2024 Board of Directors Elections Nominees
Poncelet Ileleji
Poncelet Ileleji is a Computer Scientist by Profession with over 25 years as a practitioner, lecturer, and researcher. Poncelet has been involved with the use of ICT as a tool for sustainable development both as the founder/ Lead / CEO of Jokkolabs, in The Gambia and on the board of the Jokkolabs global network, Jokkolabs Banjul is the first Innovation Hub in Gambia established in April 2015 .
He has also served as consultant for several projects in Africa covering Digital Rights & Inclusion, ICT for D, Learning / Digital Technologies and Education, Internet Governance and Health Informatics. He also ran the YMCA Computer Training Centre and Digital Studio from inception in 1996. He served also as an International Coordinator for the International YMCA of New York, International Camp Counsellor Program. He has served as the country coordinator for the World Links project in the Gambia during the program life cycle in The Gambia from 2001 to 2005, The program was funded and initiated by the World Bank and it adopted a constructivist approach to teaching with ICT that emphasized a shift away from teacher centered lecture-based instruction towards student-centered, project-based learning during the program life cycle from 2001 to 2005 in the Gambia.
Poncelet as a Hobby, is a pundit on sports programmes in National Television in the Gambia, an Avid Traveller, Chess, and Scrabble Player. In his free time, he enjoys reading International Journals, Biographies of inventors / scientist and watching documentaries on Development, Fashion programs and Movies.
Statement of Intent
My motivation to serve on the board of the Association of Progressive Communication (APC) (www.apc.org) stems from my strong believe in contributing to the growth of APC Network whose vision “is for all people, particularly the marginalised, to use and shape the internet and digital technologies to create a just and sustainable world.” The vision of the APC is what made me join first as an individual member over a decade ago and later guiding my organisation Jokkolabs Banjul to join APC as a member of the network. APC work and overall programs has always aligned with what I do in my continent of Africa and that of my organisation. The APC strategic plan over the years has been a guiding principle of what Jokkolabs Banjul does within addressing digital rights issues in what we do.
I see APC as a network that impacts policy development on Digital rights, feminist rights, and community initiatives on various issues from rights of marginalized individuals who are LGBTQI, Internet Governance Forum dialogues, community networks to environmental issues to name a few. Based on my strong believe in the work of APC and how it impacts various communities I see myself been on the board of APC will help amplifier APC global outreach more especially to marginalized communities anywhere they may be in line with APC vision and mission. I love serving and volunteering for any APC initiative based on my passion as I learn, collaborate from the vast network of APC members and network in promoting the agenda APC stands for. I will use my voice as a member of APC board to contribute to global policy discuss, impactful programs that aligns with APC vision and Mission. Above all as a dedicated practitioner in what I do, I am also willingly to volunteer for APC in any capacity as a board member and promote the ideals of this great network that has been very beneficial to my career and that of my organisation in all we do.
Serving APC as a board member will be an honour for me knowing am committed to a network whose ideals have driven my work and career and make a huge impact for various communities globally. Its always a joy for me and my organisation in working on APC programs through APC grants or our own work which we always align to APC vision and mission.
Sylvie SIYAM
I’m a senior Engineer in Electro-mechanics and Energetics. I coordinate PROTEGE QV, a Cameroonian NGO working in three main fields, leadership, environment protection, and ICT4D. I’ve successfully contributed and/or led a significant number of projects in the fields of renewable energies, local development and ICT for development. I’ve a good knowledge of the challenges of ICT for development. My combined experiences in gender and development, and local development allow me to better anchor the projects I lead and to better center them on the interests of the communities we serve.
In the field of ICT4D I can cite some realizations I’m very proud of: research on the contribution of community telecenters to Cameroon’s rural secondary education, to assess the impact of public access to ICTs; Organizing within PROTEGE QV of 10 yearly editions of Software Freedom Day celebration; elaboration of an African Index of Internet Rights and Freedoms; contribution to an online interactive tool LEXOTA that shows how laws and government actions against disinformation impact freedom of expression across Sub-Saharan Africa; I’m author or co-author of quite an important number of papers on ICT4D.
