Facebook Unveils 2020 Africa Year in Review

Facebook Unveils 2020 Africa Year in Review

Facebook has released its “2020 Year in Review: Highlights”, an infographic showcasing some of its key investments and work across Africa in 2020, Nigeria inclusive.

Supported by an animated video celebrating and showcasing a few people across the continent rising against the challenges of this unexpected year, the campaign aims to highlight the successes, strength and resilience of its users, whilst reinforcing Facebook’s ongoing commitment to the region.

Commenting on the initiative, the Director of Public Policy, Africa for FaceBook, Kojo Boakye, said: “We know this year has brought many unexpected challenges around the world, including here in Africa. The COVID pandemic has changed the way we work, come together, and impacted many economies and local businesses. Despite this, we continue to see and hear so many stories of resilience, strength and growth. As Facebook, we remain committed to the continent, and our 2020 highlights reinforce just some of these investments and the impact we’ve been able to have by supporting the growing ecosystems of developers, small and medium businesses (SMBs), creatives, and many other communities.”

Some of the key highlights, included the announcement of 2Africa, alongside eight global and local partners – one of the largest subsea cable projects in the world at 37,000kms that will circle the African continent, connecting 16 countries in Africa, aiming to deliver increased internet capacity and enable greater 4G/5G access

Another review was on supporting COVID-19 efforts where it partnered with over 40 local health authorities enabling them to run coronavirus education campaigns on Facebook, developed educational pop-ups on Facebook and Instagram, and worked with a number of countries to launch a WhatsApp-based helpline developed to deliver accurate health information. FaceBook also reviewed its trainings and their economic impact. In addition, it trained over 55,200 SMBs across 14 countries through its economic impact programmes.

The company also grew its Developer Circles Programme to over 76 thousand people, from 45 cities across 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

For SMBs, it disclosed how it created a business resource hub to support local SMBs and how it rolled out a $1.8 million SMB grant programme for SMBs in Nigeria and South Africa to help cushion some of the effects against COVID-19.

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