 Hello everybody. I am Umar Asher of the Berkman Klein Center. I am the Assistant Director of Research there, and I'm so pleased to be talking to Jacob O'Donnell Baden, who is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Legal and Engagement at the E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa, E-Gigfa based in Ghana. And today we'll be talking more about the work of E-Gigfa as part of our series, speaking with leaders of institutions within the Global Network of Internet and Society Centers. So I'm so excited to talk to you today, Jacob. So excited that you're a new member of the Global Network of Internet and Society Centers, I think only as of a couple of months ago. So you're just starting to get oriented to the work that we're doing. And this video and this interview, I think will be a great opportunity for you to share a lot of the issues that you're thinking about, the work that you're doing, and what you're excited about in the coming year. So to start us off, I'd love for you to just add anything you'd like to for your introduction and about E-Gigfa and to talk about your center. What is the focus of your center and what is the work that you're currently doing? Thank you very much, Omar, and thanks for the opportunity to speak to you and also to share more about our center. So yes, I'm Jacob, but everybody, as you said, I am the VP for legal and engagement. I am actually a private legal practitioner also on the side. Yes, and E-Gigfa actually was established to conduct our research advocacy and basically to champion initiatives that would allow more people to be actively engaged as far as internet governance and E-governance processes are concerned from Ghana first, and then we are targeting the African continent. So basically that's our clear mission. Okay, and to achieve this, mainly we are doing capacity building, we are looking at research, and then also we have programs targeting the investing communities known as the internet governance collapse and also collaborating with other partners and even more importantly we have an initiative that's known as the School on Internet Governance. So E-Gigfa is part of the dynamic coalition for E-governance schools and yearly we have a yearly program starting this year and interestingly starting this very week. We started this initiative from somewhere, August, where beginning of the year we had fellows who were chosen to be part of this school. In between August and September, they did a one month online school where they got to take on courses from internet society, from ICANN, and then this week they are going to have a three day face to face meeting respecting the COVID-19 protocols as much as possible. So basically I would say that this is what we are doing, that's our mission and these are some of the programs that we have ongoing. That's excellent. So I would actually personally love to hear a little bit more about how that program went and who were the students or the fellows that were part of this particular program. And I ask that because there's a number of centers within the global network of internet and society centers that often host summer schools or winter schools, which are typically two to four weeks long, where it does engage a set of junior researchers or junior fellows who are looking to better inform policy issues but also learn. There are a number of these different summer schools and they're hosted by different centers, often in collaboration with one another so for instance I know of a summer school that's co hosted by a center in Germany and a center in Brazil and a center in India that often switches between those regions and there's a number of other institutions that also do these types of programs, also focused on different levels within education so the Oxford Internet Institute has a summer doctoral program. And the Birken Klein Center is running research sprint with masters and PhD students. So tell me a little bit more about the program. Yes, so for the Internet Governance School, it's basically targeting anyone who has interest. Okay, so what we identified was that whether we have people from the technical community, whether you have people from the civil society, academia, you have to realize that there's a gap because you attend like all these events and you realize that you don't have the proper representation. In fact, you meet some of these people and you tell them look do you know you can actually be active and help shape Internet development or the continent by by being part of, you know, the Internet Governance processes, and they are, they are lost. They don't know. Okay, so these students are people coming from academia. We have people from the technical community working in the ISPs working in the telecom provide telecom companies and the rest. People working in pure business side of things who are now getting to know and coming on board through this through this program and we've seen very strong enthusiasm. Okay, when did the online program or the online learning sessions, they really got exposed and they have a group we created a WhatsApp group in an email list where there's an active, you know, discussion even among the students, you know, so this week, for instance, we are really looking forward for the face to face session and and and and seeing what we can achieve achieve through that session. Yeah. That's excellent. So it sounds like when you were talking about the mission of the gig, and it's core core objective of capacity building. It sounds like you're doing this on an individual level with individuals coming