Chenai Chair, researcher and communications/evaluations officer at Research ICT Africa, was an AfriSIG participant and graduate of the 2015 edition. This year, however, she became a member of the faculty, and did a spectacular job as team coach, assisting Avri Doria in the practicum sessions. In this interview, she shares her insights from that new position.
APCNews: How did you generally find this edition of AfriSIG?
Chenai Chair: I found this year’s AfriSIG a class full of young people ready to learn about internet governance, and also to expand and share the knowledge have on internet governance. They got engaged with the sessions critically. I think they worked extremely well on the practicum.
APCNews: Last year you were part of the AfriSIG class as a participant and this year you are a member of the faculty. Being on the other side of the line, what improvement did you see in this edition as compared to last year’s?
C C: Being on the other side of the line, I saw a mainstreaming of gender issues. I also saw the importance of being able to engage with these issues once the sessions were done. I think this was possible in many sessions. I saw the importance of building a network amongst the participants themselves, given the way they interacted through the WhatsApp platform, something we did not have last year. Having most of them stay in the same place also helped with the exercise, as this was an aspect which hindered, I believe, the 2015 class.
APCNews: What was your most positive gain from the school?
C C: My most positive gain was the ability to see the value of the programme from a facilitator and participant perspective. The extent of my ability to provide support to the class was influenced by understanding the needs of participants.