Dorothy on stage
By Ros Haden
The AfricaCom Awards promote and celebrate digital excellence in Africa. This year FunDza was selected as their official charity of 2015 at a gala dinner at the Breakers in Cape Town – a glittering affair that had everyone on the dance floor in the end. We couldn’t have been prouder when Dorothy Dyer took to the stage to talk about Fundza’s ‘library on a cellphone’ and the impact it is having on our readers’ lives.
We were also delighted when Project Isizwe won in two categories: Best Connectivity Solution for Africa and Best app for Africa. They are one of FunDza’s supporting partners as they zero-rate FunDza’s services in their Free WiFi zones. We share their passion and belief that: ‘Every South African citizen has a right to access good quality, affordable Internet and that this should not be determined by socio-economic conditions of the individual but be based on the principles of social solidarity, equity and fairness.’ FunDza salutes them for their work.
From surveying our readers, we are well aware how high data costs inhibit their ability to access our content as much as they would like. Partnerships with Project Isizwe and Internet.org with Cell C are thus hugely important to us as they allow our readers to read for free, without having to worry about how much it is costing them in terms of their data or airtime. We hope to develop more such partnerships to allow as many young South Africans as possible to have easy access to our fantastic locally-created reading material.