Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IDEA D4D HUB (“Innovation Dialogues Europe-Africa” D4D Hub)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-12-01 bis 2023-09-30
What is it about?
The IDEA D4D Hub Project operates under the D4D Hub working closely with stakeholder groups like civil society and academia in jointly shaping the digital transformation process. The objective is to mobilise CSOs and academia in Africa and strengthen their capacity, so they can better play a role in the digital transformation process of their country and region. In addition, it aims to establish Europe-Africa collaboration and co-creation of solutions to digital transformation challenges.
What is the methodology?
Piloting and developing the methodology is in itself a goal of the project. The methodology starts with a stakeholder identification phase, after which a workshop is held to identify the main bottlenecks and challenges for civil society and academia in the country. Based on outcomes from the workshop, capacity building sessions are prepared to strengthen the capacity of civil society and research organisations in the run-up to the innovation day. During the innovation day, civil society and academia actors are combined with all other stakeholders in the digital ecosystem of the country, using a multi-stakeholder approach. Over two days the participants co-created innovative solutions to the challenges identified. Finally, winning teams are encouraged to develop their ideas further and connected with potential partners.
Why is it important for society:
Civil society and academia are often not obvious stakeholder groups to include in the development of digital policy or in conversations of the digital transformation processes. At the same time, these groups are extremely key to achieve a fully human centric digital transformation approach, by representing the grassroots, holding governments and private sector accountable and ensure inclusion of vulnerable groups.
What are the overall objectives:
To strengthen the capacity and voice of civil society and academia in the digital transformation process. Foster inter-African and Africa-Europe dialogues, co-creation and innovation. Identify key bottlenecks and challenges for civil society, and then engage the whole digital ecosystem to co-create innovative solutions.
The IDEA D4D Hub Project operates under the D4D Hub working closely with stakeholder groups like civil society and academia in jointly shaping the digital transformation process. The objective is to mobilise CSOs and academia in Africa and strengthen their capacity, so they can better play a role in the digital transformation process of their country and region. In addition, it aims to establish Europe-Africa collaboration and co-creation of solutions to digital transformation challenges.
What is the methodology?
Piloting and developing the methodology is in itself a goal of the project. The methodology starts with a stakeholder identification phase, after which a workshop is held to identify the main bottlenecks and challenges for civil society and academia in the country. Based on outcomes from the workshop, capacity building sessions are prepared to strengthen the capacity of civil society and research organisations in the run-up to the innovation day. During the innovation day, civil society and academia actors are combined with all other stakeholders in the digital ecosystem of the country, using a multi-stakeholder approach. Over two days the participants co-created innovative solutions to the challenges identified. Finally, winning teams are encouraged to develop their ideas further and connected with potential partners.
Why is it important for society:
Civil society and academia are often not obvious stakeholder groups to include in the development of digital policy or in conversations of the digital transformation processes. At the same time, these groups are extremely key to achieve a fully human centric digital transformation approach, by representing the grassroots, holding governments and private sector accountable and ensure inclusion of vulnerable groups.
What are the overall objectives:
To strengthen the capacity and voice of civil society and academia in the digital transformation process. Foster inter-African and Africa-Europe dialogues, co-creation and innovation. Identify key bottlenecks and challenges for civil society, and then engage the whole digital ecosystem to co-create innovative solutions.
The project carried out activities in five African countries: Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Morocco and Uganda.
The first step was to identify relevant stakeholders. The project established a comprehensive database with 1128 relevant stakeholders in Africa and Europe.
Second, workshops were organised for civil society and academia actors to identify bottlenecks and challenges to digital transformation. 11 workshops were organised with 197 participants.
Then, participants were followed up with tailored capacity building activities to discuss the topics further and to prepare them for their participation at the Innovation Days. In total, 246 participants took part in capacity building activities. In Uganda, a training of trainers was organised as well, so that trainers can continue to train further CSOs in future. In addition, a toolkit was developed and published in 3 languages, tailor made for CSOs on how to harness digital tools to improve their operations, visibility and efficiency.
The next step was to organise the multi-stakeholder Innovation Days. With a duration of 2-3 days, participants from the entire digital ecosystem came together. An Innovation Day typically had on average 65 participants. In total 355 participants took part in the Innovation Days in four countries. Over the Innovation Days, participants worked in teams using a design thinking methodology in a sort of idea-hackathon, and came up with innovative solutions to the challenges identified. In total, 47 solutions were developed, out of which 14 were selected as winners.
The project developed numerous valuable assets, this is just a selection of the most important:
- Stakeholder database: this will be transferred to the Global D4D Hub Secretariat
- Country specific whatsapp communities were established and participants were active sharing local resources
- A thorough overview of the challenges and topics identified by civil society and academia is available in a project deliverable, which will be published on d4daccess.eu the resource platform of the D4D Hub
- The methodology of the project and in particular the Innovation Days will also be available on d4daccess.eu and can be used by other agencies working with civil society, academia and the digital ecosystems
- 47 solutions were co-created by the teams during the Innovation Days and provide innovative solutions that can be picked up by interested partners. They are available upon request
- A toolkit was developed for CSOs and will be available on d4daccess.eu in French, Portuguese and English
The project disseminated its results and experiences at three external events:
- Session at Transform Africa Summit on 28th of April 2023 on the topic: Strenthening CSOs role and contribution in the design and implementation of digital policies"
- Online Experience Sharing session on 26th of September, sharing lessons, available assets and methodologies with other ICT58 projects and interesting agencies
- Session at Forum of Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFA) on 29th of September titled: Local actors, global fora. Strengthening African priorities and participation in international cybersecurity and digital policy processes
The first step was to identify relevant stakeholders. The project established a comprehensive database with 1128 relevant stakeholders in Africa and Europe.
