WACREN Youth Day 2020: Youth and technology development in Africa

Wednesday 18 Mar 2020, 08:00 → 17:00 Africa/Porto-Novo

Golden Tulip Diplomate, Cotonou, Benin Republic

Africa's development is dependent on our ability to close the digital divide between race, gender, and rural regions. Therefore to ensure the sustainability of technological development in Africa, we need to build capacity among our young population in order to equip them with the required skills to excel as leaders in this sector.

Through its member higher education institutions, African research and education networks (RENs) provides a hub of African young people (especially the students) who engage modern-day technology through STEM-related courses or as end-users of new and emerging technologies. National RENs should be encouraged to develop the technical capacity of its youth community by creating an avenue for them to participate and benefit from the opportunities provided by their annual conferences.

A day dedicated to students and young professionals from the participating NRENs at the Cotonou 2020 WACREN annual conference will showcase how NRENs could collaborate with other Internet stakeholder organizations to promote youth inclusion in technology development in Africa.
 

OBJECTIVES

1. To discuss how Internet stakeholder organizations participating in Cotonou WACREN 2020 Conference could collaborate with their national RENs to drive the digital transformation agenda among the youth in their communities.
2. To define a model through which national RENs could support youth-driven ICT initiatives in their countries
3. To raise awareness of the Internet ecosystem in Africa and the roles of key Internet stakeholders organizations.

Language:  In French and English  with interpretation

 

 

 

 

08:00 → 09:00 Registrations and Networking

09:00 → 09:30 Opening Session

09:00 Welcome Address

Speaker: Uffa Modey (Eko-Konnect)

09:10 Goodwill Messages

Speaker: Omo Oaiya (WACREN)

09:30 → 10:30 Introduction to the Africa Internet Ecosystem

09:30 NREN Newcomers Session

Introduction to National Research and Education Network (NREN)

Speaker: Effah Amponsah (WACREN)

10:00 NREN & IGF-NRI Collaboration Model for Youth Inclusion in Internet Governance

How NREN institutions can collaborate with IGF Regional and National Initiatives and other Internet stakeholder organizations to promote local participation of youth in Internet governance

Speaker: Afia Edoh (AF)

10:30 → 11:00 Tea Break and Group Photo

11:00 → 13:00 Platforms for Youth Engagement in ICT in Africa

11:00 Youth Inclusion in Open Standards Development

Introduction to open standards development and IETF Africa community

12:30 State of youth participation in building the Africa Internet ecosystem

Country updates by youth representatives across Africa

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 16:30 Developing Youth Communities in ICT

14:00 Step-by-step guidelines for establishing/supporting Youth IGFs

Speaker: Lily Edinam (Ghana Youth IGF)

14:30 Challenges and Opportunities for Youth Inclusion in Technology Development

Panel session by community members

Interested youth should complete the relevant section of the registration form by 1 Mar 2020.

15:30 Guest presentation

Presentation by a community member related to the session and overall theme.

Interested youth should complete the relevant section of the registration form by 1 Mar 2020.

16:00 Guest presentation

Presentation by a community member related to the session and overall theme.

Interested youth should complete the relevant section of the registration form by 1 Mar 2020.

16:30 → 17:00 Vote of Thanks & Close