Millions of people are coming online in Africa, many of whom live in rural, socio-economically underdeveloped, or conflict-affected areas. Search’s work in contexts around the world has shown that rapid introduction of communication platforms without adequate support can exacerbate existing social hostilities and spread misinformation and disinformation that lead to online and offline harms.
Current policies aimed at mitigating hate speech, fake news, and misinformation in West Africa are often reactive and crisis-driven. Across disciplines, evidence frequently remains siloed, preventing cross-sectoral collaboration and analysis; and academics and practitioners are left out of key policy-making institutions. Without better collaboration between stakeholders and integration of their expertise into decision-making processes, effective regulation of online spaces will remain infeasible and, moreover, the positive potential of digital spaces to create peace and social cohesion will not be realized.
The Bamako Forum on Digital and Social Cohesion aims to create a space for multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration to advance digital and social cohesion in West Africa. Participants will learn from other perspectives, build a wider coalition of advocates, and leverage a pre-existing community of practice and scholarship in the Sahel.
The Forum will:
- Gather relevant experts and stakeholders from different disciplines, bringing together communities that don’t normally work together;
- Create a space for policy dialogue and decision-making support, elevating the voices of academics and practitioners to reach decision-makers at national, regional, and international levels;
- Produce policy papers and briefs to facilitate joint analysis among stakeholders and identify key conflict dynamics, gaps in current responses, and recommendations for international and national policy audiences;
- Facilitate policy dialogues between academics, policymakers, and practitioners; and
- Organize briefings for local, national, regional, and international policymakers on the recommendations from the policy briefs