School Reports

NASIG 2022

North African School of Internet Governance (NASIG’22)

12-14 December 2022
Rabat, Morocco

The fourth North African School on Internet Governance (NASIG’22) was held in Rabat, Morocco from 12 to 17 December 2022 in hybrid mode, back-to-back with the 6th North African Internet Governance Forum (NAIGF’22).

The school was held in 6 substantive sessions, a session on Engaging in Internet Governance ecosystem and a Practicum session in addition to the opening and closing sessions.

Each substantive session consisted of 60 minutes of presentations and 30 minutes of Q&A to improve learners’ understanding.

  • Trainers: Trainers: Mohamed Farahat & Xianhong Hu
  • Trainers: Ahmadou Haouba & Khadija Ramah
  • Trainers: Tijani Ben Jemaa & Mohamed Farahat
  • Trainers: Tijani Ben Jemaa & Mohamed Farahat
  • Trainers: Trainers: Omar Shuran & Martin Koyabe

32 learners participated from 5 of the 7 countries of the North African region. A visa problem prevented learners from the 2 other countries to make it to Rabat.

The breakdown of these learners gives 22 from Morocco (Host country), 3 from Mauritania, 3 from Tunisia, 2 from Egypt and 2 from Sudan. They were 20 Females and 12 Males

The participation in person of the 10 non-Moroccan learners was made possible mainly thanks to the financial support of the Internet Society Foundation and Public Interest Registry.

 

Opening Session

Tijani Ben Jemaa, Chair of the Multi-stakeholder Administrative Group (MAG) of the North African Internet Governance Forum (NAIGF) welcomed the trainers, moderators, the MAG members and all participants of the 2022 edition of the North African School on Internet Governance (NASIG). He also thanked the Moroccan local organizing committee led by Aziz Hilali, immediate past chair and current member of the MAG of the NAIGF for the very good organization and the warm welcome, as well as the INPT officers for the nice venue and all the facilities they provided for this school to have a successful result.

He stressed that the objective of the SIG is to give young people the necessary information and knowledge to contribute in the discussions on the Internet and its governance.

He reminded that the NAIGF started in 2019 organizing the school back-to-back with the annual forum to enlarge the North African Internet community adding each year the learners of the school.

At the end of his opening speech, the Chair of the NAIGF MAG emphasized that this SIG couldn’t be organized with as many learners from the different North African Countries without the financial support of the NAIGF wonderful partners and addressed a special thanks to these sponsors for their important support.

The Substantial sessions (NASIG’22)

The 6 Substantial sessions addressed the following topics:
  • Introduction of the Internet & Internet Governance 
  • Digital rights, laws & Regulation
  • Digital transformation & e-commerce 
  • New Technologies : AI, Bolckchain & Crypto Future
  • Data Protection & Privacy
  • Cybersecurity

Session on Engaging in Internet Governance ecosystem

image2-nasig

All trainers and MAG members presented their own experience in how they began to be interested in the Internet governance activities, what was the motivations and the barriers they may have met and how did they engage and started to be active.

Subsequently, a discussion was opened in which the learners asked plenty of questions about the practical ways for an active contribution, the groups and networks that may be useful to follow and how the trainers can help thereupon.

The Practicum Session (NASIG’22)

image-4-nasig

The following Practicum topics have been identified in common agreement between trainers and learners:

  • Cybersecurity
  • Data protection 
  • Domain Names
  • Blockchain
  • Digital rights

The learners formed themselves into 5 groups and each group chose one of the identified topics. The members of each group worked collectively, supervised by the relevant Trainer, to prepare a project that they presented at the end of the session to a Jury.

The Closing Session (NASIG’22)

image5-nasig

During the closing session, Tijani Ben Jemaa, Chair of the NAIGF MAG thanked the learners for their attendance and the interest they showed during all the sessions at this school and congratulated them for the quality of the practical work reports.

He also thanked the experts present and those who contributed remotely for their interventions and for the rich, open and interesting exchanges with the participants.

He highlighted the exemplary commitment and attendance of the learners during the sessions over the 3 days of NASIG’22. They expressed their satisfaction with the program and the experience gained as well as the opportunity to present their projects to the jury and discuss their remarks and recommended improvements.

The session ended with the delivery of certificates of participation to the learners.