[IGFmaglist] Where is Africa?

Mon May 12 07:14:21 EDT 2014

Dear All,

Thank you Anriette for starting this discussion. Several IGFs  ago, I was asked to co-organise a workshop and while I was willing to do so (and did eventually end up holding the workshop), one primary concern I had and which proposed speakers/panelists that we contacted had was on not having the means to fund their travel to participate in the IGF. So, it may not only be an issue of interest; proposing a workshop implies that one has the means to attend the IGF and this is a challenge for most people in our region and I suppose in other developing regions.

Concerning outreach to regional IGFs, this is indeed a good suggestion and I think the MAG should consider further how to strengthen the regional IGFS; the IGFs that I know of in Africa are surviving on the goodwill of volunteers and do not have access to (functional) secretariat support. This makes it very difficult to sensitize and mobilise participation beyond the "usual suspects". 

We should also note the possibility that for some in Africa (and perhaps other regions), participation in the IGF has not matured to a level where it is considered important or essential. We are working very hard to change this mindset, working at the highest levels possible and recently at a coordination meeting with desk officers responsible for ICT managed to get some understanding of the need for Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to support regional IGFs; however, we recognise that this is a slow process and it will take some time before the regional and global IGFs start getting allocated the necessary budget lines by our various governments and regional bodies.

regards,

Towela

Towela Nyirenda-Jere, PhD

Current Address:
c/o NEPAD Agency
e-Africa Programme
International Business Gateway
Midrand 1685

Tel.: +27 11 256 3587
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MALAWI
On Monday, May 12, 2014 12:00 PM, Veronica Cretu <veronicacretu at gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Anriette, thanks for these reflections!

I guess it should also take us, as MAG, to some discussions related to outreach around the Open Call for Workshop Proposals - in order to reach out to all stakeholder groups around the world and encourage more active participation! Outreach as such has not been specifically addressed by us, and I think that identifying a whole set of outreach tools (both online and offline) in the future might be worth looking at! 

With very best,
Veronica

On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 12:29 PM, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org> wrote:

Dear Anju
>
>It is probably simply a reflection of where there is concentration
      of internet governance activities, actors (from all stakeholder
      groups, but particularly government and business - civil society
      is more evenly spread in the IGF) and the academic and research
      community.
>
>I felt that, considering its small size, the technical community
      in Africa is reasonably represented in this year's IGF workshop
      proposals. Civil society is not well represented, and business and
      government is almost not there.
>
>Caribbean and Pacific countries have a small presence among the
      workshop proposals, as you say, and I did not notice new voices.
      What is good is to see a stronger ccTLD presence than during past
      IGFs. This is very impressive, and  it was good to see lots of new
      proponents, particularly from China, and also from Latin America. 
      We don't ask what region proponents are from, so it is not always
      easy to know. 
>
>Your question is important. If less-developed regions are losing
      interest we should talk about it. One thought is whether the
      regional IGFs are satisfying the needs for networking in those
      regions. And the resource requirement for people from these
      countries is huge considering cost of travel/exchange rates etc..
      I.o.w. it is hard for them to participate in both the regional,
      and the global IGF - not to mention national IGFs if they exist. 
      One thought we have had for a while in APC is changing the cycle
      to have regional IGFs only once every two years. But there is
      demand for regional IGFs and they do add value, and lend
      themselves to capacity building and more focused problem solving.
>
>From experience we know that hosting location can make a big
      difference.  We need governments from less developed regions to
      host.
>
>Let's discuss more. This is directly relevant to implementing the
      recommendations of the CSTD Working Group on IGF improvements.
>
>And, we should also wait until we have more accurate data from the
      Secretariat.
>
>But definitely a worry. The NETmundial had very good participation
      from Africa, particularly from governments. This is also important
      food for thought. 
>
>There are definitely solutions. E.g. a thematic IGF focusing on
      access issues. Or perhaps if we get the Best Practice Forum
      modality right, that can also be of value to countries still
      struggling with affordable access.
>
>Anriette
>
>
>
>
>
>On 12/05/2014 05:49, Anju Mangal wrote:
>
>There’s nothing wrong with this observation. I feel the same way about Pacific Countries and Territories. Are the African/Caribbean and the Pacific region losing interest? If so, why? 
>>
>>On May 11, 2014, at 4:29 PM, Lillian Nalwoga <lnalwoga at gmail.com> wrote:
>>Hi Anriette, 
>>>I observed that too. There were also proposals that aimed to share experiences from 'developing' countries and on the list of speakers no representatives from Africa were being mentioned. I wonder maybe Africa is no longer in the category of developing countries. Anyways, I made comments on such proposals recommending that they try to equally have panelists from all regions including Africa.
>>>But then, the issue of few proposals from Africa could mean 3 things -either Africa has no interest in IG  discussions or there are no enough voices to rightly represent the continent in the IG debate or workshop proposers do not know who to reach out to!.
>>>
>>>However, I think there is need to encourage accepted
                    workshops to have equal representation of speakers
                    from all regions. 
>>>Regards,
>>>Lillian
>>> 
>>> 
>>>On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 4:42 PM, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org> wrote:
>>>Dear fellow MAG members
>>>
>>>Am I being over-sensitive as an African, or is
                      there really a very, very weak presence of African
                      voices in this year's proposals?
>>>
>>>I felt as I was reading through the proposals that
                      Africa is the internet's forgotten continent. Very
                      few proponents from Africa and few proposed
                      speakers
>>>
>>>I find this quite depressing.
>>>
>>>Anriette
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>-- 
>>>------------------------------------------------------
>>>anriette esterhuysen anriette at apc.org
>>>executive director, association for progressive communications
>>>www.apc.org
>>>po box 29755, melville 2109
>>>south africa
>>>tel/fax +27 11 726 1692
>>>
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>>
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>
>-- 
------------------------------------------------------
anriette esterhuysen anriette at apc.org executive director, association for progressive communications www.apc.org po box 29755, melville 2109
south africa
tel/fax +27 11 726 1692
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>Igfmaglist mailing list
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>

-- 

Veronica Cretu 

President, Open Government Institute
Republic of Moldova - http://opengov.si.md/

Member of the Steering Committee, 
Open Government Partnership (OGP);
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/steering-committee/role-and-current-membership

Member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group
To the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/content/article/1549

Member of the Nominating Committee of ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbering)
http://www.icann.org/en/groups/nomcom/2014/members

Email: veronicacretu at gmail.com and/or veronica at cretu.md
Skype: veronicacretu 
Phone: 373 067435000

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