"How do we (Africans) push<br>
harder the wheels of revolutionary change? your question is timely Eric, i hope we get some answers through this Forum<br>Nice article, it captured the spirit at EAIGF, all stakeholders led my Markus Kummer at the IGF secretariat, Alice, Waudo at UN-MAG, Vincent Ngundi, Walu and Mwende to name but a few have done a commendable job, i must have underestimated its impact, , someone needs to educate me on the relationship between IGF and issues like Climate change, Human rights, Children issues, i guess this is what the author means when he asks Civil society to respond, Waudo, Edith or Nyaki do you have any research on write ups on the issues i have mentioned?<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:26 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:emko@internetresearch.com.gh">emko@internetresearch.com.gh</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Folks,<br>
<br>
The wheels of change are in motion, question? "How do we (Africans) push<br>
harder the wheels of revolutionary change? if i may mix my metaphor, we<br>
MUST give history a revolutionary push. to borrow the words of Ghana's<br>
founding President and Foremost Pan Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah.<br>
<br>
Eric here<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
> Excellent piece! Great to know that the EA initiatives are having a<br>
> global<br>
> impact.<br>
> regards<br>
> Mwende<br>
><br>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:58 AM, alice <<a href="mailto:alice@apc.org">alice@apc.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>><br>
>> <a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/2009/09/the-future-of-the-igf/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/2009/09/the-future-of-the-igf/</a><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> The future of the IGF<br>
>><br>
>> Posted by: Nick Thorne <<br>
>> <a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/category/uncategorized/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/category/uncategorized/</a>><br>
>><br>
>> *The UN Internet Governance Forum will meet in November at Sharm El<br>
>> Sheikh.<br>
>> The IGF has matured into a useful tool. But it is under threat.<br>
>> Stakeholders<br>
>> should speak up!*<br>
>><br>
>> **<br>
>><br>
>> **It’s IGF season again. Representatives of key stakeholders are meeting<br>
>> again in Geneva to prepare the ground for the forthcoming fourth meeting<br>
>> of<br>
>> a body that has turned out to be considerably more useful than those of<br>
>> us<br>
>> involved in its invention expected. But despite its success, the future<br>
>> of<br>
>> this, the only multi-stakeholder forum available to consider Internet<br>
>> Governance, is under threat. If we want it to continue then we all, we<br>
>> /multi-stakeholders/, must speak up and demonstrate how and why we find<br>
>> it<br>
>> useful.<br>
>><br>
>> These issues were highlighted last week at the excellent East African<br>
>> Internet Governance Forum. Very well run, with solid participation from<br>
>> regional governments, CCTLD’s, Civil Society and Industry. A novelty was<br>
>> a<br>
>> special session for Parliamentarians. I argued that Members of<br>
>> Parliament<br>
>> had a vital role to play and should consider themselves internationally<br>
>> as<br>
>> another /stakeholder/ group. They knew what their constituents needed,<br>
>> and<br>
>> were best placed to put pressure on governments and resist unnecessarily<br>
>> restrictive legislation, which might stifle the benefits of the Internet<br>
>> as<br>
>> we have come to know it.<br>
>><br>
>> All this was taking place in Nairobi, against the background of the<br>
>> remarkable progress being made in Broad Band connectivity in Kenya. No<br>
>> less<br>
>> than four undersea fibre-optic cables will be coming on shore in the<br>
>> coming<br>
>> two years. One has already landed and will be coupled to links reaching<br>
>> beyond the immediate East African region and north to Ethiopia and South<br>
>> Sudan. We talked about various different methods for distributing links<br>
>> beyond the cable proper. Wi-Max systems will link up the smallest<br>
>> municipalities with all the attendant benefits. Exciting stuff. It will<br>
>> be<br>
>> fascinating to see how these cables will spread their invaluable<br>
>> tentacles<br>
>> throughout the region. Can there be a more effective multiplier for<br>
>> economic<br>
>> and social development?<br>
>><br>
>> In Nairobi we also discussed the proposal for a Commonwealth IGF,<br>
>> designed<br>
>> to take advantage of that unique coalition of like-minded countries of<br>
>> all<br>
>> sizes, shapes and stages of development. The Commonwealth Secretariat is<br>
>> active in support of this initiative and side-events are planned for<br>
>> Sharm<br>
>> El Sheikh. Something else which will be raised in Geneva this week where<br>
>> representatives from Commonwealth countries will consider how best to<br>
>> share<br>
>> experiences and best practice across the broadest possible range of<br>
>> ideas.<br>
>><br>
>> But governments are only one element of the unique /multi stakeholder/<br>
