Google Announces Launch of $1m Pan African Grant

Google on Tuesday announced the launch of a $1 million pan-African Google.org fund to support innovative ideas around privacy, trust and the safety of families online across sub-Saharan Africa.

Policy and Government Relations Manager, Google Nigeria, Seember Nyager, said at the 16th annual Safer Internet Day (SID) “that Google was committed to a safe internet for children, as well as the empowerment of organizations who shared the commitment.

 “The fund will be administered by a third-party partner on behalf of Google.org, and we will be sharing details on application criteria and deadlines soon.

“Google would look to support initiatives across Africa and be administered by a trusted partner.

“Details of how to apply, deadlines and criteria will be made available in due course.” According to her, beyond our own products, we also want to help kids learn how to be safer, more confident explorers of the online world.

“Today, we join the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to hold SID events in 36 states towards empowering teachers, parents and younger children to better understand and navigate the Web with confidence.

“Google also announced ‘Be Internet Awesome’, in Nigeria, Abuja, Netherlands, South Africa today, and earlier in Kenya, which is a landmark child online safety programme,’’ she said.