By CIPESA Writer |

From May 29-31, the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Under the theme “Empowering Africa’s Digital Future”, AfIGF serves to foster inclusive dialogue, collaboration, and innovation to shape the future of the Internet across Africa.

The AfIGF feeds into the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), convened by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General as a global multistakeholder platform that facilitates discussions on Internet and digital public policy issues. This year, Norway will host the 20th IGF 2025 from June 23-27 in Oslo under the overarching theme “Building Digital Governance Together”.

As a key platform for dialogue on the internet governance landscape in Africa, the Africa IGF presents a unique platform for the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) to contribute insights and to shape policy in line with its continued commitment to promoting inclusive and effective use of ICT in Africa for improved governance and livelihoods.

May 28 | By invitation

Hosts:  Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE), CIPESA, Global Partners Digital and  Global Network Initiative (GNI)

This workshop assembles various stakeholders to inform civil society advocacy strategies and government engagement in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process. The engagement will equip government representatives with a clearer understanding of national positions and their involvement in the WSIS+20 process, while civil society entities and representatives will be better prepared to develop their advocacy strategies that feed into the process.

May 29 | Workshop room 1 | 09:00-10:00 (EAT)

Hosts: Research ICT Africa (RIA) and International Media Support (IMS)

This session aims to identify and map the key disinformation threats to electoral integrity in Africa, and to foster multi-stakeholder collaboration to address them. It will explore how media coalitions, fact-checkers, civil society, and researchers can work together to strengthen information integrity, especially during elections. This session forms part of RIA and IMS’s participatory research on effective media coalitions during elections, employing threat identification mapping similar to successful work during the recent Ghanaian elections. It will contribute to developing coordinated responses, raising awareness, and forming networks to mitigate information disorders across the continent.

May 29 | 09:45 – 10:30 (By Invitation Only)

 

Host: UN Internet Governance Forum Secretariat (IGF)

Citizens need to have confidence in the system and institutions of democracy, including electoral processes. However, trust is deteriorating with the rapid spread of misinformation through digital technologies. This session brings together legislators from all African regions to exchange good practices on strengthening institutional resilience against misinformation and lessons learned from diverse regulatory approaches to preserve information integrity.

May 30 | 14:00-15:30 (EAT)

Host: African Union Commission

As Africa advances toward a digital single market, this session explores how Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are implementing the African Union Data Policy Framework (AU DPF) to build trusted, interoperable, and rights-based data ecosystems. Representatives from the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and civil society, will discuss regional efforts to harmonise data governance through new strategies, updated legislation, and alignment with digital trade protocols. The session aims to spotlight how REC-led initiatives can reduce policy fragmentation, promote innovation, and safeguard rights, ultimately contributing to a unified and inclusive pan-African data space.

 May 31 | 09:00 – 10:00 (EAT)

African Union Development Agency – NEPAD

This panel discussion will explore how Africa can harness its existing digital public infrastructure alongside the strategic development of new continental digital platforms to assert digital sovereignty amidst rising global digital trade barriers and tariffs. This provides a foundation to discuss the need to promote sovereignty across key digital ecosystems and platforms, such as the mobile app ecosystem, payment solutions, e-hauling solutions, corporate solutions, server infrastructure, social media platforms, and data sharing platforms. The discussion directly supports the objectives of the African Union (AU) Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) of ensuring that the ICT infrastructure being developed is complemented by sovereign digital capabilities.

May 31 |  15:00 (EAT)

National and Regional IGFs in Africa: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Way Forward

Host: NRIs

The session aligns with the broader theme of the AfIGF, focusing on enhancing internet governance mechanisms in Africa. It will explore the critical role of national and regional IGFs in shaping inclusive, sustainable, and people-centered digital policies across the continent.
National and Regional IGFs are essential platforms for multi-stakeholder dialogue on IG issues.