The African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF)
Bid to host 2024-AfIGF, AfIGF-2025 and AfIGF-2026
Deadline: 30st June 2024 | 11:59 PM EAT (GMT+3)
BACKGROUND
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a platform for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on prevailing and emerging issues on Internet governance ecosystem. The IGF mandate was extended for ten years by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 2015. IGF aims at fostering the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and the development of the Internet, thus facilitating content development and access to information and knowledge. Africa’s contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process has led to the formation of the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) in September 2011.
Presently, there are regional Internet Governance Forum initiatives in all the five regions of Africa. To bring together the national IGF initiatives together with the regional ones and to promote IG related issues on the continent, there was a strong need for the establishment of an African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF). Accordingly, AfIGF was convened by the regional IGFs in cooperation with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) at the 6th IGF in Nairobi, Kenya. The AfIGF was formally launched on 30 September 2011.
The host countries for the 13th AfIGF (AfIGF 2024), 14th AfIGF (AfIGF 2025), and 15th AfIGF (AfIGF 2026) have not yet been determined. However, as there is interest from some countries to host these events, the secretariat, in collaboration with the host institute, aims to expedite the hosting arrangements by issuing an open call for interest.
MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE AFRICAN IGF (AFIGF)
AfIGF aims to be a platform for an inclusive multilateral, multi-stakeholder and multilingual discussion on issues pertinent to the Internet in Africa in general and Internet Governance issues in particular. Specific objectives include:
- To increase awareness and build capacity on Internet Governance for African users to ensure that all stakeholders are well prepared for contribution and interaction
- To promote access to information and knowledge
- To promote the digital transformation of Africa
- To promote content development and use of African languages in the cyberspace
- To promote the use of ICTs and the Internet in the socio-economic development of the continent
- To ensure that the concerns of Africa are considered in the IGF process
- To put in place a coordinated African process for dealing with Internet governance issues on the continent
- To strengthen the multi-stakeholder dialogue model for Internet Governance in Africa through regional and national forums
- To ensure a multi-stakeholder representation of all parts of the continent
- To ensure that all the countries are part of the regional process and launch/strengthen their national processes
- To facilitate national and regional exchanges and interactions between countries and regions in the continent
- To promote the participation of African stakeholders in AfIGF and other appropriate regional and national Internet Governance Forums.
SUBMISSION OF BID (EXPRESSION OF INTEREST)
Submission of bids should be addressed to the African IGF Secretariat at info@afigf.africa, with copies sent to the UNECA and AUC Team email addresses provided below. Once a country is pre-selected, an agreement will be signed between the ministry responsible for organizing the event and the hosting institute. Establishing the Dates for the 13th AfIGF-2023 Event.
The AfIGF is scheduled to take place preferably between early July and the end of October 2024, lasting three (3) days, including pre-conference events. It must occur at least three weeks before the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The exact dates of AfIGF-2024, AfIGF-2025, and AfIGF-2026 will be determined jointly between the host institute and the host government. Stakeholders will be notified accordingly in due course.
CALL FOR BIDS TO HOST AFRICAN INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM AfIGF 2024 2025 2026
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF THE BID
Submission of complete hosting proposals should be submitted to the AfIGF Secretariat before 30st June 2024. For further information and all inquiries, please contact the AfIGF Secretariat at the email address provided below and be sure to copy the AUC and ECA teams.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DATES AND VENUE FOR AFIGF-2024, AFIGF-2025, AND AFIGF-2026
In close consultation with the host country, hosting institute, and the secretariat, the dates for the African IGF 2024, 2025, and 2026 will be announced as soon as an agreement has been signed between the hosting institute and the host country.
THE AFRICAN IGF (AFIGF)
The Forum's website is on http://afigf.africa/
Additional information can be obtained from
UNECA Team
- Mactar Seck - seck8@un.org
- Sorene Assefa - sorene@un.org
AUC Team
- Moses Bayingana - bayinganam@africa-union.org
- Adil Sulieman suliemana@africa-union.org
African IGF Secretariat