Session
Affordable Access
Digital, Media, and Information Literacy
Gender Digital Divide
Skills Building for Basic and Advanced Technologies (Meaningful Access)
Round Table - 90 Min
The African Union plans to organize the 2023 AU Open Forum as a hybrid. The thematic focus will be Connecting All People and Safeguarding Human Rights. Just like in 2022, The AU Open Forum aims at discussing digital inclusion especially in relation to Capacity Building; Digital Transformation; Data Policy, Cybersecurity and Digital Cooperation. The Forum will also discuss the Internet Governance Capacity Building activities of PRIDA at the national, regional and continental level done between 2018-2023 and the way forward post PRIDA. During the session, African views with regard to the Global Digital Compact shall be sought. Through the host country chair (Nigeria) of the Africa IGF 2023, an overview of the Africa School of IG, Africa Youth IGF, African IGF and the Africa IGF Parliamentary session will also be given and comments from the participants received. The 2023 Forum will be linked to the SDGs, especially Goals 5, 8, 9, 10 and 17. Like in the previous editions, the African Union Open Forum is expected to be attended by a broad stakeholders’ representation across government, private sector, academia, technical communities, civil society, ministers, parliamentarians, media, regional and international organizations. This years’ global IGF 2023, will be held in Tokyo, Japan. With possible funding challenges, it is expected that most participants will connect online. Therefore the forum will be fully Hybrid to accommodate those who will not be able to attend in person. The event will be widely publicized at the national and regional events including during the Africa IGF to be held in September in Nigeria.
There will be two moderators. One online and one onsite. The two will coordinate to ensure that the discussions are inclusive taking the views of all participants either online or onsite. The participants will also be encouraged to interact through an African group whatsapp group that will be created for the purpose of ensuring participants can present their views in the best convenient ways. All the contributions from the participants will be taken into account.
Africa Union Commission
Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u, AUC-PRIDA Mr. Adil Sulieman, African Union Commission, Intergovernmental Dr. Kamugisha Kazaura, African Union Commission, Intergovernmental, Dr. Mactar Seck, UN Economic Commission for Africa, Ms. Lillian Nalwoga, Chair Africa MAG NRI Mr. Joshua Joshua, NRI
1. Mr. Adil Sulieman, African Union Commission, (Moderator) 2. Ms. Lillian Nalwoga, Chair Africa MAG 3. Dr. Kamugisha Kazaura, African Union Commission, Intergovernmental, 4. Minister from Nigeria, Africa IGF 2023 host 5. Chair of the Host of 2023 Continental IGF to be held in Nigeria 6. Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u, AUC - PRIDA 7 Dr. Mactar Seck, UN Economic Commission for Africa
Mr. Adil Sulieman
Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u
Mr. Joshua Joshua
1.1
4. Quality Education
4.1
4.3
4.4
4.5
5. Gender Equality
5.1
5.5
5.b
5.c
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
8.2
8.3
8.5
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
9.1
9.b
10. Reduced Inequalities
10.2
10.3
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
16.7
16.b
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.14
17.6
17.9
Targets: Our proposal will show the capacity building activities across the continent by the various presenters through partnerships and innovative solutions with gender sensitivities which would address SDGs 4, 5, 9 and 10. The presentations will also address discussions of the norms and CBMs of the UNOEWG and GGE and how countries/region should consider contextualise it to create a safe digital space for social economic development. This would address SDG 8 and 16.