Amira is a journalist, who is passionate about democracy, human rights, and internet governance. In general, she has participated in a number of international and regional fora, such as the Democracy Camp. Amira has three years’ experience in print newspapers, in addition to eight years of experience in civil society. She recently graduated with a Web Development diploma from Information Technology Institute. She is an active participant in the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute (DEDI) and Civic Education Conference (CEC) in Tunisia, which discusses the current state of civic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She also participated in a program on internet governance in the MENA region, which was held by the DiploFoundation and Hivos from June to August of 2016. As one of the program’s top alumni, she received a fellowship to attend the Igmena Summit in Tunis in September of 2016. She also took part in the ICANN59 meeting in Johannesburg- South Africa within NextGen program. She is a member at ISOC Egypt and observer at MEAC Strategy Working Group (MEAC-SWG).

Angela, originally from Kenya, is a finalist student at Moi University School of Law and is currently a Google Digital Policy Fellow at ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa. Her fellowship is focused on freedom of expression and privacy rights on the internet and policy and legal analysis of national policies and laws affecting users on the internet. She is particularly interested in creating a safer internet for women and LGBTQI community in the wake of rampant cases of revenge porn on the internet and cyber bullying. She has participated in various International Moot court competitions such as the Price Media Moot Court Competition 2017, Jean-Pictet International Humanitarian Law Moot Competition 2017, All Africa Human and Peoples Rights Moot Court Competition and the International Criminal Court Competition in The Hague Netherlands. Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, Angela has worked at D.L Were and Company Advocates and Transparency International, Eldoret Kenya as a legal intern.

Billy is 30 years old, of Ugandan nationality holds a degree and diploma in accounting and finance. He is currently employed with Skilz International organization as a program manager. He is passionate in learning more about internet policies and governance, internet rights, and rights of women online.

Broc Rademan is interested in international development and ICTs. His experience in consulting, policy analysis, database management and proof reading direct his current tasks toward qualitative policy research, report writing, data collation and editing. He has worked on policy and regulation projects investigating open access networks and public-private interplays in Africa. After studying International Relations at the University of Pretoria, Broc obtained an MA in Development and Governance from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and is now engaged with qualitatively assessing the state’s role in past, current and future ICT sector development, particularly within the context of African Developmentalism.

Lebogang is a girl’s net coordinator from women’s net organization who loves working with young girls and broadening their minds in the ICT world. She is a feminist who is strives for justice in the society that is blinded by patriarchy and gender based violence.

Linda has experience in the civil society sector of almost 20 years where she spent most of this time working in the community grant making sector at established NGOs/donors such as Social Change Assistance Trust in Cape Town and Hivos SA based in Johannesburg. Through working in the grant making sector she learned about the frustrations experienced by CBOs who find it difficult to raise funds from local and international donors. Her composite collection of skills includes facilitation, presentations, organisational assessments, financial assessments, monitoring and evaluation and budgeting skills related to programme management. One of her areas of expertise is mentoring, monitoring and evaluating community based organisations based in rural areas who work in the fields of social justice, legal empowerment and local economic development. Over and above this, she is passionate about gender equality and women’s rights, and has completed an Honours Degree at the University of Cape Town, African Gender Institute in Gender and Transformation. She also holds a Masters Level Course on Cross Sector Partnerships at the Programme of Industry at Cambridge University. She served as a board member on Mosaic’s governance structure and recently joined the board of RULIV in the Eastern Cape. She currently works on a independent basis, coordinating the Funding Practice Alliance based at Inyathelo Institute for Institutional Advancement and providing part-time coordination and support to Women’sNet with the ICT and governance programme. In her leisure time she enjoys hiking, theatre, travelling, reading, journaling, yoga, writing poetry, cooking and spending time with family and friends.  She has an interest in philosophy and has attended a few short courses at the Practical School of Philosophy. She empathy and compassion for humans and animals and believes in the universal and constitutional rights of people.

