Africa has made huge strides in improving access to Internet connectivity in the past 6 years. Internet penetration grew from 6% in 2009 to more than 22% in 2015. This week, at the African Union Commission meeting in Addis Ababa, policymakers from across Africa are looking to harness this growth in connectivity to address a range of socio-economic challenges facing the African continent. We see a major emphasis on regional cooperation and unity to create an integrated e-economy across Africa that enables the region to meet the goals set out in “Agenda 2063, The Africa We Want”. Importantly, the AUC recognises the need for Africa to be more engaged in Internet governance and in participating in decisions about the future of the global Internet.
Over the next two weeks, in Addis Ababa, African policymakers, civil society and stakeholders are coming together to make progress on these issues. It is an honor for the Internet Society to be included as a sponsor and participant in these important discussions about the future of ICT in the region and how they can be used to support the development of the region. These events are happening in the next 2 weeks:
– AUC STC-CICT experts meeting
– AUC STC-CCICT Ministerial meeting
– African School of Internet Governance (AfriSIG)
– African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF)
This is a great opportunity for the Internet Society to further its mission by engaging with policy makers, civil society and other stakeholders to insure that Africa benefits from the extraordinary growth that we see in the Internet’s infrastructure and its use.
We’ll be writing more about these activities here on this blog – watch our Africa Bureau page. You can also follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on Twitter (@InternetSociety, @ISOC_Africa and @ISOCpolicy), Facebook and Google+.