Emma Okonji
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) stakeholders in West Africa have agreed to embrace the universality of the internet with the aim of deepening internet penetration across the region and ensuring safe internet.
The agreement was reached recently during the joint organised forum of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) and the African ICT Foundation, on how to mainstream Internet Universality and the Rights, Openness, Access and Multi-stakeholder (ROAM) approach principles.
The session, which was held on the occasion of the West African Internet Governance Forum 2021, focused on how to encourage more countries to use ROAM-X indicators for improving national Internet development and digital policies in West Africa.
The session was moderated by the Regional Director, West Africa, African ICT Foundation, Dr. Kossi Amessinou, who underlined the main objective to engage an extended partnership with the Internet community of West Africa by mobilising them to participate in dynamic coalition and provide the necessary tools to conduct national assessments in all ECOWAS countries.
UNESCO’s Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring in the Communications and Information Sector, Marielza Oliveira, said: “Our work on Internet Universality seeks to identify and close digital divides, foster digital inclusion, protect rights including freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, and contribute to strengthening resilience and development”.
President of the African ICT Foundation, Mr. Tony Ojobo, commended the collaboration with UNESCO and highlighted the need to carry out periodic evaluations in African countries to enable the improvement of national Internet governance.
The ROAM principles and indicators go beyond the traditional rational of physical access. They contribute to comprehensively advancing digital inclusion, focusing on multiple dimensions of human rights, open Internet, quality of access and inclusive multi-stakeholder governance for building resilient West Africa and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Chair of UNESCO Information for All Programme, Dorothy Gordon, reaffirmed the need for strong advocacy from national and regional stakeholders to implement the national assessment of Internet Universality Indicators (IUIs) across the West-African countries. She further called for more engagement from civil society to represent vulnerable and marginalised groups, such as disabled people, women or the youth.
They pointed out that the ROAM-X indicators assessment in countries like Benin and Niger would offer tremendous opportunities to push forward the development of Internet in West Africa. The framework empowers national stakeholders to gain a better understanding of their digital landscape and engage in the digital transformation and inclusion process.
Representing Development House, Kafui Aheto, introduced the initial findings of the ongoing national assessment of ROAM-X indicators in Ghana. He highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholderism in guiding the overall assessment process and building policy development in Ghana.
ROAM-X indicators assessments have been progressing in 28 countries, including African countries like Benin, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Niger, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cabo Verde, and Burkina Faso. All participants agreed on the importance for African countries to mainstream ROAM principles and the urgent need to expand advocacy, capacity-building, resource mobilization and multistakeholder partnerships to scale up national assessment projects across the region.
UNESCO therefore encouraged all countries in the West-African sub-region to continue using the ROAM framework and join the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators to bring Internet forward in the region.
