21 million users in 2014 Between , this happened

The growth was so dramatic that ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio UTSUMI, at the ITU Telecom Africa Forum Opening 12 November 2001 proposed changing the definition of Universal Access, Universal Service and Affordability re The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ? Old definitions >>>>>> Universal access: >>>  A telephone within walking distance  Telecentres in every community Universal service: >>>>  A telephone in every home  A computer in every school Affordability: >>>>>>>>  Subsidised access (high usage charges subsidise low line rental) New definitions Universal access:  Mobile coverage of all main population centers  Internet cafés in every community Universal service:  A mobile phone for everyone who wants one  An address for every citizen Affordability:  Pre-paid access (pre-paid usage charges include line rental)

Social Media and Broadband Statistics

Social Media and Broadband Statistics

“Youth activism is youth engagement in community organizing for social change. Youth participation in social change focuses more on issue-oriented activism than traditional partisan or electoral politics.” Youth and Activism

Technology as an enabler of effective Activism Traditional media and bureaucratic restrictions are no longer high walls that deprive our society of accountable governance through youth activism. Technology offers the youth with innovative and multi- faceted ways to: 1.Voice out their opinions on government policies and issues of concern to their target audience through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc. Good examples would be the "Dumsor March" in 2015, "Bring Back our Girls campaign", “The Occupy Ghana Campaign” and many others.

Technology as an enabler of effective Activism 2.Test government efficacy by making all elements and information associated to governance and government decisions accessible to both the government and citizenry such as figures and technical data or reports related to public projects for example, the recent "bus branding saga" etc. 3.Facilitate accountable governance through data collection and effective record keeping using data management systems. 4.Simplify complex information, government decisions and policies for the citizenry using interactive websites, videos and mobile applications.

What Technology helps with 1.Crowdsourcing. Let’s do it 2.Reaching and connecting with the crowd to mobilize action and holding people accountable. 3.Generating and sustaining public interest in issues and governance.

What Technology helps with

EXAMPLES

What others out there are doing.. #DumsorMatch #PolicingLawmakers #WhereisOurMoney #CrowdReporting #GreenPeace #BringBackOurGirls

Budgit 18 › Facilitating Social change and Development by using Technology to simplify National Budgets. Present in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone The website targets the urban youth, Civil Society Organizations and government institutions to: Track Government approved Projects, eliminate corruption, corruption and also identify cases of abandoned government projects within States or Regions. Present abridged State and National budgets in the form of infographics, interactive application and Videos to ask clear and relevant questions pertaining to Government spending. Publish bi-annual policy document that for improving budget processes, institutions and encouraging transparency.

Ushahidi 19 › Crisis Mapping Software that helps anyone receive real-time feeds, collect reports and respond to crisis such as natural disasters, political protests, etc… Ushahidi: Collects meaningful data, submissions or posts from anyone, anywhere, anytime using any device or all the different social platforms. Manage and prioritize submitted reports with workflows and filters. Visualizes data collected into Map tiles and configurable charts. Sends automatic alerts about changes and updates to the collectors.

Odekro 20 › Odekro promotes transparency, provides online access to public records and empowers citizens to keep an eye on public officials, especially parliament Odekro: Monitors and publishes parliamentary proceedings, making it freely accessible to all. Features information on MPs and Constituencies

Green Peace- Twitter Campaign 21 › Greenpeace gives the earth a voice by acting to change attitudes and behaviour, protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Green Peace uses Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr to: Thousands of social media users posted comments criticizing the company’s practices and posted altered logos, like one that replaced “Kit Kat” with “Killer.” This led to ….. Kit Kat campaign Nestlé’s eventual commitment to remove products coming from rainforest destruction from its supply chain is a positive step. Another measure is how many people became engaged with the campaign–the video reached over 1.5 million people, over 300,000 of which directly contacted Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke via , and a countless number of people took up the cause on Facebook providing a steady stream of criticism on Nestlé’s infamous Facebook fan page.

What others out there are doing.. #womenintechweek

We still face the same issues

Technology is not a magic pill

YOUR OPPORTINITY

1.Create 2.Innovate 3.Influence

THANK YOU Leave me a message Website :