Volume 7 - EN AFRALO NEWSLETTER Volume 7 | English June 2021 The latest news from the African At-Large Regional Organization (AFRALO) Visit our Website From the Chair's Desk Seun Ojedeji, AFRALO Chair Dear Colleagues, I trust you are staying safe and maintaining all safety precautions during this period of pandemic. On behalf of the AFRALO Leadership (Myself, Aziz Hilali and Abdeldjalil Bachar Bong) I welcome us all to our second newsletter (volume7) for the year 2021. Our AFRALO Webinar series 2021 continued in Q2 with the topic: “The DNS and how it works”, with participation from members of our community. This webinar was also an initial step into drafting the next statement for the Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting. The “AFRALO Webinar series 2021” was initiated to keep our community engaged, making this “online only” time more beneficial and productive for all. Due to the limitations in our face-to-face meetings imposed by the current health crisis. The webinar series will continue to alternate between topic-based and activity-based webinars, both of which are geared towards improving capacity and participation of our members within ICANN. I encourage members of our community who will like to lead any of the upcoming webinar topics to contact the coordinators in person of Tijani and Bram AFRALO participated in the Africa Engagement Forum organised by the ICANN regional global stakeholders engagement team. The event which ran for 2 days was filled with various sessions held and we featured during the Africa community public forum session. AFRALO will participate at various sessions during the ICANN71 Policy Forum, as its our custom, we will also hold our Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN Meeting where we will be finalising a statement around the topic titled “DNS Abuse Mitigation Strategies”. The session will feature various guest speakers to include: Board members (including board members from Africa), ICANN President and CEO, ALAC Chair, AFRINIC CEO and other experts in the field of multistakeholderism. We will also take a few minutes to pay tribute to Mr. Faye. Makene who is now late. Makene is one of the big contributors to IGF in the region Finally the review of the Individual membership section of our operating principles is in progress and one of the key changes to watchout for is the voting rights to individual members. The Working Party is still discussing the implementation mechanisms and the draft will be shared with the community. We are already mid year - on behalf of the AFRALO Leadership, I wish the entire community an engaging virtual year ahead! See At-Large 2021 Priorities Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief: Seun OJEDEJI Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Aziz HILALI Managing Editor | Secretariat: Abdeljalil Bachar BONG Editor (English): Remmy NWEKE Co-Editor (French): Olévié KOUAMI CONTRIBUTORS Pierre Dandjinou,ICANN Regional Vice President, GSE Africa Sarah Kiden, AFRALO ALAC Member ENGLISH Isaac Maposa Sarah Kiden FRENCH Olévié Kouami ISOC-Mali Full list of team members SUPPORT ICANN At-Large Staff staff(a)atlarge.icann.org About AFRALO African Regional At-Large Organization: Engaging Africa for Development AFRALO is the home of the individual Internet user community for the African region. It provides news, key resources and interactive information sharing tools for individuals and end-user groups in the African region who are interested in ICANN and in shaping the future of the Internet. AFRALO aims to: Strengthen users’ participation in ICANN decision-making structures Help ensure that its members will actively encourage more direct participation by end users Build Internet policy making capacity in the region Reach out to Internet users on the issues in the scope of ICANN Represent users’ interests and defining public interest aspects of Internet governance with specific focus on the areas of privacy, transparency, and accountability Strengthen consumer protection in ICANN policies Identify social impacts of technical infrastructure design Take cultural diversity into account when formulating technical standards (e.g. IDN implementation) AFRALO currently consist of 68 ALSes located in 32 countries and territories, as well as 16 Individual members and 3 Observers. To learn more about the ongoing work of AFRALO, you are welcome to check out the AFRALO workspace. Regional GSE Update Pierre Dandjinou,VP, Stakeholder Engagement - Africa As has become our tradition, I want to begin my note by sending across (On behalf of the Africa SGE and OCTO TE) our warm greetings to the AFRALO leadership and community for their continued active participation and focus on policy work even as the global Pandemic lasts. It is a clear testimony to your commitment and contribution in ensuring that the Internet, the global, open and interoperable Internet continues to be that hope that keeps our communities connected, regardless of where they are. In this