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African Union publishes manual on hosting an internet governance forum

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The African Union (AU) has published a manual on hosting an internet governance forum (IGF), titled ‘Manual for the Development of National and Regional IGFs in Africa’ (the Manual). As explained in the Manual, its aim is to equip stakeholders with the substantive skills related to their participation in the internet governance debate at national, regional, continental and global levels.

The Manual defines an IGF as following:

The [IGF] is defined as a platform for discussions between various people and stakeholder groups from all countries, including developing countries, exchanging information and sharing good policies and practices relating to the Internet and technologies. The IGF facilitates common understandings and knowledge exchange of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges. It produces a set of informative documents which are developed through consensus for use by stakeholders who wish to do so voluntarily.

The Manual is targeted at the principal stakeholders involved in an IGF, namely governments, private sector, civil society, academic and technical communities, and intergovernmental and international organisations. In terms of content, the Manual is divided into the following sections:

  • First, an overview section, which discusses the background and origin of the IGF.
  • Second, the common criteria defining national and regional IGFs, which provides common definitions and criteria applying to the IGF at national, regional and continental levels.
  • Third, a step-by-step guide through the process of putting in place, organising and running a national IGF.
  • Fourth, detailed information on how the continental IGF is organised and run.
  • Fifth, information on sub-regional IGFs.

The Manual is accessible (via Internet Governance Hub) here.

Please note: The information contained in this note is for general guidance on matters of interest, and does not constitute legal advice. For any enquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

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