Martha from Uganda is a senior Legal Compliance Officer at the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). UCC is Uganda’s communications sector regulatory Authority. As part of her core work, she engages with many Internet service providers and ICT infrastructure providers. She is interested in understanding the regulatory sphere for internet spaces. Martha is an Advocate of the High Court and previously practiced with Kaddu and Partners Advocates, a private commercial law firm in Kampala. She attained her Bachelor of Laws Degree from Makerere University and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Western Cape (South Africa) with a Masters in Law degree. Martha is also a Corporate Governance professional having been admitted as an ICSA graduate and has a passion.

Miriam is a Finance and Administration Officer at Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), which promotes and supports the use of ICT by women and Women Organisations in Uganda.  Miriam has 2-years of experience in working with civil society organizations in the areas of ICT for development, gender, women and women rights that has exposed her to issues that affect women in using the internet. It has also provided her an opportunity to learn Internet Governance issues and the need to make it engendered. Miriam has taken part in trainings in Gender, governance and entrepreneurship which have provided her an understanding of issues of human rights. She holds a degree in Business Administration from Makerere University and an MBA.

Moipone Mhlekwa is a civil litigation advocate in Lesotho. She holds a master of laws (LLM) degree from the University of Stellenbosch and a Bachelor of laws(LLB) degree from the National University of Lesotho. She has also been engaged as a part time lecturer at the University of Lesotho. She is an AFRINIC fellow and has great interest in internet policy and development. She is currently in the process of setting up a local ISOC chapter and hopes to develop the first local internet governance forum in Lesotho.

Nada is a Teaching assistant at the Faculty of Mass communication, Cairo university, Public Relations and advertising Department, Since August (2017). She obtained her Master degree with Excellence in the field of political communication, in April (2017), in a topic titled “Media Treatment of Political Islam in Egypt”. Working as instructor in the Faculty of Mass communication, Cairo University (2012-2017). Graduated from the Faculty of Mass communication, Cairo University in (2011). She is interested in new topics related to internet and new media, political and international communication, and public opinion.

Nardine is a Teaching Assistant, Political Science department at the British University in Egypt. Fellow for the Hivos International Internet Governance in the Middle East and North Africa program in 2015.  She participated in the Arab IGF 2015 and was a panellist on in two regional conferences. Before working as a teaching assistant, she worked as a proposal writer for the Youth and Development Consultancy Institute. She was also an intern at the Saudi Law Training Centre, a centre dedicated to host regional policy-making forums, and the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs. Currently, Nardine is co-authoring a book chapter on Egypt’s internet governance and cybersecurity concerns, in light of regional and international developments and its societal implications.

Natasha is a Namibian advocacy journalist and free expression advocate, with a specific focus on women and children. She has worked in the Namibian media and civil society sectors since 1997. She has also been lucky to work with colleagues and peers from SADC, and to a lesser extent, the AU. She is a founding member of the Namibia Internet Governance Forum (NamIGF) which held its inaugural forum from 27-28 September 2017 and also a member of its Working Group. She also belongs to the recently established ISOC-Namibia Chapter.

Noha is an independent internet governance consultant. Her professional and educational backgrounds are orientated towards development areas with special focus on human development, governance, and public policies. She has led several projects with Hivos iGmena programme that aimed at improving internet governance process in the Middle East and North Africa. These are Internet policy projects designed to raise the awareness of local stakeholders from the MENA region through in-situ capacity building programmes, advocacy campaign, live discussions, and knowledge sharing. To this aim, Noha further conducts research on Internet policy thematic issues in the region. Additionally, she contributes to GIP Digital Watch observatory and moderates online courses for the Internet Society. Noha is development practitioner by profession. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Manchester in International Development: governance and politics and a Bachelor’s degree from Cairo University in political science. However, her academic research focused on the role of ICTs in building knowledge-based societies as well as developing a conceptual framework that exposes modalities and indicators to examine how Internet related polices safeguard the right to freedom of expression on the Internet.

