ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific)

Comment

Comment by Sala T on June 17, 2011 at 5:12am

Hi All,
I am in Singapore for the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum and will be reporting on the Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum in 6 hours time. The sessions and transcripts are on video on the internet (APrIGF). Yesterday's session was exciting and continues to build momentum. We just had an interesting session on Internet for Disaster Recovery which was chaired by Izumi Aizu - co-coordinator of the IGC. We have resolved to put together a mailing list to coordinate strategies that will help accelerate this on the national, regional and international front.

Comment by Tracy Hackshaw on June 6, 2011 at 2:59am

Hi all,

 

I happened to be in receipt of this summary of the Pacific IGF held in Noumea, New Caledonia from 9-10 April 2011 (authored by Keith Davidson) and thought I would share with you.

 

Pacific IGF 2011 Thematic Summaries

 

(from Keith Davidson)
 
Scene Setting 
The importance of the Internet Governance Forum as a multi-stakeholder institution, allowing the sharing of perspectives from all those interested in Internet policy issues – governments, civil society, regulators, business interests and more, all participating equally was a recurring theme throughout the weekend. The challenges faced in the Pacific in gaining access to the Internet, and the potential the Internet gives for development (allowing people across the region to improve their lives and build their economies in ways that are consistent with local values and cultures) were also constant themes.
 
Internet Access for All and the Digital Divide
The Pacific is a huge region with a small, very spread out population.T his creates enormous challenges for universal access to high speed Internet services in all the countries of the region.  The challenge is not just geographic but also demographic, economic and social as it extends to a range of population groups (for example, those with disabilities) who simultaneously lack access to the Internet and would be able to benefit hugely from such access.

There was a call for fewer pilots and more focus on rolling access out based on successful pilots, with a counter-argument that local pilots are vital to making sure that rollout happens in ways appropriate to the local communities.

There was discussion about the balance between public and private sector action in dealing with digital divide issues, and a reminder that some stakeholders which traditionally are not a significant part of the debate are able to help (the specific example highlighted was the role of the Church in the region, given its important position in Pacific communities and cultures, and its significant level of resources).  The private sector investments can be supported by Government departments acting as ‘anchor tenants’ to deployment.

Public Policy
Key themes included the need for links between global, regional and national strategies; the concerns that some national policies are not being formed by local perspectives, knowledge and values; the importance of true capacity building which allows Pacific states to devise and implement their own policy frameworks; and the linguistic challenge faced in asking Pacific people to write policy frameworks in English – the suggestion was made that indigenous language should be more widely used as it will allow the people to better understand already complex issues.

There was a feeling that the policy ambitions set out are not being met, and a clear sense of impatience to achieve the goals that the various regional and national policy frameworks set out. Speakers also reiterated the importance of a grass-roots based, multi-stakeholder method of policy development as a good way to capture local knowledge, and ensure policy is relevant.

Critical Internet Infrastructure
Pacific feedback was received on three key topic areas that will be discussed at the global IGF: the transition to IPv6, DNSSEC, and the roles of various stakeholders in managing Critical Internet Resources.

Speakers presented information on each, and there was a wide-ranging round of feedback and debate. Recurring themes in the discussion included the importance of consumer input and voice; that Governments are not the only stakeholders; that security of and confidence in Critical Internet Resources is a vital consideration; and that the multi-stakeholder approach established in the IGF framework is itself a vital resource in dealing with the very complicated interactions and set of interests required in managing the Internets unique identifiers. It was particularly heartening to see the positive engagement between the head of ICANN and the head of the ITU and their joint and respective commitment to supporting the Pacific.

Recurring themes in the discussion included the importance of consumer input and voice; that Governments are not the only stakeholders; that security of and confidence in Critical Internet Resources is a vital consideration; and that the multi-stakeholder approach established in the IGF framework is itself a vital resource in dealing with the very complicated interactions and set of interests required in managing the Internets unique identifiers. Also important in the short run is to accelerate uptake of IPv6, as IPv4 address space will not be longer available as needed.

There was also an animated debate about the division between infrastructure and users, and the degree to which user needs do or should guide technology decisions. Some argued that the technology is largely independent of use, others made the opposite case.

Emerging Issues
There was extensive discussion on four emerging issues: on citizen journalism, Digital Observatories, dealing with e-waste in the region, and the concerns with keeping users and infrastructure safe.

The widespread availability of Internet access gives people the chance to record and share what is happening in their societies, independent of traditional media outlets.  This poses challenges both to traditional media and to traditional Pacific community structures.

The digital observatory concept outlined was the New Caledonia case, where a small institution collates a wide range of statistics about the use and impact of the Internet. The case outlined the contribution such an Observatory can make to economic and social development.

The e-waste discussion showed the importance of sharing ideas between Pacific states in making e-waste policy work, and the need for those involved with Government to persuade their countries to work on this issue. It also highlighted to extensive expense in disposing of potentially toxic waste and the need to stem the flow of obsolete technology into the Pacific.

