The idea of involving the youth in issues of internet governance was one of the emerging issues at the 3rd internet Governance forum that took place from 11th to 13th August 2010 in Kampala Uganda.
Mr. Tony a representative from Digital Opportuinty trust an international non-for-profit organization whose mission is “To create a global network of talented, energetic young leaders who make real change by educating local communities to apply technology effectively for real life” shared the experience they have with the youth, ICT and internet governace in East Africa.
Digital Opportunity trust is currently operational in four African Countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Egypt in addition to other countries. It was noted that in EastAfrica, 50 percent young people are under the age of 25 and that even with secondary education young Africans face challenges, they are still three times more likely to be unemployed than adults.
Youth and ICTs: Promoting Youth Engagement.
Early Access to ICTs means early adoption and adaptation of ICTs and skills therefore spurring innovation and economic growth. Mr. Tony from Digital Opportunity trust said that young people need to be empowered in community-Building , knowledge Generation and sharing , projects support, skills development and advocacy. He acknowledged that the youth input in ICT policy development is important as the policies can provide the necessary framework , support, legitimacy for young peopleto intiate and support their own intiative. There is also a great need to create opportunities for the youth to participate in national, regional and international ICT policy development processes.
Facilitated by Natasha primo from the Association for progressive (APC) the afternoon and last session of day 2 during the EastAfrica Internet Governace Forum focused on access and affordability to broadband in Eastafrica.
Mr. Douglas Onyango from Gidigiclear EastAfrica Limited made a presentation on the broadband status in EastAfrica. He said that according to the worldbank analysis, it was revealed that 10 % points of broadband penetration result in 1.21% increase per capita GDP growth in developed countries and 1.38% in developing countries. Mr. Onyango added that with the three fibre cables now operational, the prices of the internet have considerably reduced. However, expansion of the infrastructure is still limited to capital cities where a steady market is guaranteed.
Country Reports on Broadband status
According to Eng. Charles Lwanga the Assistant Commisioner ,Telecom and posts in the Ministry of ICT in Uganda, he says that until rescently, Uganda depended only on statellite for international access which is very expensive and has limited capacity compared to optical fibre. He said that the national backbone infrastructure is that all Ministries (28) in Uganda are connected with 2.5Gbps connectivity; 2.5Gps connectivity is available in the districts of Kampala, Mukono, Bombo, Jinja and Entebbe and also the Optical fibre has been laid to the districts of Iganga, Tororo, Malaba, Busia, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu, Nimule, Luwero, Nakasongola, Masindi, Hoima, Mbarara, Bushenyi, Fortportal and Kyenjojo and currently the Ministryof ICTS is implementing Phase II (lighting the fibre). Eng. Charles said that the only way forward is that;Telecom operators should rollout Broadband infrastructure to all parts of the country regardless of profitability,eE-Government services should be rolled out through National Backbone Infrastructure for use by central and local Governments and finally that there is need for more optical fibre international links to cut costs of broadband.
Ms. Beata Mukangabo from Legal affairs/RURA presents on the access and affordability to broadband in Rwanda. She shared Rwanda ICT policy Mission of “achieving a middle income status for Rwanda by
2020 and transform its society and economy into an information-rich, knowledge-based society and economy by modernizing its key sectors using information and communication technologies” She also cited the characteristics of broadband in Rwanda as satlitte and optic cable like in the case of Uganda. Rwanda’s current broadband status is that it has experienced substantial growth in telecom services (especially mobile telephony) although broadband Access is still low and expensive and that the government subsidies to satellite bandwidth also the national Backbone is under construction and finally that there are regional initiatives connection to Submarine Cable.
In Kenya, Ms. Esther Wanjua said that the vision by 2030 is a globally competitive and prosperous nation with high quality of life by 10% p.a over 25years, equitable social development in a clean and secure environment and an issue based people-centered result-oriented and accountable democratic political system.
Conclusion
It was noted that all the countries in EastAfrican face similar challenges in access and affordability to broadband like costs, infrastructure, accessibility, governance and affordability.
During the 3rd East African Internet Governace forum that started on 11th August 2010 in Kampala Uganda, Ms. Lillian Nalwoga from CIPESA one of the organizations sponsoring the event shared the National internet governance report for Uganda. In her introduction, she said that the Ugandan Internet Governance forum started way back in 2006 and since then, 3 national IGF forums have been held.
Ms. Lillian Nalwoga presenting the Ugandan report
Lillian said that the objectives of the forums are to; provide updates on outcomes of key issues identified in the 2009, Create awareness about Uganda’s IG issues, Redefine IG issues that may have been vaguely defined as well as Seek to define new IG issues.
In her recap of the 2009 IGF, Lillian noted that there was need to continue the IGF debate in Uganda and at the global level also to promote access and affordability while getting ready for the landing submarine cables, a call for a change management of the .UG ccTLD , to develop an IPv6 transition strategy for Uganda also calling for review of proposed cyber laws in order to address issues of cyber security and privacy without violating the constitutional rights of citizens, Need to form a national cyber security strategy, the need to have gender balanced ICT policies to address gender imbalances in IG and finally Strengthening Uganda IXPs.
It was noted that Uganda’s critical internet resources are; Administration, Application, environment and infrastructure. She also added that there is need for re-delegation of the .ug ccTLD by establishing a non-for profit organization Uganda National Information centre (.ugNIC),establishing a Board with multi-stakeholder representation, two advisory committees i.e. Technical Advisory Committee &Policy Advisory Committee. Seeking to designate UCC as the sponsor of the .UG, while the created organization/company will be the technical Manager was one of the solutions of re-delegating.
Other national reports came in from Emauel Hubemuremyi from Media High Council in Rwanda, Joe Kiragu from KENIC in Kenya and Victor Ciza from AfriRegister in Burundi. The session moderator was Dr. Waudo Siganga.
