AFRALO Newsletter

3 Nov 2019


      October 2019  AFRALO NEWSLETTER  Volume 1 | October 2019 The latest news from the African At-Large Regional Organization (AFRALO) Visit our Website From the Chair's Desk Mohamed El Bashir, AFRALO Chair Welcome to AFRALO Newsletter 1st Volume, It's a new dawn!   I most sincerely welcome everyone to this new dawn of the maiden edition of the AFRALO newsletter.   I am excited that what started like mere suggestion is now coming into fruition and thereby positioning AFRALO to join the league of RALOs with their own newsletter. I thank all those who volunteered to make this happen.    This is a new dawn looking back from where we were coming from, following AFRALO's successful election of new leadership team to be led by Seun Ojedeji ( incoming Chair) and Aziz Hilali ( incoming Vice Chair). I do appreciate the role and support of Fatimata Seye Sylla (outgoing Vice Chair), Let me once again congratulate all the newly elected members and seek their support moving forward for the incoming leadership as we continue to grow AFRALO members and activities.   I write this with nostalgia, given that this is my first and probably the last as the Editor-in-Chief of this new AFRALO Newsletter, but definitely not going to be my last in terms of contributions to the growth and sustenance of AFRALO and ICANN community.   I must at this juncture express our gratitude to ALAC leadership and At-Large community members who stood by AFRALO delegates to the Third At-Large Summit (ATLAS III), to ensure that we make good use of this opportunity, using their contacts and time.   Special Thanks to Leadership, ICANN staff and particularly the At-Large support staff Heidi, Gisella, Silvia, Evin, Yesim), the Travel Team and ICANN Africa Engagement Team led by the Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Mr. Pierre Dandjinou. We can only pray and urge you and team to continue to pilot the engagement train so as to sustain the tempo so far.   For our ATLAS III Ambassadors, especially those who eventually succeeded in getting the Canadian visa, despite all the hiccups; we are looking forward to your active participation in ATLAS III and ICANN meeting in Montreal. We must make good use of this opportunity so as to encourage others starting from taking the sessions seriously as a number of activities have been well lined up including the plenary on Monday with focus on “Thought and Change Leadership” and a session on ‘Effective Communication’ with a number of breakout sessions, to name a few.   Above all, network with peers and the wider ICANN community, it offers extra-opportunity to learn firsthand and I am sure that by the time ICANN66 and ATLAS III will be over, there will be light at the end of the tunnel, for us as individuals and Africa as a continent.   Also central is the AFRALO monthly calls, which I think we must continue to be an open forum to share ideas of activities in our region and coordinate our RALO activities. Our active participation in the multistakeholder engagements within the ICANN community is important and valuable, so please continue to be active and engaged.   I would like to welcome Ihab Osman and Mandla Msimang, the newly selected African members to the ICANN Board of Directors, we are looking forward to work with you and wish you the best in your new roles.I wish everyone, especially those traveling to Montreal for ICANN66 and very importantly to us, the ATLAS III, a safe trip and active participation.   Lastly we lost one of the African Internet industry finest, Dr. Tarek Kamel (1962-2019) may his soul rest in peace, He was a true African Internet Pioneer.   Enjoy this new dawn! Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed EL BASHIR Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Fatimata SEYE SYLLA Managing Editor | Secretariat: Sarah KIDEN Editor (English): Remmy NWEKE Co-Editor (French): Olévié KOUAMI CONTRIBUTORS ENGLISH Adetokunbo Abiola Aisha Hamid Bram Fudzulani  Bukola Oronti  Dave Kissoondoyal  Hadia El Miniawi Haroun Mahamat FRENCH Adam Ahmat Brahim Mustapha Cedric Kinanga Christine Anaky Gabdibé Gab-Hingonne Ines Hfaiedh Minata Zong-Naba Full list of team members SUPPORT ICANN At-Large Staff staff@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 61 ALSes located in 32 countries and territories. To learn more about the ongoing work of AFRALO, you are welcome to check out the AFRALO workspace. AFRALO Secretariat Update: ATLAS III The At-Large Summit (ATLAS III) is the third gathering of the representatives of Internet end-users participating in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) activities. In the activities leading to this stage, which is part of the 66th ICANN International Meeting, slated for Montréal, Canada, from 2 - 7 November 2019, the African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) would be well represented. Noteworthy is that the selection process was divided into two parts; namely the assessment to ascertain membership of At-Large; a series of compulsory courses about ICANN and what it does; and already an active member within