IGF 2021 Town Hall #3 Digital Inclusion a Tool for Empowerment in the New Normal

Time
Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (15:15 UTC) - Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 (16:15 UTC)
Room
Conference Room 8
Issue(s)

Economic and social inclusion and sustainable development: What is the relationship between digital policy and development and the established international frameworks for social and economic inclusion set out in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Conventions on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, on the Rights of the Child, and on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? How do policy makers and other stakeholders effectively connect these global instruments and interpretations to national contexts?
Inclusion, rights and stakeholder roles and responsibilities: What are/should be the responsibilities of governments, businesses, the technical community, civil society, the academic and research sector and community-based actors with regard to digital inclusion and respect for human rights, and what is needed for them to fulfil these in an efficient and effective manner?

Round Table - Circle - 60 Min

Description

This session will deal with various digital inclusivity policy initiatives that countries used especially those in Sub Saharan Africa to address digital inclusion during the height of the pandemic. It will look into what policies and frameworks civil society used in engaging governments during the pandemic to address gaps in education, healthcare delivery and essential services during the height of the pandemic. It will deal with the approaches each stakeholder took in coming to the table to solve various digital inclusion problems that affected nations when it came to addressing services during the height of the pandemic. Above all the session will address the importance of digital inclusion to achieving UN SDGs 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the important role SDG 9 plays in this.

The session will be designed as a round table session, with each speaker given 5 minutes to make an opening remark on the session topic. The moderator will introduce the session prior to the 5 minutes remark by other speakers. All participants within the round table will be asked by the moderator to introduce themselves and give a context of how they see the session topic "Digital Inclusion a Tool for Empowerment in the New Normal" within their own context of civil society, government, business etc and from their country perspective during the height of the pandemic. The moderator will also indicate to the Online moderator on questions online and also interject at all times to make the room inclusive to all in the spirit of the session topic during the session.

Organizers

Jokkolabs Banjul
Folks from the Association of Progressive Communication of which Jokkolabs Banjul is a Member, Folks from the West African and African Internet Governance forum, of which am a member and also the representative of our NRI and Youth from the African continent. All are civil society lead organizations. Also folk from the Government of the Gambia which is the governmental focal point for the Gambia NRI and our IGF.

Speakers

Poncelet Ileleji - Jokkolabs Banjul, WAIGF, NRI Gambia - Civil Society Civicus , Civil Society Mary Uduma - WAIGF, Africa IGF, NRI WAIGF, - Civil Society Veronica Ferrari - Association for Progressive Communication, Civil Society Peace Oliver Amuge - WOUGNET, Civil Society Amadou Nyang - Director of ICT, Ministry of Information Communication and Infrastructure, The Gambia, Government.

Onsite Moderator

Poncelet Ileleji

Online Moderator

Peace Oliver Amuge

Rapporteur

Amadou Nyang

SDGs

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-Being
4. Quality Education
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Targets: My Proposal is totally linked to the listed SDGs and SDGs 9 is a catalyst for making us fulfill SDGs 1, 2, 3 and 4 during the height of the pandemic. Without a robust digital inclusion strategy at policy level taken by governments in a lot of sub Saharan African countries working with businesses and civil society organizations millions of Africans could have suffered from hunger, lack of access to health and education could have all been in disarray if not for the various digital inclusion programs that governments put in place especially in the education sector for schools to continue and in food distribution to the vulnerable in society.