Second, workshops were organised for civil society and academia actors to identify bottlenecks and challenges to digital transformation. 11 workshops were organised with 197 participants.
Then, participants were followed up with tailored capacity building activities to discuss the topics further and to prepare them for their participation at the Innovation Days. In total, 246 participants took part in capacity building activities. In Uganda, a training of trainers was organised as well, so that trainers can continue to train further CSOs in future. In addition, a toolkit was developed and published in 3 languages, tailor made for CSOs on how to harness digital tools to improve their operations, visibility and efficiency.
The next step was to organise the multi-stakeholder Innovation Days. With a duration of 2-3 days, participants from the entire digital ecosystem came together. An Innovation Day typically had on average 65 participants. In total 355 participants took part in the Innovation Days in four countries. Over the Innovation Days, participants worked in teams using a design thinking methodology in a sort of idea-hackathon, and came up with innovative solutions to the challenges identified. In total, 47 solutions were developed, out of which 14 were selected as winners.
The project developed numerous valuable assets, this is just a selection of the most important:
- Stakeholder database: this will be transferred to the Global D4D Hub Secretariat
- Country specific whatsapp communities were established and participants were active sharing local resources
- A thorough overview of the challenges and topics identified by civil society and academia is available in a project deliverable, which will be published on d4daccess.eu the resource platform of the D4D Hub
- The methodology of the project and in particular the Innovation Days will also be available on d4daccess.eu and can be used by other agencies working with civil society, academia and the digital ecosystems
- 47 solutions were co-created by the teams during the Innovation Days and provide innovative solutions that can be picked up by interested partners. They are available upon request
- A toolkit was developed for CSOs and will be available on d4daccess.eu in French, Portuguese and English
The project disseminated its results and experiences at three external events:
- Session at Transform Africa Summit on 28th of April 2023 on the topic: Strenthening CSOs role and contribution in the design and implementation of digital policies"
- Online Experience Sharing session on 26th of September, sharing lessons, available assets and methodologies with other ICT58 projects and interesting agencies
- Session at Forum of Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFA) on 29th of September titled: Local actors, global fora. Strengthening African priorities and participation in international cybersecurity and digital policy processes
Additional impacts of the project:
- IDEA supported the Global D4D Hub secretariat in setting up the Civil society and academia advisory group, and helped promote it at different external events
- Innovation Days helped in bringing together members of the digital ecosystems, in a multi-stakeholder setting
- IDEA events helped bridge the gaps and build trust between CSOs and governments, who have tense relationships in many countries
- Participants explicitly appreciated the learning aspects of the IDEA activities, especially on digital topics and design thinking methodologies
- Promotion of umbrella organisations and international platforms for CSOs and academia
- Five winning teams were supported to further develop solutions and a another seven are to be followed up in the next months
- Out of 47 proposals, 5 proposals focus explicitly on empowering women and girls in digital transformation. Whereas not focusing directly on women, a large proportion of the proposals and solutions were focusing on vulnerable groups such as children, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas
- Members of the IDEA consortium submitted an application to the Horizon Europe call in March 2023. The concept submitted further develops the successes of the IDEA project, with a stronger focus on academia and EU-Africa collaboration, also closing the loop to policy makers. Unfortunately, the proposal was not successful
- Challenges identified by participants during the IDEA project were picked up and further discussed at a number of events in both Europe and Africa
- The project gathered TeamEurope partners in the implementation countries and worked in a TeamEurope approach
- Through clever synergies between the IDEA project and other EU funded or bilateral projects, the winning teams will in many countries receive follow up through these actions
- IDEA supported the Global D4D Hub secretariat in setting up the Civil society and academia advisory group, and helped promote it at different external events
- Innovation Days helped in bringing together members of the digital ecosystems, in a multi-stakeholder setting
- IDEA events helped bridge the gaps and build trust between CSOs and governments, who have tense relationships in many countries
- Participants explicitly appreciated the learning aspects of the IDEA activities, especially on digital topics and design thinking methodologies
- Promotion of umbrella organisations and international platforms for CSOs and academia
- Five winning teams were supported to further develop solutions and a another seven are to be followed up in the next months
- Out of 47 proposals, 5 proposals focus explicitly on empowering women and girls in digital transformation. Whereas not focusing directly on women, a large proportion of the proposals and solutions were focusing on vulnerable groups such as children, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas
- Members of the IDEA consortium submitted an application to the Horizon Europe call in March 2023. The concept submitted further develops the successes of the IDEA project, with a stronger focus on academia and EU-Africa collaboration, also closing the loop to policy makers. Unfortunately, the proposal was not successful
- Challenges identified by participants during the IDEA project were picked up and further discussed at a number of events in both Europe and Africa
- The project gathered TeamEurope partners in the implementation countries and worked in a TeamEurope approach
- Through clever synergies between the IDEA project and other EU funded or bilateral projects, the winning teams will in many countries receive follow up through these actions