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Diplo Africa Newsletter

January-March 2025

Digital Diplomacy and Tourism in Africa: Unlocking Opportunities for Growth and Collaboration

Diplo Africa’s latest webinar ‘Digital Diplomacy and Tourism in Africa: Unlocking Opportunities for Growth and Collaboration‘ was held on 5 March 2025. It focused on exploring how digital technologies and diplomacy can be leveraged to unlock new opportunities for tourism growth and collaboration in Africa. The panellists aimed to highlight both challenges and potential solutions for the African tourism sector in the digital era.

Experts from various sectors discussed how digital transformation has changed tourism in Africa, highlighting the increased accessibility for both large and small businesses to market their offerings online. The panel emphasised the importance of sustainability in tourism, with initiatives like eco-friendly certifications and carbon footprint tracking gaining prominence.

The discussion touched on the impact of emerging platforms like Airbnb on traditional hospitality, noting that these disruptions have also created opportunities for African startups. The role of citizen journalism in promoting tourism was explored, with panellists suggesting ways to encourage positive content creation about African destinations. Data privacy concerns were addressed, with calls for stronger cybersecurity laws and digital literacy programmes to protect cultural assets.

The importance of preparing diplomats to promote tourism was highlighted, emphasising the need for comprehensive knowledge about their countries’ cultures and attractions. The changing demands of modern tourists, particularly regarding wi-fi connectivity and digital amenities, were discussed as crucial factors for attracting visitors. The panel also addressed the challenges of overcoming negative perceptions of some African countries and suggested focusing on regional integration and intra-African tourism to boost visitor numbers.

Overall, the webinar underscored the potential of digital tools and diplomacy in enhancing Africa’s tourism sector, while also highlighting the need for infrastructure development, policy changes, and strategic marketing to fully capitalise on these opportunities.


The Africa CISO Summit

The Africa CISO Summit was held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 19-20 March. The summit, attended by Diplo’s African Initiative Coordinator, Mwende Njiraini, explored critical cybersecurity challenges, emerging trends and innovative solutions. The discussions focused on the cloud security landscape in Africa and the rise in AI-powered threats. Challenges with compliance to regulatory requirements and standards, ethical concerns, AI bias, and insufficient AI skills were identified. The call to action was to build data centres to collect, store, and process African data in Africa.


What are the issues of interest for African countries within the UN OEWG on cybersecurity?

To stimulate such discussion and answer the question above, Diplo organised a cybersecurity diplomacy ‘deep dive workshop’ on 17 February joined by diplomats of the African Permanent Missions to the UN in New York. The session aimed at enhancing African diplomats’ practical understanding of the UN framework of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, particularly the cyber-norms and confidence-building measures, the ongoing multilateral processes, and the future institutional dialogue. To that end, an interactive simulation on cyberattacks against critical infrastructure was delivered, allowing diplomats to gain hands-on experience in navigating cyber norms, negotiation dynamics, and multilateral and multistakeholder cooperation. Equally important was the timing: the workshop was organised on the sidelines of the 10th substantive session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on cybersecurity, thereby coupling the learning process with practice. This workshop, organised in cooperation with the Permanent Missions of Germany and Egypt to the UN in New York, is part of Diplo’s bigger cyber capacity-building programme for African diplomats, supported by the GIZ and Germany.

Cybersecurity diplomacy ‘deep dive’ workshop in New York on 17 February 2025.
Cybersecurity diplomacy ‘deep dive’ workshop in New York on 17 February 2025

The International Relations and Diplomacy 2025 Career and Mentorship Forum

The forum was held on 14 March at the Catholic University of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya under the theme: Building and Nurturing Impactful Careers in International Relations and Diplomacy. Students from University of Nairobi, Zetech University, Riara University, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Strathmore University, Methodist University had the opportunity to interact with industry leaders and the Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya H.E. Mr Mirko Giulietti pictured below with Mwende Njiraini.

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H.E. Mr Mirko Giulietti and Mwende Njiraini

Interested in publishing internet governance-related blog posts to our Africa digital diplomacy and governance page?

Contact Diplo’s African Initiative Coordinator, Mwende Njiraini.

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