Download KICTANet publications below. The publications are grouped into Reports, Policy Briefs, Submissions, and Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Click on any of the GROUPS to view reports under it. For example, “Policy Briefs” will show you all Policy Briefs developed by KICTANet.
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| This report presents a summary of the key findings of KICTANet’s election observation mission during Kenya’s general election held on August 9, 2022. During the election, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cleared 16,098 candidates to compete for six main elective positions across the country's 291 constituencies in 47 counties. KICTANet observed elections in various polling stations in 21 counties, focusing on technology aspects. Several encouraging and progressive steps were noted in the use of technology by the IEBC, and by the public. In the polling stations observed, there were adequate Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) kits supplied, with clerks fairly competent in their use, and technical support personnel available to remedy challenges. Further, a majority of the voters were identified biometrically, and a minority through an alphanumeric search. In addition, most of the presidential results forms (34A) were transmitted electronically and are accessible in the IEBC public portal. | 414 downloads | Download | 247.2 KB | ||
Key recommendations to IEBC and other stakeholders:
| 1540 downloads | Download | 791.2 KB | ||
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On July 13, 2022, the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) paid a courtesy call to Kenya’s elections management body, the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). The aim of this meeting was to discuss the role of technology in the upcoming elections and beyond, and how KICTANet can collaborate with the IEBC in line with its mandate of delivering free, fair, and credible elections. In attendance were IEBC Chairperson, Mr. Wafula Chebukati, IEBC ICT Committee Chair, Commissioner Justus Nyang’aya, IEBC Legal Affairs Chair, Commissioner Irene Masit, Commissioner Francis Wanderi, Commissioner Prof. Abdi Guliye, Commissioner Boya Molu, the Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marjan Hussein Marjan and IEBC's Director of Information Communication and Technology (ICT), Michael Ouma.
| 202 downloads | Download | 249.3 KB | ||
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This study assesses disinformation in Kenya’s political sphere. Disinformation is already in full display at national and grassroots levels, as politicians woo a heterogenous electorate divided along ideological, ethnic, economic, and demographic lines. While there exist multiple laws, social media platform guidelines, and user awareness efforts, disinformation remains a difficult beast to tame. This is particularly so in the heated and polarised environment of Kenyan politics, coupled with the sophisticated technological tools, technical ability of its perpetrators to create and disseminate content, and a public that is not sufficiently aware of disinformation. The data for this study has been gathered through a review of legal and policy documents from government and social media platforms, as well as interviews with respondents from the government, academia, political parties, digital content creation, and mainstream media. | 316 downloads | Download | 15.4 MB | ||
| The study reviews the current status of digital governance in Kenya and provides ideas for better supporting the key areas related to the achievement of strategic objectives. The report is based on desk research and interviews conducted with more than a dozen Kenyan stakeholders from the public sector, business sector, academia, and civil society organizations. | 407 downloads | Download | 2.1 MB | ||
| On Friday, 25th June 2021, a section of KICTANet members made a maiden visit to the Konza Technopolis Development Authority located in Makueni County. This was after The Konza Secretariat, whose Chief Executive Officer is an active member of the KICTANet list extended an invitation to the KICTANET community to visit the Konza Technopolis site to assess the progress made and contribute ideas that would fastrack realization of the Techno City. | 134 downloads | Download | 20.4 MB | ||
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KICTANet together with our partners formulated a Licensing and Shared Spectrum Framework for Community Networks for Kenya. The Communications Authority of Kenya invited comments from all stakeholders, including members of the public, licensees utilizing spectrum resources, and government institutions on the proposed framework.
Community Networks are a way to bridge the connectivity gap when people come together to build and maintain the necessary infrastructure for Internet connection. Internet by the people, for the people.
The consultation process was meant to give stakeholders and the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed draft framework. The comments received will inform the adoption of the Licensing and Shared Spectrum Framework for Community Networks in Kenya.
