Preparations have started for this year’s African School on Internet Governance – #AfriSIG25
The 13th annual African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) will take place from 23 to 28 May in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania immediately prior to the African IGF 2025 from 29 to 31 May.
AfriSIG 2025 is convened by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the Information Society Division of the African Union Commission (AUC) and Research ICT Africa (RIA) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the UN Internet Governance Forum Parliamentary Track.
In addition to providing an overview of internet and digital policy, in Africa and globally, AfriSIG 2025 will continue having a strong focus on data governance. It will include a special focus on the 20-year review of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS+20).
For more information on #AfriSIG25, contact the AfriSIG organisers, Anriette Esterhuysen and Peace Oliver Amuge, at afrisig@apc.org
About AfriSIG25
AfriSIG25 will take place over the course of five days as an intensive residential, interactive learning and knowledge-sharing event that will cover:
- Digitalisation, sustainable development and digital inclusion and inequality.
- The global internet governance ecosystem and the African institutional context at national and regional level.
- Open internet architecture, infrastructure, standards and protocols and management of internet names and numbers.
- Stakeholder and sector roles and responsibilities (government, intergovernmental forums, UN agencies, regulators, parliaments, civil society, business, academia, the media, the technical community and internet users).
- Data governance: data as a strategic asset, driver of digital development. Data protection, security, data flows, sovereignty and localisation and the implementation of the African Union Data Policy Framework.
- Digital trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area in the context of the digital economy, taxation and sustainable development.
- Human rights and the internet, including freedom of expression, association, gender justice and media diversity and independence.
- Cybersecurity, trust and safety and responses to harmful use of the internet, hate speech, online gender-based violence, misinformation and disinformation.
- Emerging issues: Artificial Intelligence, climate change, digital sovereignty and the geopolitics of internet governance.
- Current global processes and debates, e.g. WSIS +20, the Global Digital Compact and the Summit of the Future and ICANN’s latest call for gTLD proposals.
Practicum
More information to follow soon!
The African IGF
Under the overarching theme “Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future for Africa”, the 2025 Africa IGF aims to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapidly evolving digital landscape. It focuses on empowering inclusivity, ensuring robust cybersecurity measures, and promoting innovation across the continent.
During the event, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a diverse range of sessions, workshops, and panel discussions led by industry experts and thought leaders. These sessions will explore topics such as digital inclusion, access for all, cybersecurity, data protection, internet governance policies and regulations, emerging technologies, online rights and freedoms, and multistakeholder cooperation.
AfriSIG cannot cover the cost of the participation in this event of AfriSIG participants, but we strongly encourage everyone to register and join the event in person or remotely.
For more information, contact the AfriSIG organisers, Anriette Esterhuysen and Peace Oliver Amuge at afrisig@apc.org