The Internet Society in partnership with the East African Communications Organization (EACO) has organized a half-day workshop on Internet Governance on 25 June 2015 in Kampala, Uganda.
Bringing together a broad range of important stakeholders, this workshop has the objective of conducting high-level discussions on the state of Internet and Internet governance in the world and in the East African community (EAC) as well as reflect on the future of the Internet at this very critical moment of its history.
Karen Rose, Senior Director, Office of Strategy & Research, Michael Kende, Chief Economist and Dawit Bekele, Director of the African Regional Bureau are representing the Internet Society, in the discussions of the workshop that will be touching upon the Multi-stakeholder Process (MSP) that is the hallmark of Internet governance institutions as well as the successes and challenges in using this model for the development of Internet access in the EAC region.
The meeting will benefit from the recently released report of the Internet Society entitled “Internet Development and Internet Governance in Africa”, which gives an overview of the current state of the Internet in Africa and highlights some of the region’s top challenges and opportunities.
Taking about this report Dawit Bekele said, “As Africa’s user base grows, the need to coordinate and manage the growth and development of the Internet becomes increasingly important. If Africa wants to build a digital economy and reap the full benefits of the Internet, it needs to be more actively involved in its governance at local, regional and global level.”
The different topics detailed and debated in the report as well as the fresh new data and statistics about the current regional context are believed to serve as a useful resource for discussions at various occasions such as this Internet Governance workshop.
Read more on the “Internet Development and Internet Governance in Africa” report
Photo: State Banquet- Kigali, 28 October 2013 by Rwanda Government CC BY-NC-ND 2.0