The framework was developed in partnership with the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and supported by the United Kingdom’s Digital Access Programme.
| 865 downloads | Download | 2 MB | ||
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Published by: Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTAnet) with support from DW Akademie. A large number of the East African population now lives online. In Kenya 98% access and use the internet, and has become one of the most essential resources in our day to day activities especially with the over reliance on technology during the pandemic. More businesses are going online for continuity, and more people are connecting with each other using the social networking platforms. Women’s active involvement on the internet is not only beneficial to their economic activities, but also in their careers, their need for artistry, social and political expression. Online content creation is a way of creating own footsteps and online identity. Women get to be known as experts in the field of the content they create. Against this background, KICTAnet sought to create a tool to guide different groups of women on content creation. | 1318 downloads | Download | 1.4 MB | ||
| This report by ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa, the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), and Pollicy reviews the national legal frameworks and practices that have enabled an extraordinary surveillance environment during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic in Kenya and Uganda. It documents and raises awareness about government and private sector surveillance measures and practices in both countries during this period and their human rights implications. | 522 downloads | Download | 637.5 KB | ||
| A comic strip that demonstrates the challenges women face online. | 406 downloads | Download | 3.4 MB | ||
| Vibonzo ama katuni zinazofunza kuhusu usalama wa wanawake kwenye mtandao | 476 downloads | Download | 3.4 MB | ||
Author: John Walubengo and Kelvin Kariuki
Edited by: Grace Githaiga
Published by: Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)
Aim: To provide an opportunity for FB and the stakeholders to have an honest exchange of ideas, challenges, and suggested solutions.
Objectives
| 347 downloads | Download | 2.5 MB | ||
| Women living in informal settlements such as deal with everyday economic, political, and social burdens that they need to overcome in order to create cohesion in their families and communities. Moreover, women are critical contributors to the survival of their households tasked with ensuring the family is well fed, clothed, housed and children have access to education. Despite these roles, the majority of these women are still excluded from planning and decision-making processes. The COVID-19 outbreak in Kenya has and will continue to disproportionately affect women especially in the informal settlements such as Kibera, in as far as taking up additional economic responsibilities for their families and communities or experiencing domestic abuse while isolating with their abuser(s) is concerned. This report aimed at understanding the impact of COVID 19 on women in Kibera, and provides key recommendations. The report further intends to contribute to effective and locally relevant COVID 19 responses through a gender lens. Additionally, it highlights the role of community-centric approaches such as community networks and communities of care in supporting women during and beyond the pandemic. | 460 downloads | Download | 6.1 MB | ||
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[caption id="attachment_42576" align="alignleft" width="300"] ISBN 978-92-3-100408-7. Over three years, UNESCO has developed a framework of Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators, using a global, open, inclusive and multistakeholder process that tapped the world's wisdom. The result is a research instrument that contains 303 indicators (109 identified as core ones). These cover the categories of R.O.A.M (Rights, Openness, Accessibility, Multi-stakeholder) as well as 79 contextual and cross-cutting indicators to address gender equality and the needs of children and young people, economic dimensions, trust, and security, as well as legal and ethical aspects of the Internet. This unique and powerful resource was welcomed by the UNESCO Member States in UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) in November 2018. The UNESCO IPDC Council has taken the decision to endorse the voluntary application of the ROAM-X indicators by stakeholders interested in conducting national assessments of Internet development. The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) in collaboration with UNESCO undertook a project to conduct a national assessment of Kenya using the ROAM-X indicators framework. The framework is a unique and powerful resource which has been developed through an extensive process of research, consultation and analysis. The Kenya national assessments measured all the six categories of indicators, but with a focus on the 109 core indicators. UNESCO has published the national Internet Universality assessments for Benin, Senegal and Kenya. KICTANet developed the Kenya national publication. UNESCO has published the national Internet Universality assessments for Benin, Senegal and Kenya. KICTANet developed the Kenya national publication. The national assessment process led to the formulation of a national assessment report and organized related events which aimed to:
