East African Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF): Opening the Internet Governance Debate in East Africa; Thinking globally, acting locally

The East African Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 10 to 12 November, 2008. The forum was a follow up to national Internet Governance Forums (IGFs) held in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda in September and October 2008. The forum was attended by approximately 180 stakeholders drawn from the
business, civil society, media, academia and government.

The forum was the first of its kind in the Africa region. It was organised through a collaborative partnership between the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), the Kenya ICT Board, Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC), Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the East African ICT for Development Network (EAICT4D), Telecommunication Service Providers of Kenya (TESPOK), among others.

The EAIGF was initiated from the realisation that there was a need to address the limited participation by African stakeholders on global internet governance debates and processes and the need to ensure effective and meaningful contribution to global ICT policymaking. The forum adopted a bottom-up approach and began by mobilising participation at the national levels of the respective East African countries to identify local priority issues. These
national Internet Governance Forums (IGFs) were coordinated by the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) and organised by national network members of the East African ICT4D Network, which are: Sharing with Other People Network (SWOPNet) Tanzania, Information Network (I Network) Uganda, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNet) Uganda, CIPESA (Uganda), Rwanda Development Gateway, Rwanda Utilities Agency (RURA), Rwanda Information Technology Authority (RITA) and Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC) and Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet).

Kenya and Uganda had held mailing list discussions prior to the face to face national IGFs. The national IGFs adopted the multi-stakeholder approach by providing a platform for government, private sector, civil society, media and academia to articulate both local and regional Internet Governance (IG) issues. The forums focussed on building consensus and developing a common understanding on the local nature and character of IG. The national IG issues were then used as a building block for the regional Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF).

The objectives of the EAIGF are to:

- Create awareness and build policy and technical capacity in order to enable meaningful participation in global internet governance and ICT Policy processes
- Institute a consensus building process and develop a common understanding among East African internet stakeholders on the nature and character of IG
- Provide a forum provide that engages industry, government, parliament, media, academia and civil society in debate on Internet Governance issues.

One of the key messages that emerged from the EAIGF was that this was the first ever IGF to “build a grass-root, bottom up process, which began in four countries of the East African region-Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, then culminated into the regional meeting in Nairobi, a clear support for the multi-stakeholder process.

Priority IG issues for the East African Region:

1. Universal affordable Access
a. Access to infrastructure
b. Affordable access to relevant local Content
c. Multi lingualism
d. National and regional Internet exchange points (IXPs)
2. Capacity and skills development
a. Strengthening knowledge base/understanding of IG issues at both policy and
technical
b. Enhance level and quality of local contributions to international IG policy
processes
c. Develop local community expertise
3. Legislative frameworks that will create an enabling environment for creation and innovation
a. Provision of legal and regulatory frameworks for use of ICTs for development
in the region
b. Harmonisation of legal and regulatory frameworks within the East African
region
4. Critical internet resources
a. IPv6 adoption (Transition from IPv4 to IPv6)
b. New gTLDs and IDNs
c. Collaboration and sharing of best practices and procedures
d. ccTLDs and re-delegation of dot UG and RW
5. Cyber crime, security and privacy (creating a national and regional framework)
a. Protecting national/regional Internet infrastructure
b. Protecting personal information
c. Spam
d. E-crime and security legislation
e. National and Regional Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) and Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT).

To improve understanding of IG, strengthen the knowledge base and capacity of East African Stakeholders to engage in the global ICT policy process, research based resource material and a capacity building programme will be developed on the identified priority issues.

The Second EAIGF will be held in Tanzania in 2009.