[AfrICANN-discuss] Fwd: FW: AfrICANN 2014 Newsletter

[Bob Omondi]

Dear listers,

Please see below our October 2014 Newsletter. Your comments are very
welcome. thank you.

Regards
Bob.


      We are excited to share with you our October 2014 edition of the
AfrICANN newsletter, and hope you enjoyed reading our EMEA Newsletter,
which covered the general developments in the last three months within
ICANN in the EMEA regions, as well as the wider Internet Ecosystem. It is
our hope that these tools continue to be important vessels in keeping you -
our community and stakeholders - informed about our work in Africa and
beyond. With your feedback, we believe that together, we will make
significant strides in elevating the DNS industry in Africa.

In this AfriICANN edition, we shall highlight some of the key activities
and events that the Africa team has participated in the last two months and
update you on the planned activities coming in the near future. A special
focus (Spotlight) has been given to our recent participation in the just
concluded Smart Rwanda Days <http://www.smartrwandadays.rw/> forum in
Kigali Rwanda where ICANN Africa team and one of the ICANN board members –
Mike Silber – hosted two distinguished panels. We are also happy to welcome
The Gambia and Niger as the latest addition to the list of Africa’s GAC
members in ICANN. Our DNSSEC roadshow flagship project has now reached 8
countries and counting.

Lastly, and in response to the desire by the community to re-evaluate the
Africa Strategy with a view of making it more responsive to African needs,
the ICANN Africa team is planning a special consultative meeting to be held
during Afrinic 21 in November 2014 to help come up with modalities of
appointing a Steering Committee to oversee the Implementation of the Africa
Strategy. Please read on.

*Welcome to AfrICANN and happy reading!*
*Africa Team*
 Spotlight: ICANN at Smart Rwanda Days (Oct 2-3 2014)

SMART Rwanda Days is to be an annual event bringing together national and
international stakeholders in the ICT sector – industry experts, policy
makers, and development partners – to discuss how Rwanda can leverage
Information Communication Technologies for economic transformation in line
with her Vision 2020. This year’s event was held at the Serena Hotel,
Kigali under the theme “Digitising Rwanda” and was attended by more than
400 participants. The overall programme is here
<http://www.smartrwandadays.rw/IMG/pdf/program.pdf>.

It is the first of a series of SMART Africa days to be organized in each
African country. To be noted, ICANN is a member of the SMART Africa
Alliance, which was formed in October 2013 in Addis Ababa; other members
are the ITU, the AUC and the AfDB. ICANN was represented at SMART Rwanda
days by the Africa team and Mike Silber, a member of the ICANN board of
directors.

We did three things during the 2-day forum. We held bilateral meetings and
hosted two panels. The bilateral meetings were with government delegations
- ICT ministers from Kenya, Rwanda and Republic of Southern Sudan). Also in
attendance were ITU secretary General Dr. Hamadoun Toure and One UN
resident Coordinator for Rwanda Mr. Lamin M. Manneh. We also held meetings
with lecturers from the Carnegie Mellon University of Rwanda. As for the
two panels hosted, they revolved around:

*A)* Internet Governance
*B)* Greasing the wheels of the Internet Economy

While speaking at the official closure of the forum, President Paul Kagame
echoed the rallying call and tone of the forum “We need to treat broadband
like a utility that we should avail and make affordable to as many people
as we can.” Specifically, he stressed that digital innovation means ideas
do not have borders and therefore countries cannot be landlocked! On his
part, Dr. Toure, echoed Kagame’s remarks on the progress made in recent
years in ICT, saying that Africa was catching up with the rest of the world
and that the next step would be building a knowledge-based society. “We
have the right resources, the younger generation who we believe in, and a
framework that was established and detailed in the Smart Africa Manifesto,”
Toure said.

The two ICANN Panels were spot on and generated very active debates.

