Shaping the future of the internet in Africa: Seventh internet governance school set to begin 4 September in Chad

N'DJAMENA, Chad - The Seventh African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) will be held on 4-9 September in N'Djamena, Chad. For six days, 45 participants from 23 countries will gather at sessions, lectures and workshops to gain greater insight on internet governance processes at the local, national, regional, sub-regional and global levels.

What is the aim of the School?

The School, which started in 2013 in South Africa and has since taken place in Mauritius (2014), Ethiopia (2015), South Africa (2016), Egypt (2017) and Tanzania (2018), aims to promote and strengthen active multistakeholder participation in internet governance on the African continent. It takes place right before the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) and features a practicum that gives participants hands-on experience and allows them to use that experience by participating in the AfIGF immediately following the School. The theme of this year's practicum is drafting a multistakeholder consensus response to the call for input on the report of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.

In the words of Anriette Esterhuysen, senior advisor on internet governance, policy advocacy and strategic planning at APC and coordinator and facilitator of the School, "AfriSIG and the African IGF present an invaluable opportunity to gather African voices and perspectives and communicate these to the United Nations Secretary-General's office. For this year's AfriSIG, the report and this request for input presented an ideal learning opportunity.” 

Over the years, AfriSIG has built a multidisciplinary cadre of expertise in internet governance on the continent through the participation of current and emerging leaders drawn from government, business, academia and civil society. A tracer study that examines the impact on individual participants over the first four rounds of the school reflects the huge and positive difference it has made in their perceptions and careers.

In 2017 the School was awarded a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prize for international and regional cooperation.

Would you like to get the highlights of the School, interview our fellows?

• Visit the AfriSIG website for more information.

• Follow the School on Twitter for daily updates: @afrisig

• Contact Leila Nachawati, APC’s media outreach lead, for press inquiries: leila@apc.org