I’ve a strong interest in gender equity. I’m one of the founders and member of the board of a community financial institution in my village (MUFID BANKA) that help members of the community and particularly women through savings and loans to become financially empowered. I love cooking and trying new recipes. It’s not always successful but my children and grandchildren love what I cook for them.
Statement of Intent
PROTEGE QV joined the Association of Progressive Communication since 2005 after a general meeting of Global Knowledge Partnership where I met Anriette Esthurveysen (Executive Director). Since that time, our organization has benefited a lot from the network in terms of capacities building, information sharing and visibility. We are now a well-known organization working on ICT promotion and digital rights in Cameroon.
Since we joined APC, we’ve always tried to contribute to the growth of the network by:
- Promoting collaborative projects with other members (the most three recent are with Rudi International in DRC, with CIPESA in Uganda and Azur Developpement in Congo);
- Being a member of the Membership Working Group that analyzes new candidates an give an advice on their request to join the network;
- Using APC grants to contribute to the implementation of the network strategy;
- Being host organization for the African regional meeting; Working for the network as board member for the last three years has been on my opinion, one of the best way to serve it. Being able to contribute at a strategic level to the future of the network was amazing. I even had the chance to represent the board during the African School of Internet Governance at Abuja (Nigeria). I strongly want to join the board of directors once more. By becoming a board member, I intent to contribute in:
- Improving the language diversity within the network (my first language is French);
- Promoting collaborative projects among members;
- Continuing to participate to the growth of the network.
If I’m elected, I’ll handle and honor my responsibilities as board member (reviewing and approving reports and documents, attending board meetings, contributing efficiently to strategic decisions for the network). Being president of PROTEGE QV and with my experience as board member and Coordinator of many projects, I’m sure to have the leadership skills and capacities needed to contribute efficiently to APC board of Directors if I’m elected. I’ll give my best to serve the network. Yours faithfully.
Leandro Navarro
Sóc en Leandro, visc a Barcelona, soc de Pangea, membre d’un proveïdor de serveis d’Internet ètic. Català i llatinoamericà per família i de cor.
Soy Leandro, vivo en Barcelona, y soy de Pangea, miembro de un proveedor de servicios de Internet ético. Catalan y latinoamericano de familia y de corazón.
Je suis Leandro, je vis à Barcelone, et je suis de Pangea, membre d'un fournisseur de services Internet éthique. Catalan et latin-américain de famille et de cœur.
I am Leandro, based in Barcelona, from Pangea, an ethical Internet service provider. Catalan and Latin-american by family and heart. Activist and academic. Citizen of Earth. Passionate to enable communities to connect themselves, as well as preparing and reusing second-hand computers and mobile devices to minimize environmental impact and maximize digital inclusion. I believe and work for an internet for everyone, feminist, homemade and sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms, because, environmental rights are human rights!
I’ve been two terms in the board. I didn’t nominate myself as I am happy to welcome new people in the board. However, I was nominated by someone else and I accepted the challenge with passion. Checking what I proposed for the previous term, it still applies as a horizon while I am happy to see we’re progressing so well. With your support I offer myself to continue for a third term to contribute my experience and effort to: enhance the capacity and influence of APC in priority areas, keep on consolidating the environmental and community networks dimension of APC, help APC consolidate and benefit from APC’s legal registration in Europe, and most importantly, represent you.
In more detail:
Co-founder of Pangea.org in 1993, joined APC a few years later. As an activist and academic, I like to write, experiment, research, work and contribute to communities, and explore to shorten inequality through ICT. Co-founder of eReuse.org in 2015 and early member of guifi.net since 2010. I contribute to other groups, locally in guifi.net and globally, in the IETF.org, IRTF.org, UN ITU-T, and IGF coalitions.
