Koketso Moeti
In South Africa, poverty, corruption, and violence hit low-income Black women the hardest. But a number of barriers prevent these women from working together to create sustained change, including limited time and resources, geographical distance, and the linguistic divide of the country’s 11 official languages. Digital tools can change that—but they haven’t been inclusive, often failing to bridge digital and language divides.
Amandla.mobi (Opens in a new tab) is a mobile-based petitions platform that more than 200,000 mostly Black South African women have used to launch, join, and coordinate 300-plus campaigns since 2014, winning changes to public safety, education, telecom, and other policies. It works in four languages and in every province, connecting women to each other and to decision-makers by making use of appropriate technology to drive impactful collective action. Among digital activists in Africa, where mobile dominates and SMS campaigns have been used for more than a decade, Moeti stands out for her petitions-based model and dedication to low-income Black women. She is of and for that community—and as a lifelong organizer of organizers, she remains focused on connecting local activists to each other and building both hyper-local and national coalitions across them.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
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