The African Regional Bureau of the Internet Society has been in Marrakech since the 4th of March 2016 to kick-start the 2.5 days of sharing, learning and networking at the 4th Africa Domain Name System (DNS) Forum. Bringing together around a hundred Internet business experts and policy makers, the forum was a great opportunity to discuss ways to promote the development of Internet domain names in Africa. During the event;
- Ms. Kathy Brown, President and CEO of the Internet Society delivered the opening keynote address on collaborative security and the ways to built trust in the Internet’s infrastructure
- Representatives of African Chapter members attending the DNS Forum had an opportunity to meet and engage with the Internet Society African Regional Bureau (ARB) team lead by the bureau’s director Dawit Bekele and Ms. Kathy Brown.
- Ms. Kathy Brown met with the Director General of the ANRT, Mr. Azdine EL Mountassir Billah, host of the 2016 Africa DNS Forum.
After having wrapped up the 4th Africa DNS Forum on the 6th of March, the ARB team refocused its attention through the beautiful palm trees of Marrakech towards Hotel du Golf, venue to the ICANN55 event.
Many of the Internet Society’s partners and members from the African region and around the world are meeting in Marrakech for what has been referred to as a momentous ICANN meeting. This ICANN55 meeting is expected to deliver the multi-stakeholder, bottom up community’s response on the IANA transition. The event also serves as an opportunity for the community to bid farewell to ICANN’s first African CEO Mr. Fadi Chehade who has been instrumental in seeing the organization go through a number of significant milestones.
This historic meeting provided the African community and African Regional Bureau an opportunity to;
- Meet with various African government delegations and partner organizations
- Engage with the ISOC community at ICANN and incoming ICANN CEO Mr. Göran Marby
- Welcome a key announcement by ICANN on the opening of the engagement center in Nairobi, Kenya, expressing strong confidence in Kenya’s leadership and contribution to the technical community.
Having had a presence in Kenya since 2008, the ISOC African Regional Bureau welcomes ICANN to Nairobi and looks forward to working with the new ICANN engagement center.
Both the African DNS Forum and ICANN 55 provided excellent opportunities to engage with people from across Africa and to move our work forward to connect the unconnected and promote and restore trust in the Internet.
A few more photos of the team:
- Dawit Bekele, Regional Bureau Director for Africa
- Michuki Mwangi, Senior Development Manager for Africa
- Kevin Chege, Internet Development Manager for Africa
- Betel Hailu, Communications Coordinator
Photo on the top of the post, left to right: Michuki, Betel, Kevin and Dawit.
