Africa has experienced a digital revolution giving rise to infinite opportunities, empowering a myriad of ordinary people to venture into the technology domain, who would have otherwise been left out. The new reality is that global economies are moving towards digitization in all aspects of daily life. The power of digital technology is captivating, promising, and salient. Digital technologies are not alien to Africa and African perspectives are shifting, influenced by the dynamic economic, political, and social landscape. The digitization platform stands unshakable and this was more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstracts should meet the standard of original scholarly research, and commentary. Abstracts will be reviewed through a double-blind process of peer review. References, tables, charts, graphs, images, and figures and any illustrations should not be considered as part of the word count and are to be added at the end of the text. Abstracts should not contain any information that might identify the author(s). A short biography (maximum 50 words), indicating the full name, institutional affiliation, and email address should be sent as a separate accompanying document.

We invite submissions that represent an original study (not previously published) that deal with digital technologies in Africa. Submissions must include an abstract consisting of 800 (minimum) - 1000 (maximum) words. All manuscripts should focus on one of the four identified sub-themes:

(i)  Africa and Digital Economies: Digital economy is the new marketplace and modern-day economics. Cashless economies are on the rise, mobile technologies like M-pesa and Bitpesa are impacting transactions across the continent and the world. How is digitalization factored in innovations, entrepreneurship, local and global trade? How have the different sectors of the economy, including agriculture, responded to the digital reality?   

(ii)  Digitalization and Political spaces: The political landscape has drastically changed due to digital technologies especially with information, social media, and voting rights. How are technologies being enhanced to writing better laws and policies in communities, and fostering new ways of thinking?

(iii)  Digitalization and Education: The education landscape previously characterized by the traditional brick & mortar only classroom model has been pressed to acknowledge the need to move to a mix of technology within the traditional teaching and learning context and an all-borderless space utilizing technology. How has the digital reality impacted education spaces, considering the different levels, from elementary school to higher education in general and specifically the universities? What are the implications of the digital expansion on the production of knowledge?

(iv)  Digitalization and Medicine: The development of Africa’s digital health sector has been intensified by the need for improved and innovative health services. Countries like Rwanda with its drone-delivered medicine and South Africa’s machine-dispensed medication are leading the way in Africa. On the whole, telemedicine possibilities must cater to people irrespective of where they live and their socio-economic status. Contemporary and innovative medical technology is fundamental to enhancing and transforming the health landscape on the continent.

(v)  Digitalization and Religion: Religion as a social institution occupies a wide physical and social space that impacts development programs in Africa. How have religious organizations responded to this digital emergence? How have practices of different religions that required in person participation adapted in response to the digital occurrence?

To advance its protection mandate and promote the institutionalization of protection and human security in the ECOWAS region, the Department of Social Affairs and Gender (DSAG)/DHD in 2021 introduced an integrated human security programming approach which considers the interconnection of all the above mentioned themes. The integrated approach supports member states to institutionalize a whole of government/state and society coordinated approach and shared responsibility to ensuring the protection and human security of every individual citizen and especially people in vulnerable situations. The integrated approach is hinged on the many regional normative frameworks in the different areas of concern mentioned above. They include policies on gender-based violence (GBV) and on sexual harassment, and its plan of action to promote a safe space for women and girls in the region. Others are the ECOWAS Child Policy and Strategic Plan of Action (2019-2030); the Strategic Framework for National Child Protection Systems Strengthening for Prevention and Response to Abuse, Violence and Exploitation of Children (2017); ECOWAS Roadmap on Prevention and Response to Child Marriage (2019-2030); ECOWAS Plan of Action on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (2019 -2023), and the ECOWAS Plan of Action for the Combat of Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2018 -2023).

Similarly, other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are involved in promoting the human development of their citizens and thus the proposed topic of the joint ECOWAS/Cornell-2022 Cornell IAD Global Africa Monthly Webinar Series is for ECOWAS and other RECs to share experiences in their work in ensuring protection and human security on the African continent. Particular focus will be on ECOWAS and other RECs work in combating human trafficking and gender-based violence as they are very critical to protection and human security. The focus is also premised on the growing menace and adverse impact of both issues on the vulnerability, victimization, and violation of peoples’ rights, quality of life, and in some cases, the survival of people in vulnerable situations. Unfortunately, the COVÍD-19 pandemic further worsened the protection and human security of persons on the African continent because the stringent response measures, especially the lockdown in most of 2020, undermined weak public services and systems which led to increased vulnerability of many people, especially children and women. From studies, it became clear that GBV was indeed a shadow pandemic as the incidences of abuses increased astronomically. 

