Faculty members are listed in alphabetical order (by surname).
Yaovi Atohoun
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), Stakeholders Engagement and Operations Manager for Africa, Togo
Yaovi Atohoun is an electrical engineer with more than twenty-five years work experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Yaovi Atohoun was a member of the ICANN Nomination Committee in 2010 and 2011. Prior to joining ICANN in 2013, he was also a member of At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC).
He worked for the Association of African Universities (AAU) as Senior IT Officer from 2008 to 2012. Yaovi Atohoun coordinated many activities for the USAID/Leland Initiative (an Internet Development Project) in Africa from 1997 to 2004. From 1992 to 1997 he traveled around the West African countries for the West African News Agency Development project (WANAD/UNESCO) to computerize the National News Agencies. He was involved in many activities of AfriNIC and AFNOG as a volunteer.
Ariel Barbosa
Director of Technology Projects, Colnodo, Colombia
Ariel Barbosa is Director of Technology Projects at Colnodo in Colombia. He is a member of both the APC and the Internet Governance Board in Colombia.
Ariel has been advocating for internet governance since 2014, when he was one of the organizers of the first Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Colombia. He has participated in several Global and Regional IGFs. Currently, Ariel is working on the promotion of digital security in civil society.
Valeria Betancourt
Association for Progressive Communications, CIPP manager, Ecuador
Valeria Betancourt has led APC's Communications and Information Policy Programme (CIPP) since 2010. She is a longtime activist in the field of human rights and the internet, with a special focus on the areas of information and communication technologies for development, access to the internet, human rights in the online sphere, and internet governance in the context of developing countries and the global South. In 2013 and 2015, Valeria was awarded a LACNIC Outstanding Achievement Award and a FRIDA Programme Recognition for contributing to development and the internet in Latin America. Her background is in sociology and political science. She has also undertaken Master's degree work in cultural studies and communication. She lives in Ecuador.
Avri Doria
Research consultant, USA
Avri Doria is a research consultant with a number of contracts with both NGOs and the technical community. She served on the UN Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation I (WGEC) and the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). She served as a member the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat and was a member of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF MAG). As a technologist she has been involved in the development of Internet protocols and architectures for over 30 years; is co-chair of a Research Group on Human Rights Protocol Considerations and a member of the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). She has been active in ICANN policy, was chair of the GNSO Council and is currently a member of the ICANN Board. Avri was awarded the ICANN Multistakeholder Ethos award in 2014.
Anriette Esterhuysen
Director of global policy and strategy of the Association for Progressive Communications, South Africa
Anriette Esterhuysen was the executive director of APC until March 2017. Prior to joining APC, Anriette was executive director of SANGONeT, an internet service provider and training institution for civil society, labour and community organisations. She was active in the struggle against Apartheid from 1980 onwards. From 1987 to 1992 she did information and communication work in development and human rights organisations in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Anriette, with many others, helped establish email and internet connectivity in Southern Africa. SANGONeT hosted a Fidonet hub that provided universities and non-governmental organisations in, among other places, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with email links to global networks as part of a collaboration between APC and the United Nations Development Programme. Anriette has served on the African Technical Advisory Committee of the UN's Economic Commission for Africa's African Information Society Initiative and was a member of the United Nations ICT Task Force from 2002 to 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Working Group on Financing Mechanisms, and the Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group on Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Improvements. She was a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum from 2012 to 2014.
Anriette was one of five finalists for IT Personality of the Year in South Africa in 2012, an award which recognises a person who has made an outstanding impact on the South African ICT industry. She was the only female and only civil society finalist. She was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame as a Global Connecter in 2013. Currently Anriette is a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance and the Council of the NETmundial Initiative. She has published extensively on ICTs for development and social justice. She holds a BA in social sciences and postgraduate qualifications in history of music and information sciences from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Makane Faye
Secretary, African Internet Governance Forum, Senegal
Mr. Makane Faye is a retiree from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and has close to 40 years of experience in information management and ICT for development issues, including Internet Governance. He has served in various stations including at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Research of Senegal, the African Regional Organization for Standardization in Kenya and UNECA in Ethiopia. He occupied at this last duty station from 1990 to 2016 the functions of respectively, Information Development Officer, Regional Advisor in Information Systems Development, Senior Regional Advisor in ICT Policy, Manager of the Information Technology Centre for Africa, Chief of e-Application Section and Chief of Knowledge Services Section.
