Momentum is surging for the 2026 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF26), with over 800 participants from across the globe already registered to attend the landmark event in Abidjan from April 14 to 16, 2026.
The forum, which marks the first time the event is being hosted in a French-speaking country, has drawn massive international interest, receiving 449 session proposals from speakers across 51 countries. Attendees represent a diverse cross-section of global influence, including civil society organizations, policymakers, tech innovators, academia, and media.
A Platform for Accountability and Innovation
A primary highlight of DRIF26 will be the unveiling of the 2025 Londa Report. This year’s report introduces a significant new feature: the Score Index, which will rank countries based on their adherence to core digital rights and inclusion principles. This index aims to provide governments and tech actors with a clear roadmap for building more accountable and resilient digital ecosystems.
Beyond the Londa Report, the forum will serve as a launchpad for several critical tools, including the Digital Rights On-Demand Learning (DROL) platform, a comprehensive report on information integrity in Africa, supported by the IDRC, and the premiere of a digital rights short film and various interactive tech demonstrations.
Driving a Global Digital Rights Movement
The forum continues its evolution from its origins as the Internet Freedom Forum (IFF) in 2013, having now hosted nearly 3,000 delegates over the last decade. This year’s agenda is set to tackle urgent modern challenges, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, data privacy, and the protection of marginalized groups in the digital age.
Thobekile Matimbe, Senior Manager of Partnerships and Engagements at Paradigm Initiative (PIN), emphasized that the gathering transcends a simple conference format.
“DRIF26 is more than a Forum; it is a digital rights movement,” Matimbe stated. “Every year we are not meeting to talk; we meet to measure our progress as a community and to empower each other to shape digital policies and frame our collective strategies. Amidst a challenging funding landscape, we appreciate all the efforts from the community for this cause.”
Strategic Partnerships and Global Engagement
The event is hosted in collaboration with the Coalition Ivoirienne des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CIDDH) and is bolstered by an extensive list of global sponsors, including the Ford Foundation, Google, TikTok, and the Wikimedia Foundation, among others.
High-level engagements are also expected from the African Union, Internet governance experts, and the Freedom Online Coalition, which is using the forum as a platform to build momentum for its 15th anniversary. Through these partnerships, DRIF26 aims to translate community recommendations into actionable policy changes across the African continent.
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