Through national trainings, UNESCO supported South African organisations to respond to digital risks while promoting free expression and access to information.
UNESCO
From 13 November to 2 December 2025, UNESCO, in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) and the Social Media 4 Peace South Africa (SM4P) coalition, delivered a series of three national capacity-building trainings reaching over 90 participants from more than 45 organisations across South Africa. The activities brought together actors from academia, civil society organisations, media, youth groups and women’s rights organisations, strengthening their collective capacity to address online harms while protecting and promoting freedom of expression and access to information.
The trainings aimed to strengthen participants’ capacity to address online harms through rights-based approaches, by deepening understanding of disinformation, hate speech, online gender-based violence and content governance, while enhancing electoral information integrity, multi-stakeholder collaboration and policy-relevant advocacy. The trainings examined a range of pressing issues shaping South Africa’s digital information environment. These included the scale and impact of harmful online content, gendered and identity-based online harms, and the role of digital platforms in content governance and moderation. Participants discussed platform transparency and accountability, access to data for independent research, and the disproportionate impact of online harms on women, journalists and human rights defenders. Particular attention was given to information integrity during electoral periods, including disinformation tactics, early warning systems, and coordinated response mechanisms. The sessions also explored ACHPR Resolution 630, digital literacy as a resilience strategy, and the challenges posed by linguistic diversity and unequal platform resourcing in African contexts.
Key stakeholders being trained in South Africa.
UNESCO
As a result of the trainings, participating organisations developed concrete, actionable strategies to improve responses to online harms, including coalition-based advocacy approaches, early warning systems for elections, digital literacy campaigns and protection mechanisms for journalists and human rights defenders. The sessions also strengthened participants’ capacity to translate research, monitoring and lived experience into policy briefs, academic publications and evidence-based advocacy, directly supporting national and regional digital governance processes.
Strengthened our ability to engage on online harms in a coordinated, practical and rights-respecting manner.” UPCHR emphasised that the programme “supported participants in moving from analysis to actionable strategies that can influence policy and platform practices
These activities form part of UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace (SM4P) Phase II project, funded by the European Union Service for Foreign Policy Instruments(FPI), which aims to strengthen the resilience of societies to harmful online content while safeguarding freedom of expression and access to information. The outputs generated, including workshop reports, consolidated recommendations, policy inputs and academic contributions, will continue to inform advocacy, research and policy engagement into early 2026.
The Social Media 4 Peace South Africa (SM4PSA) Coalition is a multistakeholder platform established with the support of UNESCO. It brings together organisations from civil society, media, academia, youth and women’s rights groups, as well as regulatory and self-regulatory bodies, working collectively to advance information integrity, digital peace and rights-based digital governance in South Africa.