At-Large or in another section of ICANN, on behalf of At-Large. Out of the 55 selected At-Large members, AFRALO got 19 slots and here we present to you these ambassadors who would make us proud at ICANN66 during the ATLAS III: Abdeljalil Bachar Bong Abdulkarim Oloyede Bakary Kouyate Bram Fudzulani Bukola Oronti Chokri Ben Romdhane Daniel Khauka Nanghaka Ejikeme Egbuogu Ines Hfaiedh Isaac Maposa Joan Katambi Michel M. Tchonang Linze Nkem Nweke Peters Osawaru Omoragbon Ramanou Biaou Raymond Selorm Mamattah Remmy Nweke Sonigitu Asibong Ekpe We wish all the selected AFRALO members for ATLAS III a successful participation! See the blog on ICANN.org: Future Policy and Outreach Ambassadors to Attend the Third At-Large Summit (ATLAS III) 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. The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) recently ratified the following statement: Next Steps to Improve the Effectiveness of ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model The ALAC summarized its comments as follows: I. Strengthen ICANN’s bottom-up multistakeholder decision-making process and ensure that work gets done and policies are developed in an effective and timely manner. Issue 1: Prioritization of work. ALAC feels this must be addressed (Category A). Some suggestions include: spreading the workload, increased outreach (ATLAS III, further incentives to keep contributing volunteers, adequate knowledge and resources (specified in II) The entire community,as well as ICANN.org must contribute to the resolution of this problem. Issue 2: Precision in scoping the work. This issue may fall into Category A - must be addressed - or Category B -- might be partially addressed in current processes. We foresee scoping that is tight and smart and relevant to the process. It is impossible to say who should be responsible when so much activity around it is unresolved. Issue 3: Efficient use of resources. This is a category A issue which must be addressed. We recognize that it might be partially addressed by current processes but cannot assess the situation until these processes are completed. We are concerned that PDP 3.0 may offer efficiency at the cost of inclusiveness which we feel would be a backwards step in the evolution of ICANN’s MSM. Issue 4: Roles and responsibilities and a holistic view of ICANN. This is a category A issue although it will require further processes to resolve. ALAC seeks a bottom-up review of roles and responsibilities as an independent process.  II. Support and grow active, informed and effective stakeholder participation. Strategies to expand the concept of participation are offered as well as various resources and support needed to ensure informed participation. We consider this to be a Category A issue -- the model cannot evolve if it is not addressed. This is a major concern for At Large and other volunteer-based constituencies and all will need to be involved in addressing it. Support from ICANN,org and the Board will be necessary. Issue 5: Representativeness and inclusiveness. Mentorship programs are a key part of ensuring that the MSM system remains representative and inclusive. Relevant constituencies as well as staff need to make sure these programs are working as they are intended and that they are reaching the right demographics. Inclusiveness at the leadership level needs to be improved through a bottom up process with staff assistance. III. Sustain and improve openness, inclusivity, accountability and transparency. Issue 6: Culture, trust and silos. This is a category A issue that needs to be addressed in this process. All constituencies need to reach across their boundaries, respect for other viewpoints must be reinforced. This is a problem in many large organizations and there are professional services available to help build trust and cooperation. By engaging some of these services, ICANN.org could help constituencies build a better working environment.  Issue 7: Complexity. This is an inherent feature of ICANN work, but where it can be alleviated, ICANN.org should take the lead. Make sure information such as the website is well organized and understandable and closely monitor the internet governance environment for issues that will impact ICANN directly. Issue 8: Consensus. Creating conditions that would facilitate consensus is the goal of the issues already listed. Preserving the voice of end users in the decision-making processes is crucial to ICANN’s MSM model -- a Category A issue in which all parties play a role but the role of the Board will be particularly important.  