Kenya
KICTANet, together with partners including APC, is holding the first virtual Kenya Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on 29 October 2020. The Kenya IGF is preceded by the Kenya School of Internet Governance (KeSIG) in what is dubbed the Kenya IGF Week.
Kenya confirmed its first Covid-19 case on March 12, 2020, and as of August 26, 2020, the country had recorded at least 559 deaths, 32,803 confirmed cases, and 19,055 recoveries, with 429,513 persons tested. Even before the first case was confirmed in Kenya in February 2020, the government had moved to establish the National Emergency Response Committee on Covid-19 to coordinate its preparedness, prevention and response to Covid-19.
The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.
The Kenyan government has introduced a digital tax programme that presents a challenge to pre-existing and new technology companies under the small and medium-sized categories (SMEs), which are the backbone of the country’s economy.
Online violence against women during this pandemic has taken a turn for the worst. The "keyboard warriors”, as they are popularly known, have gone to the extent of cyberbullying victims of coronavirus.
APC member KICTANet hosted a webinar in partnership with Huawei on the realities of 5G in Kenya. Panellists discussed the claims that 5G causes health problems, then moved to the regulatory environment and what would need to change in order for 5G to be viable for the Kenyan market.
There is a need to balance the use of technology with human rights in response to the pandemic. Otherwise, we might risk losing the rights and freedoms we had steadily gained over many years.
The initiative is being implemented by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica and aims to develop the models, capacities and sustainability of community networks.
Following a seven-year, windy journey, on 8 November 2019, Kenya got a data protection law. The Data Protection Act, 2019 has various positive elements and can go a long way in addressing the live issues in protecting the privacy of data in Kenya.
This meeting is part of an ongoing effort to enhance learning for community networks, acknowledge the diversity that exists and examine meaningful ways to support each other.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
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