Afrisig news

I was excited to be considered as a fellow for the 2023 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), held in Abuja, Nigeria from 13 to 18 September 2023. This opportunity introduced me to learning more about the biggest challenges in governance of the internet, which include the huge paradox of the gender digital divide, the application of a human rights approach in laws and policy making, and the best approach to employ in order to involve everyone in internet governance, since a lack of involvement may lead to exclusions.

The… Read more

I left my three-year-old son, who had just gotten his tonsils and adenoids removed, to attend the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG 2023). It was a difficult decision, but I was determined to learn more about internet governance and how it could be used to improve the lives of people in Africa. It was comforting to know that he was not going to struggle with sleep apnea again and that I left him in the safe hands of my helper, his grandmother, his father, and above all, God.

AfriSIG was a treasure hunt for me. I discovered a new world of knowledge and insights, met… Read more

On the internet, internet protocol (IP) is the most important resource used to exchange data traffic in the online world. Unfortunately, since the early age of the internet, IP address distribution has been biased. In fact, Africa got only 3% of the IPv4 numbers to serve 14% of the world’s population that lives on the continent. Nowadays, even this scant allocation has been targeted to be utilised outside the region.

AFRINIC (African Network Information Centre) is the regional internet registry (RIR) for Africa. During the AFRINIC Policy Development Working Group (PDWG) session, and… Read more

The community of the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) has lost a mentor and trainer following the death of faculty member Makane Faye in a road traffic accident in Senegal on Friday, 26 March 2021, while he was travelling to Dakar from the holy city of Touba.

Makane’s death has left a huge void as he was a trainer par excellence and indeed a larger-than-life figure in the careers of his many fellows during his years at AfriSIG. He was a member of the School’s faculty specialising in the theoretical and practical multistakeholder approaches to internet governance. He… Read more

The eighth African School on Internet Governance (AfrISIG) was hosted virtually on 23 November and brought together over 60 participants, made up of AfriSIG alumni and faculty members along with trainers trained under the African Union Commission’s Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA) programme.

The School is co-convened annually by the Association for Progressive… Read more

Between 3 and 9 September, 60 participants from 26 countries gathered in N’Djamena, Chad, for the seventh African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), a week of peer learning-based sessions that included hands-on experience which fellows had the opportunity to apply at the African Internet Governance Forum, which took place right after.

How does the internet work? What is an internet protocol? What types of disruptions do we face and what causes them? These were some of the questions addressed at the School, which focused on… Read more

I have always been of the opinion that POLICY IS BORING, I say this every time I have the opportunity to be at gatherings where policy discussions, especially tech/internet  policies are held and I also ask myself all of these times, what can I do to make these conversations more interesting to the people who the outcomes of these conversations will benefit the most?  Getting accepted into the 7th African School on Internet Governance held from the 4th to 9th… Read more

Historically, human beings have fought battles on many fronts and in the 21st Century, competition, rather than cooperation, strife, rather than negotiation, have advanced as the fastest means of achieving a desired outcome. The 7th edition of the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), during the 9am- 6pm class sessions, beside tables filled with pastry during tea and coffee breaks, and over dinner plates persistently laden with rice, swiftly altered this mindset and exposed me to a time-worn practice; the art of patience latent in time-pressed negotiation.

I was really excited about my selection to participate in the 7th edition of the African School of Internet Governance which took place in the city of N’Djamena, Chad. The school hosted a diverse group of people from the African continent and outside the continent. The five-day training introduced fellows to a wide range of topics and discussions in the internet governance space. Not forgetting the Practicum, which is a practical adaption of multistakeholder discussion and dialogue on a salient issue. This year, fellows worked with the report of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel… Read more

The African School on Internet Governance (AFRISIG) 2019 ran for six days in  N’Djamena, Chad. It is a yearly event that brings together people from across the continent to promote and strengthen active multistakeholder participation in internet governance in the African continent.

As a technical person, I found the week-long school essential to having a good understanding of the governance side of the internet, which is different from running networks or conducting research on them. Topics related to digital rights, affordable internet access, internet history in Africa,… Read more