IGF 2024 Launch / Award Event #78 Digital Governance inAfrica:Post-Summit of the Future

The Common Agenda proposes a Global Digital Compact to be agreed at the Summit of the Future in September 2024 with the intention of advancing global cooperation. The GDC expected to outline shared principles, objectives, and actions for realizing "an open, free, secure, and human-centred digital future." This, in turn, aims to expedite the achievement of the UN Vision 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and cultivate a new social and political order for the benefit of all and the sustainability of the planet. To fulfil this objective, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) organized a Regional Review Workshop in partnership with the Government of South Africa, supported by OSET, the UN Regional Coordinator Office in South Africa, and UNDP. The meeting, held in Cape Town from July 4th to 5th 2023, aimed to incorporate Africa’s viewpoint into the GDC and promote a more inclusive and fair digital future. The outcome of this consultation is ECA’s African Policy Declaration, crafted with input from 32 Member States representing government, private sector, civil society, and academia. This declaration is intended to shape the Global Digital Compact at the Summit of the Future in 2024. It delineates fundamental principles and recommendations focused on Africa's key priority areas, including Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), narrowing the digital divide, digital public goods, preventing internet fragmentation, safeguarding human rights online, and regulating emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Moreover, it emphasizes the necessity of ensuring data protection, trust, and security to nurture an equitable digital environment. Additionally, in efforts to raise awareness and champion the principles of the GDC, the policy declaration was presented at both the African IGF 2023 and Global IGF 2023. It also found its place on the agenda of the AUC 5th Special Technical Committee on Communications and ICT. Within this context, the ECA put forth a proposal for a specialized session dedicated to deliberating and endorsing the declaration at the AUC level in 2024. This proposition garnered ministerial-level approval, leading to the establishment of arrangements for an extraordinary Specialized Technical Committee (STC) to focus on the policy declaration. Furthermore, acknowledging the crucial role of AI Governance and DPI safeguards framework in the digital landscape, the UN Secretary-General established the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI (HLAB) & DPI Safeguards Working group. Their recommendations, encompassing the interim report on Governing AI for Humanity (December 2023), and Leveraging DPI for Safe and Inclusive Societies (April 2024), were effectively assimilated into the GDC draft. With extensive consultations and collaborative efforts culminating in the release of the GDC zero draft on April 1st by the UN Tech Envoy Office, a significant milestone was achieved. This draft underscores crucial objectives, including bridging digital divides, fostering inclusivity, ensuring digital security, promoting equitable data governance, and governing emerging technologies for humanity's benefit. To further refine and garner global consensus on this draft, the UN has initiated intergovernmental and stakeholder consultations. In anticipation of the upcoming UN's Summit of The Future, UNECA initiated a series of efforts to emphasize the significance of a multistakeholder approach in Internet governance, digital governance, and public policy processes, ensuring inclusivity. UNECA will be organizing two insightful sessions: 1. Regional open consultation: On May 7th, 2024, UNECA will host a virtual regional open consultation in collaboration with Research ICT Africa (RIA) to review GDC Zero Draft. 2. GDC Data Deep Dive: On May 8th, 2024, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, UNU CPR, UNU EGOV, and UNECA, alongside the co-facilitators of the Global Digital Compact, will orchestrate an in-depth analysis of the data dimensions within the GDC Zero Draft. Session Objective This session will showcase UNECA’s Africa’s Contribution towards the Global Digital Compact (GDC) Policy Declaration, along with the outcomes of the data deep dive and the open consultation. It aims to provide a platform for discussions on advancing Digital Governance in Africa post- the summit of the future. The session will focus on five key objectives and principles crucial for achieving these goals within African priority areas: bridging the digital divide, promoting inclusivity and diversity, strengthening digital infrastructure, upholding human rights, addressing AI-related challenges, and ensuring robust internet and data governance. Furthermore, it will tackle governance processes like WSIS+20, IGF, and GDC, investigating methods to prevent process fragmentation, establish a feedback loop between the processes and strengthen the governance ecosystem. It will also focus on ensuring that African stakeholders remain actively involved and are not left behind in these ongoing and emerging processes.

The session will be moderated by two individuals, one onsite and one online, and will feature a total of six discussants, with representation both onsite and online. To ensure a balanced and interactive session, speakers will alternate between onsite and remote participants. The onsite moderator will introduce the onsite speakers, followed by UNECA launch of the policy declaration and regional consultation outcome documents. This segment will take a total of 10 minutes. Each speaker will then have 5 minutes to provide context for their segment of the topic, totalling 30 minutes. Following this, there will be dynamic interaction from participants both at the venue and online, including Q&A sessions, and interactive polling, lasting 20 minutes. A 5-minute period will be allocated for the onsite moderator to summarize key takeaways and wrap up the session. We'll utilize online tools like Mentimeter for real-time polls, Q&A activities, and interactive engagement. Our goal is to create an environment conducive to active dialogue, ensuring equal opportunities for both onsite and online participants to share perspectives and contribute to the discussion.