Webinar Schedule 

10:05am - Welcome, Greetings and Introduction of the Keynote Speaker, Commissioner Dr. Siga Jagne
by N’Dri Assié-Lumumba, Professor of Africana Studies & Director of the Institute for African Development

10:10am - Introduction of Special Guests/Panelists of the Regional Economic Communities (10 min.) by Commissioner Dr. Siga Jagne

10:20am - Film on Gender-Based Violence - Mrs. Nana Oguntola, CEO, Local Media Initiatives

10:35am - Keynote Address - Dr. Siga Fatima Jagne, ECOWAS Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender, Abuja, Nigeria

11:00am - Experience Sharing Panel Presentations and Discussions by Special Guests, Chaired by Commissioner Siga Jagne (60 minutes)

• Honorable Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary General / Productive and Social Sector, Arusha, Tanzania
• Madame Beatrice Hamusonde, COMESA Director of Social Affairs and Gender, Lusaka- Zambia
• Ms. Fathia Alwan, IGAD Director of Social Affairs, Djibouti City, Djibouti
• Her Excellency Mrs. Kapinga Yvette Ngandu, Commissioner for the Promotion of Gender, Human and Social Development, The Economic Community of Central African States, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo 
• Ms. Raheemat Momodu, Head Human Security and Civil Society Division, Directorate of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Department of Social Affairs and Gender, ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, Nigeria
• Dr. Odile Ndoumbé Faye, Chargée de Programme Genre et Société Civile, Centre de la CEDEAO pour le Développement du Genre, Dakar, Senegal

12:00pm - Questions, Comments from the audience/participants (30 min.) - please use the chat box or the Q & A box

12:40pm - Synthesis by Commissioner Siga Jagne (10 min.)

12:50pm - Words of Thanks and Closing Remarks by Prof. Assié-Lumumba, Africana Studies Professor and IAD Director

Bios:

N’Dri Assié-Lumumba is the Director of the Institute for African Development and Professor in Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, where she was the Africana Studies Director of Graduate Studies and Director of the Program on Gender and Global Change. She served as the President of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformation (MOST). Professor Assie-Lumumba is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), and on the faculty of Abidjan Business School-École de Commerce (ABSEC) at Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny. She was a Carnegie Diasporan fellow at the University of Ghana, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo (Egypt), Visiting Professor at Hiroshima University (Japan), and Resident Fellow at the International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris (France). Her numerous awards include Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, Cornell/Ford Foundation Fellow, 2010 Distinguished Africanist and 2017 Ali Mazrui Outstanding Publication/Book & Educational Activities Awards of New York State African Studies Association (NYASA), and Fellow of the Japanese Ministry of Education. Her extensive publications on higher education, indigenous knowledge, and equity/gender include her recently co-edited book: Re-visioning Education in Africa: Ubuntu-Inspired Education for Humanity. She is the founding editor of Global Comparative Education: Journal of the WCCES. She earned her PhD in comparative education from the University of Chicago. Her published works include Education and Development: Outcomes for Equality and Governance in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020); Women and Higher Education in Africa: Reconceptualizing Gender-based Human Capabilities and Upgrading Human Rights to Knowledge (Cepared, 2007); and "Harnessing the Empowerment Nexus of Afropolitanism and Higher Education: Purposeful Fusion for Africa’s Social Progress in the 21st Century.” Journal of African Transformation 1, no. 2 (2016): 51–76.

Keynote Speaker: Dr Siga Fatima Jagne is currently the Commissioner of Social Affairs and Gender at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) where she leads the Commissions work in these areas. She is an Academic of international acclaim and a Senior Advisor on Gender, Research, Social Development, Youth Policy, Poverty, and a communications expert bringing over 27 years of research and practical experience in monitoring and evaluation to these development challenges. Dr Jagne received her Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude in English and French from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1985, the same year she was also awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to do independent research on the Politics of Black French Literature. After her Watson year, Dr. Jagne attended Atlanta University then Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she received her master’s degree in 1989, in African and African American Studies. That same year, she proceeded to the State University of New York at Binghamton where she studied Comparative Literature, specializing in Philosophy, Critical Theory and Women’s Studies. She received her PhD in 1994.

