At the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) 2026 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, WOUGNET convened a conversation that kept returning to a simple but uncomfortable question: are we building rural broadband as infrastructure alone, or as a pathway to meaningful digital inclusion and rights?
Across Africa, rural connectivity is expanding at a visible pace. More communities are being connected, more infrastructure is being laid, and more people are coming online for the first time. Although the discussions showed that being connected does not automatically mean being included, protected, or empowered. What matters most is not just access but experience.
Rural broadband in Africa: when access is not enough
Across the continent, broadband expansion is often described in technical terms: coverage maps, network reach, and subscription numbers. These indicators matter, but they do not tell the full story.
They do not tell us what it means for a woman in a rural trading center to finally access the internet but struggle to afford data consistently. They do not show us a young farmer who can connect to digital platforms but cannot easily read or navigate them due to language barriers. And they do not reflect the reality of communities that are “online” but still excluded from opportunities, safety, and meaningful participation.
The session made it clear that connectivity without inclusion risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative.
Digital literacy: the difference between access and empowerment
One of the strongest messages from the discussion was that connectivity only becomes meaningful when people know how to use it.
A useful example came from Uganda’s early mobile money rollout. Many people were initially hesitant to trust digital transactions. Adoption only grew after awareness campaigns used simple language, practical demonstrations, and local communities to explain how the service worked.
The same lesson applies to rural broadband today. Getting people online is only the first step. People also need the confidence to navigate the digital world safely, recognise misinformation, protect their data, and understand their rights. This is why participants stressed community-led digital literacy, local languages, and trusted community champions as essential parts of connectivity not optional extras. Similar lessons have also emerged from the GSMA’s work on digital literacy in East Africa, which shows that building skills and confidence is just as important as expanding network coverage.
Gendered realities: the uneven experience of connectivity
The discussion also reminded us that connectivity is not experienced equally.
For many women, getting online is shaped by everyday realities. Some rely on shared phones, limiting their privacy and independence. Others struggle to stay connected because of the cost of devices, internet access, or the expectations placed on them at home. These barriers also affect their ability to reach customers, access services, or earn an income online.
Women and other marginalized groups also face higher risks of online harassment, abuse, and exploitation, making digital spaces feel less safe and less accessible.
These experiences are reflected across the continent. The GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report continues to show that women in Sub-Saharan Africa are significantly less likely than men to use mobile internet, with affordability, digital skills, safety, and social norms remaining some of the biggest barriers to meaningful connectivity.
The panelists agreed that the answer is not simply expanding coverage. When digital skills, local support, and intentional inclusion are built into connectivity efforts from the start, broadband becomes more than access; it becomes an opportunity for people to participate, earn, and thrive.
AI and misinformation: a fast-moving risk in rural contexts
As rural communities come online, they are also entering a fast-changing information environment shaped by artificial intelligence.
The panel raised concerns about deepfakes and AI-generated content that can distort reality at scale. In contexts where trust is often built through community relationships and local leadership, manipulated images or audio can spread quickly and be accepted as truth before verification happens.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed how misinformation can escalate during crises. False health claims spread widely across digital and informal networks, demonstrating how limited digital literacy and weak verification systems can increase the impact of misinformation. The World Health Organization describes this challenge as an “infodemic” the spread of excessive, including false or misleading, information during health emergencies.
Building resilience requires equipping communities with the skills to critically assess information and navigate digital spaces safely. UNESCO’s work on AI and information integrity highlights the importance of media and digital literacy in responding to emerging AI-related risks.
From digital literacy programmes to community-led fact-checking efforts, communities are not only exposed to misinformation risks, they are also developing ways to respond.
Rights on paper, gaps in practice
Across Africa, more countries now have data protection laws, cybersecurity frameworks, and digital rights policies. On paper, the foundations look stronger than before.
But for many people in rural communities, these rights are still distant in everyday life. Registering for services like SIM cards, mobile money, or government systems often requires sharing personal information without a clear understanding of how it is stored, used, or protected.
This gap between law and lived reality is not unique to one country. As highlighted in CIPESA’s State of Internet Freedom in Africa report series, progress in digital rights legislation across the continent is often undermined by limited awareness, weak enforcement, and lack of accessible redress mechanisms for ordinary users.
And even where people are aware of their rights, another gap remains: access to justice. For many rural users, reporting digital harm is not simple. Support systems and legal services are often concentrated in urban areas, while formal complaint processes can feel distant or difficult to navigate. In many cases, people turn instead to informal networks or trusted local figures to resolve issues.
This raises a critical question for policymakers and practitioners: how do we make justice systems feel present in people’s everyday digital lives, not just in formal institutions?
Without accessible reporting and accountability mechanisms, digital rights remain incomplete existing in law, but not fully in practice.
Community networks: building connectivity with ownership
Despite these challenges, the session highlighted community-led models that are already reshaping how rural connectivity is understood in practice.
Community networks stood out as one of the most promising approaches to rural broadband. In these models, communities are not just users, they are active owners and co-designers of how connectivity is built and sustained.
Examples from East Africa showed that these approaches help reduce costs, improve relevance, and strengthen sustainability because they are grounded in local realities rather than external assumptions.
This is already visible in practice. In Uganda, WOUGNET’s work on rural connectivity and community-driven digital inclusion shows how access becomes more meaningful when it is combined with skills building and local ownership, not just infrastructure rollout.[Text Wrapping Break]
At the same time, organisations like KICTANet continue to shape the enabling environment for these models through ICT policy and multi-stakeholder advocacy that supports more inclusive and community-responsive connectivity systems.
Alongside this, approaches such as training community digital champions, embedding digital skills into existing community structures, and using local languages for training were highlighted as critical for deepening impact.These are not just technical solutions, they are community systems built on trust, relevance, and participation.
From connectivity to accountability
A key takeaway from the discussion was that Africa does not lack broadband ambition. What is needed is stronger alignment between infrastructure, digital rights, and the lived realities of the people it is meant to serve.
This requires a shift in how success is defined. It is no longer enough to measure how many people are connected. The deeper question is whether that connection is safe, affordable, and meaningful in everyday life.
It also means building digital rights into broadband systems from the start, not treating them as an afterthought. When privacy, safety, and inclusion are designed into infrastructure early, connectivity becomes more than access; it becomes protection.
At the same time, digital literacy remains central. People engage more confidently when learning is rooted in trust, local language, and familiar community structures that reflect how they already live and communicate.
Gender-responsive design must also be intentional, ensuring that women and marginalized groups are not only brought online but are able to participate fully and benefit meaningfully from digital opportunities.
Finally, accountability cannot be left behind. Access to justice needs to move closer to communities, because rights without remedies are incomplete. Without clear and accessible ways to report harm and seek redress, digital inclusion remains unfinished.
Conclusion: building broadband that works for people
The DRIF 2026 discussion in Abidjan reinforced a simple but important truth: Africa’s digital future will not be defined by connectivity alone, but by what that connectivity makes possible in people’s lives.
Rural broadband must go beyond infrastructure. It has to serve as a foundation for rights, inclusion, and real opportunity.
The real measure of progress is not just who is online, but whether being online makes people safer, better informed, and more empowered in their daily lives.
Until that becomes reality, the work is not finished.
By Emmy Okwir Ogule
Research Associate, Centre for Multilateral Affairs