ICT can be a force of good, mutual understanding, and inequality reduction, but it can be a force of oppression too. In the ‘90 I worked to expand the Internet and the Web beyond the academic environment to NGOs and social movements. In the last decade, I have worked to expand the understanding, adoption and refinement of governance and participation models of community networks. For the last 6 years, I’ve also worked on developing models, tools and experiences on the circular economy of ICT devices for environmental sustainability. Digital sovereignty has to do with our homemade connectivity and our own devices. Environmental rights are human rights too. We live well beyond environmental limits. Preservation needs transparency and accountability to keep devices as resources for as long as possible, preventing ewaste and increasing digital inclusion.
I joined the BoD for the first time in the beautiful 2017 Ithala meeting as Vice-chair of the Board of Directors. I have devoted time and passion not only to monitoring the progress of APC but also to contributing my best to add value. I see APC as a community and a commons, a critical resource for the local and global sustainability and effectiveness of its members and staff. I joined the BoD for a second term, became chair of the BoD, and worked as much as possible to help APC move forward.
I have supported APC and keep doing so to diversify its USA-based legal form, with another being established in Europe (Spain, hosted by Guifi.net and Pangea.org). In the APC board, we adapted the APC bylaws to the Spanish legal regime, and since more than three years ago, APC has been registered and operational in Spain, too, able and successful in getting involved in several funded EC projects.
My plan, if I get your support, is to:
- Continue contributing to the governance of APC, building on the experience of two terms on the board, and strengthening the work started and achieved so far.
- Spend quality time contributing to follow-up, monitoring and contributing to the board activities.
- Contribute to keeping APC highly visible and effective.
- Continue to support community networks, human rights and environmental rights related to ICT, and help consolidate the position of APC on environmental sustainability and ICT.
- Link APC work to policy and academic work, find additional funding to APC through public funders, mainly the EU, in which I have long experience.
- Support the European APC legal identity, easier from the BoD.
- Explore ethical funders and ethical investment for APC and its members.
Neema Iyer
Statement of Intent
As a dedicated advocate for digital rights and inclusion, and a staunch believer in the power of technology to foster positive social change, I am thrilled to have this opportunity to present my intent to join the board of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). My personal and professional journey, underscored by a commitment to leveraging art and technology for improved life experiences and community empowerment, aligns with the APC's mission to ensure the internet is a global public good that upholds human rights at its core. I am deeply inspired by the APCs' commitment to fostering an inclusive, accessible, and rights-respecting digital future.
Professional Journey
My professional journey began in eHealth and mHealth then moved on to large-scale, multi-country mobile-based projects across Africa and most recently, I founded and successfully grew Pollicy, a feminist collective working on pressing issues of data and digital rights and inclusion. Our work at Pollicy resonates deeply with the APC's vision, particularly in building resilient communities through digital empowerment, advocating for feminist digital policy, and pioneering in gender data and emerging technologies. Some notable projects include working with women political leaders across 3 countries on building digital resilience, working with communities in Uganda on data artistry together with local governments, global research on the push and pull factors to understand career pathways and success in the digital rights ecosystem, developing interactive games to provide an accessible format to lead digital security for women, training women on data science skills and hosting Africa’s largest gathering celebrating data for 4 years - DataFest Africa.
Personal Journey
On a personal level, I am particularly drawn to APC's emphasis on harnessing digital technologies for social and environmental justice. I love the use of art, creativity and alternate modes of framing and thinking of critical issues that permeate across APC’s work. I enjoy combining creative design into all the projects that I work on - illustrating, designing and developing several of the outputs at Pollicy (and other organisations) such as digital art, games, chatbots, murals, microsites and more. I currently serve on Meta’s Global Women’s Safety Advisory Board. I was also recently a Practitioner Fellow at Stanford’s Digital Civil Society Lab and Senior Fellow in Trustworthy AI at Mozilla Foundation. I am also an advisor for APC’s Feminist Internet Research Network as well as the Women in the Digital Economy Fund.
What’s Next?
I envision my role on the APC board as an opportunity to amplify our collective efforts towards a just and equitable digital future. By integrating my insights on digital inclusion, resilience, and policy with APC's strategies, I aim to advance our shared agenda for a globally accessible and rights-based internet.
