IGF

APC values the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a convening space to substantively engage in and contribute to discussing and shaping internet policy with a broad range of stakeholders. These are some of the issues that APC will be focusing on at this year's IGF, taking place on 6-10 December.

We believe that the IGF is a vital piece of the internet governance ecosystem, and view the IGF Leadership Panel as an effort towards consolidating the Forum as a platform for identifying viable ways to strengthen accountable, transparent, inclusive and participatory global digital cooperation.

The APC network is organising this virtual discussion on 29 November to explore how community-led development and deployment of digital technologies around the world are shaping paths towards digital transformation that are socially, economically and environmentally just and sustainable.

Climate change and digital society are the two trends that will underpin global development in our time. They interact much more than is being understood or discussed at conferences like COP and IGF.

At the IGF we often concentrate on specific themes which might be technical, like the domain name system, or more generic such as access or cybersecurity. The challenges I’m going to raise today are more fundamental issues that affect the internet as a whole.

The internet may be the same, in some ways, everywhere, but it’s also different everywhere.

Civil society organisations encourage IGF organisers to continue to privilege the remote modality of meeting until the pandemic is under control in all parts of the world, and clear and inclusive rules and practices are adopted concerning vaccination and travel restrictions.

How are APC members improving their communities’ lives? For CITAD, this has manifested in the development of numerous projects aimed at bridging digital divides and empowering local communities in Nigeria.