In 1992, she returned to her alma mater, Spelman College, as Assistant Professor of English, African Diaspora Studies and Women Studies. At Spelman, she was actively involved with the Ford Diversity Project, the Women’s Center and worked on issues of diversity in the curriculum. She was part of the interdisciplinary team that first taught ‘the AFRICAN Diaspora and the World’ course at Spelman College. In 1996, she moved to Dakar, Senegal and taught at the CODESRIA Gender Institute whilst researching on Wolof women’s performance poetry and working on popular culture. Dr. Jagne has also been doing research on and in Africa for the last three decades, focusing on gender-related issues. Her PhD dissertation, an Interdisciplinary study entitled “African Women and the Category Woman in Feminist Theory,” is the culmination of years of research as a scholar from The Gambia, as a student and professor in the United States, as a gender expert, and as an African woman.

She returned to her native Gambia in 1997 to become the Executive Director of the National Women’s Bureau. In that role, she oversaw national gender policy, projects, and programs for the country. She was later chosen as one of the key architects to start the University of The Gambia, becoming a founder member of the first University Senate and Vice Chairperson of the Governing Council. In 2004, Dr. Jagne was appointed to work as head of the Pro-Poor Advocacy Group (Pro-PAG), a Department for International Development (DFID) program on pro-poor poverty and budget research, the results of which were used for advocacy for the inclusion of the poor with the National. In 2008, Dr. Jagne became the Director and a Partner at the International Development Support Services (IDSS), a global consulting firm. Dr. Jagne serves on numerous boards, advisory councils, ethics committees, advisory boards of academic journals and institutions. She is the author of two books and numerous interdisciplinary articles.

Ms. Hamusonde is the Director of Gender and Social Affairs at COMESA. She is responsible for programs on gender equality, women’s empowerment, youth engagement and empowerment, health and social affairs. She oversees Initiatives on small scale cross border trade to address gender related issues. Ms. Hamusonde oversees gender and youth mainstreaming in COMESA Secretariat, COMESA Institutions and Member States in line with the COMESA Gender Policy, Social Charter and Youth Program frameworks. She has led the development of a joint COMESA, EAC and ECOWAS digital platform for women in business targeting 38 Member/Partner States of the three Regional Economic Communities. Ms. Hamusonde served at the Women’s Justice and Empowerment Specialist at the USAID Zambia where she supported international and local organizations and the Zambian Government on the implementation of Gender Based Violence Prevention, GBV Survivor Support, and GBV Survivor Access to Justice programs. She supported the establishment of GBV survivor support centers in the country of Zambia. She chaired the Cooperating Partners’ Gender Group. Ms. Hamusonde led gender mainstreaming role in all USAID Zambia programs. and women’s economic empowerment initiatives. Ms. Hamusonde also worked at Plan International Zambia Country Office as Advisor on Child Protection, Gender, Women and Community Empowerment. She built joint partnership with International Organizations, Local Organizations and Zambia Police on address GBV in the Country. She chaired the INGOs Group on Child Protection. Before Plan, Ms. Hamusonde served as the Executive Director for Zambia Association for Research and Development, where she led research and advocacy on the status of women and implementation of regional, continental and international legal and policy frameworks on women and child rights.  At ZARD she led the publishing of a book – Beyond Inequalities: Women in Zambia; Beijing +5 NGO Shadow Report; and other publications. Ms. Hamusonde has also worked for the Zambia National Women’s Lobby to advocate for women’s participation and representation in political decision-making. Ms Hamusonde’s first job was in the Ministry of Education where she worked as a teacher of languages and literature. Ms. Hamusonde has a Master of Arts Degree in Gender Studies (2003), Bachelor of Arts Degree with Education (1990), Post Graduate Diploma in Human Rights Law (2007), all from the University of Zambia, and Certificate in Monitoring Women’s Rights (2008) from Human Rights Education Associates, USA.

