Digital Responsibility and Resilience

Global Focus and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs invite international and national partners to the webinar:

Digital Responsibility and Resilience

Digital development and use of technology are affecting our lives in all aspects, connecting people in an unprecedented manner, and affecting governance structures and relations. There are great opportunities through digitalization to promote and protect human rights and enhance democratic governance.

Digital platforms, social media, and e-governance can improve freedom of expression and information, open up new ways of engaging people in political processes and public life, and enhance accountability and transparency in governance processes. Globally new social movements and engagements are flourishing, and especially young people engage in politics and democracy in more ad hoc and informal ways supported by digital platforms.

At the same time, digitalization has also caused violations of human rights and is being misused by authoritarian regimes. New technology provides opportunities for enhanced surveillance, suppression, behavioural control, and censorship i.e. through limiting access to information, restricting freedom of expression, spreading of dis- and misinformation, misuse of private data and algorithmic decision-making, and internet shutdowns.

This webinar will continue an important conversation between Danish and International civil society, experts, Danish MFA and other stakeholders aiming at giving us a better understanding of digital challenges and opportunities that are central to development cooperation.

The programme will consist of welcome by Stephan Schønemann, Danish Undersecretary for Development Policy, inspirational talk by Dr Steven Feldstein, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment and author of The Rise of Digital Repression. Then there will be a panel debate with Steven Feldstein, Mette Thygesen, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eva Grambye, Danish Institute for Human Rights and Amy Taylor, CIVICUS followed by breakout sessions around the topics of 1) digital resilience, 2) digital mobilisation and 3) regulatory frameworks and digital accountability moderated by international experts in the field and lastly wrap up in plenary. The webinar will be facilitated by Sara Brandt, Global Focus.

Register here.

In order to help us structure the discussions on the day we would kindly ask participating organizations to answer the survey beforehand: