AFRALO

[Discretionary Funding Report]

By

Nkem Nweke

Executive Director, Operations

DigitalSENSE Africa Media

(ICANN’s AFRALO - ALS)

www.DigitalSENSEAfrica.com.ng

L-R: Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Mr. Gbenga Sesan, Chairman of the occasion, Chief Chris Uwaje, Managing Director, Wizzyhub Technology Ltd, Mr. Francis Uzor, Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkem Nweke, representative, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Engr. Olufemi Olufeko, Vice President, Nigeria Internet Group, Dr. Bayero Agabi and Lead Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa, Remmy Nweke, at the 10th edition of Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum Series 2019, Theme: Connecting Nigerians for Enhanced Internet Governance, held at the Welcome Centre Hotels, Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road, Lagos-Nigeria, Thursday, June 20, 2019.

RE: RALO Discretionary Funding (A Report by DigitalSENSE Africa Media)

Acknowledgement:

Permit me to acknowledge you and your team at ‘At-Large’ Secretariat of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and leadership of Africa Regional At-Large Organisaton (AFRALO) as well as the team of ICANN's Africa office lead by Vice President, Mr. Pierre Dandjinou, for all the support.

I wish to single out the Stakeholder Engagement and Operations Manager at ICANN for the Africa region, Mr. Yaovi Atouhun, for his consistency in reaching out to ensuring that every aspect of the preparation and forum eventually went well, without forgetting Bob Ochieng’s active role.

Description:

This fund is for local production and distribution of AFRALO brochures (1000 copies in English and a major Nigerian language - Yoruba) for the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable in Lagos-Nigeria, for outreach engagement activity, towards bridging the language gap, among others.

2019 NDSF theme: CONNECTING NIGERIANS FOR ENHANCED INTERNET GOVERNANCE, held on Thursday, June 20, 2019, under the chairmanship of the Vice President, Nigeria IPv6 Council and former President, Institute of Software Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), Chief Chris Uwaje who doubles as the executive chairman, Connect Technologies, at the Welcome Centre Hotels, Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road, Lagos-Nigeria. The forum was well attended by stakeholders including community-based organizations, youths, students and women, as well as the media.

About NDSF 2019:

The 10th annual Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development and Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable was hosted by DigitalSENSE Africa Media (a certified ICANN-ALS), in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); targeting a number of Community Based Organisations (CBO), students, youths and women from across Africa, and Nigeria precisely – a nation of over 200m population; offering a unique opportunity to reach out to potential new AFRALO ALSes and individuals, especially women.

A time was also devoted during the event to explain the brochure to participants and encourage them to use the details therein in English and or Yoruba, a major Nigeria language and we wish to extend this to other major languages in nearest future with relevant supports.

Brief on Yoruba Language:

Yoruba is a language spoken in West Africa, with estimated 80 million across the subregion. It is a pluricentric language spoken mainly in Nigeria, Benin and Togo, with communities in Sierra Leone, Liberia, other parts of Africa, the Americas, and Europe. As at 2017, the native speakers were estimated at 56 million.

Goal achieved:

This paved the way for the setting up of a unique WhatsApp group - AfriCANN Next Leaders - to provide a mobile instant 'mentoring' response and education for participants and Nigerians as well as Africans at large, moreso for the youth, who have interest on Internet Governance for Development and AFRALO particularly.

Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkem Nweke, (middle) with some youth participants at the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum series in Lagos.

Challenges:

I must state here that there was some challenges, top among them was the Eid-el Fitr public holidays announced by the Federal Government of Nigeria by end of May 2019, barely a week to the d-day.

Noteworthy is that this event was moved from the June 6 to 20^th due to the Islamic holidays.


Some students at the registration desk at the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum series in Lagos. On display are some copies of AFRALO brochure, also inserted into event order of programme.

This, however led to a mismatch in the event programming as the VP Africa via his representative, the Stakeholder Engagement and Operations Manager at ICANN for the Africa region, Mr. Yaovi Atouhun, could not make the event as planned.

Objective:

Essentially, the objective for this fund was met as the brochures (both in English and Yoruba) were produced and distributed as required through insertions in the event programme and distributed to members, to make certain every participant has both in addition to specific announcement made in efforts to explain what AFRALO is all about and roles within the ICANN community.

For supporting NDSF 2019, AfRALO logo were extensively and conspicuously used on the order of programme, backdrop banner, event bag, T-shirt and mentions in all press-related materials.


(L) Some students at the registration desk at the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum series in Lagos. (r) Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkem Nweke, welcoming Mrs Mary Uduma of Nigeria Internet Governance Forum at the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum series in Lagos.

(L) A cross section of participants (R) A delegation of Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) Lagos led by Deanery Coordinator, Tony Mbata and Chief Peter Anwah among other participants at the 2019 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum series in Lagos.