>> approach to which many of us attribute the phenomenal success of the<br>
>> Internet. And not all the influences are positive.<br>
>><br>
>> At WSIS, when we created the IGF, we also agreed that there should be a<br>
>> programme of “enhanced cooperation” among all the actors involved in<br>
>> Internet Governance. The UN Secretary General was asked to produce a<br>
>> report<br>
>> on how matters might be improved, possibly with recommendations.<br>
>><br>
>> I think this report was supposed to be produced after about a year, but<br>
>> it<br>
>> eventually appeared a couple of months ago in the form of a compilation<br>
>> of<br>
>> the views of interested parties which had been called upon to<br>
>> contribute. It<br>
>> included submissions from e.g. the Internet Society, ICANN, and also<br>
>> from<br>
>> the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In each case the views<br>
>> and<br>
>> ambitions of the authors were made very clear. I would recommend that<br>
>> all<br>
>> those interested in the continuation of liberal internet governance look<br>
>> at<br>
>> this report, and in particular the views of the ITU Secretariat. [<br>
>> <a href="http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan035383.pdfI" target="_blank">http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan035383.pdfI</a><br>
>> say Secretariat because I understand the contribution was not<br>
>> necessarily<br>
>> cleared in advance with its membership. Nevertheless it would appear to<br>
>> be a<br>
>> clear statement, as it were, of intent, and should serve to encourage us<br>
>> to<br>
>> work harder to ensure that the IGF mechanism will continue to give all<br>
>> parties, all /stakeholders/, an opportunity to express their views.<br>
>><br>
>> This should of course include developing countries whose interests are I<br>
>> believe much better served by this liberal approach rather than by the<br>
>> repetition of the sort of government driven bureaucratic rules<br>
>> previously<br>
>> deemed appropriate for the old telecoms system. I think our experience<br>
>> in<br>
>> Kenya last week amply demonstrated this.<br>
>><br>
>> And so I was delighted when the Kenyan Government formally announced its<br>
>> intention to host the IGF in the year 2011. (Next years event is already<br>
>> fixed for Vilnius, Lithuania). This guarantee of continuity is very<br>
>> important as we face the five-year review process built in to the WSIS<br>
>> decisions. I am a great believer in such reviews. Too often we create<br>
>> mechanisms which trundle along, impelled only by their own bureaucratic<br>
>> existence. Not so with the IGF which has demonstrated a real vitality as<br>
>> all<br>
>> the previous meetings, and in particular Rio (2007) and last year<br>
>> Hyderabad<br>
>> have shown. And all with only the most limited bureaucratic support.<br>
>> “Secretariat-lite!” Well done Markus Kummer!<br>
>><br>
>> Nevertheless there are still those who for a variety of reasons seek<br>
>> either<br>
>> to supplant or suppress this useful mechanism. If we are to maintain<br>
>> this<br>
>> admirable energy we must all, all we /multi-stakeholders/, redouble our<br>
>> efforts to renew the mandate of the IGF. Some governments are doing<br>
>> their<br>
>> best, but I would like to hear more from Industry, and from Civil<br>
>> Society,<br>
>> particularly among developing countries where most of the next billion<br>
>> Internet users reside. We should all speak up to announce that we all<br>
>> still<br>
>> have much to learn from each other, through Sharm El Sheikh, then<br>
>> Vilnius<br>
>> and on to Nairobi in 2011.<br>
>><br>
>> Nick Thorne<br>
>><br>
>> Les Augers.<br>
>><br>
>> September 2009<br>
>><br>
>> (Nick Thorne CMG was UK Ambassador to the UN in Geneva from 2003to 2008<br>
>> and<br>
>> led the UK and the EU at the Tunis WSIS Summit. He now consults on<br>
>> Internet<br>
>> Governance issues and is International Relations Adviser to the<br>
>> President<br>
>> and CEO of ICANN. )<br>
>><br>
>> Tags: Commonwealth IGF <<br>
>> <a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/commonwealth-igf/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/commonwealth-igf/</a>>, East African<br>
>> IGF<br>
>> <<a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/east-african-igf/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/east-african-igf/</a>>, IGF <<br>
>> <a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/igf/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/igf/</a>>, Internet Governance Forum <<br>
>> <a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/internet-governance-forum/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/internet-governance-forum/</a>>, Sharm<br>
>> El<br>
>> Sheikh <<a href="http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/sharm-el-sheikh/" target="_blank">http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/sharm-el-sheikh/</a>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Barrack O. Otieno<br>Administrative Manager <br>Afriregister Ltd (Ke)<br>P.o.Box 21682<br>Nairobi 00100<br>Tel:<br>+254721325277<br>+254733206359<br>+254202498789<br>Riara Road, Bamboo Lane<br>
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