The leaders of Africa’s internet community have unveiled a comprehensive plan designed to dramatically increase African involvement in ICANN’s multi-stakeholder model. The plan was presented to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at the organization’s 45th public meeting in Toronto, Canada by the Africa Strategy Working Group (ASWG).
The Africa Strategy Working Group (ASWG) was formed after ICANN new President and Chief Executive Officer, Fadi Chehadé, encouraged a stronger voice from the African continent in ICANN’s multi-stakeholder model. Chehadé said, “When we met three months ago at the ICANN meeting in Prague, I felt a sense of frustration at our inability to come together and move the Africa agenda forward.
“It’s incredible what this working group has achieved in such a short period of time by engaging with many concerned groups and individuals through the multi-stakeholder process.”
Nii Quaynor of Ghana, a well-respected Internet leader in Africa and Chair of the ASWG, said, “We employed a bottom-up, open and public process in developing this initiative. We think this plan will lead to dramatically increased African participation in ICANN and greater presence for the organization on the African continent.”
The plan was written with the input and broad support of ICANN’s African community, Africa’s Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources (AFRINIC), and other influential African organizations involved in the internet ecosystem.
Tarek Kamel, a senior advisor to the ICANN President, also said that they are taking a new approach to Africa – this plan is based on capacity building, business development, specifically developing the Domain Name System (DNS) business in Africa and insuring inclusion.
The three year initiative titled ‘ICANN’s New Approach to Africa’, lays out clear goals and milestones and an action plan for the first 12 months. It is a collaborative effort by AFRINIC, Africa’s Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources, and the ICANN community. Currently, African internet users represent only 6 per cent of internet users worldwide. This initiative is designed to dramatically increase that number.
[image via Flickr/ marfis75]
