For communities, organisations and movements, this current moment presents new challenges as well as opportunities for radical organizing and advocacy in support of women\u2019s struggles for justice. Across the African continent, women activists are finding ways to mobilize, speak out against and demand action on injustices of water scarcity, violence, inadequate healthcare and other critical issues, and build effective responses to COVID-19<\/a> in solidarity with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The novel coronavirus\u00a0pandemic\u00a0collides with many\u00a0other crises playing\u00a0out\u00a0across the\u00a0African\u00a0continent \u2013\u00a0\u201cclimate heating, environmental degradation, unemployment, rising poverty,\u00a0[water scarcity and food insecurity], and increased violence, specifically violence against women and civil conflicts in many countries\u201d.\u00a0Working class and peasant women in Africa\u00a0have been\u00a0hit particularly hard. Many rely on the informal economy to make a living, and play a big role as household food producers, caregivers, harvesters of water, energy and other basic goods. For organisations and movements, this current moment presents new challenges as well as opportunities for radical organizing and advocacy\u00a0in support of women\u2019s struggles for justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of the many challenges communities and support organisations are facing in the context of COVID-19, WoMin hosted a webinar featuring activists from Sierra Leone, Senegal, Madagascar, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria to share practical insights and exchange lessons around a critical question for many movements and organisations across Africa: \u2018How do we support women\u2019s organizing in a time of crisis?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n With 28 countries across the continent implementing various lockdown measures <\/a>that restrict movement, enforce curfews and other restrictions, COVID-19 has presented new (but old) challenges for how we communicate with one another across distance. According to a 2019 report from GSMA<\/a>, around 50% of the sub-Saharan population (600 million) has a mobile phone subscription, and 39% of those have access to a smartphone. Across the continent, WhatsApp is becoming an important space for information-sharing, organising and strategising within communities. A major challenge is the cost of getting online<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mobile phones have\u00a0offered an important avenue for activists to put out\u00a0alerts on service delivery challenges they face daily, report human rights abuses and gender-based violence cases. One\u00a0striking example is\u00a0the water scarcity crisis affecting\u00a0over\u00a024 communities across South Africa.\u00a0Women from\u00a0water-stressed communities<\/a> like\u00a0Phola\u00a0in Mpumalanga\u00a0and Somkhele\u00a0in KwaZulu-Natal\u00a0communicate their challenges\u00a0via WhatsApp and SMS, use mobile\u00a0voice notes and regular\u00a0alerts\u00a0to get their stories out<\/a>. Despite\u00a0the South African\u00a0government\u2019s\u00a0promises to ensure that these communities have access to water, many\u00a0still wait\u00a0in vain.\u00a0Working in solidarity with\u00a0the C19 Women\u2019s Solidarity Forum, community activists\u00a0have taken their\u00a0issues directly to the Department of\u00a0Water and Sanitation<\/a>\u00a0(DWS), which\u00a0pledged to scale up the provision of water<\/a>\u00a0and has failed to live up to those promises. At the time of writing, DWS has only confirmed receipt of the letter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nAfrica\u2019s mobile revolution & C19 – SMS, WhatsApp & more<\/h3>\n\n\n\n