AFRISIG

The 2025 edition of the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) took place from 23 to 28 May in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, offering participants a comprehensive overview of internet and digital policy across Africa and globally. This year, AfriSIG placed a particular emphasis on data governance, alongside reflections on the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20).

A highlight of the School was the Makane Faye AfriSIG Award, presented annually since 2024 to participants who demonstrate exceptional commitment to internet governance. The award… Read more

The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), the continent’s cornerstone in internet infrastructure, now stands at a breaking point. Governance failures, legal disputes and geopolitical pressures have pushed it toward institutional collapse. To secure Africa’s digital future, a continent-wide recommitment to reform, sovereignty and resilience is urgently needed.

Since its founding in 2005, AFRINIC has played a pivotal role far beyond allocating internet protocol (IP) addresses and number resources – it provides critical internet infrastructure services, including Resource Public… Read more

The 13th annual African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) took place from 23 to 28 May 2025 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, offering an overview of internet and digital policy in Africa and globally. AfriSIG 2025 maintained a strong focus on data governance, with particular emphasis this year on the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20).

To learn more about the topics discussed and hear insights from participants, watch the videos below, which showcase highlights from this year's… Read more

The 13th African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) kicked off at 7:00 pm Tanzanian time on 23 May 2025 with a stylish round of self-introductions by fellows and faculty members from 13 African countries. Over the years, the school has built a solid reputation for producing future advocates of multistakeholder internet governance and for strengthening their capacity across various dimensions of the digital space.

“At the African School on Internet Governance, we choose empowerment and inclusion for all Africans to learn, aspire and act,” said Nkundwe Mwasaga, the director… Read more

When I landed in Dar es Salaam in the United Republic of Tanzania) for this year’s African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), I was greeted by more than just the humid ocean breeze – there was an immediate sense of warmth that permeated every interaction. From the shuttle driver who patiently showed us places of interest as we drove to the Southern Sun Dar es Salaam, a long-standing hotel deeply invested in the city’s hospitality sector – having been officially opened by President Benjamin Mkapa himself – to fellow participants who shared stories of their home towns over five days of… Read more

It was with great joy that I participated in the 13th training course of the African School on Internet Governance, AfriSIG 2025, held in Dar es Salaam at the Julius Nyérére International Convention Centre (JNICC), United Republic of Tanzania, from 23 to 28 May 2025.

AfriSIG 2025 was an opportunity for me, as a government official, to understand the need for multistakeholder internet governance. The school provides a framework for the exchange of ideas and experiences between countries to enable them guide their telecommunications development strategies and better understand how to… Read more

Abstract:

Since Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum’s announcement in 2016 of the impending Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in his book of the same title, the world has been swept up in the wave of global hype around the extraordinary potential for 4IR technologies – artificial intelligence, robotics, drones and blockchains – and the dire fate of nations who fail to embrace these inevitable technological developments. This has now been repackaged by Schwab and the WEF in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as… Read more

This year’s African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) was preceded by a two-day skills training workshop, facilitated by the Internet Society, aimed to equip fellows with the skills to effectively participate in multistakeholder discussions.

Internet governance processes have adopted multistakeholderism as a model for effective dialogue and decision making at a national, regional and global level. A key principle of multistakeholder engagement is that, in order to reach a consensual decision, all stakeholders must be… 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

The African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) is an annual five-day residential course run by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. The goal of the School is to develop a pipeline of leading Africans from diverse sectors, backgrounds and ages with the skills to participate in local and international internet governance structures, and shape the future of the internet landscape for Africa’s development.

Alumni from the four editions of AfriSIG held so far are successfully… Read more