The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 8

Nov 23, 2022

Dear Colleagues:

Nearly two dozen years ago, the co-founder of the tech company where I worked gathered a hundred or so of the locally-based employees in the cafeteria to tell us about the inevitable impact on company costs of the bursting of the dotcom bubble. That meant layoffs, the company’s first. I recall just how raw and personal and unscripted the conversation was with all of us. No words about next chapters and building character suffice; it can be searing to be let go, especially in a work culture of fierce loyalty.

I also recall in that period that so many of us believed the Internet was a nearly indisputable force for good. Nearly. As Rebecca MacKinnon wrote in her 2012 must-read book Consent of the Networked, “[A]lthough the Internet empowers dissent and activism, it is not an instant freedom tonic that, when applied in sufficient quantities, automatically results in freedom.” Sometimes I think we’ve surely learned over the past two decades that the Internet’s impact on the world is far more complicated and nuanced – essential to document human rights abuses in places like Iran, yet dangerously central in amplifying disinformation during elections in the United States and elsewhere – but tech leaders don’t often enough sufficiently resource and empower the teams that guard against the dangers of technology.

These teams – human rights, trust & safety, privacy, content moderation, elections integrity, policy, law enforcement response, and others – and the issues on which they work aren’t sufficiently integrated into companies’ strategic decision-making. The #TechLayoffs of the past few weeks mean some of these roles have disappeared almost entirely from some organizations. Yet, they persist. Internships, fellowships, and jobs are still out there for you in companies, civil society, academia, government, think tanks, law firms, multi-stakeholder initiatives, international organizations, and the media.

And here’s some career advice from a previous newsletter. Maybe it’s useful to you. I always suggest my students or colleagues ask themselves three questions when they’re interviewing for an internship, fellowship, or job or evaluating whether their current job is the right one for them.

Are you around people of integrity? People committed to ethics, inclusiveness, teamwork, transparency, diversity, etc.
Is your role contributing to a social good? Something that has a purpose/cause that you support, an impact on the rights, safety, or lives of a community of users. You can ask the same question about the organization you’re at itself.
Are you continuously learning? Gaining knowledge and wisdom in a particular field and in how to navigate inside and outside an organization (management, leadership, mentoring, etc.).

When thinking about jobs in digital rights, you’ll have lots of other important considerations like safety, workload, compensation, location, manager, hours, leave policy, travel, etc. You’ll need to prioritize all these factors depending on your own circumstances. Give some thought to the three questions outlined here, develop questions of your own, and check-in with yourself regularly on your answers and what they mean for your career.

For career advice that’s even more valuable, see the Q&A with this month’s guest practitioner, Aïda Ndiaye – one the tech industry’s smartest and most thoughtful in-house policy advisors. Aïda runs Meta’s Integrity Programmes and Campaigns in Europe, and before that was the head of Society and Responsibility for Facebook’s Africa, Middle East, and Turkey policy team. So many things stand out in her replies, including these:

A question I often receive is how does it feel to [lead a policy team in Europe] as a black African woman? My identify is a source of pride and strength for me. I am very proud of my Senegalese heritage and if anything, I see who I am as an integral part of the work I do.
Joining a group of dedicated and (proudly) African professionals representing Facebook and championing African voices on the global tech policy space was transformative for me.
It’s important to question, regardless of our positionality, what we are doing to not only represent but give the voices we claim to speak for a place at the table to speak for themselves.

In a recent article, Aïda also shared wise words for young folks looking to get started in tech and policy. The headline: Just Get Started!

Michael Samway
The Business and Human Rights Group
Website: www.thebhrgroup.com
Twitter: @MichaelSamway

Guest Spotlight: Aïda Ndiaye

Aïda Ndiaye currently oversees Integrity Programmes and Campaigns in Europe. In her role, she designs proactive policy initiatives with the aim of showcasing the power of the tech to help address society's biggest challenges and advance regulatory issues.

Prior to this role, Aïda headed the society and responsibility pillar in the Europe Middle East Africa policy team. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she led Meta's programmatic strategy to combat online misinformation. Aïda also managed Meta's public policy strategy across 22 countries Francophone Africa. She built relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders across governments, civil society and NGOs and managed several projects at the intersection of democracy and social media. Before joining Facebook, Aïda worked at Dalberg Global Development Advisor, Unesco, IBM, and Google.

Aïda holds a Bachelor of Arts and Science from Quest University Canada and a Master of Public Policy (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford.

What are some of the most formative period or events in your life that shaped your work in technology and public policy?