He worked both at the technical and policy levels as a trainer and advisor in the development and implementation of ICT policies in African countries and promotion of regional cooperation in the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and NEPAD. He led high-level advisory missions and coordinated common positions during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process as Secretary to the African Ministerial Committee and the Internet Governance Forums at global, continental and regional levels. He was at the same time from 2008 up to his retirement, President of the UNECA Staff Union and Chairperson of the Federation of United Nations Staff Union to lead staff-management negotiations at both local and global UN levels.
He serves currently on a voluntary basis as:
- Secretary of the African Internet Governance Forum (www.afigf.africa), African Union.
- Chairperson, Scientific Committee, West African Internet Governance Forum (http://www.waigf.org) ECOWAS.
- Member of the Executive Committee, Internet Governance Forum Support Association (www.igfsa.org)
- President, Association of former United Nations Staff in Senegal (www.asafi.sn).
Mr Faye holds degrees in Geography and Documentation Sciences, a Master in Management of Information Systems and a PhD in Information Technology.
Alison Gillwald
Research ICT Africa (RIA), Executive Director, South Africa
Alison Gillwald (PhD) is the Executive Director of Research ICT Africa (RIA) an African digital policy and regulatory think-tank that works across 20 African countries. RIA together with its Latin American and Asian partners were recipients of the 2018 ITU Equals In Tech Research Award. As adjunct professor at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Development, Policy and Practice she supervises doctoral students undertaking transdisciplinary research in digital governance, policy and regulation. She is currently deputy chairperson of Giganet the only international conference dedicated specifically to Internet Governance.
A former regulator she was appointed to the founding Council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) in 1997, having headed the policy department at the first broadcasting regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority established in 1994. She has also served as chairperson of the South African National Digital Migration Advisory Body; on the board of the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation; and as deputy-chairperson of the National Broadband Advisory Council. She also served on the ITU Gender Task Force and on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) President’s Strategy Panel on Multi-Stakeholder Innovation. She has provided technical assistance to policy makers, regulators through RIA and multilateral agencies such as the ITU, the World Bank, the African Development Bank. She has provided expert assistance to the South African Presidency, the Competition Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and undertaken capacity building across Africa and in Asia and Latin America.
Ridha Guellouz
Tunisia ICT Association, President, Tunisia
Guellouz Ridha, a Tunisian General Engineer of Telecommunications, is currently an international expert in ICT strategies and President of the Tunisian ICT Association.
His career is significantly marked by his involvement in ICT development in Tunisia, in Africa and in the Arab region. He is recognized as being the initiator of the World Summit on Information Society since 1998. As such, he is involved in debates and activities directly related to Internet governance. His main Internet Governance related positions and activities may be summarized as follows:
• The initiator of the Tunisian National IGF and former member of its MAG
• Chairman of MAG IGF North Africa
• Member of African IGF coordination Group African IGF MAG
• Member of the Arab IGF MAG
The motivation of his commitment is based on the fact that the Internet is expected to propel fast growth in Africa and in the Arab region and will have a significant social and economic impact and will significantly impact the need for nations to deal with important issues such as governance, security and internet resources management.
Gayatri Khandhadai
Association for Progressive Communications, Asia policy regional coordinator, India
Gayatri Khandhadai is a lawyer with a background in international law and human rights, international and regional human rights mechanisms, research, and advocacy. She previously worked with national and regional human rights groups, focusing on freedom of expression. She coordinated APC's IMPACT – India, Malaysia, Pakistan Advocacy for Change through Technology project. Her current focus is on digital rights in Asia with specific emphasis on freedoms of expression, assembly and association on the internet.
Ephraim Kenyanito
Eastern Africa- Digital Program Officer, ARTICLE 19, Kenya
Ephraim Kenyanito manages ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa’s technology policy and human rights projects in 14 countries and has worked over the past six years in the African ICT/IP and media law industry researching its nexus with international development. He is a member of the European Commission Global Internet Policy Observatory’s (GIPO) advisory group and the advisory group for Code Red, a global initiative to accelerate reform of security organisations. He is pursuing a Master of Laws in Computer and Communications Law.
