𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐢 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞

Magamba Network has officially launched Nafasi, a three-year, African-led initiative dedicated to protecting and expanding digital civic space across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Developed in partnership with the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, DefendDefenders and the Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement (RFLD), and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Nafasi will work across 30 African countries to ensure that young people, creators, journalists, civil society organisations and human rights defenders can continue to connect, organise and thrive online.
‘Nafasi’ the Swahili word for “space” captures the programme’s vision of  creating and protecting digital spaces where Africans can safely share ideas, tell their own stories and shape the continent’s future.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

Across Africa, the digital civic space is under increasing pressure. The rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation, unequal and unsafe internet access, and the misuse of emerging technologies from AI-generated deepfakes to platform algorithms that fail to understand African languages, are making it increasingly difficult for people to participate freely online. These challenges have particularly severe consequences for minority groups especially women and girls, who continue to face growing levels of technology-facilitated gender-based violence that force many offline.

Nafasi responds to these realities through a dual approach: protecting the activists, journalists and communities already protecting digital rights, while strengthening African-owned digital infrastructure and trusted information ecosystems that reduce dependence on external platforms.

Nafasi is built around three strategic pillars:

Policy and Governance: 

Strengthening civil society’s ability to advocate for stronger data protection, platform accountability and rights-based digital policies while engaging regional institutions including the African Union and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Digital Resilience and Truth:

Equipping civil society, human rights defenders and young people with digital security, fact-checking and verification skills to counter misinformation, disinformation and cyber threats.

Network Power and Sustainability:

Building a connected, continent-wide network of youth-led digital hubs that can share resources, collaborate across borders and respond collectively to emerging digital challenges.

Over the next three years, Nafasi will equip more than 750 people with practical digital skills, support the development of independent African-owned digital platforms, strengthen communities’ ability to identify and counter false information, and foster stronger collaboration around digital rights and internet governance across the continent.

“The online space is such an important arena for Africa’s Gen Z to express themselves and to organise around their vision of a better tomorrow,” says Samm Farai Monro, Creative Director at Magamba Network. “But we are seeing that space shrinking consistently. Nafasi couldn’t come at a more crucial time. We have built an amazing Africa-wide network of digital rights activists, techies and civic innovators committed to protecting the online space and building a future where digital democracy thrives. Together we need to hold the space.”

The Nafasi initiative is hosted by Magamba Network, with DefendDefenders serving as the East Africa Hub and RFLD coordinating the West Africa and Lusophone Hub. 

Together, the Nafasi partners are working to ensure that Africa’s digital future is shaped by Africans, building safer, more inclusive and more resilient online spaces where communities can organise, innovate and participate freely.