Throughout the weekend we heard repeated references to the need to keep users safe and infrastructure robust.  At the conclusion of the weekend MoU’s were signed between SPC and NetSafe and between SPC and APNIC.

Other matters raised in the general discussion included the need to ensure the Internet is accessible in Pacific languages, the discussion of an Internet Rights and Principles Charter, and the importance of ensuring the Pacific perspectives from this Pacific IGF are shared at the global IGF happening later this year.

Conclusion
The ITU Secretary General, the Chair of ICANN, the Director General of APNIC, the Director General of the SPC and closing remarks from the Pacific IGF Chair all focused on the need cooperation – globally, regionally and locally.  The speakers drew out the common themes touched on in the summaries presented above, and all reiterated the importance of the multi-stakeholder framework in providing an open forum for all those involved with the Internet to have an equal voice in shaping its development.
<end>

Comment by Nonkululeko Godana on October 13, 2010 at 5:10pm

Molweni (greetings). I lead a group of young digital natives from South Africa, who gather to share their (township) community concerns online via blogging (www.studentsforhumanity.com). I have a particular interest in training more young people who don't have a voice online, as well as encourage the youth who are online to use the internet to impact on social change. I am hoping that all these young people will form a cross-cultural network that will make visible change on their communities, as well as this class, race and religiously divided country. Pleased to meet all of you. Let's connect.

Comment by Sala T on September 24, 2010 at 2:02am

Bula (Greetings) from Wellington New Zealand, I will be in Fiji, my home country soon. I am interested in all things relating to ICT in the ACP Zone: Universal Service, Security and am looking forward to exchanging best practices and also learning from challenges and mistakes.. Feel free to add me as a friend, could I start off with asking what the core legislative instruments for ICT are in your countries as well as links to Policies, I promise to send you Fiji's once I am back home. Fiji Islands is a group of 300 odd islands in the Pacific and we have an international submarine cable owned by the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCL) that has an Agreement with Fiji International Telecommunications Limited (FINTEL) who sells backhaul to Telecom Fiji Limited (the only fixed line provider) who in turn sells backhaul to other operators whether they are Celcos (we have 3, Vodafone, Digicel and Innk) and other ISPs and Voip Providers. Fiji has both copper and fiber on the ground and there are Wimax and Wifi Solutions and we also deploy Satellite (VSAT) due to the geographical composition of our islands. Whilst Satellite is more expensive during natural disasters such as cyclones, satellite technology has been proven to be resilient.

Comment by KAMWENUBUSA Jean-Claude on August 20, 2010 at 7:32pm

Greetings from East African Community, Burundi.
I am full of joy when I see that Internet Governance and ICTs evolution help toward sustainable development, equal participation and sustainable development. I am very passionate about IG, telecommunications with a particular interest to cyber security: infrastructure (3G and converged mobile services, internet as media) and E-participation and development (Internet as an Enabler for Telemedicine Applications, Internet protocol IPV6) Digital David, network development, Internet protocol IPV6, Telemedicine…)

I am pleased to be approved here to think globally and act locally wherever I am, everywhere I go and at anytime with Internet and ICTs.

I will also continue to learn: You’re all my professors.
Regards and together will make it.

Comment by Niel Harper on August 3, 2010 at 11:50pm

Blessings and salutations from Barbados - The land of the flying fish and sweet sweet calypso music. While I am passionate about telecommunications policy and IG in general, I am particularly interested in cybersecurity and infrastructure (network development, net neutrality, IPv6, etc.). I can't wait to engage you all and exchange ideas on key IG issues and geographically specific experiences and solutions.

Comment by Amr Elsadr on August 2, 2010 at 1:38pm

Greetings from the land of the pharaohs everyone!! My name's Amr from Cairo. Looking forward to share plenty of discussions in this group. My initial focus in IG was empowerment and safety of young people in cyber-space, but thanks to the Diplo IGCBP, Internet governance has been a non-stop roller-coaster ride for me for the past year and a half. In addition to youth issues, I'm generally interested in how the Internet helps with socio-economic development, and I'm very interested in ICANN's policy decision making process of the domain name system. Looking forward to plenty of interaction.

Comment by Parkop Kisokau on June 30, 2010 at 8:17am

Greetings from the Pacific Island country of Papua New Guinea.
Hope we are able to achieve a lot from the discussions that will come out from this group. My interest is in the Infrastructure and ICT Strategies in IG for developing island states. Best regards and looking forward to the diversity of views in the group.

Comment by Dave Kissoondoyal on June 28, 2010 at 5:29pm

Hello from the tiny island of Mauritius.
Hope that one day we will be able to host an event here to make all our ACP members taste the hospitality of the Mauritian population
BTW, Thanks for setting up this platform for us
Best regards
Dave Kissoondoyal

Comment by Seun Ojedeji on June 28, 2010 at 1:07pm

A shout out to everyone in the house!!!
This is a highly welcomed development! I heard(from Ms Nweke) the National IGF for Nigeria held before the Accra and that arrangement to have a representation at Vilnius was not successful....i guess this will then be one of the avenues to participate!
Thanks for setting this up.

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