 *A) Panel Discussion <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwYC-6JyTw> on
"Internet governance”*

 *Moderator:* Steve Mutabazi, Acting Head ICT; Rwanda Development Board

*Speakers:*

   - Pierre Dandjinou, VP, Stakeholder Engagement – Africa, ICANN
   - Mike Silber, Head Legal and Commercial of Liquid Telecomms
   - Patrick Nyirishema, Ag. Director General of RURA, Rwanda
   - Ghislain Nkeramugaba, Ag. CEO, RICTA
   - Hon. Vincent Waiswa Bagiire, MP, Parliament, Republic of Uganda

The panel discussion opened with a video presentation by Fadi Chehade; in
his welcoming remarks Fadi emphasized on what ICANN does and why Africa
should be part of the overall debate on Internet Governance. Pierre took
over with slides presentation on ICANN and most specifically current
discussions and work on the NTIA’s declaration on transition of the
stewardship of IANA’s functions. Other panelists proceeded with addressing
specific points related to ICANN’s role within the debate on the Internet
governance.

The representative of RURA, the Rwandan regulator insisted on the necessity
for inclusive debates and the need for countries to have a certain control
over the content, which circulates on the Internet. The Honourable Vincent
Bagiire, a Parliamentarian from Uganda recognized the important role played
by ICANN, but was on the opinion that ICANN does not communicate enough on
its activities and moreover, has been too slow in solving issues related to
re delegation of ccTLDs. The representative of the ICT Association of
Rwanda, RICTA which manages the .RW gave an account of how the country’s
domain is being managed and called for a national organization of
stakeholders so that they could best contribute to the Internet governance.
He brought in the issue of Cybersecurity. Mike Silber indicated that ICANN
‘s remit is about coordination of critical resources and that many issues
being raised such as content control or cybersecurity should be dealt with
in other arenas to be created. He insisted on the importance of
participating in the global debate on Internet governance.

In summary, it was agreed that:

   1. Africa needs an informed participation to be able to contribute to
   ICANN and other fora on Internet governance
   2. There is a need to promote debates on IG at national and regional
   levels
   3. ICANN should help build a conducive environment which generates the
   type of leadership that is needed to contribute to ICANN’s activities
   4. Though some information is available on ICANN’s website, it should
   seek other means to better communicate on its activities, while targeting
   different stakeholders.

*B) Panel Discussion on “Greasing the wheels of the Internet Economy"*


*Moderator:* Ali Hussein, CEO, 3Mice Interactive (Kenya)

*Speakers:*

   - Hon. Dr. Fred Okeng'o Matiangi, Ministry of ICT, Republic of Kenya
   - Pitchette Kampeta Sayinzoga, PS, Ministry of Finance and Economic
   Planning - Rwanda
   - Tongai Maramba, CEO, Tigo Rwanda
   - Sunir Chandaria, Vice President, Conros Corporation (Rwanda)
   - Andrew Rugege, Regional Director for Africa, ITU
   - Pierre Dandjinou, VP, Stakeholder Engagement Africa, ICANN

This session was held in the main plenary, with over 100 participants in
attendance including the ICT ministers from Republic of Southern Sudan,
Rwanda, and PS ICT for Republic of Mali and Gabon and streamed live
<http://youtu.be/T96i-uB6zMQ>. To set the stage for the panel, the BCG
report was presented in a few slides; followed by presentations by each
speakers and an interaction with the audience.

In summary, very interesting dialogues with high profile panelists. The
discussions reflected the rich mix of the panelists with most supporting
the findings of the BCG report. “This report has summed up our headache in
matters of ICTs in Africa with the correct term - efriction” noted Mr.
Tongai of Tigo. Pierre was keen on addressing the motivation as to why this
report was commissioned by ICANN while Dr. Matiangi elaborated the various
initiatives in flight in Kenya and within the East African Northern
Corridor projects to address some of the efrictions listed in the report.
Panelists were in general agreement that it is high time ICT infrastructure
was considered as ‘critical’ as roads, Power lines and water
infrastructure, and that strategies including content and application
generation as well as skills development be central to the uptake of ICT
for growth and job creation in the African region.

This was echoed by the ICT minister from Rwanda Hon. Jean Philbert
Nsengimana who stressed in his remarks during the closing ceremony that
“For the Smart Rwanda Days specifically this year we chose ‘Digitising
Rwanda’ as a theme, in recognition of the fact that Africa’s digital
economies are growing faster than traditional sectors and the potential for
an even bigger contribution to national GDPs is yet to be unleashed".