Since the inception of the project, KICTANet has already developed a draft national assessment report on the internet universality indicators (IUI) which assessed the national internet environment evaluating policies that align to UNESCO’s ROAM principles. The report was developed by a team of researchers and influenced greatly by input from a Multi-stakeholder Advisory Board (MAB) with expertise in the internet sector in Kenya. On the 28th of February 2020, a national validation meeting was convened by KICTAnet in partnership with UNESCO where stakeholders that represent Government, Civil Society, Technical Community Legal fraternity, Academia, Media and Internet Users who then gave expert insight and input to the drafted national assessment report to ensure Kenya’s internet environment is represented exhaustively and comprehensively. Following the National Validation meeting , the National Assessment report was finalised inclusive of the feedback from the national validation meeting and presented to UNESCO in March 31st 2020 making Kenya the 1st country in Africa and the 2nd globally after Brazil to have a developed an internet universality indicators framework. The research output can be found on the UNESCO website and the KICTANet website with the ISBN 978-92-3-100408-7. | 1468 downloads | Download | 2.2 MB | ||
| On 31st December 2018, the President assented to the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act No. 18 of 2018 which came into force on 18th January 2019. Section 9A of the Act amended the Registration of Persons Act by establishing a National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS). NIIMS is intended to be the single source of personal information of all Kenyan citizens and foreigners residing in the country. The ambitious project, dubbed “Huduma Namba” loosely translated to service number, is the subject of this study. This study provides the legal and historical context of Kenya’s national identity management system. It also examines the transition to a digital system, through the Huduma Namba project, and its human rights impact and concerns.These concerns include: the adequacy of public participation, adequacy of data protection, exclusion from access to socio-economic rights and discrimination of existing minority groups. In addition, the study highlights three countries with experience of using digital identity systems as case studies. Finally, the study provides key recommendations to stakeholders. The methodology for this study is guided by the Human Rights Impact Assessment approach as advanced by the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in association with the UN Global Compact. This is a mixed approach where the researchers gathered data on the legal and human rights concerns raised by the Huduma Namba as well as insights from a consultative meeting with stakeholders. Our findings show that there exists serious data protection concerns regarding the technical design and legal framework for NIIMS. Secondly, Huduma Namba carries the risk of excluding minorities from accessing government services. These essential services directly impact the right to equality and freedom from discrimination, freedom of association, political rights, freedom of movement and residence, labour relations, the right to property. Third, the government has not specifically addressed the rights of children in relation to the collection and integrity of their data. Fourth, the government is yet to promulgate enforceable and sufficient data protection regulations that would apply to Huduma Namaba data. Despite the identified issues, all is not lost.The study found a variety of best practices on national digital identities from the United States of America, Estonia and India. Additionally, there are international standards on digital identity such as the World Economic Forum Emerging Best Practices which advocates for digital identity to be fit for purpose, inclusive, useful, secure and offer choice to registrants. The experience from Estonia regarding blockchain, cryptography and back-up measures in case of a data breach is vital. India’s experience points to the challenges such as duplication in registration, data breaches and inflated numbers. Borrowing from the wisdom of the Indian Supreme Court on India’s Aadhaar case, Huduma Namba should not restrict access to essential government services such as education and healthcare. In conclusion, the study recommends measures that can safeguard compliance with data protection principles and respect for human rights in the use of Huduma Namba in Kenya as well as key points for multi stakeholder engagement across Parliament, Executive, the private sector, civil society organisations, citizens, media, the technical community and academia. | 2625 downloads | Download | 3 MB | ||
