WAIGF

AfriNIC in partnership with ARTP is planning a 2nd regional Internet Governance Workshop for NRAs, governments, and policy makers, called the West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF), which will be hosted by the Ghana Ministry of Communications.

Objective of the Internet Governance Workshop

The objective is to hold a workshop similar to the IG Workshop held in Dakar, Senegal, Oct ’08 as well as the EAIGF held annually in Nairobi, Kenya, with more focus on establishing an on-going relationship and partnership between AfriNIC and the NRAs, governments, policy makers, as well as with other local, regional, and international organizations that are also tasked with Internet development mandates.  It is important that processes are developed to ensure that the African issues are so well ventilated that they become internationally pertinent for action within such organizations as the African Union, African Telecommunication Union, CRASA, ARICEA and WATRA among others.

Other objectives include:

1. To identify African resources in different areas of the Internet and organize them into specialized clusters or existing clusters in the region
2. To utilize the new platform for regular and meaningful dialogue focused on improvement in the development of the Internet throughout Africa.
3. To develop the appropriate framework for on-going communication for transfer of knowledge and information and the sharing of resources.
4. To liaise with regional organizations dealing inter alia with Internet matters for better coordination.
5. To identify methods to increase awareness of the actions of such international organizations within the African Internet community, such as ICANN, IANA, ISOC, RIRs, ATU, and ITU in the field of Internet development and to avoid duplication of these efforts.
6. To establish a think tank on such issues as Internet security and cyber criminality, building on most regional cyber initiatives that took place for the past 5 years, to pave the way for an African legal instrument to regulate cross border issues and help in enforcement.
7. To assist AfriNIC in the adoption and monitoring of the efficient use of Internet Number Resources.
8. To promote the bottom-up policy development processes established in the Internet Industry.
9. To increase awareness and participation in the global IGF.

Tentative topics for the workshop(s)

1. Access
2. Capacity Building in Internet development
3. Development of local content
4. Cybercrimes &Cyber security
5. The transition from IPv4 to IPv6
6. The role of government in Internet Development
7. Framework for partnerships
8. Creation of African Clusters for reflection and dialogue on the IGF
9. Governments and Regulators Roundtable