ReCIPE stands for “Recentering the Civic Internet through Partner Engagement.”
This project focuses on 10 countries where the digital rights situation is most at risk: Bolivia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Kenya, Palestine, Senegal, Somalia, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam. The combined populations of these countries is approximately 282 million, with 127 million active internet users.
There is a lack of investment in organisations in these countries to work against digital security and safety risks.
This project will give our partner organisations the resources to do so. It will support them in raising the voices of the communities they represent to contribute to a more accountable and meaningfully regulated digital ecosystem. It will also focus on women and girls having access and digital literacy to participate in political and social life.
This project focuses on promoting and defending rights in a digital age.
People will be able to participate in digital rights debates over many years. There is a particular focus on women and girls having access and digital literacy to participate in political life and social life.
Why this project matters:
Global internet freedom continues to decline, according to the annual studies of human rights online by Freedom House. Authoritarian governments increasingly deploy tools of digital repression to strengthen their hold on power, from online censorship and surveillance to the spread of disinformation and wholesale restrictions on internet access. The misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies has important implications for how people exercise their rights in digital spaces.
People are frequently targeted based on characteristics like race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, faith, nationality, and political affiliation; with women (including trans women) being targeted most. In many ways, digital technologies are replicating – and sometimes exacerbating – the inequalities and repression experienced in people’s physical lives.
The question for organisations like Oxfam is not whether to accept or embrace digital technologies and subsequent innovations, but how we will assess and confront their impacts, and what guardrails we will fight for to achieve adequate protections, assurances and accountability for everyone’s rights in a digital age.
The urgency of protecting and promoting rights in the digital age cannot be overlooked, to ensure that technological innovation and change do not overtake our ability to chart a just and equitable future.