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| In the year 2015, ICT Authority facilitated the development of the County ICT Roadmaps under SMART County program. The ICT Roadmaps recognize that ICTs are tools that facilitate efficient delivery of services, improve accountability and transparency while increasing public participation in socio-economic development of the Counties. However, successful implementation of ICTs in county governments continues to face many challenges and requires legislative, budgetary, technical as well as political support - without which the ICT opportunities will remain unrealized Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTAnet) has collaborated with ICT Authority in order to institute and carry out annual ICT surveys to monitor and encourage faster adoption and maturity of ICTs within Counties as envisioned in the ICT Roadmaps. This report consolidates the findings for the three selected Counties of Uasin Gishu, Kajiado and Taita-Taveta. We believe the highlights of which ICT Categories that are performing well and which ones need improvement would guide the counties in the next year ahead - as they try to implement and improve the ICT development agenda. We also take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the key sponsors Huawei and Communications Authority for making the 2019-2020 County ICT Survey possible. We look forward to retaining their sponsorship and encourage other partners to join in the coming years to ensure that we expand the survey to include all Counties in Kenya. | 1193 downloads | Download | 3.2 MB | ||
| 5G has become a global buzzword that has elicited mixed emotions within global economic and socio economic spheres. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic did not make it easier for this nascent technology. Many myths have arisen linking the novel virus to the new technology. It is for this reason that the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) In partnership with Huawei, organized a Webinar on 4th May 2020, to debunk some of the myths that have arisen around the yet to be understood technology. The Webinar was moderated by Mr. Ali Hussein the CEO of Kipochi and Chairman of the Kenya Fintech Association. Featured panelists included Mr. John Walubengo, Lecturer Multimedia University, Mr. Adam Lane, Deputy CEO Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Musa Bello, Innovation Manager Huawei Southern Africa, Mrs Ann Kinyanjui, Acting Manager Frequency planning, Communication Authority of Kenya and Engineer Daniel Obam, a Spectrum expert. 188 participants registered for the Webinar which was also streamed on the KICTAnet Youtube Channel. At the end of the Webinar the total number of users was 220, unique viewers 114 and concurrent views 85. | 622 downloads | Download | 1 MB | ||
The digital literacy and safety training for university students is a Women@web program supported by Deutsche Welle Akademie(DW) in partnership with local organizations. The training is part of a wider East African program that includes Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), Africa, Association of Media Women in Africa (AMWIK) and Siasa place as Kenya partners. The partnership aims to promote the participation of women in online platforms.
In line with the overall objective of the program, this training sought to provide women university students with the information they need to safely and confidently navigate the digital spaces. Through digital responsibility lessons, students took practical steps to protect their privacy and safety online. By learning digital literacy skills including how to evaluate content for accuracy, perspective, and motive, students acknowledged the benefits of digital communities and resources.
The training took place over 3 days at Ngong Hills Hotel Nairobi, whereby the trainers used a variety of interactive methods of training such as lectures, presentations and participatory activities through group work.
A summary of the Thematic areas covered on the training are as follows:
| 559 downloads | Download | 708.6 KB | ||
| This document provides a brief overview of the background, proceedings, and outcomes of a thought leaders’ meeting, on Digital Identification, which was hosted by the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) with the support of Huawei, on 29th May 2019 at Ngong Hills Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. | 612 downloads | Download | 663.3 KB | ||
| This document provides a brief overview of the background, proceedings and outcomes of the “Breakfast Thought Leaders Meeting on Fintech Policy and Regulation” that was hosted by the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) with the support of Huawei. The breakfast meeting was held on Wednesday, 18th of September 2019 at Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. With a total of 25 participants drawn from different organizations that cut across the fintech echo-system in Kenya, the number and diversity of participants and quality of their submissions provided an excellent platform for teasing out the pertinent issues related to fintech policy and regulation in Kenya. Their submissions and contributions were compiled and subsequently summarized into themes that will inform the policy brief on the fintech echo-system in Kenya. In this regard, the meeting served as an excellent information gathering forum for development of the fintech policy brief. It is hoped that the resulting policy brief will serve as a good knowledge dissemination tool and set the agenda for fintech policy and regulation in Kenya and the region at large. | 448 downloads | Download | 1.4 MB | ||
