Chapter One Foundation Executive Director, Linda Kasonde, says the planned online regulation under the new Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act is an affront to media freedom and freedom of expression.

Kasonde said most of the countries which have regulations in place for online content like Podcasts are well known for dictatorship type of governance.

She said this during the Foundation’s public forum on the IBA Act titled the new IBA Act: “Are media freedoms under threat” in Lusaka on Friday evening.

“It’s worthy listing the countries that regulate online broadcasting and these area as follows China, Eriteria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Burma and Tagministan and if you pay attention to this list you will notice that these are well established dictatorship,” Kasonde stated.

She urged government not to join such countries which do not respect freedom of expression and in the end deny people access to the right information.

She added that the Cyber Security Act also aggravated the situation in Zambia of inhibiting democratic values and media freedoms.

Kasonde advised that government should not create unnecessary barriers to information that would inhibit the market place to ideas from freely being allowed to flow.

“So if Zambia does decide to enact the new IBA Act what would be the potential consequences to freedom of expression in our country,” she asked.

Kasonde noted that with the existing IBA Act, the country had seen the law weaponised and used to shut down private or independent broadcasters such as Prime TV, Komboni Radio and KBN News.

She said the proposal on regulating public broadcasters which had been getting away with a number of issues as a result of politics was welcome and would be supported and not the regulation of online broadcast.

Accelerator programme facilitator, Village Capital, has struck a partnership with Norwegian development agency, Norad, to launch an an ecosystem-building programme aimed at strengthening the capacity and impact of Entrepreneur Support Organisations (ESOs).

The programme known as “Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa”, is a climate-focused project which will test-run in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, before spreading to other countries in Africa.

According to Rachel Crawford, the Leads Special Projects Director at Village Capital, the initiative will adopt a dual-track approach, firstly equipping community-led ESOs with the technical expertise and resources necessary to foster sustainable growth within their organisations.

She added that the programme will “directly support climate-focused ventures in the priority countries while cultivating a long-term pipeline of high-growth, investable startups advancing solutions in critical areas such as the blue economy, climate adaptation, food security, and renewable energy.”

“ESOs play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, serving as the first line of support for entrepreneurs, acting as both trainer and convener of essential networks such as investors and talent, especially in emerging ecosystems,” Crawford said.

“However, these same ESOs typically operate as the startups they support and often lack the final piece of the puzzle – capital to deploy directly to startups.

“Village Capital aims to address each of these three needs through our unique initiative design by leveraging ecosystem development, enterprise support, and catalytic capital.”

Also speaking on the collaboration, Per Fredrik Ilsaas Pharo, director of Climate and Environment at Norad, said his organisation was excited to partner with Village Capital on Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa.

“Entrepreneurs and startups with innovative ideas and services have an important role to play in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Today such actors often lack access to financing and technical support due to a number of barriers. We hope that by strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem through ESOs, some of these barriers will be overcome.

“This partnership is also exciting for us in that it is multi-sectoral, working on blue economy, renewable energy, food security, and climate adaptation, to deliver the best possible total contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa,” he said.

Village Capital has operated in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2012, running over 14 accelerator programmes and serving entrepreneurs in 15 countries in the region, while Norad, works with partners across the world to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.