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<div>Listers</div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Please see an excerpt on KICTANet from the New Book and New Report on Internet Public Policy Dialogue by </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Akoh,B., Egede-Nissen, B., & Creech, H. (2012)</span></div><div>http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=1619
</div><div><br></div><div><b>KICTAnet, the Kenya ICT Action Network.</b></div><div>The Kenya ICT Action Network, or KICTAnet for short, presents itself as a good example of an </div><div>organization that has been successful at fostering meaningful, substantive online debate </div><div>among stakeholders of different backgrounds. KICTAnet was launched in late 2004 using </div><div>mailing lists as its core communication and coordination mechanism. It was brought to life </div><div>by a combination of private forces as well as foreign donor money after several organizations </div><div>involved in ICT policy had lamented the lack of an open and inclusive national policy process </div><div>in Kenya. It has developed into a broad platform for discussion of ICT policy and related issues. </div><div>Operationally, KICTAnet does so through the use of multiple mailing lists, with dedicated lists </div><div>for stakeholder groups (e.g., academia, civil society and the private sector), administrative lists, </div><div>and lists for committees and projects that are created for different purposes. As an example </div><div>of the level of activity that it enjoys, in the month of July 2011 the “ICT policy discussions” list </div><div>received more than 500 messages and there is a clear trend toward increased activity. On the </div><div>technological side, KICTAnet uses Mailman, an open source mailing list manager for Linux </div><div>maintained by the Free Software Foundation. Mailman uses the SMTP (outgoing email) protocol </div><div>and all users receive new messages and replies in their email inboxes as plain text, thus building </div><div>on a well-established and available technology, yet using little bandwidth. This is an important </div><div>consideration in a developing context, where bandwidth could act as a major constraint.</div><div>The network quickly became actively engaged in the ICT policy process in Kenya, its </div><div>activities expanding beyond cyberspace and into the real world. An early and significant </div><div>victory for KICTAnet came right after its inception, when it managed to convince the Kenyan </div><div>government to let it take charge of organizing the multistakeholder consultations for a draft </div><div>ICT bill. In addition to its discussion boards, KICTAnet organizers used “workshops, seminars, </div><div>[…] roundtable discussions and constituency-level forums” to develop a common position </div><div>on the proposed bill. In June 2005 it further worked with the Ministry of Information and </div><div>Communications, other government agencies and private stakeholders to organize a policy </div><div>workshop, the output of which was incorporated into the bill. </div><div>With a national ICT policy framework in place, KICTAnet has turned its attention to </div><div>other pressing issues and is currently engaged in two projects, one concerning e-waste </div><div>management and the other concerning the problem of cybercrime against women. It </div><div>further puts itself at the centre of a broad movement that fostered the East African Internet </div><div>Governance Forum, and it keeps moving forward with new initiatives. </div><div>KICTAnet’s success shows the potential of online discussion forums. On one hand, although </div><div>it started as a mere discussion space, it soon morphed into something more, becoming a </div><div>catalyst for ICT policy. On the other hand, much of the substantive policy discussion that </div><div>KICTAnet has engendered through its mailing list has had impacts in areas outside of it. The </div><div>prevailing lesson here is that KICTAnet has used discussion lists as only one tool, deploying a </div><div>host of other tools when necessary to facilitate constructive multistakeholder cooperation.</div><div>Sources: KICTAnet (2011); KICTAnet (2012); Munyua & Mureithi (2007).</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div>> Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 18:10:45 -0500<br>> From: me@benakoh.com<br>> Subject: [kictanet] New Book and New Report on Internet Public Policy Dialogue Available for Download<br>> CC: kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<br>> To: ggithaiga@hotmail.com<br>> <br>> Hi All,<br>> <br>> I did promise a while back to circulate links to a book under <br>> development. I had mentioned the important lesson learned from kictanet <br>> - on online policy dialogue. I recall suggesting that "lurkers" value <br>> and benefit from participation on the list. And that there are <br>> interesting ways in which a framework can be used to evaluate (and <br>> design) long term sustainable ICT projects in Africa, broadly and <br>> perhaps, Kenya more specifically.<br>> <br>> The links below point to a) toolkit on facilitating public policy <br>> dialogue; and b) to a country report in which some of the tools in the <br>> toolkit was used to analyze a specific country situation.<br>> <br>> Thanks for opening up your network to lurkers and learners. Hope you <br>> enjoy the publications.<br>> <br>> Best,<br>> Ben<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> New Book: Akoh,B., Egede-Nissen, B., & Creech, H. (2012). Toolkit on <br>> Internet Public Policy Dialogue: Tools for the Practitioner. IISD. <br>> Available at: http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=1619. <br>> Download for free.<br>> <br>> This Toolkit can be used by new or emerging public policy groups seeking <br>> to understand and support public policy dialogue with stakeholders. It <br>> is based on two central activities: the gathering of evidence to support <br>> policy recommendations, and the securing of consent among the <br>> stakeholders to be affected by policy change.<br>> <br>> ----<br>> <br>> New Report: Akoh, B. (2012). Supporting Multistakeholder Internet Public <br>> Policy Dialogue in a Least Developed Country: The Togo Experience. <br>> IISD:Canada. Available at: <br>> http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=1683.<br>> <br>> This case study for Togo, a least developed country, illustrates how <br>> multistakeholder dialogue can identify priorities and challenges for the <br>> development and deployment of the Internet in support of the country's <br>> economic, social and environmental needs. Information and communication <br>> technology (ICT) growth in Africa has been steady in the past five <br>> years, with impacts on the economic and social landscape. Grassroots <br>> involvement and local level policy consultations should be considered an <br>> intrinsic part of the process of developing national priorities and <br>> objectives for ICTs and the Internet.<br>> <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> kictanet mailing list<br>> kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<br>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<br>> <br>> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ggithaiga%40hotmail.com<br>> <br>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>> <br>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.<br></div> </div></body>
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