By 
Mozilla Festival House Zambia: Shaping a Future of Trustworthy AI in Africa
The event explores the power of AI, data, building community-centered tech alternatives, social justice in tech, and more!
November 20 – 21, 2024 at Lusaka International Convention Centre
Mozilla Festival House is opening its doors in Zambia on November 20 – 21, at Lusaka International Convention Center.
This gathering unites a vibrant tapestry of diverse voices from Africa and across the globe, convening technologists, artists, activists, funders, policymakers, and researchers, under the theme of “Collective Action for Trustworthy AI.”
Together, they demonstrate the power of collective action in co-creating a more responsible, trustworthy, and inclusive digital future.
MozFest House events are regional adaptations of the popular, annual Mozilla Festival, exploring trustworthy AI and other digital rights issues from local perspectives.
Last year, MozFest House made its debut in Nairobi. And this year in June, we returned to the Netherlands, hosting MozFest House Amsterdam for the second time.
This year, Mozilla Festival is collaborating with Visa as the Presenting Sponsor of the event, and Skoll Foundation as the showcase sponsor, championing innovative approaches to pressing challenges like digital rights, trustworthy AI, and equitable access to technology.
GET MOZFEST HOUSE ZAMBIA TICKETS HERE
The event features several mainstage plenaries, with a keynote from Angela Oduor Lungati, Executive Director of Ushahidi, (a global nonprofit tech company).
She’ll be discussing the utility of AI and emerging technologies that serve Africa’s diverse communities to achieve impactful public interest outcomes. The keynote will also be live-streamed here via LinkedIn.
Other mainstage speakers from across Zambia are Dr. Chitundu Kasase, Chief Executive Officer, of the National Technology Business Center (NTBC), Tendai Miti, Executive Director of Sistah Sistah, Granville Wood, Director of Open Energy Labs and Priscilla Chomba-Kinywa, Chief Technology Officer at Greenpeace.
[EXPLORE THE PROGRAM HERE]
Zambia’s dynamic digital landscape, coupled with its vibrant community of innovators, offers a unique environment to explore the festival’s core themes of inclusivity, accessibility, and collective action in technology.
As digital transformation continues to accelerate across Africa, MozFest House Zambia spotlights local and regional voices, fostering connections between global experts and grassroots changemakers. This event underscores a commitment to addressing technology’s most pressing challenges through diverse perspectives, reinforcing Africa’s vital role in shaping an ethical, inclusive, and people-centered digital future.
Says Momoe Ikeda-Chełmińska, MozFest Director: “What makes MozFest unique is our ability to connect technology with activism and art, a formula that’s rare but essential in shaping a more inclusive tech. We are also working in solidarity with multiple social justice movements to co-create a digital future we all deserve.”
Says Koliwe Majama, Senior Program Officer, “MozFest House Zambia is more than a gathering, it’s a call to action.
It’s a collective moment to reflect on how we can build and transform Africa’s digital future together in a manner that centers the diversity of communities, and especially unheard voices, who will be impacted by it.”
For more than two decades, Mozilla has invested in visionary ideas, global leaders, and people-centered campaigns to ensure the Internet remains open and accessible to all.
Some of the global leaders who have joined MozFest in the past are Tim Berners-Lee, Phumzile Van Damme, Lawrence Mute, Angela Davis, Mona Chalabi, and Chris Smalls.
MozFest House Zambia will also host a range of dynamic sessions exploring critical themes at the intersection of technology, AI, and society.
Event Highlights:
● Mainstage Dialogue & Debates: These centerpiece panels unpack urgent issues at the intersection of tech and society, for example:
○ Whose Gig Economy Is It Anyway — Perspectives on an Inclusive and Safe Digital Economy for Africa, taking place on November 20, at 2:20 pm Central Africa Time. The panel will be live-streamed via YouTube. Watch Here
● Lightning Talks: The Future in 60 Minutes: This is a series of four 15-minute lightning talks on the intersection of technology with art and culture, climate justice, disability justice, gender justice, and philanthropy.
● 20+ interactive sessions and workshops. MozFest events are known for their in-depth, interactive sessions. A sample of these sessions include:
○ Co-Create, Code, Care: Building Survivor-Centered AI for Post-Violence Care. The session will explore participatory approaches used to co-create Zuzi, a chatbot designed to support survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). More info here
○ Responsible AI for Agriculture: Strategies and Insights for Equitable Technology Adoption. This workshop delves into the intersection of AI, innovation, and inclusion, drawing on insights from innovation projects that implemented AI-driven AgriTech in diverse settings. More info here
● The Next Big Thing in Tech: Data Futures Lab showcase. Mozilla’s Data Futures Lab showcase highlights builders around the world developing tools and platforms that prioritize the needs and interests of their communities.
At MozFest House Zambia, it will spotlight projects from across Africa that are developing alternative licenses and consent tools for community-created datasets — bringing together dedicated funders ready to prioritize and invest in those futures.
[EXPLORE THE PROGRAM HERE]
About Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation is the non-profit, movement-building, and philanthropy arm of Mozilla — The technology company behind the Firefox web browser. Mozilla Foundation’s mission is to ensure that the Internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all. This also includes making sure AI and data-driven technologies are more trustworthy.
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments