Hi fellow Council members,
We have received this communication from Jane Coffin (ISOC):
> We wanted to give you a head’s up that we may be allocating funds
> for 2-3 CN-SIG members to attend the IGF in Paris. We would want the
> CN-SIG to choose those 2-3 humans/run the process for choosing.
>
> We will need to coordinate with you as we also are planning to
> provide funding to people working on some of our CN deployments or
> those receiving BNET grants for CN grants. And, for example Karla
> Velasco just made our 25 under 25 for IGF.
Sol and I have talked a bit about this and we want to propose:
1) everyone who has already secured funding for their participation in
the next IGF please say so;
2) if your organization is part of CN deployments mentioned by Jane or
have been awarded BNET 2018 grants, let us know;
3) those willing to participate but have not yet secured funding, also
please say so; and please detail if you are invited to take part in IGF
panels or activities.
With this information at hand, we can then collectively choose those 3
people we will propose to receive the travel support.
Cheers!
Nico
Hello all,
I am writing to you to revive the issue of including more African CNs in
the CNSIG, and to get your vote to create an African mailing list for the
CNSIG.
*A bit of background:*
- As you may recall John Dada from Fatsuam and I participated in a workshop
on CNs at the African Union Commission in June, this coincided with the
African ISOC Chapter meeting where CNs were also further explored.
- In addition earlier this month Zenzeleni hosted the African Summit on CNs
<https://www.internetsociety.org/events/summit-community-networks-africa/201…>
in South Africa (ISOC and APC).
- Both events and many other interactions between CNs in the continent have
led to a growing movement, interested, support and the creation of
common/shared resources between CNs, support from awesome groups such as AfChix
<http://www.afchix.org/>and also politically.
- There is a growing momentum to support current and fledgling CNs and I
believe that it would be very positive for the CNSIG to have input and
interactions with African based CNs, and visa versa.
- I have previously proposed including another African CN and this request
got very little feedback. After chatting about it in the SIG and
individually with members it seems that there are two main barriers when it
comes to working together cross regionally: 1) there are some language/
social barriers, 2) there are certain region specific contexts that only
interest/ pertain to the region at hand. These barriers seem to hinder
participation not because anyone is against it, but rather through lack of
time, focus or understanding.
*Proposal*:
I would like to find a way to align the CN movement in Africa to the CNSIG.
After chatting to Nico E it seems that a good way to start engaging with
other interested members is through a mailing list - as with LAC. The
mailing list (africa(a)lists.cnsig.info) would be open to all, and focus on
African CN based themes. What Nico and I agreed is that we must make sure
that the regional mailing lists somehow feedback to the council so we can
also gain from the global experience.
*Kindly give your vote regarding the opening of the African mailing list
for the CNSIG*.
Thanks, Sol
--
Sol Luca de Tena
e: sol(a)zenzeleni.net
c: (+27/0) 839 47 4946
w: zenzeleni.net
Skype: sol.lucadetena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M
*Zenzeleni Networks NPC*
- Winner of Best Innovation with Social Impact Award, Innovation Bridge 2017
- Finalist of Mozilla Equal Rating Innovation Challenge, 2017