Rudi International at the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) in Nairobi

We are happy to announce that Rudi International will be present at the AfIGF that is scheduled to take place from September 24 to 26 in Nairobi, Kenya at the Multimedia University. And we will be represented by our Co-founder and Executive Director Arsene Tungali who is part of the global Internet Governance process.

In this pdf document, Chengetai Masango from the IGF Secretariat in Geneva shared about what’s Internet Governance.

“Internet governance is the development and application by Governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.”

Rudi International in the IG process

We have been involved in the Internet Governance process since 2011 when Arsene Tungali took place at the Global 6^th Internet Governance Forum which took place in Nairobi (Kenya) in September 2011. He played a big role being part, as a Youth Participant, in a Child Online Protection (COP) panel with other youths from other Europe and African countries and experts including ConnectSafely.org Co Director Larry Magid, Richard from Facebook, Dr Adeleye from Youth Crime Watch of Nigeria, Priscillia Kounkou from UNICEF, Angian Bose from Ecpat International and others.

He made a presentation on the main theme “Young people and their safeguards in an increasingly connected world” where he presented the state of youth online security in the DRC, a country where Internet is being used by young people mainly through mobile devices than on computers.

Arsene Tungali is also an alumni of Diplo Foundation’s 2012 Internet Governance Capacity Building Program (IGCBP12) which is a series of online courses on Internet Governance and other specialized courses including E-participation, Cybersecurity, etc.

What do we do in the Internet field?

Rudi International is among civil society organizations in the organizing committee of the young DRC IGF (DRC Internet Governance Forum). IGF DRC hosted the Central Africa IGF that took place in Kinshasa last August.

Since 2012, Rudi International have launched a program called “Rudi For Women and Girls Online” whose aim is to educate young girls on the best use of the new information and communication technologies (ICT) as part of their emancipation. We educate them on how they can be safe online while taking benefit from what Internet can offer them.

We do this through workshops and online discussions using Facebook. We have been honored to partner with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN leading organization on ICT and have been able to convene for now two “Girls In ICT” events in Goma (DRC) where we gathered about 160 young women the two previous years, talking about the challenges and opportunities offered by the online world from a Congolese perspective. We have received a certificate of appreciation from the ITU.

This program is stuck because we need to have more funds and partners to carry such activities in educating the next generation about the last development in the tech field, as technology won’t wait for them. Rudi International has played a big role, being the only one youth-led organization gathering young people to discuss about the last developments in technologies, especially about Internet and how they can be safe from bullying and other online risks. We are open for partnerships in that area!

Meet Arsene in Nairobi

Are you going to be there too? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Arsene and discuss partnership possibilities with your organization if you care about the youth in Eastern DRC where we are based and where we are working. We always seek for fellowships to take part in other Internet-related events across Africa and the world.

Follow him on Twitter (@arsenebaguma) for updates about the Forum and stay in touch by liking our ICT specialized Facebook page. For emergency, email him: [email protected]