The Internet Society (ISOC) is opening its first regional bureau office in Africa, with the intention of working closely with local African communities, says David McAuley, ISOC`s director of membership.
The not-for-profit organisation, based in Geneva, is planning to set up more regional bureau offices in other regions of the world in a bid to create focus on Internet education, capacity building and policy implementation in local communities, says McAuley.
ISOC has appointed Dawit Bekele to lead the pilot site because of his vast experience with Africa`s Internet movements, says McAuley. He notes that Bekele is Ethiopian by birth and has experience in teaching, research, management, consultancy and other directly related Internet activities in Africa.
McAuley adds that Bekele also has experience on distributed systems, security, advance databases, network systems and e-commerce.
Bekele says it will be critical for him to have a full understanding of the Internet needs on the ground, by travelling around Africa for the first year. He expects that working closely with ISOC members and other stakeholders of the bureau will contribute measurably to Africa`s technical capacity building and Internet availability. He says that after the first year, a physical office space will be decided on and established.
The bureau is already involved with country code Top Level Domain training and policy implementation in regions of Africa to help local communities better understand the inner workings of the Internet, he adds.
Bekele says that because this pilot project is a young initiative, ISOC is depending on African residents to contribute towards constructive dialogue which can build positive developments with the Internet in Africa.
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