edition of your newsletter, and as we hinted in the last edition, I wanted to report back to you on one of our important Pilot Events that we pioneered during the FY21 period, The Africa Engagement Forum. This inaugural event was hosted virtually on 19th and 20th May 2021 and attracted more than 211 remote participants. The forum sought to collate, update, follow-up and synchronize on the work done by ICANN GSE – Africa, as well provide a platform to share direct updates and feedback from the ICANN org staff and as well as the community. At the close of the forum, the following key recommendations and observations were made. Highlights of the Africa Engagement Forum 2021: It consisted of active high-level panel discussions and sessions covering updates from ICANN and the community at large. The community was very supportive of the Africa Engagement Forum overall as it demonstrated that there was indeed a lack of such space for discussion on ICANN specific topics in Africa. It provided an opportunity for ‘ICANNers’ to deepen collaborations with a New friends and audience such as IGOs and RECs like the ATU. Calls to ICANN org to consider running a follow-up Study on the Africa DNS Market. There were calls for greater efforts to localize the Multistakeholder Processes across African Countries. From the feedback, it was clear that the community not only found the event quite valuable but also keen to see the event evolved into an annual forum and ICANN org would work internally to ensure this is achieved. In particular, I want to recommend reviewing the recordings of these three sessions that proved very popular: High Level Panel ICANN org Global Stakeholder Engagement Team - Updates Africa Community Public Forum Thank you and I do hope that we would be able to work even more closely this FY22. Please keep safe. ICANN71 Update The ICANN71 Virtual Policy Forum was held from 14-17 June, attended by 1,330 participants from 147 countries around the world. During the meeting, the 2021 ICANN Community Excellence Award was given posthumously to Marilyn Cade and to Rafik Dammak. There were three plenary sessions during the conference: The Impact of Regulatory Developments on ICANN Policy Topics, ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model within the Internet Governance Ecosystem, and Understanding Reputation Block Lists. There was a session discussing the post pandemic future of ICANN Public meetings. The At-Large policy sessions during ICANN71 include: At-Large Policy Session 1: End User Participation in ICANN PDPs and their Role within the ICANN ecosystem; At-Large Policy Session 2: ccTLD governance models - Testimonies from At-Large end users and At-Large Policy Session 3: GDPR as a technology - policy implications. The GNSO Council had their regular meeting, various stakeholders organised their own meetings, and the GNSO held a session to provide updates to the community of the activities of the various policy initiatives such as the GNSO EPDP Phase 2A , GNSO - CPH DNS Abuse Work Group, Transfer Policy Review Working Group. The GNSO also had a meeting on the Registration Data Policy IRT and IDNs EPDP community outreach. GAC had meetings with GNSO and ALAC. There were sessions to discuss DNS Abuse Mitigation, subsequent rounds of GTLD auctions, RDS/ WHOIS and data protection. The GAC Communique of ICANN71 can be read here. Apart from the ccNSO Council meeting, ccNSO organised a session of the Strategic & Operational Planning Standing Committee, a ccTLD-related Board Members Questions and Answer Session and a Members Meeting Governance Session. Additionally, there were two DNSSEC and Security workshops, two Tech day sessions and an SSAC public meeting. RSSAC has a work session and there was a session organised by the Customer Standing Committee (CSC) - IANA Naming Function Session. The At-Large sessions have been highlighted separately in the next section. At-Large @ICANN71 At-Large was very active in ICANN71 and organised several policy sessions that were greatly appreciated by the community. During the Prep Week (between 1-3 June), At Large organised three webinars: ICANN71 At-Large: What to expect; Flash Pitch Tour of ICANN and At Large (by EURALO) and At-Large Outreach and Engagement Session. During ICANN71, the At-Large community held three policy sessions. End User Participation in ICANN PDPs and their Role within the ICANN Ecosystem This At-Large policy session explored the level of influence of Internet end users on ICANN policy development processes (PDPs). The session explored two questions: ● To what extent does the ICANN Board rely on the Internet end user community in making its decisions? ● How does the ICANN community gather opinions that are representative of Internet end users? ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Göran Marby, ICANN Board Vice Chair León Sánchez, and ALAC Vice Chair for Policy Jonathan Zuck exchanged their views on end user participation in ICANN. León Sánchez noted that “the end user is at the center” of ICANN. The discussion also highlighted the important role the ALAC and At-Large community have in the public interest. ccTLD Governance Models: Testimonies from At-Large End Users In this policy session, Country Code Name Supporting Organization member Katrina Sataki introduced the four types of country code top-level domain (ccTLD) governance models consisting of academic, government, for profit, and not for profit. Nine At-Large members from around the world and across the various ccTLD governance models spoke about their experiences with the ccTLD operators in their country. Moderator Olivier Crépin-Leblond noted in his summary that all four models of ccTLD governance appear to be listening to end user inputs in how they serve their local community. Following ICANN71, the At-Large community will continue the discussion to increase end user input in their local ccTLD. The session organizers are considering a follow-up session during ICANN72 on ccTLDs and how end user input could be heard to a greater degree, including how to promote end user input in the governance of ccTLDs and which aspects of ccTLD operation have resonated well with end users. GDPR as a Technology: Policy Implications The At-Large community held a policy session on the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its technology and policy implications. The policy session explored the potential impact that advancing GDPR compliance with the use of technology will likely have on Internet end users, in particular the policy implications of a United States patent, “Systems and Methods for Preserving Privacy of a Registrant in a Domain Name System (DNS),” recently issued to Verisign and the level to which it might impact further work of the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification (EPDP-TempSpec) for Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Registration Data. Program participants noted that national patents may impact ICANN policies and PDPs and may raise questions of enforcement. The At-Large community and other stakeholders will follow up on these evolving issues. There was also an AFRALO and AfrICANN meeting along with the At-Large EURALO social event. The African community held the 26th joint African RALO (AFRALO)-AfrICANN meeting to discuss regional issues and finalize a joint statement, “DNS Abuse Mitigation Strategies”. Read more about At-Large activity during ICANN71 in the ICANN71 Policy Outcomes Report. ALAC Update In June, the ALAC did not hold their monthly meeting due to ICANN71 Virtual Policy Forum activities. Read more about At-Large activity during ICANN71 in the ICANN71 Policy Outcomes Report. The ALAC met with the ICANN Board in July, and discussed 1) ALAC advice to the Board - best practice in format, approach, feedback and process; 2) ALAC advice to the ICANN Board on Subsequent Procedures; 3) Holistic review. In July, the ALAC met and reviewed ICANN71 action items, discuss ALAC advice to the ICANN Board on EPDP Phase 2 (SSAD), other At-Large policy and operational issues, a review of ALS and Individual membership applications, reports from At-Large PLUS leaders, plans for ICANN72 AGM, as well as a guest speaker presentation from León Sánchez, ICANN Board Vice Chair and Director selected by At-Large. ALAC / At-Large Policy Comments & Advice All of AFRALO and the At-Large Community are invited to contribute to ICANN Public Comment proceedings. For more information, please visit the At-Large Policy Advice Development Page or contact At-Large Staff. Have your say! To contribute to ALAC policy activity, please comment on the At-Large workspace or volunteer as penholder, and join the weekly At-Large Consolidated Policy Working Group (CPWG) meetings. The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) submitted (8) statements and advice to the ICANN Board, ICANN Public Comment proceedings, and cross-community solicitations for comment since the last AFRALO Newsletter: Initial Report of the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Team – PHASE 2A RrSG Draft White Paper: Registrant Protections in DNS Abuse Mitigation GNSO New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Outputs for ICANN Board Consideration APRALO Statement GNSO Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs Policy Development Process Phase 1 Final Recommendations for ICANN Board Consideration ALAC Advice to the ICANN Board on Subsequent Procedures Second Security, Stability, and Resiliency (SSR2) Review Team Final Report IANA Naming Function Review: Recommendation for an IANA Naming Function Contract Amendment EU Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS 2 Directive) The ALAC is currently developing (1) ALAC advice to the ICANN Board: Comment ALAC Advice to ICANN Board on EPDP Phase 2 CPWG See: At-Large Website on Public Comments and Policy Advice See: Executive Summaries: ALAC Public Comments and Advice See: Consolidated Policy Working Group (CPWG) See: At-Large Operations, Finance and Budget