Governance and Regulation
Amplifying Global South Voices in Digital Rights Policymaking
Objective: To raise awareness of challenges that datafication processes pose to democracy and human rights globally and to promote stronger collaboration and coordination among Global South organizations working on digital rights, datafication, and its impact on democratic principles.
Duration: 2022-2026
Status: Em Andamento
Supporter(s): National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
Description
This project is driven by the ongoing and increasing datafication of society, which affects democracy in different ways. It proposes a strategy to strengthen organizations in the Global South and to influence the balance of power in international institutional spaces, which are often dominated by Global North narratives that do not fully address the many issues raised by transforming individuals and social groups into data that inform not only business strategies but also public policies.
Our objective is to strengthen the expertise and advocacy capacity of organizations that are already engaged with political issues such as meaningful connectivity, AI governance, the automation of policing activities, Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs), and the digital transformation of the State more broadly.
In addition, the project seeks to formulate an information-sharing framework and a methodology for the creation and sustainability of a new alliance of organizations working on datafication and democracy in the Global South, through agenda-setting and coordinated advocacy within key international organizations, based on the support provided by Data Privacy Brasil.
The project’s ultimate goal is to help shape global discourse and strategies to address issues of datafication and democracy. This has been achieved through the formation of the Global South Alliance (GSA), a coalition of 26 civil society organizations located in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Founded in 2022 through a collaboration between the Aapti Institute, Data Privacy Brasil, and the Paradigm Initiative, the GSA amplifies Global South voices in international debates on digital rights and promotes collective action toward a more just digital future.
The GSA has been dedicated to strengthening the capacities of Global South organizations working on digital rights and related fields, as well as their ability to set global agendas based on local perspectives and concerns. Among the main initiatives of the Global South Alliance are its digital library, which hosts content produced by its members, and the Datafication and Democracy Fund, which supports civil society–led research and public policy projects addressing the democratic challenges posed by datafication.
To learn more about the Global South Alliance, visit our official website: https://globalsouthalliance.net/