IGF 2021 Open Forum #21 The African Union Open Forum 2021

Time
Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (13:00 UTC) - Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (14:00 UTC)
Room
Ballroom C

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The session aims at discussing digital inclusion especially in relation to Capacity Building; the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa 2020-2030; Data Policy; Cybersecurity and Digital Cooperation as catalysts toward mainstreaming digital technology in Africa, including local content and gender inclusion. The Forum will also discuss the Internet Governance Capacity Building activities of the AU-EU Project entitled Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA), which focuses on digital inclusion. The session will not only focus on broadband availability, accessibility, relevancy and affordability but also making sure that it is safe, trusted, user-empowering and leads to positive outcomes.

Given the large interest in the past two years, we request that the session is allocated 90 Minutes instead of 60 Minutes.

The session will begin by 5 minutes’ remarks by each of the panelists to provide key updates on existing initiatives and sharing of best practices. The session moderator will then open the floor for questions and interactions from the audience.

Participants will be encouraged to ask questions through the Q&A particularly those participating online. Those participating face to face will have an opportunity to directly ask questions to the panelists. The African IGF MAG developed a toolkit for online participation which will be made available to our targeted audience for their reference

Organizers

African Union Commission

  • Adil Sulieman – African Union Commission
  • Mary Uduma - Chair of AfIGF- MAG
  • Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u - PRIDA, AUC
  • Mactar Seck - UNECA
  • Dawit Bekele- Internet Society
  • Salyou Fanny, Cote d'Ivoire
  • Joshua Joshua, Nigeria
  • Aicha Jeridi, Tunisia
Speakers

Moses Bayingana  – African Union Commission

Christian S. Minoungou - African Union Commission

Mary Uduma - Chair of AfIGF- MAG 

Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u -PRIDA, AUC

Mactar Seck - UNECA

Dawit Bekele- Internet Society

 

Onsite Moderator

Adil Sulieman

Online Moderator

Salyou Fanny, Cote d'Ivoire

Rapporteur

Joshua Joshua, Nigeria and Aicha Jeridi, Tunisia

SDGs

5. Gender Equality
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
17. Partnerships for the Goals

Targets: On Goal 5 the proposal captures the AUC work under PRIDA where gender is a key consideration in the capacity building work in the Schools of IG. The focus for the trainings in diverse areas and to push for connectivity across the continent is to expose the citizens to other opportunities for work and boost economic growth hence goal 8. The focus on the youth is to invoke their entrepreneurial mind to innovate as a way of solving local challenges hence promoting goal 9. Reduction of inequalities as our key focus in building the IG capacity and streamline IG activities in the continent to ensure that all are included in the digital debates and that Africa has a common progressive voice. AUC through its programmes and partnership with other regional and global organizations such as ISOC, AfrCERT among others is working to ensure that connectivity challenges that leads to inequalities in access and utilization of digital technologies are addressed through partnerships and collaborations hence supporting goals 10 and 17.