[ICANN]<http://www.icann.org/> News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-02-03-en ________________________________ Overview of Africa Sessions During ICANN 52 Meeting in Singapore 3 February 2015 ICANN's 52nd Public Meeting is taking place in Singapore from 8 -12 February at the Raffles City Convention Centre. This meeting comes at a critical time especially with the recent developments since the historic NTIA announcement<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition-...> to transition stewardship of the IANA functions to the multistakeholder community last March 4, 2014. During this meeting, the ICANN Africa team will be hosting two critical meetings namely: 1. The Africa Strategy 2016 - 2020 Meeting Tue, 10 February 2015 - 11:15 to 12:45 SGT<http://singapore52.icann.org/en/schedule/tue-africa-strategy> In November 2014<https://www.icann.org/news/blog/taking-stock-of-our-africa-strategy>, and as a response to requests from the African community to further review and evolve the Africa Strategy to make it more responsive to Africa while aligning it to the new ICANN 2016 - 2020 Strategic Plan, the ICANN African team convened a special consultative session with the community during AFRINIC 21<http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1187> in Mauritius. This meeting was attended by representatives from SO / AC leaders, AFNOG, AFRINIC, AFTLD, GAC, AFRALO, AFICTA, NEPAD and African Registrars associations resulting with a reviewed draft 0 of the Africa Strategic Plan ver 2.0 (2016 - 2020). This draft is currently under public comment the scheduled session will be used to present the new plan for final inputs before approval and adoption by the community. For remote participation follow here: http://singapore52.icann.org/en/schedule/tue-africa-strategy 2. Enhanced Engagement With Africa Wed, 11 February 2015 - 10:30 to 11:45 SGT<http://singapore52.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-africa-engagement> One of the outstanding challenges observed by the community is the limited meaningful and consistent participation of the African community in most Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees in ICANN and the wider IG ecosystem especially by governments. Africa is yet to make her voice and influence heard in the global policy making processes on issues affecting the Internet and there is need to proactively and progressively change this scenario. Consequently, the Africa Strategy Review team alongside the AFRINIC 21 meeting deliberated and came up with a list of four projects expected to enhance ICANN's Engagement in Africa leading to the ICANN 55 meeting in Marrakech Morocco next year. These special projects focusing on reaching out mainly to African governments and regulators include: * Active participation in African regional and continental ICT ministerial meetings * ICANN High Level Governmental Meeting (HLGM), During ICANN 55 * NewGen Program during ICANN 55 * Workshop for Africa Telecom regulators during ICANN 55 This briefing session scheduled will share with you details of these projects and seek your further input. For Remote participation, please follow here: http://singapore52.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-africa-engagement We take this opportunity to welcome you, our community, to these two Africa sessions as we endeavor to deliver collectively on the Africa Strategy. We shall also share recordings of both sessions after the meeting using the same links.