Speaker

Fred Drapari

Fred Drapari

ICT Executive at Defenders Protection Initiative

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Fred Drapari is a digital security practitioner and a technology enthusiast working at the intersection of civic space, human rights protection, and technology. His work is shaped by close, hands-on engagement with civil society organisations, journalists, and land and environmental defenders operating under persistent digital risk, surveillance, and disruption. He focuses on digital resilience, organisational security, secure digital infrastructure, and digital accessibility, translating complex technical threats into practical tools, security clinics, audits, and trainings grounded in the lived realities of frontline actors. His work is guided by a clear conviction that technology is never neutral, and that access, power, and accountability must be confronted directly if digital systems are to serve the public good rather than quietly exclude or expose people to harm.

From risk to resilience: Securing digital safety for human rights actors with IRO’s Helpdesk

IRO’s proposal stands for an interactive 30-minute tech demonstration of the Integrated Refugee Organization (IRO) Helpdesk, a digital security support platform (https://integratedrefugee.org/helpdesk/ , https://helpdesk.integratedrefugee.org/) designed to protect HRDs, journalists, activists, and civil society organisations in Africa.

In this live demo, we will walk through how the Helpdesk is accessible via web, WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram also at its digital resource center located at Human Rights House in Kampala-Uganda, provides 24/7 multilingual support (English, French, and some local languages) for securing digital tools including smartphones, laptops, websites, and social media against hacking, tracking, and other threats. Participants will see real-time navigation of the Helpdesk interface, ticket submission process, and best-practice examples of how responders handle digital security requests.

You will learn:

• What the IRO Helpdesk is and who it serves
• How to interact with the system to request technical assistance
• Tips for handling common digital security risks in humanitarian and advocacy work
• Why digital safety is a fundamental component of rights and inclusion in digital spaces
This session is ideal for HRDs, journalists, activists, civil society organisations, tech implementers, digital rights advocates, and humanitarian actors interested in practical security solutions that support civic space, accountability, and inclusive digital resilience.

Paths, Traps, and Safe Passage, An African Digital Reality Walk

You enter as you are, carrying your habits, your trust, and your shortcuts. The path looks ordinary. Free Wi-Fi hums. Messages arrive. Links ask to be opened. Then the ground shifts. Access slows. Conversations stall. Eyes you cannot see begin to follow your steps. In this walk, you move through the same digital terrain many Africans cross each day, where the road is never straight and danger does not announce itself. Each choice you make opens a way forward or tightens the snare. Along the journey, you meet tools and allies shaped for these conditions, offering ways to pass without noise, to speak without exposure, and to remain present when networks harden against you. This is not a lesson spoken at you. It is an experience lived with your body and your judgment, showing how survival online is learned not by theory, but by walking, choosing, stumbling, and finding safe passage where it still exists.

Fred Drapari

ICT Executive at Defenders Protection Initiative

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