“I am unapologetically a Pan-Africanist at heart.”
Nelson Kwaje is a South Sudanese ICT professional, and social transformation agent, who has leveraged on his profession, to work towards peace-building, media literacy, and people development in his country and Africa. When asked about his works, he described it in three words; People, Technology, and Transformation.
Kwaje is deeply involved in advocating for media literacy in South Sudan and its environs. He also serves as the Director of Programmes for the #DefyHateNow; A Community Based Organization registered in South Sudan, to support voices acting against conflict, bring the diaspora into the online peacebuilding framework, and bridge knowledge gaps.
As this COVID19 pandemic continues, a majority of the population fall victim to propaganda and misinformation, due to the low literacy, and lack of proper understanding of information verification and facts checking.
There is so much that this misinformation can do to a community. Should this persist, we would probably have a lot more to contend with than the coronavirus pandemic.
To curb the spread, Nelson Kwaje has been at the forefront of the fight against fake news about the pandemic. Through his workshops on various e-channels, he brings together a digital community of youth, to fight misinformation and raise awareness on coronavirus prevention and protection. Kwaje helps educate communities by ensuring that people don’t act on misinformation and propaganda that leads them to form wrong opinions about other communities, which can lead to unnecessary conflict.
He is the Founder and Team Lead of Design to Transform, a community and people-centred initiative designed to give an online voice to community-based organizations (CBOs). Which has, over the years, grown to share ICT skills with young people in the community, helping them to choose an ideal career, and to transform their communities.
Kwaje is also the Founder of Web4All limited, an ICT enterprise, which he created in 2015 to bridge the literacy gap in Africa and build sustainable ICT4D Solutions. A feat that he is achieving strides by stride.
In his words about what inspires his work: People inspire me. I believe in the power of youth to make the change and create meaningful solutions for the problems we are facing in Africa. I am unapologetically a Pan-Africanist at heart. The African transformation agenda is what drives me.
By Boma Benjy – Iwuoha