Dinesh t b
For last 20 years, I have mostly been in India working on understanding the needs of the community when it comes to their use of technology. After 20 years in Bangalore we have moved to a village near by and now sitting in the heart of the need to be inclusive of all, in their face where we see activities and livelihoods of many - young, old and the illiterate. We started doing anthillhacks.in event here over the last 8 years, to bring people of all backgrounds to come together and share ideas on going forward but generally with villagers, villages and technology.
We started the event on top of the hill, some 8 years ago and these days we are closing in on the communities we work with, ie., the villages around. This is also not an easy thing to do as we have many kinds of people who participate but we do bring attention to people who work at the crafterspace and their villages, gather information from their villages and work with that information, see how we can make sense of it all. This has been international often where a number of APC community and friends have taken part in.
I do, and we as a group do, attend several APC, dWeb and other events around the world in addition to tech conferences and fun events when we can - blog.janastu.org and janastu,org. More on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._B._Dinesh
Statement of Intent
We started working on community software in 2002 when I realised that after working in academia for 2 decades it makes sense to jump into making software. First it was the hype of making software for the Web and the silicon valley needs. Later as we started working in Bangalore and realised the different worlds we are faced with, we naturally started working with the communities' needs. We had not realised we had a long way to go!
Our first work started with an ISIF grant which changed the way we were looking at what might be the right software for our 'clients' which basically extended the idea of how we can start including people who are not very literate.
Over time, we are part of APC communities: "blog.janastu.org/apc-narrative-report/
dWebcamp introduced us to another world of several dWebers. blog.janastu.org is an update of things as it happens when we have time and people to do the update :) Yes, our team has many people but only some of them can read and a lot less can write as we visit the way the villages work and are represented.
If you took a look at my resume at j.mp/tbdineshcv then the craft center crafts.janastu.org and anthillhacks.in might be interesting as our ongoing efforts. Our current development activity is focused on "Stories" and "Sweets" frameworks. A lot of our work has been involved with getting wifi networks connected to communities.
I look forward to serving the APC community the best way I can and I do hope to bring some voice from the issues that we have been busy with in a way that other communities can relate. And do what is best for APC by being on the board.
Pavel Antonov
A journalist, social researcher, activist and guitar player, based in Budapest, Hungary and Goritsa, Bulgaria, with partner Emese and 3 children, the co-founder and executive editor of BlueLink, Bulgaria’s civic action e-network. Advisor of Bulgaria's minister of environment and water. Member of the Civic Council to the Parliament's Committee on Digitalisation in Bulgaria. Affiliated researcher to the Open Space Research Centre, UK. Studies, pursues and safeguards ethical watchdog journalism and citizen participation for environmental sustainability. Leads BlueLink’s Virtual Newsroom and edits its e-magazine at www.BlueLink.info.
Antonov’s recent research covers: countering tobacco industry’s interference with public health policy making; online pressure against human/gender/environmental advocates; shrinking space for democratic participation; civil society’s role against cross-border corruption.
A former Board Member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC.org); Greenpeace CEE. During 2001 – 2008 he was the Editor in Chief of Green Horizon, the quarterly of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. He was also Current Affairs Programmes’ Chief Editor, host and news reporter at Bulgaria’s Nova TV (1994 – 1997).
For his leadership of the Smokefree Bulgaria campaign Antonov was listed among Top 10 civil society promoters by Capital weekly in 2010.
In 2019 Antonov founded the art for democratic participation platform Freedom 263 commemorating leading Bulgarian artists Vladimir Dimitrov – Maystora and Dimiter Kirov-DiKiro, both affiliated to his family.
Statement of Intent
These are tough times for human and environmental rights defenders, and for anyone committed to human dignity, freedom, equality and social justice – in Europe and across the world. Our values and work are challenged not by greed and consumerism, hatred and mistrust, but also by primitive old-times armed aggression, violence, terror and brutality. The Internet has been turned into a weapon or warfare before our very eyes. To be able to engage with these, we need to stand united, connected, and in solidarity. This is where I see APC’s major role.