from different sectors. And through that individual level you're also trying to build capacity cross whether it be the private sector or telecom civil society elsewhere. And then are you also doing this institutionally like are there other organizations that work on e governance whether it be or internet governance building Ghana or within the on the continent in the region that work on governance issues and how do you think about that capacity building question and did I did I get that right, or is there another way that you think about capacity building. Okay, so capacity, I mean to be able to have successful capacity building, you need to it's actually hinges on partnerships. Okay, so what we what we looked at was that okay who is doing what and doing it better. Okay, so starting from the individual levels, the people who formed a gig for. So there are four of us. All of us are individuals who have won let's say fellowships. Okay, starting from, let's say after Nick that's the regional internet registry for Africa, and then going to the IGF we have IGF ambassadors. And then we also have icon fellows. Okay, who've been exposed. Okay, and realizing that they have all this knowledge and they have so much to pour out. And that actually became the driver. And then also we have partnership with the e governance Academy. In fact, one of the initiatives that we organized this year, we have bi monthly webinar. Okay, and we were able to have a webinar with the e governance e governance Academy. And again, we brought people together that's different from the IG school but we're able to get people together from the government side and then from the private sector side to have an introduction, basically, on on e governance or proper e governance within and then research side also one of my team members is actually involved in e governance research. So I think it's a UN initiative. Yeah, so he also brought that kind of learning and experience to our work and Yeah, that's actually what's driving us as far as capacity building is concerned. Yes. That's great. I didn't know what I asked. Yeah, you did you did and and that really shares the spirit of the network of internet and society centers where partnership and collaboration is really the animating force behind the work that we're doing so it's, it's really about how do we create those connections how do we build knowledge, how do we augment the world, augment and inform policy making capacity building scholarship research through this very collaborative and networked approach. And so I'm so glad to hear it. If I can, if I can, if I can talk about partnership also. We're also able to seal the various strategic partnership with the global cyber alliance, you know, and we have, we have a representative from this institution, giving a session on cybersecurity during the during the school remotely. So, in fact, riding on on the partnerships we, that has actually actually enriched the face to face content. Okay, because we have a partnership with Africa Nick, and they are going to be part of the school, you know, they have the person in charge of engagement who will engage these students and and let them know how they can directly involve themselves with the work of Africa Nick in the Africa region. So, the most important thing what I'm trying to say is that the partnership has actually also enriched the capacity building efforts, as far as the Internet Governance School is concerned. Great. Thank you that's, that's a great addition. So I'd love to hear about your plans for next year, what is one thing that you're excited about coming up in the in the next 12 months. Yes. So, we are so so excited about the Internet Governance School. Okay, this year is the first edition. It's going so well. We are looking forward to how it's actually, you know, ends this week. I'm so excited because even now we've learned a lot on how we will be able to improve the program so next year definitely you have the School of Internet Governance coming up. We're going to again have a webinar series that's bi-monthly and it's going to touch on several topics around e-governance and Internet Governance specifically. Next year also, in fact, one call, and by the way, we started this organization about a year ago, okay, and one kind of arm of our initiatives or our work is one called the Internet Governance Clubs. And the Internet Governance Clubs mainly was to target the university communities, okay, so that we would be able to force strategic partnership with, let's say, the computer science department, information studies department, or other departments within the university system so that they would be able to add some content as far as Internet Governance is concerned in their syllabus for their students. And the idea was also to create, like, campus chapters, you know, so that we can help people young, especially from these communities, so they can actively participate. Now, this year we had challenges because schools had to close. We were far advanced with the engagement and we couldn't drive it. So next year we are really hoping that things will normalize. We in Ghana here we are going to have, we are going back to school in January. So if nothing changes, we know that that project is also going to come off. Next year we are looking forward for further collaborations, especially in the area of research. As part of this School of Internet Governance, we've seen partners, you know, like the digital defenders who are willing to see how we can include digital rights, you know, initiatives in the program. Ideally we even wanted to create a separate, you know, a separate project for that, but because of time we had infused certain digital rights, you know, content in the school. So we are looking forward to a project that's actually focuses on digital rights, basically. So we have a lot in mind. We are looking forward for more partnerships, we've signed a lot of memorandum of understanding with organizations that share our vision, and we are actually finalizing and know that we will be able to roll some key projects for next year. That's great. And I think you anticipated my next question, which was going to be, what are opportunities for collaboration that you see and you would like to share. So I wonder maybe just to make it more specific. It sounds like you have many different forms of partnership that you think about with other organizations. So what, what specifically might that look like. And as you're thinking about other organizations within the network of centers, whether they in the region or other regions around the world, how can they be most helpful to you and how would you like to collaborate with them or what would you like to see if that doesn't already exist. Yeah, it's great. So, as far as collaboration is concerned, we realize that we are new in the ecosystem. And then we realize that there are other institutions that have been doing what we are trying to do for years. Now, what we are seeing is that there's a gap because as much as they will be doing what they are doing so right in their region, we realize that there is a gap in this region. And so when we think about collaboration, we are thinking about more kind of learning, getting more tools, and then extending the reach of their work, okay, and showing that our work also come, you know, to the limelight better so we are showing the global work piece as far as internet governance is concerned, work from our region also be highlighted. So basically right on each other's platform. Another part is also funding, because we have all these ideas that we are thinking about and how to actually get it going. Interestingly, we realize that some of these partners are running initiatives, and they also are looking forward to get same initiatives also running here in Ghana and in Africa. So it makes it easy, you know, it makes it easy. So that's what we are looking at. We are looking at more institutional capacity building so we can continue to do what we're doing very effectively, basically, and have more reach. So that's a great answer and I would also say there's, I've had another, I think the last conversation that I had with the center as well, also very, very new so established or renewed within the last year, and also had the same question about how do we think about not only initiatives but also this funding piece because sustainability of the work is so important and having that support is super important to actually really having impact, especially in research and policy. So this may be an emerging theme or I hope that perhaps there might be connection points between centers to share what's worked, what hasn't, how do we think about the funding ecosystem and landscape. I think there's a lot about the shifting landscape of digital rights generally, and increased attention, especially from policymakers but also disciplines within academia to digital issues on their impact on society so I think there's a lot for for all of us to talk about and to connect on within the global network of Internet and society centers. So before we end is there anything else that you'd like to share from your work from a gig for anything that you're thinking about that you'd like to leave our audience with. Well, thank you very much. So basically what I want to share is that there's a lot of work to be done, actually. So for us who are addressing the IG space, the little work we have started doing tells us that there's so much there's so much to be done, and everyone actually should have a piece, you know, of their work, you know, so if you have the knowledge, if you have the, you should have the passion, but if you've, you have that knowledge in IG Internet Governance, you should be willing to engage more you should be willing to share. And that's actually what's driving us we just could not set aloof and watch that you have a little representation when you get to the global stage. And most importantly we realize that whether you are an end user, you know, covered 19 has taught us that you know the Internet is basically everything now. You know, people who are not IT savvy by all means have to get IT savvy to be able to work remotely and also I think we should all get passionate and that's actually what's driving us and we look forward to like minded people people want to partner with us. People want more information about our work and contact us and we can we can engage and talk more from there. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you and how do people reach you. What's your what's the best way to do that. And by email so you go to our website you're going to get our information so www.agigfa.org www.agigfa.org you go there our social media handles are all over there you have our direct office lines and you can contact us and we can collaborate. Great. Well thank you, Jacob and thank you for this wonderful conversation and for this introduction to IGIGFA. It's always a pleasure talking to you and I'm so glad to be connected. And thanks again. Thank you very much Amar. Thanks so much. We really appreciate the platform you've given us through this session. We are grateful also. Thank you.