Mallory Knodel
Head of Digital for ARTICLE 19, USA
Mallory Knodel is the Head of Digital for ARTICLE 19. She is the co-chair of the Human Rights and Protocol Considerations research group of the Internet Research Task Force and an advisor to the Freedom Online Coalition. Mallory takes a human rights, people-centred approach to technology implementation and cybersecurity policy advocacy. Originally from the US but living in Nairobi, she has worked with grassroots organisations around the world in Bolivia, France, Palestine and the UK. Mallory has used free software throughout her professional career and considers herself a public interest technologist. She holds a BS in Physics and Mathematics and an MA in Science Education.
Palesa Legoze
ICT Consultant, South Africa
Palesa Legoze has over eighteen years’ experience in the Information and Communication Technology industry where her main focus was on Internet policy and Cybersecurity. She is the former Director of Internet Governance at the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services. She was the South African representative to the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee for over a decade. She also represented South Africa in continental and international forums such as the IGF, CSTD, AfriNIC etc.
Palesa was part of the team that organised the inaugural South African Internet Governance Forum in 2011 and was also a member of the South African Internet Governance Forum Multistakeholder Committee. She holds a master’s degree in Communications Management from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.
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Verengai Mabika
Senior Policy Advisor, Internet Society (ISOC), Zimbabwe
Verengai Mabika is a leader in technology and social innovation. He joined the Internet Society Global Policy team as senior policy advisor for Africa in 2017. A serial entrepreneur he founded three organizations, in 2010: Development Reality Institute (DRI), a social innovation hub behind the catalytic http://www.greenvarsity.org/; the Green Innovations Hub now popularised in 32 Africa countries; and in 2014, co-founded Golix, an African blockchain fintech start-up based in Zimbabwe, now with services in Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameron, Uganda and South Africa. In 2013 he co-founded the Internet Society Chapter in Zimbabwe, which is now advising government in setting internet policies and standards. An Ashoka Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, and a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Forum, Verengai supports the Internet Society’s global policy work in Africa, including managing partnerships with African Union Commission, Africa Telecommunications Union, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regulators Associations and sub-Regional Internet Governance forums. He also leads the ISOC regional policy work related IoT Security, MANRS, internet governance, internet infrastructure security, online privacy and community networks. Verengai is a blockchain enthusiast and has interests in artificial intelligence and IoT.
Koliwe Majama
Association for Progressive Communications, AfriSIG Organiser & AfDEC Coordinator, Zimbabwe
Koliwe Majama is a Zimbabwean media, information, communications and technologies consultant with over 15 years of experience working in civil society lobbying and advocacy. As a trained journalist with a diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication, Koliwe has practiced as both a print and broadcast journalist in Zimbabwe. She also holds a BSc in Media and Society Studies from Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University and is an AfriSIG alumnus. In her recent past position of 10 years, as programme officer at the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Zimbabwe Chapter, Koliwe was prominently involved in internet governance processes in her country through research and multistakeholder engagement. In the region and globally she has invested in networking and thought leadership on varying internet governance trends, including gender and the internet – which she has a passion for. Koliwe is the current AfriSIG organiser and Coordinator of the African Declaration on Internet and Freedoms project.
Onkokame Mothobi
Senior Researcher, Research ICT Africa, South Africa
Onkokame Mothobi has a PhD from University of Cape Town and specialises in industrial economics with an emphasis on telecommunication demand, competition and regulatory policies. His PhD was based on telecommunications demand and regulatory policies. Mothobi also holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Botswana, and has been involved in several business and management consultancies in private and public organisations. Mothobi is an expert in the application of econometric methods to the pricing of mobile phone plans in the telecommunications industry, and as a telecommunications market analyst, analyses operators’ financial statements as well as supply-side pricing patterns and competition strategies throughout Africa. He is currently working as a senior researcher at Research ICT Africa, responsible for the analysis of After Access ICT Survey data and contributes to work on digital economy, digital gender gap, online/microwork and financial inclusion.
Leila Nachawati
Association for Progressive Communications, Media Outreach Lead, Spain
Leila has worked for APC since 2014, as part of the communications team, where she contributes to strategically building the organisation and networks's public profile.
