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It was June 2010, the schools were about to go on a long break. The eyes of the world were on South Africa. The first African country to host the FIFA world cup. Huddled in the corner of the small and dusty school library, a little girl came across a book that spoke of computers and the internet. A place that held the promise of access to endless information at your fingertips. She dreamt of the day when she herself would, at the touch of a key, access this information. This little girl was me.

Eleven years later, this is still the reality of millions of young girls and marginalised… Read more

In theatre, they say “the world is a stage” and in life, we say that we attract what we think of and what we draw attention to.

It was in 2019 when I first heard of the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG). In my mind, I thought it was a university where one goes to attain a degree, a Master’s or even a PhD. So I gave it a shot and applied for the seventh AfriSIG while still at the foundation stage in the internet governance space and just an ordinary officer at the Internet Society (ISOC) Namibia chapter.

I surely feel like I… Read more

I heard of the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) when I started participating in internet governance, as the ultimate school on internet governance, so naturally, I wanted to enrol. I kept tabs on the call for applications, only to find out that the 2020 one was open only for AfriSIG alumni. I was hopeful this year, so I jumped on this year’s call, amidst self-limiting beliefs on whether I would make the cut. The application process was smooth until the section that asked for referrals. My anxiety heightened. Not because I didn’t have any, but because of the self-… Read more

What happens when an ardent internet governance activist has to suddenly place themselves in the shoes of the private sector? Or a social tech enthusiast has to play the role of the government during a simulation? Does the shift of perspective strengthen everyone’s grasp of internet governance?

The verdict from the 2021 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) has been a resounding yes. AfriSIG continues to distinguish itself with its intensive course spearheaded by regional and global internet governance experts. The… Read more

The ninth edition of the African School of Internet Governance (AfriSIG) finally happened – virtually, because, well, COVID-19 couldn’t allow various fellows and facility members to attend an in-person school. I had mentally prepared myself to travel, eat some airplane food, change my environment, physically meet new people, but that hasn’t happened. Nonetheless, we move.

Who would ever think that I, Ruth Atim, a traditional girl from Northern Uganda, would ever join a school of internet governance, a platform full of the crème de la crème in the world of the internet? Well, I did,… Read more

The African School of Internet Governance (AfriSIG) just concluded much-needed learning that successfully exposed us to the multiple layers of the issues surrounding internet governance and the role Africa plays on the global scale.

AfriSIG was launched in 2013 as an annual five-day residential course, run by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Its goal is to develop a pipeline of leading Africans from diverse sectors, backgrounds and ages with the skills to participate in local and international… Read more

“[G]ive her a room of her own and five hundred a year, let her speak her mind and leave out half that she now puts in, and she will write a better book one of these days.”

“‘The poor poet has not in these days, nor has had for two hundred years, a dog’s chance… a poor child in England has little more hope than had the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom of which great writings are born.’ That is it. Intellectual freedom depends upon material things.” - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

I loved a lot of our… Read more

The 2021 African Scool on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) has brought together actors from digital ecosystems worldwide. It has been a golden opportunity for me and my community as I have learnt about several topics on internet governance. I applied for this opportunity to further increase my knowledge and skills to continue impacting positively on Senegalese internet users and non-internet users. The concept of the digital divide is becoming more and more complex as is access to digital tools in many African countries,… Read more

For the young person I was, under 25 years, attending the African School on Internet Governance and getting involved in the internet ecosystem in my country, as well as in the African region, was a dream that I will continue to follow.

The very first ever event related to Internet Governance I attended was the FGIRDC2019: The Second edition of the Forum on Internet Governance in my country the DR CONGO, in 2019. I always remind… Read more

How did I make it to the AfriSIG 2021 fellow if I am not deserving (African child suffering from impostor syndrome)?

From a networking engineering arena to internet governance, I had no idea I was about to go on an out-of-body experience. Throughout my AfriSIG experience, I felt as if I didn’t belong, as if I didn’t know enough to weigh in on the debates, and as if I lacked the essential expertise to offer. I felt inadequate in comparison to my fellows. I also felt I was precisely where I was supposed to be at that moment in time; I believed this was where I was… Read more