Working Group (OFB-WG) ALAC/At-Large Policy Issues ALS Activities ICT & Entrepreneurship As part of the implementation of its Education Support Program (PAE), the Malian Chapter of the Internet Society in partnership with the Incubation Center AGETIC organized the training of about thirty young academics under the theme ''ICT and Entrepreneurship''. The participants were generally bachelor's and master's degree students who could directly benefit from this training upon completion of their studies. During two full days, several modules were the subject of lectures and practical exercises, among which some modules were based on the creation of a company, the management of a company, the accounting, the procedures of a single desk portal for the creation of a company and the digital Marketing etc. In total the students were from 3 universities which are the University of Technical Sciences and Technologies of Bamako through its Faculty of Technical Sciences (USTTB/FST).Bottom of FormThe University Institute of Management (UIM) and the Higher School of Computer and Commercial Management. Speaking of trainers, they are professionals from specialized agencies such as the Agency for the Promotion of Youth Employment (APYE), the Investments Promotion Agency (IPA). The training ended by a presentation of certificates to the lucky recipients who did not hide their entire satisfaction. Digital Cooperation: DSA boss commends NCC, NigComSAT over MoU @NDSF2021 The Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkem Nweke, has applauded the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSAT), saying it paves the way for digital cooperation, especially on frequency spectrum management for the forthcoming fifth generation networks (5G). DigitalSENSE Africa is a project of ITREALMS Media group, and accredited as an At-Large Structure (ALS) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Welcoming participants at the 12th edition of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum series on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) with the theme: Digital Cooperation: Enhancing Multistakeholder Governance for Digital Economy, held at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel, Lagos, Mrs. Nweke noted that the theme was specifically chosen to focus attention on the role of Internet Governance in driving digital cooperation to boost governance in a digital economy. She pointed out that there was evident recently in Nigeria when the telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSAT) entered a deal with the signing of an MoU as part of digital cooperation in anticipation for the Fifth Generation (5G) network in the country. She quoted the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta at the ceremony, as saying that the MoU would facilitate the release of contiguous bandwidth in one of the most suitable Frequency Spectrum band(s) for early deployment of Fifth Generation Network (5G) services. Recall that the Frequency Spectrum bands allocated to 5G by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) includes the C-band (3.4GHz - 3.9GHz) which stands out because its balancing point between coverage and capacity provides the perfect environment for 5G connectivity. This, she considered worthy of celebration for what most industry stakeholders tagged ‘5G Marriage.’ Also, she noted that recently, DigitalSENSE Africa in continuous advocacy engagement joined forces in expressing support on “open, interconnected and interoperable Internet by appending our signature to this call.” She emphasised that the open, interconnected and interoperable Internet is increasingly under threat, and stressed that technical, legislative and policy developments have furthered the risk that the Internet fragments into siloed parts. These developments, Mrs Nweke noted, include bans or restrictions on international data flows; techno-protectionist initiatives, interference with free expression, privacy, and/or encryption; and Internet shutdowns - among other hazards. She maintained that “these developments may pose a threat to the open, interconnected and interoperable Internet, along with its associated benefits to social and economic development, while also harming human rights.” She expressed excitement that this achievement and MoU came at a time when a female Managing Director of NigComSAT, Dr. Abimbola Alale is in office. NDSF2021 was chaired by Dr. Olusoji Okunoye of University of Lagos (UNILAG) who stood in for the President, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Prof. Adesina Sodiya and also featured other speakers including Dr. Alale who was represented by the Acting Manager Marketing, Mrs Ibiye Ukoko, President, Institute of Software Practitioners (ISPON), Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Mr. Aderemi Adejumo of CloudFlex, Mr. Mohammed Rudman represented by Mr. Jacob Dagunduro, Mr.Francis Uzor of Wisdom Computer Technologies, and Nnenna Nwakanma Chief Web Advocate of World Wide Web