*The ICANN Africa team*
 Africa Team Engagement Activities in Focus

*DNSSEC Roadshow In Yaounde (Cameroon)*

Last month, we held our latest DNSSEC Roadshow in Yaoundé Cameroon from
September 17-19, 2014. With about 100 participants taking part at Ecole
Nationale Supérieure des Postes et Télécommunications (ENSPT), in Yaoundé.

The workshop covered general awareness, capacity building in DNSSEC
technical implementation and, evaluation of the current infrastructure at
the ccTLD level, and next steps for DNSSEC deployment.



  *Business Engagement Roundtable and Breakfast Meeting, Nairobi Kenya
(Sept 8-9, 2014)*

The work of ICANN in coordinating the names and addresses of the Internet
helps keep it global, expanding and interoperable. Furthermore, increased
access to a global, expanding, and interoperable Internet is good for
business and national economies. Support for this point can be found in the
Boston Consulting Group’s report on E friction, “Greasing the Wheels of the
Internet Economy”
<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/bcg-internet-economy-27jan14-en.pdf>
.

The BCG report came out in January, and continues to resonate with
governments and business leaders around the world by providing a clear
roadmap of how businesses and national economies can continue to benefit by
fully embracing a global, borderless Internet.

Our aim in hosting this event in Nairobi was to stimulate meaningful
private sector involvement especially in Africa in ICANN as well the wider
IG ecosystem. The mixed presentation and panel roundtable meeting was led
by ICANN’s Chris Mondini supported by Kenyan private sector ICT experts
with discussions focused on 3 major topics; Africa Strategy, BCG report
presentation and Panel Discussion on Business Engagement.

*Southern Africa IGF: Lilongwe Malawi*

 ICANN participated in the Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum 2014
(SAIGF-14) convened from 17 - 19 Sept 2014 in Lilongwe, Malawi. This high
level multi-stakeholder event on emerging issues on Internet Governance
(IG) in SADC was hosted by the Government of Malawi. The SAIGF-14 was
co-convened by SADC Secretariat in conjunction with the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency, the Association for Progressive
Communications (APC) and the Southern African NGO Network (SANGONET) under
the theme “Internet Governance as a Building Block of SADC Regional
Integration”. The event attracted over 200 delegates from nine (9) SADC
Member States.

ICANN hosted 2 panel sessions on Africa Strategy and another on IANA
stewardship transition / Enhancing ICANN Accountability. The event also
provided an opportunity for productive bilateral meetings with visiting
delegates from SADC member states and the host Malawi GAC rep who is also
the secretary for e-government. NEPAD also announced plans to host the 2ND
Africa School on Internet Governance alongside Afrinic 21 in November this
year. Here is the comprehensive media release
<http://www.sadc.int/documents-publications/show/2789>.

*ICANN at Demo Africa 2014 (Sept 24 – 26 2014)*

DEMO Africa is one of the flagship initiatives of Liberalizing Innovation
Opportunity Nations (LIONS at FRICA) Partnership and aims to connect African
startups to the global ecosystem. It offers start-ups from all over Africa
a platform to meet VCs, investors, tech acquisition specialists, IT buyers
and media from across the region and around the globe. The Start-ups are
given an opportunity to launch their products to a tech eco-system under
various categories including Health, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Retail
and education.

 This event offered us the perfect opportunity to tap into the potential of
African youth to stimulate digital entrepreneurship. Through collaboration
with tech hubs and Incubators, practical training and support to potential
startups interested in the DNS field can be offered, to launch and operate
a registry / registrar business. (DNS incubation).

We at ICANN, understand the need for strategic partnerships with private
sector players, technology and global firms and other donor institutions to
support the project which is why we follow and participate in DEMO Africa
and similar events. The event now in its 3 edition in Africa was hosted in
Lagos, Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communication
and Technology, the National IT Development Agency and the LIONS at FRICA
partners. Key guest who addressed the meeting included the Minister for
ICT, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry (Video
Message <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGzmmXsZNhA>).

