Session
Organizer 1: Arsene Tungali, Rudi International
Organizer 2: Josephine Miliza, Kenya ICT Network
Organizer 3: Jackline Akello, Article 19
Organizer 4: Twahir Hussein Kassim, Lamuka Hub
Speaker 1: Blaise Azitemina Fundji, Government, African Group
Speaker 2: Jackline Akello, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Roberto Zambrana, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Risper Nyambok, Civil Society, African Group
Josephine Miliza, Civil Society, African Group
Arsene Tungali, Civil Society, African Group
Twahir Hussein Kassim, Technical Community, African Group
Panel - Auditorium - 90 Min
In line with the above, this session will seek to answer the following questions:
1. What challenges do community networks in African countries face in sustaining themselves?
2. What actions/ measures should be taken to sustain community networks? What roles can the government play in this?
3. How does the sustainability of community networks impact the enjoyment of human rights?
Connection with previous Messages: This session proposal will touch and build upon one of the messages from the IGF 2021 under the second issue on Universal Access and Meaningful Connectivity which encouraged stakeholders to consider mapping out their community networks initiatives. Participants and panelists to this workshop will share best practices on what makes a community network strong from their perspectives, including their financing models, knowledge that will be used to improve the state of community networks in Africa.
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Targets: This session is directly linked with SDG 9 as it touches on infrastructure and here, related to connectivity.
Description:
Statistics show that almost 1/3rd of the world’s population is still offline and that the majority of them are based in the global south. It has been reported that one of the challenges to connectivity in the global south is lack of infrastructure, this being linked to lack of proper and enough investments in this area. Only people from cities and urban areas are able to access the Internet thanks to the presence of telecommunication companies, who have the financing mechanisms to deploy these infrastructures.
To this end, communities have come up with innovative ways to keep themselves connected. Key among these are community networks which have been on a steady rise in African countries. The networks provide communities with affordable and meaningful access to the internet and also enable them to enjoy their rights (such as freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of assembly and association) in the online space.
However, despite the relevance of the networks in bridging the connectivity divide and promoting the enjoyment of rights, they face difficulties in sustaining themselves which in the long run hinders their survival and prevents them from thriving. This session will seek to bring the sustainability challenges that community networks face to light in an effort to create awareness among ICT stakeholders in African countries and provide recommendations on what can be done to address this challenge.
We expect that this session will bring to light the challenges surrounding the sustainability of community networks i.e., socially, economically, technically, and environmentally. We also expect that it will steer discussions among stakeholders in African countries on what can be done to address this challenge, in terms of regulation, training, and mentorships of community networks.
The notes from this session will form the basis of a publication that will add to the wealth of knowledge that is available for researchers and practitionners in order to improve community networks.
Hybrid Format: This session will have both an onsite and online moderator who will deal with participants onsite and online. The online moderator will ensure that online participants have a smooth experience. He will also ensure that they are not left out in the session by notifying the onsite moderator; of the questions asked by the online participants in the Q&A session, when an online participant raises their hand and seeks to be given the floor to speak, comments made in the comment section by online participants, and even technical issues raised by online participants such as audibility issues. Both onsite and online moderators will ensure that both online and onsite speakers get equal and sufficient time to speak.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.