<div dir="auto">Thanks Thato<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">This is commendable.</div><div dir="auto">Moving forward, there could be need to start with the evaluation of current state of African leaderships within ICANN Community to ensure they are carried along as we look forward to further discussion on this.</div><div dir="auto">I will urge you to continue to provide leadership on this subject by following through the recommendations made.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Good day</div><div dir="auto">Remmy Nweke</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Tue, 19 Mar 2019, 10:11 p.m. Thato Mfikwe <<a href="mailto:thatomfikwe@gmail.com">thatomfikwe@gmail.com</a> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div><br></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Hi all<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span></span>This email serves as a report from a 45-minute meeting that
was held with ICANN VP of Stakeholder Engagement for Africa, Pierre Dandjinou
during ICANN64 on the 13<sup>th</sup> of March 2019 and apologies for the long message.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Participants who attended this meeting were Thato Mfikwe (South
Africa) and Joan Katambi (Uganda), who are both NCUC members. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The meeting started with introductions by everyone and before
and question and answer portion, I also explained the evolution of the LACNIC
region in order to clearly articulate areas of improvement in ICANN and
community regional efforts in contributing more effectively in delivery of
ICANN remit and community activities.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span><span>1.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span></b><b>Improving regional participation within
ICANN and the region<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Pierre mentioned that it was important for members to get
involved in community activities within ICANN and anyone interested in
participating must be able to submit a 1-page document on how they have
impacted or cultivated the ICANN community at regional and national level and
how they would like to further contribute.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Proposed way forward for improved participation<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>There is a need for an ICANN/AFRICA environment.
During ICANN65, there will be a slot to discuss the Africa strategy, also
noting that previously Africa never had an engagement platform within ICANN.<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Fadi Chehade, the previous CEO of ICANN, strongly felt
that Africa is not well represented and treated within ICANN, for instance less
than 1% of gTLDs were allocated to the region out of 100 applications and most
of the allocated were in South Africa. The main problem in this regard is that
Africa did not know about the gTLD program, it is therefore paramount that
Africa outlines their expectations from ICANN.<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>The current Africa strategy plan has 2 proposed pillars:
<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Courier New""><span>o<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Participation in ICANN’s work<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Courier New""><span>o<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Capacity building in the Domain Name industry, a
proposed campaign is “DNSSEC roadshows” as few ccTLD managers were assisted to
sign the zone file thus far.<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>DNS forums originated in Africa, with the first
one taking place in Durban, South Africa and now these forums span across different
regions. The advantage of these forums is that they create a platform for registrars
and registries in Africa to collaborate and the next regional DNS forum will be
in Botswana.<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Law enforcement agency campaigns. These campaigns
involve mitigation of cyber crime through capacity building of law enforcement
agencies and for purposes of this, ICANN Africa has empowered 12 registrars
within the region.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Lastly, to increase the number of fellowships for F2F
meetings, SO’s & AC’s are always supported to attend and the mechanism has
been developed within AC/SO’s to receive fellowships. Members must take
leadership positions, actively participate and contribute based on the focus of
different AC’s and SO’s.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">30% of ICANN F2F meeting attendees come to ICANN through
fellowships and the rest of the participants come by themselves or receive
support elsewhere. In order to improve regional participation outside ICANN’s
support, there needs to be awareness campaigns targeting regulators to support
participation of local or regional community members. Pierre also recognised that
the current capacity of the Africa engagement office is limited and he
mentioned that currently, plans are under way to double capacity to 6, as this
will help in ensuring ICANN is able to service the entire region to a certain
extend.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span><b><span><span>2.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span></b><b>LACNIC Region background<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">According to Pierre, LANCIC has its own hub, whereas Africa’s
hub is in Istanbul with its engagement centre in Kenya. Another advantage the
LACNIC region has, is that they also have internet houses with RIRs, RALOS and
so on, making it simple for them to collaborate and work together to effectively
contribute in activities of ICANN, while influencing policy direction and
position, especially at community level. LACNIC also participates within
working groups which offer fellowship opportunities.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraph" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span><span>3.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span></b><b>Other opportunities for development in Africa<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Fundraising at regional and national level<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Africa only has the Africa Internet Summit, which takes place
once a year, which is not sufficient, so then, the African community needs to
start organising itself. Pierre pointed out a need to tap into local capacity
like mobile operators, stakeholders and entities benefitting from the domain
name space, so engagement with them is important to supporting local and
regional initiatives. Also pointed out that the GNSO brings in a lot of money
in ICANN as it encompasses, registries, registrars, the Commercial Stakeholder
Group and RIR’s for instance.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Capacity building program<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">ICANN Africa participates in regional events and have ICANN
day and specific workshops for registries and registrars, they have also
initiated a youth community, NextGen fellowships and law enforcement workshops.
The question to be answered when it comes to such initiatives is, “How do we
grow them within Africa”.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">AFRISIG<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In response to continued and possible increased support for
the African School on Internet Governance, Pierre mentioned that although they
have budget limitations, they will continue to support AFRSIG financially and
sending resource people without making promise of increased support.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">National and Global IGF<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">They do support, sponsor and participate at regional and
sub-regional IGFs (5 years ago to date), the problem with national IGFs is that
Africa with 54 countries will mean ICANN committing funds and people for every
request for support which is not viable based on current and experienced budget
challenges within ICANN and the region.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Community Support and regional participation<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The Africa engagement office currently works with AFRALO
when opportunity permits. <i>Personally, I
think we need to learn something from AFRALO in term on how they self-structure,
organise and co-ordinate themselves.</i><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">During ICANN meetings, 15-20 years ago, you would find only 2
Africans out of 500 participants, the number grew steadily from to 10 – 15 Africans
overtime and today we have 40 – 50 regional participants in ICANN meetings. This
is one of the reasons why quality participation has to be always promoted within
the region, like working groups, leadership roles and participation in ICANN public
forums. The good thing about ICANN, is that it creates opportunity for
networking. ICANN localisation with multiple stakeholders is needed to prepare
for participation of members and the regional community need to start
initiating their own Readout sessions after every ICANN meeting.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span><b>My recommendation or side input to members</b><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Initially, we need to consider setting up an online meeting to discuss this report and obtain other
updates and comments. We cannot rely solely on ICANN to resolve regional
challenges, we need to be proactive in creating an enabling environment and
coming up with ideas and projects to see local ideals come to fruition.<b><span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">We need to organise ourselves and immediate community members to ensure that we are well
represented, treated and our voices are heard within ICANN as outlined in the
report. Below are some of the proposed action steps we can consider:<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>a.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Development of a concept document on how the
African strategy can be improved or best executed before ICANN65, to be submitted
of the ICANNN African engagement office and then presented and discussed at the
meeting.<span></span></p>
<p class="m_-8886579945009266049gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><span>b.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Establishment of a steering committee encompassing
community members and/or representatives from NCUC in the meantime and then
other ACs and SOs in the medium term, to:<span></span></p><div><span><span><span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>i. initiate establishment of WGs (policy development,
community engagements, capacity building, fundraising and etc for instance, guided by agreed
priorities)<span></span><span><span><span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> <br></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span>ii.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>develop an action plan and procedural documents defining
terms and parameters of participation and engagement amongst other activities.<span></span>
<span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Thanks for taking time to read, <br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Thato Mfikwe.</span></div>
</div>
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