*Connect 2 Connect (C2C) Summit. Dar es salaam, Tanzania*

The C2C summit <http://extensia-events.com/events/connect-2-connect-2014/>
was organized by Extensia <http://extensia-events.com/> in partnership with
Tanzania’s ministry of Communications Science & Technology (MCST) and the
Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd. (TTCL). The summit recognized the
cross-sector collaborative efforts in building an Information Society and a
Knowledge Economy across the Eastern, Central and Southern regions of
Africa. Attracting over 240 international policy makers, regulators,
service providers, major end users, investors and solution providers, from
28 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and USA.

“The high level of attendance is a clear indication of the importance of
ICT and serious vision for creating an information society and knowledge
economy” noted PS MCST, Tanzania.

As ICANN, our aim in collaborating with Extensia and participating in such
events is to use the platforms to deepen our engagements with key
delegations from across sectors and expose them to ICANN’s work as we
invite governments to join GAC.

We had very constructive bilateral meetings with the Minster for ICT,
Republic or southern Sudan Ms. Rebecca J. Okwaci, the host and chief guest
of the day, PS MCST, for Tanzania, Prof. Patrick J. Makungu, and the the
deputy minister for ICT – Republic of Zimbabwe Dr. W. Mlambo as well as
representatives from the African Telecommunications Union – ATU. The rest
were private sector players and CEO’s from diverse sectors but largely from
Telco’s, Regulators and ISPs. Please see more details here
<http://extensia-events.com/events/connect-2-connect-2014/> and here
<http://www.slideshare.net/nairdallah/c2c-2014-summit-review>.

*National ICT Summit – Namibia*

ICANN was invited for a key note presentation at the first ever national
ICT event in Namibia organized by the Ministry of Information and
Communication Technology in partnership with Telecom Namibia at the
Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek, on the 6th and 7th October 2014.

Bob Ochieng represented ICANN at the summit and presented on 3 key topics;
Africa Strategy Implementation, IANA Stewardship Transition and the new
gTLD programme. The event also provided an opportunity for bilateral
meetings with the ICT leadership in the Ministry of ICT including the Hon.
minister Joel Kaapanda, MP, the PS ICT Mr. Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana and Mr.
Henry Kassen, the GAC rep for Namibia (Henry is currently vying for the GAC
vice chair position during ICANN 51) as well CEOs of Namibia Telecom and
the Regulator (CRAN <http://www.cran.na/>) and lecturers from University of
Namibia (UNAM). A record 250 delegates were in attendance during the 2-day
event. Please read more here <http://www.namibiaictsummit.na/>.

  Upcoming Events in Africa

*Afrinic 21 <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1013-af21>*
ICANN Africa team will be hosting a special meeting for the mid term review
of the Africa Strategy and possible formation of a steering committee to
oversee the implementation.

*ICANN AfICTA joint Workshop <http://aficta.org/index.php/events>*
The 2nd AfICTA Summit with the theme "Fostering a Smart Africa" is
scheduled to hold on November 3-5, 2014 @ the Conference Centre, Cairo,
Egypt. ICANN Africa team and together with ICANN Middle East colleagues
will host 2 day workshop focused on Registrar issues.

*MEDays Forum <http://www.medays.org>*
The Amadeus Institute, first Think Tank in the Maghreb, will organize the
seventh edition of the international MEDays Forum in Tangier, Morocco, from
November 12th to 15th, 2014. ICANN VP for Africa, Mr. Pierre Dandjinou will
give a key note address under the topic *“Cyber War and e-security: How to
Solve the Snowden Equation?”*

  From ICANN Global

   - *ICANN 51:* Please read all about ICANN 51 at http://la51.icann.org/en/
   - *IANA Stewardship Transition and ICANN Accountability:* ICANN has
   published Revised Enhancing ICANN Accountability: Process and Next Steps:
   https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-10-10-en
   - ITU Plenipotentiary Conference scheduled for Busan (Republic of Korea)
   in November 2014
   <http://www.itu.int/en/plenipotentiary/2014/Pages/default.aspx>

    <https://twitter.com/ICANN> <https://www.facebook.com/icannorg>
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