#FASTAfrica Action Week Begins Sunday

… Three, two, one! The countdown to the #FASTAfrica Action Week (May 1-7) begins NOW.

What’s Going On?

Dozens of groups, organisations and individuals are coordinating events across Africa next week to put the spotlight firmly on Internet access, affordability and rights.

The World Wide Web Foundation’s Web We Want and Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) initiated the campaign, and we are being guided by an online planning group of more than 60 representatives of African organisations.

We want Internet that is FAST, AFFORDABLE, SAFE and TRANSPARENT (F.A.S.T) for ALL because lives, livelihoods and development in Africa depend on it. African leaders have promised to connect everyone by 2020, but the continent still has the slowest and most expensive Internet in the world and only 20% of people are online.

We need to work together regionally to push governments to put the ICT policies in place that will connect everyone to the open Web.

Who’s Doing Something?

We are thrilled to announce that the World Wide Web Foundation is supporting 30 organisations in 19 countries with small grants to host activities.

It is not too late to plan your own event or join in on social media. This is a week for all of us to contribute: organising, protesting, writing, tweeting, reporting and telling everyone we can about Internet rights.

We’ll be sharing highlights from the action week with leaders at the World Economic Forum on Africa and the African Union urging them to take action. The more people contribute, the more likely it is we’ll see positive change.

The FASTAfrica Toolkit has policy advice, a press release, event ideas and a social media guide. Download or read online, it will be helpful to anyone working on ICT policy – this week and beyond.

What Can I Do?

• Spread the word about the #FASTAfrica Campaign
• Plan Your Own Event
• Participate in Social Media
• Blog, photograph, record your activities and share widely using #FASTAfrica
• Contact media, let them know about the campaign
• Sign up for more FASTAfrica email updates
  

Please contact us if you would like to be more closely involved in the planning of FASTAfrica now or in the future. This campaign is about working together for change.