Civil Society, Internet, Government, Digital Divide, Africa: Civil society groups are calling on the machinery of government to make the Internet accessible to Africans. The groups recently met in Kigali, Rwanda under the auspices of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) on October 28th, on the eve of the Connect Africa Summit of October 29-30.

More specifically, the civil society groups have called for new forms of corporate governance to develop Africa’s ICT infrastructure. Such new forms must ensure the interests of all stakeholders but, above all, the interest of African consumers and citizens. The Kigali statement is signed by African civil society delegates, academicians, researchers, consumer interest groups, and ISPs.

At Connect Africa itself, participants recognised that private investment and public private partnerships can play a key role in the deployment of infrastructure in Africa. The African civil society welcomes this continued investment but asserts that it needs to be further encouraged through the implementation of a stable policy environment that protects the public interest.

The civil society statement recommends twelve improvements to stimulate the development of internet and ICT infrastructure. Among them, it calls for governments to support the harmonisation of policy and regulation to develop and implement cross-border connectivity. This means giving equal priority to the deployment of national backhaul networks and international access networks.

The Kigali participants also mention the importance of Universal Access and specify that such access can only be sustainable if it is not only supply-driven but also more demand-driven and responsive to the expressed needs of target communities. The participants are therefore upholding the idea that governments need to ensure the participation of all relevant groups from civil society, communities and the private sector in defining and implementing ICT infrastructure.

In summary, this statement by influential civil society groups encourages governments to commit to supporting the development of national data, and citizen-centred services and applications by themselves becoming key providers of content and implementing initiatives that attract organisations engaged in content and application development that improve access to education and healthcare.

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