Blog

Something historic happened by the Nile earlier this month. From 4-6 November 2018, at Corinthia Hotel Khartoum by the banks of that gargantuan and historic river which traverses the African continent, stakeholders from across the continent and the world gathered to participate in the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF).

The setting of the AfIGF by the Nile was perhaps figurative. As a colleague mentioned to me, ‘’Oh, you attended the AfIGF by that very contentious river.” By that, he was referring to plans by several nations upstream the Nile to dam it, for purposes… Read more

The sixth African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), organised by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the African Union Commission (AUC), was attended by 35 fellows and 26 faculty members from different countries who came together for five days to brainstorm, teach, learn, network, dialogue and exchange ideas about issues related to internet governance on a global, regional and local level.

When I got the mail from the AfriSIG organisers confirming that my application was successful, I was super excited. I started packing my bag a week prior to the school.… Read more

My interest in internet governance issues was sparked when I coordinated a project on internet access for women in northern Nigeria in 2016 with the ultimate goal of bridging gender digital exclusion and promoting greater access to the use and benefits of internet to women.

Following this experience, I began to apply to participate in internet governance forum events. Initially, I had little success, but my dream eventually came to fruition in August 2018 when I received an invitation to the 2018 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG). When I first heard about AfriSIG, I was… Read more

No matter how many times I sit in a space that is reflecting on, learning from or critiquing issues around gender, I am always both pleased and flummoxed by the range of perspectives in the room, with some people gasping at the idea that gender is and always has been a spectrum and other people strongly affirming the importance of LGBTIQA inclusion in all spaces including, in this case, on the internet.

APC invited me to participate in this year’s African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), which took place in Zanzibar, less than 100 metres from the warm waters of the Indian… Read more

I have wanted to attend the African School on  Internet Governance (AfriSIG) ever since I participated in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as an ISOCYouth@IGF fellow last year. It was through this formative experience that I first developed a passion for internet governance. Even with my limited background in the field, I decided to organise the Arusha Women School of Internet Governance (AruWSIG) and the Tanzania School of Internet Governance (TzSIG) with the hopes of sharing my newfound knowledge with my community.

When I received confirmation of my acceptance to AfriSIG, I… Read more

Attending the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) is my first experience in any event related to internet governance. This has given me the opportunity to interact with different stakeholders from all walks of life and I enjoyed it.

The school was generally good and constituted a very active and enthusiastic class that inspired participants and resource persons to reason things out together. I liked the diversity of the class, not only from a regional perspective but also from the different professional backgrounds.

Most participants were not new to the internet… Read more

I am a young woman who grew up in the rural areas of Limpopo in South Africa, where there is not much development done, internet is regarded as a luxury, and technology is not exposed. It has therefore been much of a privilege for me to be a participant at the 5th African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG).

In Limpopo, many people have different technological gadgets but use them in a way that is not necessarily beneficial to them. Many people have mobile phones in these rural areas; however, there are times when they do not even have network coverage. And without this network… Read more

My debut appearance at the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) 2017 was certainly an eye opener in respect of a lot of very important issues related to internet governance, without doubt one of best spaces to start engaging with internet governance issues on continental level.

Distinctively, AfriSIG is a rich melting-pot of professional backgrounds, nationalities, ages, expertise and many other persuasions. This in my view made for very rich ground for networking and getting a multidimensional feel of internet governance issues across Africa under one roof.

But by… Read more

Taking part in the 5th African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) taught me the definition of internet governance, which is defined as the handling of technical coordination required for and policy issues related to the interoperability and smooth functioning of the different components of internet infrastructure and the exchange of information over the internet.

The knowledge I acquired

I was able to understand that:

• There are established cybersecurity policies and laws at the international level, and yet the majority of… Read more

Multistakeholderism… what an alien word to a regulator!

I walked into the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) 2017 with this exact mindset. Working for a regulator gives you false confidence; that you call all the shots, that your decisions are final, that the operators you regulate should either tow the line or change their line of business. We sometimes get so caught up with regulating that we forget the purpose for which we are regulating.

I remember being emphatic during my application for admission to AfriSIG 2017 that I expected to learn how best to regulate… Read more