Hajiya Raheemat Momodu is currently the Head of Human Security and Civil Society, ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria. She was the pioneer ECOWAS Representative to the African Union for 10 years (2008-2018). In her current position, she oversees the following Units/Programs- Trafficking In Person, Child Rights Child Protection and Child Labor, Emergency Protection, Civil Society Engagement and Women Peace and Security. She facilitated the launch of the FemWise West Africa Network of Women Peacebuilders, in November 2019 making ECOWAS the first REC to do so. She boasts of a vast and diverse working experience; in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as Pioneer National Program Officer / Gender and Youth Programs, European Union Delegation to Nigeria (EU) as Pioneer Program Manager Good Governance and Human Rights/ Gender Focal person, Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FEF) as Pioneer Project Officer/ Gender Equity and USAID/Office of Transition Initiative as Program Manager Conflict Management and Good Governance. She also had a rich career in journalism and left the sector as a Group Assistant Political Editor of the defunct Concord Group of Newspapers in 1999. 

She holds three Masters Degrees in Managing Peace and Security in Africa; Gender and Development; and Geography and Planning with specialization in Cartography and Remote Sensing and is currently studying for a PHD in Peace and Conflict Studies. She is a British Government Chevening Scholar (1999/2000) and an alumna of United States Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on Human Rights Advocacy. She has attended many professional courses including Senior Executives in National and International Security Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Cambridge- Boston (2013); NATO Crisis Management (M3-52-C-12)- 2012; African Union Senior Mission Leadership (2010) Hajiya Momodu is currently the pioneer President of the ECOWAS Commission Women Forum and a member of Security Sector Reform (SSR) Advisory Network to the United Nations, member of the African Security Sector Network (ASSN). She was recognized as one of the 107 Nigerian Women Who #ChooseToChallenge in commemoration of the 2021 International Women’s Day by OSIWA and BAOBAB. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, Nigeria, member of the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), Co-Founder- Journalism and Development Seminar (JADE Seminars) and member of the Feminism Lab facilitated by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Nigeria.

Hon. Christophe Bazivamo is the current EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Secretary General, Hon. Bazivamo was a Member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Between 2009 and 2011, Hon. Bazivamo held various ministerial positions in the Republic of Rwanda, including Minister for Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines; Minister of Local Government; and Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources among others. In 2005, he was the Minister of Internal Security and in 2000, 2001 and 2002 he served as Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission. Hon. Bazivamo is an agricultural engineer by profession and holds vast experience as a trainer. Hon. Bazivamo worked with a number of NGOs before joining the Public Sector as a Governor and later on as the first Executive Secretary of the Rwandan National Electoral Commission (NEC) from where he was appointed Minister.

Mrs. Nana Oguntola CEO and Founder of Local Media Initiatives CIC believes in placing the power to tell stories in the hands of the marginalized and believes that sustainable development can only be achieved through the triple bottom line of economic growth, social equality, and environmental protection. She has over twenty years of experience in freelance production in film and TV, event management, training, and consulting.  She operates with a high degree of acumen across film, television, media, events, and training industries. She earned an Executive MBA in the Creative Industries from Ashridge Business School in Berkhamsted, United Kingdom.