I initially trained as a development economist. Influenced by my experiences in places like the African Leadership Academy, very early in my career I wanted my work to contribute to the economic and political independence of the African continent. While I had envisaged a traditional career in development, I was very lucky that my first role in Tech was in Ebele Okobi’s Africa Public Policy Team at Facebook (now Meta). It was a team of experienced Africans who each had significantly contributed to advancing access to the internet and digital rights in Africa in their own rights and built the bridge between Facebook and the African ecosystem -- I think of Emilar Gandhi, Akua Gyekye, Kojo Boakye, Fadzai Madzingira and many others who are doing this work. Joining a group of dedicated and (proudly) African professionals representing Facebook and championing African voices on the global tech policy space was transformative for me.

I currently lead a small policy team in Europe focused on proactive initiatives. A question I often receive is how does it feel to do so a black African woman? My identity is a source of pride and strength for me. I am very proud of my Senegalese heritage and if anything, I see who I am as an integral part of the work I do.

What’s a specific event when you feel like your team’s or organization’s work was able to make a significant impact in the field of digital rights?

My two proudest moments in my tech career so far speak to the importance of tech advocacy. I was once in a workshop in Dakar, Senegal when an official from an African country approached me to say: “I would like to thank you for coming to speak to our government. If you hadn’t come the government would have shut down the internet for the elections”. I am conscious that what made the difference for that country was the combined voices of many civil society organizations, human rights defenders who advocated for an open internet. The African continent is unfortunately one of the continents most plagued by internet shutdowns. The key danger of internet shutdowns aside from the economic costs is that it erases critical voices when they need the most to be heard. Advocacy can sometimes feel like banging closed doors, moments like this are an important reminder that digital rights work, while trying, does make a difference.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was lucky enough to lead Meta’s programmatic response on misinformation in Europe, Middle East and Africa - as part of the work we collaborated with the WHO to lead a media literacy campaign focused on tackling Covid-19 misinformation. The campaign reached and impacted millions across the three continents and highlighted the important role tech can play in the integration and distribution of critical messages during a crisis. Fast-forward, as many countries enter covid-19 post-mortem period, many governments are institutionalising the use of social media are a core part of the crisis response mechanism. WHO has set up training and crisis response manuals which include the use of social media as part of the communication. It’s been a privilege to see the relationship between social media and governments start to evolve to a constructive space that leverage the positive role tech can play in society.

What are some ways you think the technology and policy field can become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable in its composition, policy topics, and advocacy?

On Diversity and Inclusion in the technology and policy fields, I think of the words of the Indian writer Arundathi Roy when she reminded us that “There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless'. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” Advocacy and policy necessitate to some extent representation of a specific set of voices and interests. I do think that the nature of tech advocacy makes it important not to rest on self-righteousness. It’s important to question, regardless of our positionality, what we are doing to not only represent but give the voices we claim to speak for a place at the table to speak for themselves.

On engaging in tech and tech policy through the lenses of diversity and inclusion, I would like to recommend the foundational work that Pollicy, a feminist collective of technologists, data scientists, creatives and academics working at the intersection of data, design and technology organisation based in Kampala. Particularly, their guide “diversity is not just an add on” which uses "the persona approach" to contextualize and personalize policy frameworks such as Accessibility-by-Design, Gender-by-Design, Privacy-by-Design and Safety-by-Design.

For undergraduate or graduate students reading this, what type course or activities (e.g., internships, summer jobs) do you think might be most helpful as they contemplate careers in technology, public policy, and human rights?

My advice is just Get Started! Do your research: it can be attending a virtual conference, a workshop or starting a blog. The field of technology, public policy and human rights is vast and based on a multi-stakeholder approach. Whether it’s through volunteering or an internship in a local NGOs or in the private sector, apply and try something. As a student, I was involved in student politics, and I was president of my student government. I found those experiences particularly helpful in learning whether policy/politics was a field I wanted to be involved in and how I wanted to engage in the field. Your network is your net worth. If there is someone in the field whose work you admire, send them a message or maybe two, often folks are generally happy to chat with you.

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter

The BHR Group Digital Rights Careers Newsletter - Issue 8

Guest Spotlight: Aïda Ndiaye

Positions in Policy, Law, and Digital Rights

Civil Society/Non-Profits

Press/Media

Academia

International Organizations

Think Tanks

Multi-Stakeholder Organizations/Initiatives

Government

Industry

Boards

Industry Associations

Firms/Consultancies