The Namibia Internet Governance Forum (NamIGF)
The Namibia Internet Governance Forum (NamIGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum that engages on issues related to Internet Governance (IG) on a national level, and how it intersects with IG developments at continental, and international level. Established in 2017, it adheres to the principles of the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), which, in keeping with the United Nations (UN) Internet Governance Forum (IGF), strives to:
- Be Open - all entities, organisations and participating individuals that are IG stakeholders shall be free to join the NamIGF.
- Multi-stakeholder – The active and democratic participation of a diverse range of stakeholders, including that of women and youth, shall be promoted.
- Transparent - Stakeholders shall be open in their communication, decisions, and implementation of NamIGF related activities.
- Accountable - Mechanisms for checks and balances, as well as for the review and redress of actions related to the NamIGF shall exist.
- Remote participation - The NamIGF shall make optimum use of the Internet to increase the number of participants in all its activities.
The NamIGF’s Main Objectives are to:
- Raise awareness, promote an improved understanding, and build capacity on Internet Governance issues amongst Namibian stakeholders and their respective communities.
- Organise and host an annual multi-stakeholder and democratic platform for engagement and knowledge building on Internet Governance related issues in Namibia, and beyond.
- Influence the development and implementation of national policies related to the Internet, and broadly, Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
- Facilitate multi-stakeholder participation by Namibian representatives at continental and global Internet Governance platforms.
- Contribute to the strengthening of multi-stakeholder engagement on Internet Governance in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union (AU).
The Mandate of the Annual NamIGF is to:
- Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of IG in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet in Namibia;
- Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and make full use of the expertise of the academic, media, human rights and free expression, legal, public as well as the information and communication technology (ICT) sectors;
- Make recommendations on how to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in Namibia;
- Identify, highlight and discuss emerging IG issues with stakeholders and the general public, and where appropriate, make recommendations;
- Build the capacity of stakeholders on IG, fully drawing on local, continental and international sources of knowledge and expertise;
- Facilitate solution and consensus building on IG issues that are of particular concern to end-users;
- Publish its proceedings.
Membership
Membership to the NamIGF is open to all relevant stakeholder groups, representatives and individuals from government, civil society, academia, media, and the ICT sector. Members serve in their personal capacity, but are expected to have extensive linkages with their respective stakeholder groups. The activities of NamIGF are coordinated by a Working Group.
Namibia IGF 2017
Despite Namibia having joined the world-wide web decades ago, we have been absent from the global discourse on internet governance. Initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), the NamIGF Interim Working Group’s mandate is to organise and host the country’s first national IGF from 27-28 September 2017.
28 September also is International Day for Universal Access to Information, and we deem it important to highlight the connection between universal access to information, and universal access to the internet.
The Interim Working Group consists of members from the following stakeholder groups:
- Government
- Private Sector
- Civil Society
- Technical Community
- Media