Her Excellency Mrs. Kapinga Yvette Ngandu is the Commissioner for the Promotion of Gender, Human and Social Development, The Economic Community of Central African States. The commissioner has in-depth knowledge of the statutes, mechanisms, structures and functioning of international (UN, UNDP, UN Women, UNESCO, UNICEF) and sub-regional (AU, ECOWAS, ECA, ECCAS, COMESA, IGAD, SADC) institutions in the fi elds of Gender, Peace, Security, Democracy and Governance. More specifically, early warning, preventive diplomacy, mediation processes and political negotiations; reconciliation processes and dialogue; Transitional Justice; and the implementation of UN Resolution 1325 (and related resolutions) relating to the principles of the advancement, inclusiveness and protection of women. In twenty years (20 years) of career in the diplomatic world, Ms. Ngandu has worked in 6 international organizations and diplomatic bodies: the African Peer Review Mechanism (AU-APRM) in Johannesburg, the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, the United Nations Secretariat in New York, the Institute for Peace in New York, the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC, as well as the US State Department in Washington DC. She also oversaw and coordinated the production of thematic reports to enable the various Chairpersons of the AU Commission (Jean Ping, Ms. Dlamini Zuma, Mr. Mahamat Faki), The Commissioners for Peace and Security and the AU Member States to take appropriate action on emerging threats to peace and security in Africa: such as the AU reports on “election-related conflicts” in 2008; the AU report on “Impunity, Justice and National Reconciliation” in 2009; and the report on “Women and Children in Armed Conflict” in 2010; the report on “Managing Unconstitutional Changes of Government” in 2012, and finally the AU Decision on the Culture of Peace, in 2015. She served as Diplomatic Advisor to the Presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from April 2019 to October 2019, within the Executive Committee of the National Monitoring Mechanism of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement for Peace, Security and Cooperation for the DRC and the Great Lakes Region. Ms. Ngandu previously worked as a Senior Program Officer at the International Institute of Peace (IPI) based in New York from 2003 to 2008. Prior to joining IPI, she worked with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Voice of America in Washington. DC and the U.S. Department of State in Washington DC. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and International Relations from Bowling Green State University. Some of her publications include “Positioning the APRM as an Early Warning Tool for Conflict Prevention”, published by the African Union African Peer Review Mechanism Newsletter, Governance Link, May 2020; and, “Electoral Conflicts and Political Violence: Strengthening the Role of the African Union in Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution”, report of the AU Panel of the Wise (New York, International Institute of Peace, African Union, 2010).

Dr. Odile Ndoumbe Faye Academic, Sociologist and Researcher, Senior Specialist on Gender, Women, Family, Youth, Peace and Security in the African Region. Dr. Faye holds a PhD in Sociology from Gaston Berger University (UGB) (Senegal), a Postgraduate Degree in Information and Communication Sciences from Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resources Management in International Organizations from CESAG (Dakar – Senegal). She successively held the positions of Head of Documentation Department at the Training and Research Unit of Legal and Political Sciences at UBG, Head of the Communication Division of UGB and Director of the Antenna of UGB in Dakar. After 17 years at the UGB, which she headed from October 2007 to March 2016, she moved to the Executive Secretariat of a continental NGO named AAWORD (Association of African Women for Research and Development), which brings together 22 African countries in Africa and the diaspora. Dr. Faye joined the ECOWAS Commission in April 2016, precisely, at the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) as Program Officer for Gender and Civil Society. She works particularly on the designing and implementation of gender programs and for the mainstreaming and operationalization of ECOWAS gender policies in the 15 ECOWAS member states. She also works closely with civil society actors to give them the necessary support for the development and implementation of innovative gender projects in the region. 

Dr. Faye has worked on development issues in the world.  She has been a member of many international and continental networks such as LDC Watch, the African Women Caucus  on Gender Equality, the African Women Lobby on Gender Equality, African Women CSW Group, the CSO group working with the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Dr Faye is also very committed to women movements in Senegal and development at the grassroot level. She has occupied the positions of Chairperson of the Scientific Committee  of Conseil Sénégalais des Femmes (COSEF) (Council of Senegalese Women) and led the scientific work for the adoption of the parity law in Senegal. She has also been a member  of the Senegalese National Observatory on Parity and led the Scientific Committee of  the International Conference on Parity organized by the Senegalese Government in 2011. Furthermore, she  coordinated the Forum of African Francophone Women during the 15th Summit  of Francophony held in 2014 in Dakar, Senegal. Through these works, Dr. Faye has contributed to the improvement of the conditions of women, girls, boys and children in the Africa Region and to the visibility of the African Gender Equality Agenda in the World. 

Ms. Fathia Alwan, Director, Health & Social Development. Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa

Ms. Alwan is the Director for Health and Social Development of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as of May 2017. Prior to that (between 2005 and April 2017), Ms. Alwan served as Program Manager of the Health and Social Development of IGAD. She started her career at IGAD as a Desk Officer for Health but over the years she managed to expand the program to include a wide-range of the social development sector: health, social protection, youth, population and development, migration, education, including science, technology and innovation; culture and sports. She is a visionary committed and enabling leader who has transformed IGAD from a predominantly agriculture and security-focused entity to an institution committed to the promotion of broad-based social development programs.