Interviews
Sadik Shahadu Between Dumsor and Sopala: community technologies for climate justice in West Africa
Across West Africa, connectivity is both a lifeline and a vulnerability. From power cuts to coastal flooding, climate change often disrupts the digital networks that communities rely on.
In this interview, we speak with Sadik Shahadu, a digital activist working at the crossroads of language preservation, open technologies, and climate resilience. Their experiences reveal not only the everyday challenges Ghanaians face in staying online, but also the powerful community-led innovations emerging to address them.
From your experience in Ghana and West Africa, how do you perceive their relationship with connectivity, climate justice, and digital equity?
In Ghana, there’s really a challenge when it comes to connectivity, because in most areas, especially in rural communities, there’s very limited access to internet connectivity. Even when there is access, there are often intermittent power outages. These are real challenges that disrupt communication, education, and the ability of communities to stay online.
The cost of internet is another major factor. People pay a lot to access it, yet receive very poor connectivity and frequent interruptions. The most significant challenge is what we call Dumsor, an Akan word meaning “off and on.” It refers to unstable power supply, where electricity frequently goes off, sometimes due to load shedding. Power might be available for a few hours and then switched off for another community.
These are real challenges we face in Ghana, and they have affected my work as a digital language activist and open-source enthusiast.
We often think that the internet is immaterial, yet it depends on vulnerable infrastructure. Could you share concrete examples of how climate change affects communication networks and what consequences that has for communities?
Climate change has really affected network connections in Africa. For example, in my last session this morning, I shared about the undersea cable cut that happened in March last year. As a result, most communities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa could not access the internet for 48 hours.
We’ve also experienced tidal waves in coastal areas of Ghana, which have destroyed electricity and internet cables. Flooding in lowland areas has disrupted both internet connectivity and power supplies.
Another example relates to the increasing use of mobile money services in Ghana, such as MTN Mobile Money, Vodafone Cash, and Airtel Tigo Cash. When internet connectivity is disrupted, people cannot send or receive money, which deeply affects daily life and local economies. These are clear examples of how climate-related issues impact communities in Ghana.
What is the role of local communities in these cases?
Local communities, such as the DiGuano Community, have been working on solutions like the Sopala Project. Sopala means “innovation” in Dagbani. This community-powered project allows rural communities to communicate and access online content offline.
Built on the QX platform, it enables people to access rich digital resources and transfer information across devices without needing an internet connection. These are some of the small but powerful solutions that communities like ours are creating to help people during crises.
What is the relation between these crises, often very real ones, and the quality of democracy in these countries?
In terms of democracy, Ghana stands tall. It is recognized as a very democratic country with freedom of speech. So, we don’t face major problems with democracy itself. The main issues are poor leadership and governance, along with some corruption affecting public institutions.
But democracy remains strong, and this environment allows us to continue supporting people in our line of work and addressing community challenges without political interference.
Do you have any inspiring cases of communities that maintained or restored connectivity during a crisis through open or collaborative solutions?
I would mention the Sopala community and several open communities like Wikimedia, Creative Commons, Mozilla, the Internet Society, and the QX community. These groups work with civil society organizations to provide solutions to challenges such as internet disruption, power cuts, and load shedding.
They embody collaboration and openness in addressing connectivity crises.
What role does the preservation of local knowledge play in climate resilience?
Preserving local knowledge is crucial for climate resilience. During crises, people often face communication barriers with humanitarian workers because they don’t share a common language.
We create language translation tools and applications that allow effective communication during emergencies. These community-led projects help people connect with humanitarian service providers.
For example, the Kaia application allows users to translate between English and local languages like Dagbani, Gruni, Kusaal, and Ki, even offline. Such tools are vital for enabling two-way communication and supporting local resilience.
I’ve read that you collaborate with, or perhaps helped create, An AI of Our Own. How could open platforms and community-driven AI initiatives support data-based climate adaptation strategies?
I work with An AI of Our Own as Communication and Partnership Manager. My role involves connecting our projects to the global community, building networks, and developing a manifesto that we launched in Abu Dhabi, Dubai earlier this year.
Our focus is on bridging cultural divides across the Global South, supporting language preservation, and offering technological solutions for cultural and traditional knowledge.
We’ve worked in South Africa with Xhosa speakers to digitize traditional knowledge, and in Cambodia with Khmer communities to document endangered oral traditions.
An AI of Our Own builds language models designed specifically for the Global South, AI that serves us, not biased systems that ignore our cultures. It empowers indigenous peoples to preserve their languages, culture, and identity online.
What types of governance or funding frameworks do you think are best suited to ensure resilient and equitable internet access?
With recent changes, such as the US government halting certain aid programs related to climate resilience, we now see a greater need for local private institutions to include climate support in their corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Civil society organizations should also develop their own tools and applications to meet local needs instead of depending solely on external aid.
I believe in collaboration between civil society, schools, teachers, and academic institutions. Working together locally is key to building sustainable, community-based solutions rather than relying on donations from abroad.
Imagining the future, what would the digital ecosystem look like?
I imagine a future where the digital ecosystem supports every language. I’m passionate about ensuring that all languages are represented online.
I see a future where people can freely express themselves in their own languages and where indigenous peoples are visible on digital platforms.
Right now, even tools like ChatGPT or Google Translate don’t adequately support many smaller languages. My vision is a future where communities can take ownership of their culture, identity, and language, and preserve them online.
Finally, if you had a young digital activist in front of you who wants to contribute to climate resilience through open technology, what would your message be?
My message would be: focus on providing local solutions for your community. Collaborate with other activists, because collaboration is essential in fighting climate change and building resilience.
Develop technology that fits local needs rather than relying on third-party tools. Build applications and systems that respond to the specific realities of your own people.
Conclusion
What emerges from this conversation is a vision of sovereignty: over connectivity, over culture, and over the technologies that shape daily life. Despite recurring crises and infrastructural vulnerabilities, communities continue to innovate, collaborate, and adapt. Their efforts remind us that climate resilience is not just technical—it is social, linguistic, and profoundly local. As this work continues, one thing is clear: the future of digital justice will be written in every language.
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Interview conducted during the Mozilla Festival, 2025.