Nomagugu is a human rights activist with a keen interest in freedom of expression and information rights. She has over 6 years of work experience in the civil society sector where she has worked with organisations such as the Freedom of Expression Institute and the Foundation for Human Rights. She currently works with the Legal Resources Centre where she is the coordinator of a Citizen Journalism project. Nomagugu holds an MPhil which focuses on hate speech jurisprudence in South Africa.

Sheila worked for ARTU for over two years where she started off as a volunteer and eventually became an assistant program officer. She is currently employed with Associates Research Trust Uganda (ARTU) as an assistant program officer in Karamoja, Moroto district under the Artisanal Mining Project where she works hand in hand with resource equity on the women first approach. They are currently designing animated videos as key informant ways to pass on information of women inclusion to the communities and the world at large.  She is also working with Burness international to enhance and improve the communications system of ARTU. Thus, she feels that attending the African School on Internet Governance will be of great help and importance as she will be able to apply the skills gained during the training. Sheila was also previously employed by Associates Research where she worked on a project concerning smart cities and the youth; they trained the youth on issues concerning internet usage and answered a questionnaire on their attitudes towards technology and urban development. She is currently undertaking a Masters in international relations and diplomatic studies at Makerere University in Kampala.

Phoshollo from Limpopo in the rural areas of Burgersfort (South Africa), is a girlsnet coordinator under womens net. She is a passionate volunteer who loves community as well as youth development projects. She is a leader, mentor, coach, motivator and peer educator who advocates for change in women, girls and LGBTIQA community. Phoshollo is also a networker for social change who loves staying with those who are broken because it makes her feel that she is a change driver in his community. She calls herself a health champion because she helps people access information and resources about their sex and reproductive health. Shee works with young girls in a community where technology is not used and does workshops and basic training to help them with ICT doing small journalism trainings, etc.

Sandi is a technology blogger and analyst for TechTrends Zambia who writes about the latest technological innovations globally, including products and services by mobile operators, other telcos, satellite TV providers and startups, and progressions in internet governance by regulators and policy makers. She has a Bachelors in Science and is passionate about increasing the number of women in STEM courses and careers. She is also a digital media specialist with many years of experience in building social media reputations of both businesses and individuals, curating online content for development projects, and mentoring media partners. Her skills include digital media production and management, digital crisis control, and online reputation solutions.

Sarah Summers is an emerging maverick and artivist. She has been selected to participate in the initial cohort of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity. She is also co-creator of the webseries Coloured Mentality which has become a leading platform to discuss South African coloured identity. Sarah was selected to direct one of the three 2016 Reeltime Competition Films during the Shnit International Film Festival. Her last short, Gatvol is premiering at the Durban Film Festival. She has been selected as one of 10 young film makers to be mentored in the NFVF’s Young Filmmakers Program. She has directed a number of short films, worked on radio and in TV and is currently in post-production with her feature documentary Strandloper, centred around her experience embarking on 1000km Indigenous Liberation walk with a group of Khoi activists. She has been selected as the South African representative on the OXFAM steering community for their LGBTQI Southern Africa project BUZA project. She was also recently named one of The Mail and Guardians 17 people to watch in 2017. Her vision, powered by a strong work ethic, is to promote the growth of her community through the media.

Tawanda is a Development Practitioner passionate about seeing people prosper. He has over 10 years of experience working in the human development space, at both policy and field level intervention. He is a technology enthusiast and has taken a keen interest in working at the intersection of ICTs and Human development. He is currently engaged with two organisations: The Development Reality Institute, an ICT4D oriented organisation where he is a programs team leader, and the Internet Society Zimbabwe Chapter where he is the current secretary. Tawanda believes that the community of tech users particularly at national level, needs to be able to participate in how various technologies impact their lives, recognizing the internet as sitting at the center of ICTs. In his free time, he likes to train young people on digital literacy skills, with a focus on online behavior. He identifies as a free-thinker, color dreamer and lover of food and all good things.