Foundation, to name a few. Photo caption: ISPON President, Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Acting General Manager, Marketing at NigComSAT, Mrs Ibiye Ukoko, Dr. Olusoji Okunoye who represented the NDSF2021 chairman and President, Nigeria Computer Society, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkem Nweke, Chief executive, CloudFlex, Mr. Remi Adejumo, Managing Director, Wisdom Computer Technology, Mr. Franics Uzor and Editor-in-Chief, ITREALMS Media, Mr. Remmy Nweke @ Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development (NDSF2021). Book: ISOC launches Internet in Benin In December 2020, the Benin Chapter of the Internet Society during “Chapter Week” launched the Book on the History of the Internet in Benin. This project, which began in February 2020 and led by members of the chapter, made it possible to launch, after 11 months of systemic research and formidable contributions from pioneers and actors of the Internet, a Book of eight (08) chapters, spread over 252 pages and prefaced by Pierre DANDJINOU, Founder and Honorary President of the Benin Chapter of the Internet Society. Several thousand copies have been and are being distributed throughout the country and in the sub-region. You can request and get your copy here. In April 2019, the Internet was cut in Benin for almost 24 hours, on the day of the legislative elections. In order to prevent such an act from being repeated, the Benin Chapter of the Internet Society and a coalition of Civil Society Organizations called on the government of Benin to keep the Internet open and accessible during the presidential elections of April 11, 2021, through a digital campaign on social networks, a public conference and the publication of an article. Reinforced by the signing of an Open Letter from the #KeepItOn coalition, this series of proactive actions aimed to raise awareness, alert and prevent the major risks that could be caused by a possible Internet shutdown. They also aimed to draw the attention of governments and society to the serious consequences of an Internet shutdown on the economy, education and society of a country in general and in the digital sector in particular. Find this post by ISOC Benin here. ISOC Mali Uganda hosts Universal Acceptance webinar series Innocent Adriko The Internet Society (ISOC) Uganda Chapter joined AccessPlus, working in partnership with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Mozilla, the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance Uganda (MoICT&NG) and the National Information Technology Authority - Uganda (NITA-U) are conducting a webinar series on Universal Acceptance under the theme, “Demystifying Universal Acceptance: What does a multilingual Internet look like?”. The 5-part webinar series will cover topics ranging from “Why Universal Acceptance” to “Email Address Internationalization (EAI) configuration.” The first webinar was held on 24 June 2021 under the topic “Why it is important to have multiple languages on the Internet” and was moderated by Solana Larsen, the Editor of the Internet Health Report, Mozilla. Panelists were: Joe Hildebrand, Anasuya Sengupta, Bonface Witaba, Remy Muhire and Rebecca Ryakitimbo. The second webinar is scheduled for 29 July 2021 under the topic “Understanding Universal Acceptance” and will be moderated by Bob Ochieng, Sr. Manager, Stakeholder Engagement- Eastern and Southern Africa. Panelists will include Dr. Ajay Data and Yaovi Atohoun. Find more details about the webinar series on this website; Participants are invited to register for the upcoming webinars. EGIGFA holds 2nd GhanaSIG Fellowship Raymond Selorm Mamattah The second edition of the annual Ghana School on Internet Governance (GhanaSIG) fellowship concluded with a 4-day face-to-face training on 29th June to 2nd July 2021, in Accra, Ghana. Thirty-eight (38) participants were earlier selected out of over 100 applicants, who took a series of online courses (mostly ICANN learn courses) for one month, coupled with weekly discussions to get them fully immersed in various internet governance topics. These online courses were mandatory and those who successfully completed all the courses were selected for the face-to-face session. In all 33 Fellows made it to the final session and have successfully completed their training as GhanaSIG Fellows. The fellowship representatives were Foster Gyamfi Obeng and Hannah Wintimatse Abugri. Fellows were selected from people with diverse backgrounds such as senior military officers, journalists, lots of CEOs, internet end-users etc. In addition to diverse internet governance topics, the Fellows were also introduced to other topics such as data protection, blockchain technology, digital/human rights, e-governance. They were also exposed to practical steps to get engaged in the ecosystem. The 2021 GhanaSIG fellowship was convened by the E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa (EGIGFA), an accredited ALS. 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