Question: Despite the efforts of a few ''pionneers'', African participation to Icann has been rather slow and somewhat disorganized. Could you elaborate on the reasons for this and also indicate what, in your view, needs to be done to have a more coherent participation?

Nominee Replies

Alan Levin - posted on 2000-09-26 08:18:51 Part of the answer to the question is derived from the socio-political environment. Africa faces many challenges - not least basic issues such as access to clean water. Most of the continent (with exceptions) has until recently had only limited or no Internet access. I have publically aired my concerns regarding the poor numbers of South African Internet users participation in ICANN. South Africa faces many of the same challenges as the rest of Africa. We are a new and inexperienced country which I know has much potential for greater future participation and contribution. Similarly, Africa as a continent is inexperienced with using the Internet. Yet it is still early days, will have greater future participation and contribution. I believe that in addition to the nascent AfriNIC, ICANN needs to address the issue of African cctld's that are not working. This also requires involvement of the local internet representatives (LIR's) and a plan of action. I have stated in my platform that should I succeed I would like to perform the role of a global ambassador to promote the region, facilitate global investment, and foster both business and political relationships for each and every African to each and every other continent. I also hope to be able to explore possibilities for creative ideas and influence and how ICANN can assist in driving more standards, and better ways to increase competition and lower barriers to entry. Nii Quaynor - posted on 2000-09-21 09:03:18 African participation in ICANN has been comfronted with several challenges including: insufficient awareness, lack of Internet access (webbased membership and snailmail problems of atlarge are examples), no funding, using dedicated volunteers, few technical resources who are dispersed, weak penetration, etc. That is Africa. Despite that we have representation in ICANN. Those pioneers deserve their due congratulations. That is our opportunity. We have a fair amount of consensus on the more difficult things. We have good consensus on the human institutions we should work through and identities such as AIG, AFNOG, AfriNIC, AFTLD, AfriDNS, African Chapters etc are in formulative stages. The funding of these institutions and their secretariats, would be a priority to enable better coordination and participation. We have often struggled to find funding for operatives to attend ICANN physical meetings and we need a solution to that. Continue the induction (outreach) of new operatives. Plan to quickly get to stage of being self-supporting. Work to increase user community, increase penetration and build markets. Lastly, we need to produce a few more geeks who can hold our networks together during the expansion and fulfil responsibilities in the supporting organizations. Lets work through the African Institutions and we will have a coherent participation. Calvin Browne - posted on 2000-09-20 23:12:53 I would put Africa's 'poor' ICANN participation down to the our limited Internet participation. One thing that is heartening is that at each ICANN meeting so far, there have been more and more African representatives (I would prefer to replace Africa with 'emerging Internet nations'). In my view, more African Internet penetration = more African ICANN involvement.