Governments are increasingly introducing or amending laws to tighten regulation of the non-profit sector, often claiming the need to comply with the standards required by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) around anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CTF). In the past two years alone, governments have introduced or are contemplating FATF-inspired legislation in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This briefer, developed together with ECNL and ICNL, explains FATF, why its standards matter for civil society in Africa, and how nonprofits can take action to address over-regulations that the governments justify on the basis of addressing money laundering/terrorism financing threats. Read the full briefer on ECNL’s site here.

Digital space has become a major forum for civil society, which has only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some governments have reacted by instituting legal barriers that have affected fundamental freedoms online, many times due to lack of knowledge regarding emerging technologies.  To address this issue, in March 2021, ICNL in collaboration with the Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) and Article 19 Eastern Africa, hosted a digital forum on the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms of Kenyan civil society online. Experts and participants, successfully outlined five key topics related to digital space in Kenya were outlined. Learn more here. 

This page provides information on African government responses to the coronavirus, using information from the ICNL-ECNL COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker. To date, we have identified 141 new measures by governments responding to the pandemic in 46 countries. These include legislative action (passage of laws and regulations, orders/decrees), executive orders/decrees, and other practices that have not been codified. Learn more here.

In September 2019, ICNL, in collaboration with the East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EACSOF), launched the Protection of Civic Space in East Africa online Platform. This platform aims to facilitate information-sharing on current and emerging civic space trends in the region among civil society actors and media practitioners, as they seek to navigate restrictions and capitalize on opportunities to influence positive legal reform. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it has become a crucial tool for the growing regional community of over 70 CSO members in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Recently, members organized a digital convening to discuss how government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are being used to restrict civic space in East Africa. Read the full story from our 2019-2020 annual report here.