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13Aug

Uganda Holds 4th Internet Governance Forum

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By Lillian Nalwoga
The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern (CIPESA) in conjunction with the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) and Hive Colab organised the 4th Uganda Internet Governance Forum (IGF) under the theme “Harnessing Internet Development. The forum was held on August 10, 2011 at Hive Colab premises in Kampala, brought together over 50 ICT enthusiasts.
The Uganda IGF is a multi-stakeholder forum open to representatives from Government, NGOs, academia, private sector, as well as any other entities and individuals interested in Internet Governance issues.
Key issues discussed st the 4th Uganda IGF included cyber security management; thepower of social media in citizen empowerment; importance of cloud computing in promoting e-commerce in Uganda,; adopting the best model of internet for Uganda and the management of Uganda’s Critical Internet Resources.
In his opening remarks, James Saaka, the Executive Director of the National Information and Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) said that Phase one of the District Business Information Centres had been complemented while Phase Two was underway.
Saaka also said that Phase one of the National Backbone Infrastructure/E-Government Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) project had been completed. Phase Two was scheduled for completion this year September and would involve the laying of 1,477 KM of additional Optical Fibre Cable in the districts of Mbale, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu, Nimule, Masindi, Hoima, Kyenjojo, Fort Portal, Kasese, Bushenyi, Mbarara, Nakasongola and Luwero. A map detailing the project coverage will soon be available on the NITA-U website. He further welcomed feedback from stakeholders, noting that a repository about government ICT projects was being developed and would be made accessible to the public in due course.
Participants discussed the Ugandan cyber laws which the President assented to six months ago. These included the Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures Act and the Computer Misuse Act. Copies of these laws are now available for purchase from major bookshops. However, only the Computer Misuse Law is operational while regulations for the others have not yet been developed. Nevertheless, participants called for massive awareness creation for these laws as many citizens were not aware about their existence and their implications.
Meanwhile, Gloria Katuku, an official of the ICT Ministry, highlighted key strategies under development, which she said included the National Information Security Strategy to be implemented by NITA-U; the IPv6 strategy, awaiting approval from the ICT Minister and the Dot Ug ccTLD Management strategy, which is available on the Ministry Website www.ict.go.ug for comments.
Participants called for the adoption of new ICT tools for communicating and engaging with the government on national matters. They called for the adoption of an internet model that was free and open for all to access. This includes embracing the power of mobile internet hence the need for government to increase mobile penetration by lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of mobile phones. Measures such as removal of import duties and Value added Tax (VAT) on mobile devices should also be considered by government, they said.
The outcomes of the 4th Uganda IGF will be presented at the regional East African IGF due to take place in Kigali, Rwanda on August 17 –18, 2011.
Presentations made at the Forum can be downloaded here:
Cloud Computing and ecommerce+uigf2011
NIGF PresentationPower of Social Media in Citizen Empowerment
UIGF online discussions 2011
What kind of Internet do you want
NIGF programme 2011

20May

New Trends in ICT Could Foster African Development

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Addis Ababa, 04 May 2011 (ECA) – Experts attending a session on new ICT trends in relation to fostering industrialisation and socio-economic development expressed optimism on the benefits that African can derive from using ICT-enabled services, such as open data access, social media, FOSS applications, and mobile computing.
“Although Africa is not up to speed when it comes to internet connectivity, the continent has 110 million users,” said Dr. Tarek Cheniti of the Said Business School. “Africans are responsive to technology and we have to build on that.”
The session was held during the May 2-5 Second Session of the Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology – CODIST II. According to the Information and Communication Service of the Economic Commission for Africa – ECA, participants focused on the uptake of ICTs in Africa and emphasised that the continent has led the global shift as one of the fastest to turn from fixed to mobile telephony.
Participants were awash with examples of initiatives impacting on society –the village phone operators in Uganda; the optimal grain market information via SMS initiative in Niger; and the e-Care initiative in Ghana.
An alternative to the social networking tool Facebook has emerged: Asanja, boasts a quarter of a million subscribers. In addition, various imitations of youtube and increased use of professional networks, such as linkedafrica.com are thriving.
Mobile applications, such as Mpesa, the famous Kenyan mobile money transfer service launched by Safaricom, are changing the way ordinary Kenyans conduct business. In Ethiopia the ECA is supporting researchers in Addis Ababa University to develop a health communication systems and an Ethiopian (script) keyboard for smart phones.
On the education front, the one laptop per child project has placed 100,000 laptops in as many children in Rwanda, according to the participants, that number could double by the end of 2011. These laptops are not only networked and linked to the internet, they carry 100 books. The country aims to see all its children equipped with one laptop each by 2015.
It was indicated that tablets with the capacity to carry 1,000 books are now under production for distribution to children. Participants stressed, however, that although the laptops are very helpful for advancing children’s education, they should be manufactured in Africa.
On other discussions, the session learnt that African governments are yet to venture into open (government) data systems, which give free access to data sets or information sets produced or commissioned by government or government controlled entities.
José M. Alonso, from CTIC (Spain) said, moving to open data systems, “generates economic return on investments via the creation of innovative products and services by third parties. It also increases transparency, accountability and democratisation of public data, and increases government efficiency and effectiveness.”
In order to reap all the benefits of innovations in science and technology, though, African countries have been urged to first have sound policies for agriculture, education and all other sectors, which could then be complemented by Science and Technology Policies.
–          ECA Press Release No. 61/2011

11Apr

Sixth Annual Internet Governance Forum Comes to East Africa

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By Lillian Nalwoga
The Sixth Annual IGF Meeting will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27-30 September 2011 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). With the main theme of ‘Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation’, it is hoped that the IGF will strengthen the Internet governance debate in East Africa.
Prior to the global forum, East African countries will once again – this time in the Rwandan capital Kigali – convene to deliberate internet governance issues pertinent to the region.
The East African-Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) was first convened in 2008 with participation from four East African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda). The forum aims at creating a Community of Practice that will build a sustaining foundation for meaningful participation of East African stakeholders in Internet public policy debates at the national, regional and international level.
The EA-IGF model allows for the informed participation, contribution and engagement of community members through the sharing of experiences and skills, solving common problems and challenges, the creation of new knowledge and increasing local capacity and talent in Internet Governance issues. The EAIGF follows a bottom-up multi-stakeholder approach, which begins at the national level with mailing list discussions in the five East African countries moderated by national animators, followed by national face-to-face IGFs. The national IGFs then form the building block for the regional East African IGF.
CIPESA in collaboration with the Ugandan Ministry of ICT, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), I-Network Uganda and the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) hosted the 3rd East African Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) in 2010. The forum focused on “Strengthening East Africa’s Critical Internet Resources”.
The 2010 EA-IGF called for multi-stakeholder participation by redefining the term ‘internet governance’ and also recommended the formation of a working group to develop strategies that will strengthen ccTLDs in the region in light of competition for gTLDs.
More about the EAIGF:  http://eaigf.or.ke/eaigf/eaigf.html

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