Faculty

Anriette Esterhuysen

Director of global policy and strategy for the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

Anriette_Esterhuysen Anriette is the Director of global policy and strategy of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), an international network of organizations working with Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to support social justice and development. She was previously the executive director of this same organisation for seventeen years, until March 2017. Prior to joining APC, Anriette was executive director of South African APC member SANGONeT, an internet service provider and training institution for civil society, labour and community organizations. Since January 2014, Ms. Esterhuysen has been on the Global Commission on Internet Governance. She sits on the 1NET steering committee, a non-governmental multistakeholder platform to discuss and explore improvement areas for the current global internet governance and technical coordination framework. Anriette has published extensively on ICTs for development and social justice. She holds postgraduate qualifications in Social Sciences from the University of Witwatersrand.

Dr. Mawaki Chango

Founder & Managing Director of DigiLexis Consulting

Mawaki is a consultant and an entrepreneur as well as a scholar in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). He is particularly enthusiastic about assisting African countries develop a truly digital economy through inclusive and evidence-based ICT-enabling policies. He has nearly 20 years of experience on societal issues relating to ICTs, consulting for organizations including UNESCO, the International Development Research Center, the Open Society Foundations, the African Union’s NEPAD Agency, UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, Hivos, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), etc. Mawaki has a PhD in Information Science and Technology from Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) with a research focus on Internet governance, policy and digital identity management. Mawaki has recently been appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees at Sovrin Foundation, dedicated to building a trustworthy identity layer to the Internet. Over the last dozen of years, Mawaki has been actively involved in Internet governance spaces such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), particularly as a councilor in matters of policy regarding the Internet’s top-level generic domain names; the global civil society’s Internet Governance Caucus; and the UN-led process, Internet Governance Forum, both at global level and on various levels in Africa. Founder of DigiLexis Consulting (upcoming new site at www.digilexis.co), Dr. Chango intends to increasingly engage his thoughts and actions to help spur Internet-enabled entrepreneurial opportunities in Africa as well as governments to embrace the most adequate policies in that regard while improving their own operations in the digital age. Currently residing in Togo, Mawaki speaks English, French and Portuguese.

Pria Chetty

Regional Director of EndCode

Pria has over 10 years of experience as a technology law and policy advisor to public and private sector organisations, developing country governments and international organisations. In 2007, Pria founded a leading South African technology law firm which was acquired by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2011. Following the acquisition, Ms. Chetty was responsible for establishing and heading the technology legal and regulatory service area for the PwC national advisory practice. She left PwC in 2013 and went on to serve as an expert consultant on an ITU project focusing on technical assistance in the area of cybersecurity law and policy for Southern African countries. As a thought leader, Pria has presented at local and international technology conferences including conferences in Egypt, Canada, Senegal and Namibia and published in local and international newspapers, magazines, and journals. She has also published book chapters examining emerging technology law and policy topics with particular emphasis on recommendations for developing countries. Pria currently serves as a member of regional and international expert groups and advisory boards including the BRICS Cybersecurity Expert Group and Wikimedia ZA. She was also an Associate at the Global Cybersecurity Centre at Oxford University. Pria is passionate about facilitating technology law and policy that enables ICT opportunities in Africa.

Dr. David Souter

Managing Director of ICT Development Associates

As the Managing Director of ICT Development Associates, David provides expertise concerning ICTs, Internet governance and their relationship with public policy, particularly development, environment, governance, rights and conflict. He was lead consultant for the UN Commission on Science and Technology’s five and ten year reviews of WSIS outcomes, and has worked extensively for UNESCO, UNCTAD, ITU and other UN agencies, for international development agencies including the African Development Bank, and for non-governmental organisations including APC and the Internet Society. He was Visiting Professor in Communications Management at Strathclyde University and, until September this year, Visiting Senior Fellow in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. David lives in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere

NEPAD Agency

Dr. Towela Nyirenda Jere holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Networking and Telecommunications) from the University of Kansas, an ACCA Diploma in Financial Management and is a qualified Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (USA). She is currently the Programmes Manager with the NEPAD e-Africa Programme at the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA). She currently manages projects in e-skills and Internet Governance and is responsible for identification of new projects and partnerships for the e-Africa Programme. Prior to this appointment she was the Projects Coordinator at the Malawi Polytechnic, University of Malawi.

Chenai Chair

Research ICT Africa

Chenai is a researcher with Research ICT Africa. She holds an MSocSci specialising in Global Studies, and a BSocSci in Gender Studies and Industrial Relations from the University of Cape Town. Her areas of specialization include conducting qualitative studies with a focus on gender, youth and the informal sector as well as tacking pricing patterns in the supply side of telecommunications in Africa. The most exciting and challenging thing in her career is keeping up with tech trends; their impact on socioeconomic development and accompanying policy and regulatory issues. With her participation in AFRISIG and the IGF, she hopes to bring to the fore the importance of African based evidence for determining the way forward in internet governance. She hopes to take away an understanding of gender and internet governance rights issues and a collaborative network.

Gbenga Sesan

Paradigm Initiative

Originally trained as an Electronic & Electrical Engineer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Gbenga completed Executive Education programs at Lagos Business School, New York Group for Technology Transfer, Oxford University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Santa Clara University and University of the Pacific. His consulting experience includes assignments completed for numerous institutions, including Microsoft, Harvard University and United Nations agencies, among others, in over 30 countries. A Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2014) and former member of the United Nations Committee of eLeaders on Youth and ICT. He is a CyberStewards Fellow, Crans Montana Forum Fellow, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, Our Common Future Fellow and Cordes Fellow. ‘Gbenga served as a member of the Presidential committees on Harmonization of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Sectors (2006) and Roadmap for the Achievement of Accelerated Universal Broadband Infrastructure and Services Provision (2013), and was listed by CNN as one of the Top 10 African Tech Voices on Twitter and by Ventures Africa as one of 40 African Legends Under 40. Gbenga is married to Temilade Sesan, PhD, an expert on Energy Poverty and Development issues in sub-Saharan Africa.

Avri Doria

Technicalities

Avri 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 is 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 a current member of the ICANN Board of Directors. She is serving as the first chair of the Internet Society Chapters Advisory Council Steering Committee. Avri was awarded the ICANN Multistakeholder Ethos award in 2014.

Mr. Bob Ochieng

Manager, Stakeholder Engagement – Africa at ICANN

Bob is a telecommunications professional with +10 years’ experience in multi-disciplinary Telecoms/ICT Industry with skills and strengths in Wireless Technologies, Fixed Network Technologies, Project Management, ICT Business Strategy Formulation and Implementation and Internet Governance. He has worked with both large Multinationals and SMEs including BAT Kenya, KeNIC, Telkom Orange, PwC and currently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – ICANN. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Technology, an MBA in Strategic Management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) as well as a Certified Cisco Network Associate (CCNA). As the primary representative of ICANN in Eastern and Southern Africa, Bob is charged with developing and executing ICANN’s strategic and tactical objectives in the region.

Resource persons

Ms. Palesa Legoze – Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, South Africa
Mr. Chengetai Masango – IGF Secretariat
Mr. Fortune Sibanda – Google, South Afica
Dr. Carlos Rey-Moreno – University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Ms. Avri Doria – APC
Mr. Mwendwa Kivuva – AfriNIC
Ephraim Kenyanito – Access Now
Makane Faye – African IGF Secretariat
Alan Barratt – AfriNIC