Internet governance at a global level • At international level, the establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General in July 2006. The IGF is one of the most successful outcomes of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The IGF was a culmination of deliberations that took place at the first and second phases of WSIS held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005, respectively. • The IGF was first convened in October–November 2006 and has held annual meetings since then. The Global IGF comprises an Advisory Group (known as the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), and a Secretariat, as the main institutional bodies of the IGF. Mandate of the global IGF • Discuss public policy issues related to internet governance to foster sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet. • Facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross-cutting international public policies regarding the internet and discuss issues that do not fall within the scope of any existing body. • Interface with appropriate inter-governmental organisations and other institutions on matters under their purview. • Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and in this regard make full use of the expertise of the academic, scientific and technical communities. • Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world. • Strengthen and enhance the engagement of stakeholders in existing and/or future Internet Governance mechanisms, particularly those from developing countries. • Identify emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general public, and, where appropriate, make recommendations. • Contribute to capacity building for Internet Governance in developing countries, drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise. • Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the embodiment of WSIS principles in Internet Governance processes. • Discuss, inter alia, issues relating to critical Internet resources. • Help to find solutions to the issues arising from the use and misuse of the Internet. • Publish its proceedings. Funding Options for the Global IGF • At the global level the secretariat is funded through voluntary contributions from various stakeholders. In addition, the IGF Support Association (IGFSA), was formed in September 2014 to assist with mobilising resources for the global IGF. • The goal of the IGFSA is to provide stable and sustainable support for the IGF Secretariat and to fund related activities. • IGFSA includes a membership component where individuals and corporates pay a membership fee. Internet Governance at a continental level • The African Internet Governance Forum (AFIGF) has five regional initiatives and these include the: • West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF) • East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) • Forum de Gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique Centrale (FGI-CA) • North Africa Internet Governance Forum (NAIGF) • Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF) INTERNET GOVERNANCE MULTISTAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE REPORT 2015 014 The Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF) • The SAIGF was inaugurated in September 2011 (South Africa) with the specific objectives to: • Increase awareness of Internet Governance issues in SADC member states. • Facilitating informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between stakeholders (government, private sector, civil society, academia and technical). • Facilitating the participation of a broad range of SADC stakeholders in regional and global IGF processes. • Creating a systematic, bottom up, national, regional and global Internet Governance policy dialogue process in SADC. Conveners of the SAIGF • The SAIGF is co-convened by the following organizations under the auspices of the •SADC Secretariat: • The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD); • The Association for Progressive Communications (APC); • The Southern Africa NGO Network (SANGONET); • The outcomes from the Forum are captured in a communiqué, which is presented to the Africa IGF and the global IGF. Establishing National IGFs – AU Mandate • The African Union (AU) ICT Ministers (CITMC-4, Khartoum 2012) “…REQUEST MEMBER STATES TO PROMOTE the organization of national Internet Governance Forums (IGF) aimed at facilitating dialogue between all stakeholders on ICT for development issues and facilitate the participation of their respective countries in regional and African IGF (AFIGF) activities as well as in the global IGF.” Establishing National IGFs – SADC Mandate • The SADC ICT Ministers (2012) – “Ministers urged Member States to set up their National Internet Governance Forums and contribute their input by participating in the SAIGF.” • During their meeting in Mangochi, Malawi (November 2014), the same Ministers set 30 June 2015 as the deadline for the remaining 11 SADC member states to establish their NIGFs. Status of National IGFs in the SADC Region Within the SADC Region, only 5 out of 15 member states have national IGFs namely: • Malawi; • Mozambique; • United Republic of Tanzania; • South Africa; and • Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe launched in IGF on 17 June 2015). Conveners of Internet Governance in other SADC countries The conveners of the IG n other SADC countries include: • Malawi – Department of e-government in the President’s Office; • Tanzania – civil society (Union of Tanzania Press Clubs); and • South Africa - Internet Society Gauteng Chapter, in collaboration with the ZA Central Registry and Google S.A. Launch of the Zimbabwe Internet Governance Forum (ZIGF) • The ZIGF was launched on 17 June 2015 by the Secretary for Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Dr. Eng. S. Kundishora at a multi-stakeholder workshop that was held at the Rainbow Towers Hotel, in Harare attended by 159 representatives of different stakeholders groups that included the Government, Private Sector, Civil Society, Academia and Technical Communities. www.misazim.com @misazimbabwe MISA Zimbabwe