AfriSIG Trains Participants on  Managing Multi-stakeholder Negotiation

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DpoH5qPXoAA_9vWThe African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) took participants through a two-day Internet Society’s Collaborative Internet Governance Project Workshop, a pre-AfriSIG event  to set the pace for AfriSIG and  build participants’ negotiation and conflict resolution skills in the context of multi-party consensus decision-making processes.

Titled: How to Effectively Participate in and Manage Multistakeholder Discussion, the workshop was facilitated by Larry Strickling, Executive Director, Collaborative Governance Project of the Internet Society, and Fiona Asonga, Chief Executive Officer, Technology Service Providers Association.

It was a pre-workshop event that preceded the Sixth African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) 2018 organized by the Association for Progressive Communication (APC) and the African Union Commission (AUC) took place from October 11 to 16, 2018 at Z Ocean Hotel in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Different case studies which include Oil Pricing Exercise, Online Sales Tax Negotiation, Problem Solving in Porto Mauro, Hypothetical Issue for Stakeholder Convening was used by the facilitators to explain the different negotiation methods and processes.

The different negotiation methods taught can be termed as the 3C’s and 2A’s which means competition, collaboration, compromising, avoiding and accommodating.

The African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) is an annual five-day residential course run by the APC with the of developing a pipeline of leading Africans from diverse sectors, backgrounds and ages with the skills to participate in local and international internet governance structures, and to shape the future of the internet landscape for Africa’s development.

The highlight of the school was the practicum plenary session were fellows were grouped into various stakeholders comprising of the government, civil society, private sector, technical community, AU, EU and country representative.

The stakeholders were given the task of comparing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with the Africa Union Convention (AUC) on data protection and make recommendations for data protection law in Africa.

This year’s school was preceded by the Internet Society’s Collaborative Internet Governance Project Workshop which took place from October 9 to 10, 2018 at Z Ocean Hotel in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Drawing its faculty from leading African and international experts and role-players in the internet governance ecosystem, we provide a cutting-edge and African-centred curriculum, exposure to and hands-on experience in participating in internet governance mechanisms, as well as provide ongoing mentorship to our students. Alumni are also plugged into a rich network of policy-makers, regulators and rights activists and experts invested in realising an open and secure internet that can be used to claim and secure our rights, develop our economies and improve our lives.

Its curriculum is grounded in local to global internet governance issues, processes and practice, and is kept up-to-speed with major developments in the sector as they happen. Teaching and learning happen through a mixed model of lectures and seminars, peer learning, practical exercises, as well as exposure to and mentorship from African and global experts in the field.

The core curriculum includes an overview of the multidisciplinary dimensions of internet governance, emphasising a human rights-based and developmental approach towards shaping internet governance policy and practice, from the global level right down to the country level.

Topics covered by experts at the school include overview of the internet, internet governance, introduction to practicum, internet architecture and protocols, domain names and addressing, cybersecurity and governance, data protection and privacy, internet governance and human rights, gender and internet governance, state of internet access and infrastructure in Africa among others.

The APC secretariat is working on the final version of the practicum recommendations and will be made available at a later date.