| International Data Corporation (IDC) was conducting an assessment on the state of play and impact of broadband in Kenya, broadly looking at the socio-economic impact on consumers, businesses and various sectors like agriculture, education, healthcare, finance and government. This assessment was commissioned by Huawei in collaboration with Ministry of ICT and the Communications Authority of Kenya. It had the objective of supporting the policy making process to develop broadband services and infrastructure throughout Kenya and achieve substantial economic impact in the economy. Other partners in the study were the ICT Authority and the National Communications Secretariat. The assessment involved a review of the current state of play in the sector as well as gaining insights from a wide range of stakeholders on the barriers and recommendations to increase the impact of broadband. Among the key stakeholders identified included KICTANet, from whose members IDC was to seek to gain civil society and other stakeholder perspectives including real life examples of impact of broadband, challenges faced in increasing impact of broadband and recommendations on interventions needed to address the challenges identified. This was conducted as an online debate facilitated and moderated by KICTANet from 23rd to 30th April 2019. Through the online discussion, we sort also to understand the current state of play of broadband in Kenya, including: What barriers are there in increasing impact of broadband? What recommendations can counter the barriers in increasing impact of broadband? How is the sector regulated and what policies are in place? How is the business environment for those who want to venture into provision of broadband services? How do we create the skills and demand and use cases for broadband? What local content is there and is it having an impact or not? What type of local content are we lacking? How are users and businesses benefiting from broadband? Any other issues. | 771 downloads | Download | 201.7 KB | ||
| Safaricom, the leading mobile service provider in the region wanted to have an online interactive session with stakeholders. The objective of the session was to provoke and surface consumer, regulatory and policy concerns around its services. Additionally, the session was expected to provide an interactive platform for exchange of ideas and building solutions and consensus around the issues raised. The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTAnet) a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation was selected to lead and moderate the online discussions. The online discussions were framed under five thematic areas scheduled to take place over five days. These included, Consumer, Competition, Innovation, Infrastructure & Universal Access and finally Technology & Elections issues. Many pertinent issues were raised that touched on affordability, quality of services, market dominance, infrastructure sharing and Internet shutdowns in view of the elections. Safaricom was able to adequately respond to each and every issue raised, giving participants an operators perspective of issues often raised from only one perspective – the subscriber’s perspective. The intersection of consumer and operator’s views enabled by the KICTAnet online platform facilitated a generation of new ideas, suggestions and alternative approaches to tackling the issues. At a high policy and regulatory level, it was clear that the lack of a Data Protection Act could be the reason why subscriber data gets into wrong hands and subsequently abused without prohibitive penalties. Additionally, the question of market dominance and what to do about remained a contested issue, with advocates for strong or weak regulatory interventions having ramifications that need further analysis. The summary of the issues and their suggested solutions are contained in subsequent pages and we believe they form a comprehensive list of what needs to be done from a multi-stakeholder perspective | 649 downloads | Download | 7.3 MB | ||
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| During the discussions, several proposals were made on the way forward: 1. NCIC, in consultation with social media platforms and other stakeholders, ought to develop a Best Practice Manual on fake news. 2. NCIC should involve bloggers in the fight against fake news. Using their platforms to call out fake news posts will certainly reach a wider audience. 3. NCIC ought to carry out comparative studies with other jurisdictions to find out what measures they have put in place to curb fake news and whether these measures have been fruitful. 4. All the different categories of stakeholders should intensify awareness campaigns. 5. KICTANet should engage with KENIC on the issue of takedowns, especially on the feasibility of a content policy. 6. It was proposed that the internet community should reach out to the Ministry of Education and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to incorporate Media and Information Literacy into the curriculum. 7. Many participants were of the opinion that fake news is a manifestation of deeper societal issues, key among them being greed for public office and divisive politics. It was proposed that there be developed a National Value System to entrench ethical values into the Kenyan culture. | 322 downloads | Download | 486.6 KB | ||
| The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) deployed a 25-person election observer mission for Kenya’s 2017 General Election that took place on August 8, 2017. Kenyans voted for six positions namely Presidential, Senate, Parliamentary, Women’s Representative, Governor, and Member of County Assembly. KICTANet’s observation focused specifically on the use of technology from a user perspective and accordingly released a preliminary report which was published on 11 August 2017. | 559 downloads | Download | 207.1 KB | ||
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2022 KICTANet preliminary election observation report