Report
North African School of Internet Governance (NASIG’23)
6-8 November 2023
Tunis, Tunisia
The fourth North African School on Internet Governance (NASIG’23) was held in Tunis, Tunisia from 6 to 8 November 2023 in partnership with the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI).
The school was held in 9 substantive sessions, and a Practicum session in addition to the opening and closing sessions.
- Trainers: Aziz Hilali & Anja Gengo
- Trainers: Khadija Ramah & Mohamed Higaz
- Trainers: Ahmadou Haouba & Nassima Berrayah
- Trainers: Waled Saqaf & Arwa Hedhili
- Trainers: Haytham El Mir / Martin Koyabe
- Trainers: Tijani BEN JEMAA & Faycal Bayouli
- Trainers: Mohamed Farahat & Xianhong Hu
- Trainers: Margaret Nyembura, (AUC) & Sorene Assefa (UNECA)
- Trainers: Houssine Saf & Mourad blal
- Trainers: All trainers
- Coordinators: Aicha Jeridi & Ahmed Farag
34 learners participated from the 7 countries of the North African region.
The breakdown of these learners gives 23 from Tunisia (Host country), 2 from Mauritania, 2 from Morocco, 2 from Algeria, 2 from Libya, 2 from Egypt and 1 from Sudan. The second Sudanese learner had a last-minute family issue and cancelled her trip.
Regarding the gender distribution, they were 25 Females and 9 Males.
The participation in person of the 11 non-Tunisian learners and 7 non-Tunisian experts was made possible mainly thanks to the financial support of the Internet Society Foundation and the 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 Mme Sihem Trabelsi, the CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency, the trainers, the MAG members, The North African Youth Internet Governance Forum members, and all learners of the 2023 edition of the North African School on Internet Governance (NASIG).
He thanked the Tunisian Internet Agency for their continuous support to the NAIGF activities since its inception, and in particular to the organization of this school. He extended his thanks to the Organizing Committee for their hard work over several months.
He stressed that the objective of the SIG is to give young people of the North African region the necessary information and knowledge to enter into the Internet Governance Ecosystem and contribute in the discussions on the Internet and its future.
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 to the wide community.
At the end of his welcome 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.
Ms Siheme Trabelsi, CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) Welcomed the trainers, the MAG members and the learners to this edition of the North African School on Internet Governance hosted by the ATI, the partner of the NAIGF playing also the role of its secretary. She highlighted the importance of the school in building capacity of the Internet community in North Africa to permit more active members in the Internet Governance Fora. She wished full success to the school and more success for the NAIGF activities.
Substantial sessions (NASIG’23)
The 9 Substantial sessions addressed the following topics:
Introduction of the Internet & Internet Governance
Data Protection & Privacy
Digital transformation & e-commerce
New Technologies : AI, Blockchain & Crypto Future
Cybersecurity & Cyberthreats
Multi-Stakeholder engagement in IG processes
Digital rights, laws & Regulation
Africa Strategy on Internet Governance
Fake news & online journalism
Practicum Session (NASIG’23)
The main objective of this practical part of the school is to assess the learners’ understanding of the topics and knowledge given during the school, and to make them produce an output (recommendations, new ideas for future projects, etc…)
The learners are divided into four groups. Each group workes on a topic that they choose with the help of the experts, then answeres guiding questions and divide themselves into pro and cons groups, develop a paper for each view, then gather all the discussion points and conclusions in a report that the group leader presents to the whole learners and experts.
The following Practicum topics have been identified in common agreement between trainers (experts) and learners:
- Data Protection/Access
- Artificial Intelligence
- Cyber Security
- Crypto currency and Blockchain
Closing Session (NASIG’23)
During the closing session, Tijani Ben Jemaa, Chair of the NAIGF MAG thanked the learners for 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’23. Their satisfaction about the program and the experience gained as well as the opportunity to present their reportsis our stimulation to continue this effort and try to improve.
The session ended with the delivery of certificates of participation to the learners.