Read more ALAC Executive Summaries here. The ALAC also submitted policy feedback in response to: Amazon Public Interest Commitments (PICs) 2019 Invitation to Provide Feedback on the ICANN Board’s Proposed Public Interest Framework ALAC Question to the ICANN Board: Domain Name Abuse The ALAC is drafting the following comments: Drafting Registration Directory Service (RDS-WHOIS2) Review Team Final Report 25 November 2019 Comment DRAFT PTI and IANA FY21 Operating Plan and Budgets 27 November 2019 In addition, there is an ongoing workspace regarding CPWG SubPro Comment. Have your say! To contribute to ALAC public comment, please comment on the wiki space or volunteer as penholder, and join the weekly At-Large Consolidated Policy Working Group (CPWG) meetings. Additional Resources ALAC/At-Large Policy Issues Note from GSE Africa Pierre Dandjinou, VP, Stakeholder Engagement - Africa Congratulations AFRALO Greetings from ICANN org and specifically from the Global Stakeholder Engagement Africa team. May I add my voice, and on behalf of my team in congratulating you, the Afralo leadership and editorial team on the launch of your newsletter. It is our sincere hope that with this newsletter, another channel for furthering awareness about ICANN and its remit in the Internet Ecosystem, including the important work of ALSes has been created! 	Being the first edition of this newsletter, we take this opportunity to once again introduce our ICANN Africa Strategy which was one of the first regional strategic documents ever developed in ICANN. It was developed by the Africa The Africa Strategy Working Group (ASWG) and presented during ICANN49 in Toronto. It was adopted by ICANN in 2012 and officially launched in 2013. The strategy remains the cornerstone and road map of our engagement efforts in the continent. 	Through a two-pronged approach, the Strategy aims to encourage participation of the African Internet community in ICANN as well as build capacity amongst stakeholders to foster the domain name industry in Africa. Thus, we have two broad objectives; 	· Awareness Creation - Promote Awareness and Meaningful Participation of Africa in ICANN & the wider IG Ecosystem in partnership with other I* and Af* Organizations. 	· Build Capacity - Transform the DNS & Internet Industry in Africa by Facilitating capacity development and Cultivating an environment for the emergence of an Africa grown domain name industry and business.  Almost six years later, several flagship programs and projects have been implemented in the region including with varying degrees of success, they include; The DNSSEC roadshow series, The Africa DNS Forum amongst others. (See our 5-Year Implementation Report for full details) Equally, we have also had an opportunity, together with you,  the community, to review the strategy severally to keep it aligned with changing needs and realities at ICANN. Our Africa strategy thus remains a living document, and we are looking forward to the next iteration to review and realign it with the current ICANN org 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. In this regard, we look forward to a continued and even deeper collaboration with Afralo leadership and team as a whole to make this a reality. Thank you and congratulation once more.  AFRALO, ICANN Community Mourn Dr. Tarek Kamel As the preparation for the ICANN66 advanced, the African Regional At-Large Organisation (AFRALO) was saddened on October 10 the passage of Dr. Tarek Kamel to great beyond. Until his death, Kamel was ICANN's Senior Advisor to the President and Senior Vice President of Government and Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Engagement. A well-cherished gentleman across the Internet ecosystem, Kamel is known to have led efforts to build stronger relationships between ICANN.org and governments, ministries, and IGOs on Internet governance sector. Tarek was known as ardent multistakeholder advocate and determined to building one strong, stable, and interoperable Internet for all people across the globe. To this effect, African Internet Community is planning a session in his honour led by Tijani Ben Jemaa. Also, a section of the Africa Internet community, is seeking 100 signatures in honour of Dr Tarek Kamel as tribute to many of his pioneering efforts on the continent. “Our goal is to reach 100 signatures and we need more support,” the organisers said, urging Africans. They also urge people to read more and sign the petition.  African Regional Organizations (AF*) The 4th Summit on Community Networks (CNs) in Africa will take place in Dodoma, Tanzania from 28 October to 2 November 2019. The Summit hopes to promote the creation and growth of CNs, increase collaboration between CN operators in the region, and provide an opportunity for them to engage with other stakeholders. Training Workshop: 28-29 October CN Summit Plenary: 30-31 October Site Visit to Kondoa Community Network: 1-2 November The event is targeted at CN operators, policy makers, researchers, evangelists, sponsors, and related networks such as community radio. Annual Digital Week Burkina Faso An At-Large Structure, the Women and Sustainable Development Foundation (F-FTIC & DD) will be participating in the 15th annual Digital Week Burkina Faso, taking place between November 19 and 23, 2019 in Bobo-Dioulasso, economic capital of Burkina Faso with the theme : Towards innovative financial instruments for the well-being of the citizen in the digital era." 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ICANN At-Large

Patricia Akello

Remmy Nweke

Olivier Kouami

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