She is also a Professor of communications and new media at Madrid's Carlos III University and regularly writes for several media such as Global Voices, Al Jazeera English and Eldiario.es. She is the co-founder of news portal on Syrian civil society SyriaUntold and recently published her first novel about the 2011 uprisings, Cuando la revolución termine.
Bob Ochieng
ICANN, Stakeholder Engagement Manager - East Africa, Kenya
Bob is a telecommunications Eng. with 10+ years’ experience in the multi-disciplinary Telecoms/ICT industry and Project Management. As the primary representative of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in East and Southern Africa, Bob is charged with developing and executing the organization’s strategic and tactical objectives in the region including: Overseeing, leading and executing ICANN’s engagement in the region with all stakeholders, including governments, the academic, business and legal communities as well non-commercial interests; Monitoring, identifying and analyzing internet related developments, public policy issues and trends, and impact on strategy in the region translating these into practical plans.
Lawrence Olawale-Roberts
CEO, MicroBoss, Nigeria
Lawrence Olawale-Roberts is the CEO of MicroBoss a premier Mid-sized technology consulting firm, aiming at becoming one of the largest and leading technology services company globally, with its headquarters in Abuja.CEO, MicroBoss
Lawrence trained as an Electrical Electronics Engineer and has had the rare privilege of working with Government in the public sector as a Special Assistant to a Commissioner under the Presidency of Nigeria for close to 5 years. He has over 18 years of progressive, broad management experience in the Non-Governmental, Public and Private sectors.
Within the global Internet Governance space, Lawrence is actively engaged and the first Nigerian to become a member of ICANN’s Nominating Committee, a team that recruits half of the ICANN Board asides other leadership roles. He is active within its Business Constituency and has been a member of different working groups and committees that help shape the global Internet’s policy development process. Bearing his vast experience in Business and management, he selflessly represents a voice for all Businesses of African descent at global IG forums.
An African with a lifelong interest and involvement with the Internet, he is a recipient of various awards.
George Sadowsky
Former Board of Directors, ICANN, USA
George Sadowsky recently completed 9-years of service on the ICANN Board of Directors and has recently relocated to the Washington D.C. area.
He received an A.B. degree with honors in Mathematics from Harvard College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Yale University. After spending 1958-1962 as an applied mathematician and programmer, his career concentrated on applying computers to economic and social policy, leading academic computing and networking organizations, and making information and communication technologies (ICTs) useful throughout the world.
He was a member of the Internet Society Board of Trustees during 1996-1999 and 2000-2004 and served as Vice President for Conferences (1996-1998) and Vice-President for Education (1998-2001).
More recently, he was the Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI). He also served as Senior Technical Adviser within USAID's dot-GOV program for the Internews Consortium, providing ICT policy assistance to the developing world. He was a special adviser to Nitin Desai, the Chair of the UN Secretary-General's Internet Governance Forum as well as to the Chair of UN G@ID. He has served as a member of the PIR (Public Internet Registry) Advisory Board, and more recently from 2009-2018 he served as a member of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Board of Directors.
In 2013 he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. He has written and lectured extensively on ICT and development.
Mary Nma Uduma
West African Internet Governance Forum, Coordinator, Nigeria
Mary convenes and coordinates the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (2012 – date) and belongs to several Cross Community Working Groups in ICANN and ccNSO Working Groups. She is the current coordinator of West African Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF) since 2016 and drives the West African School of Internet Governance (WASIG).
Based on her internet policy development, internet governance and e-government policy development expertise, Mary is a faculty member at the Digital Bridge Institute of Nigeria and resource person for the AUC/PRIDA on internet governance. She retired as Telecommunications Regulator from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) where she worked for over 17 years.
In the past, Mary represented Nigeria at ITU Council and has chaired the African ITU group in the Council, the Working Group for the development of the Africa Internet Governance Forum (AFIGF) Charter which was adopted during the 2017 AFIGF in Egypt and AFIGF 2013 - 2014.
In Nigeria, Mary has worked with the Technical Working Group on Child Online Protection in Nigeria. She has also worked with the National Assembly to develop Nigeria's Cyber Security bill.