This document calls for the creation of a National Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) in Zambia to bring together stakeholders from government, the private sector, civil society, technical community, and academia. It notes that while Zambia was an early adapter of the internet in Africa, its ICT infrastructure, skills, and penetration now lag behind neighboring countries due to a lack of coordination between stakeholders. A NIGF could help address this by facilitating multi-stakeholder cooperation, identifying priorities, building consensus around a shared vision, and advising on emerging issues and policies. The formation of a NIGF is outlined as obtaining high-level support and identifying founding organizations to develop a strategic plan and review progress regularly.

1. Creation of National IGF
A Case for Zambia
Submitted as Final Project for
GSMA -
Principle of Internet Governance November/ December 2017
Garry Mukelabai

2. Outline
 Motivation,
 Problem Statement,
 Silo Efforts,
 There is no NIGF,
 What is IGF,
 IGF Mandate,
 How IGF Can help.
 Formation of NIGF

3. Motivation
 This document is aimed at the Policy Maker Ministry of Communications and
Transport, The Regulator Zambia Information and Communications Technology
Authority (ZICTA) and the Implementer Smart Zambia Institute of the ICT
landscape in the country. It is a call to action to spearhead the formation of a
National Internet Governance Forum that shall work as a multi-stakeholder
forum for the formulation of Internet Governance dialog that will enable the
various players participate on an equal footing that will see the improvement
in the rate of development of the ICT landscape.

4. Problem Statement
 Despite Zambia being a pioneer of the Internet usage in Sub-Saharan Africa,
along with South Africa in the early 1990s, it is now lags behind many African
Countries that started using the internet later. (Nyirenda J.C. & Cropf R. A.,
2010)
 ICT infrastructure, penetration and skills are lagging behind the neighbouring
countries (Muya et al, 2015;

5. Silo Efforts
 Various organisation including Government, State Owned Enterprises, Donor
Funded Projects, Non- Governmental Organisations and Civil Society,
Academia and Private Sector has tried to come up with various projects that
try to improve the ICT landscape but very little results are being seen.
 There is project duplication, unclear priorities and no shared vision.
 The government has in place numerous plans that require the use of ICT to
improve service provision.
 The Government has created the Smart Zambia Institute a Division that is
mandated to implement various government policies in the ICT arena and
achieve a Knowledge Society by 2030 as envision in the Vision 2030 document.
 ICT Policy 2006, ICT Act 2009, ECT 2009, Postal Act 2009

6. There is No National IGF
 One thing glaringly clear is the lack of a National IGF in Zambia while the
organisations are flourishing in our neighbours.
 We are thus missing out on a common platform where the different
stakeholders in the ICT development can meet at an equal footing.

7. National and Regional IGF Initiatives
Source : ww.igfsa.org

8. What is IGF
 The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy
dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders
in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the
private sector or civil society, including the technical and academic
community, on an equal basis and through an open and inclusive process. The
establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the United Nations
Secretary-General in July 2006. It was first convened in October–November
2006 and has held an annual meeting since then.
 This has gravitated down to Regional and National Level.

9. IGF Mandate
 Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance in
order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and
development of the Internet;
 Facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross-cutting
international public policies regarding the Internet and discuss issues that do
not fall within the scope of any existing body;
 Interface with appropriate inter-governmental organizations and other
institutions on matters under their purview;
 Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and in this regard
make full use of the expertise of the academic, scientific and technical
communities;
 Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the
availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world;

10. IGF Mandate
 Strengthen and enhance the engagement of stakeholders in existing and/or future
Internet governance mechanisms, particularly those from developing countries;
 Identify emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and
the general public, and, where appropriate, make recommendations;
 Contribute to capacity building for Internet governance in developing countries,
drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise;
 Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the embodiment of WSIS principles in
Internet governance processes;
 Discuss, inter alia, issues relating to critical Internet resources;
 Help to find solutions to the issues arising from the use and misuse of the Internet,
of particular concern to everyday users;
 Publish its proceedings

11. How can NIGF assist
 Build Confidence in using ICT, Secure systems.
 Capacity Building – leave no one behind
 Multi stakeholder approach allow Joint ventures
 Shared Vision and Goals
 Cybersecurity
 Enable e-government Services to business, citizen and people.
 Systems working together
 A Knowledge Society

12. Formation of National IGF
 Find enthusiastic individuals, create a nucleus of highly motivated individuals.
 Find enthusiastic partners
 Create strategic and implementation plan.
 Obtain high level approval, blessings and stakeholder buy-in.
 Identify organisations that can assists with various resources
 Set up milestones with measurable outputs and tangible result
 Reviews progress
 Seek assistance and lessons learnt from others National, regional,
International; who are more than willing to help.
 Regular Reviews with Partners

13. Who are the important Stake holders
 The Government , Regulator (ZICTA) , Policy Maker (MCT) , Implementer (SZI)
 The private sector, ISPAZ Internet Service Providers, GSM Mobile Providers
 The Civil Society
 The Academia, ZAMREN, Universities
 Professional Bodies ICTSZ, EIZ
 The Technical community
 Youth

14. Other Interested External Stakeholders
 IGFSA - Internet Governance Forum Support Association
 ICANN - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
 Non Governmental Organisations
 Other National, Regional and the international IGF

15. Thank You
Garry Mukelabai is the Manager Business Technology at ZICTA the regulator. He
has attended a few IGF National meetings an now wants to see the creation of a
National IGF in Zambia a reality.
gmukelabai@zicta.zm

16. Bibliography
 http://www.igfsa.org accessed 11th December 2017
 http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/aboutigf accessed 11/12/2017
 Nyirenda J.C., and Cropf R. A., 2010, The Prospects for eGovernment and
eGovernance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Zambia. International
Journal of Electronic Government Research, Volume 6, Issue 1 Saint Louis
University, USA
 Professor Muya M, Rattray S., Dr Banda I. N., Mubemba C., Mukelabai G. ,
Kaluba C. ( May 2015) Engineering Institution of Zambia 2014 BASELINE
REPORT CARD FOR ZAMBIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE, Lusaka
 Republic of Zambia Vision 2030 A prosperous Middle income Nation by 2030

17. Acronyms and Abbreviations
 MCT – Ministry of Communication and Transport – ICT Ministry , Policy Maker.
 ICTSZ – Information and Communications Technology Society of Zambia –
Professional Body for ICT Personal
 EIZ – Engineering Institution of Zambia – Professional Body for all Engineering
Professional
 ZICTA – Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority – ICT
Regulator
 ZAMREN – Zambia Research and Education Network – ‘ISP’ for research and
learning institutors only
 ISPAZ – Internet Service Providers Association of Zambia
 GSMAZ – Mobile Network Providers Association of Zambia