Google has announced the South African winners of its R15 million Africa Online Safety Fund (AOSF), launched in recognition of Safer Internet Day yesterday.
ASOF was created in 2020, to support innovative ideas around privacy, trust and safety for families online across Sub-Saharan Africa. It is administered by Impact Amplifier, on behalf of Google.org.
The finalists include 26 organisations across Africa – 17 in the ‘Catalytic’ category and eight in the Transformative category – all working on a range of projects that focus on online safety for children, their families and schools, as well as SMEs and anti-terrorism initiatives focused on combating misinformation and disinformation.
‘Transformative’ grants are a maximum of $100 000 and are aimed at projects that provide larger and scalable solutions across multiple geographies and/or potentially large numbers of beneficiaries, while Catalytic grants of a maximum of $10 000 target smaller, potentially local or culturally specific projects.
Applications were open from 17 July to 21 August 2020 to social enterprises, public sector or public benefit organisations (not individuals) throughout Africa.
The primary criteria used to select successful applications included innovation and replication, social impact, potential for success, management team, financial efficiency and sustainability.
Following the funding award, finalists will undergo a mentoring process to develop and implement the winning solutions in the regions, and where applicable, across Africa, in order to combat socio-economic and political security and safety threats.
“Google is committed to safety and privacy across the Internet,” says Yolanda Mlonzi, senior analyst, public policy and government relations at Google Africa.
“It’s essential that people have the skills they need to stay safe online. The fund is designed to reach children, families and other Internet users across the region with tools and resources that will help to protect them from online security threats, explore the Web with confidence and harness all the benefits the Internet can provide.”
Google also announced the launch of the next cohort of Web Rangers, an international digital and media literacy programme designed to empower young people with critical skills so they can use the Internet and social media responsibly and confidently.
In SA, Web Rangers is implemented by Media Monitoring Africa, together with partners such as the Film and Publications Board, Google, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, and others. It was launched here in 2016.
Explains Mlonzi: “This year we aim to train 300 Web Rangers from across all nine provinces. These Web Rangers will be between the ages of 12- to 17-years-old from both primary and high schools. We are excited to welcome these digital citizens who will learn how to use the Internet responsibly.”
The South African ASOF grant awardees and their projects include:
Transformative ($100 000 each)
Dream Factory Foundation: Combines online educational programs through edutainment and train-the-trainer workshops with telehealth counselling services for young people, teachers and parents.
The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change: Develops and disseminates content that counters misinformation/disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, and exposes manipulation networks that promote hate.
Catalytic ($10 000 each):
Endcode: Creates a framework and guidelines for defining age-appropriate online services.
Fundanii: Trains teachers and students, and integrates online safety into the digital literacy curriculum of a primary school district.
Global Leading Light Initiatives: Facilitates student-driven and culturally inclusive Internet safety education and awareness activities to empower young people, teachers and parents.
Media Monitoring Africa: Creates and distributes educational online comic strips as a means to teach children how to critically decipher information and discern between credible news and disinformation.
The full list of African awardees can be viewed on the Google blog.
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