With my great respect for the work done by APC’s team and experts, I wish to see more of classical and horizontal networking among APC’s members – facilitated and encouraged in good faith by APC’s powerful team. APC (the organisation) is now much more knowledgeable resourceful and powerful than most of its members. It can not only benefit from their local knowledge and perspectives, but also integrate them into its operations more effectively. An internet enthusiast by default, I remain committed in the value of personal face-to-face communication, which has proven to be much more effective for movement and trust building than virtual ones. Looking forward to seeing you all and hearing your stories, concerns, victories and singing voices!
Kemly Camacho Jiménez
Kemly is co-founder and current general coordinator of the Sulá Batsú Cooperative, a self-managed associative company that works on the issue of digital technologies for local development. Kemly is a computer engineer, anthropologist and has a master's degree in knowledge society and another in evaluation of development programs and projects. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Education.
For more than 20 years she has been combining her training to work on the issues she is most passionate about, such as the social impact of digital technologies, community technologies, the transformation of work, the environmental impact of digital technologies and the development of local spaces with fewer opportunities, all in the context of the digital society. She leads the TIC-as Program that works in the creation of rural technology poles with female leadership at the Central American level and that promotes technology-based women's entrepreneurship and the creation of technology from the vision of women. From these spaces she strengthens women's leadership in the digital sectors, technical skills and women's collective entrepreneurship in the ICT sector.
She lead environmental impact of digital technology projects. She does action-research and strengthen social movement for a technology of care and solidarity. Kemly is a researcher and professor at the Universidad Latina, Costa Rica.
Statement of Intent
My name is Kemly Camacho and I am a Central American woman who believes in the capacity of social and popular movements to transform local and global contexts. I have been working in local development for 24 years and have focused my efforts on strengthening the organizational capacity and resilience of local organizations, women, youth, indigenous and rural territories, urban movements, among others in Costa Rica and the Central American region.
I put care and care, as well as planetary solidarity, inter-species life and the rights of nature and community resistance, at the center of the construction of possible ways of life in the context of the digital society.
I am an action-research and solidarity economy activist and I am currently passionate about issues such as climate justice, the transformation of labor, the construction of a science and technology from women's proposals, non-extractivist digital-based economic alternatives such as platform cooperatives and other associative and solidarity initiatives, all within the framework of the digital society.
I am convinced of the power of networking and collective construction as an engine for the construction of other possible ways of life. It is for this reason that 20 years ago I founded with other people the cooperative Sulá Batsú. I see reflected what I believe in, what I fight for and what I work with as central in the APC network, both among its members and in its work team. I am convinced of the urgent need to strengthen diverse spaces with people and organizations that share great principles as an alternative to make a harmonious, loving and solidary life on the planet possible.
I would like to dedicate part of my time to strengthen APC because I believe that, although we work in different contexts and with different themes, the organizations and people that make up APC are united by a strong commitment and a tireless dedication that seeks to create other worlds. And that is what we need at this moment.
YZ
Yunusa Zakari Ya’u (YZ), an IT professional, researcher and writer, technology for development activist is the Executive Director of CITAD, Kano, Nigeria. He lectured at Bayero University, Kano from 1984 until 2000 when he resigned to co-found CITAD, an ICT-focused organization, working on youth entrepreneurship, peace building, digital rights and inclusion and governance.
In 2007, he directed the Annual Child Institute of the Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar Senegal on Youth and ICTs. He is the Vice President of the Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN) and Member, Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA). He coordinated the CODESRIA Multinational Working Group (MWG) on the theme of "Africa in the Information Society Era (2014-2017).
He has consulted on ICTs and social media issues for many organizations, including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, National Broadcasting Commission, Kano State Government, Jigawa State Government, etc. He has researched on the Use of Social media in Election (for UNDP).
As a writer and researcher, Ya’u has authored, co-authored or edited over 25 books. As a community activist, he is on the board of several civil spaces such as Chairman, Governing Board of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Vice Chairman, West African Network of PeaceBuilders (WANEP), among others
Statement of Intent
My contribution to the board would, among other things, seek to find ways and means to consolidate on these while working to ensure that APC, working through its members, is as a network able to effectively contribution to seeding changes at the country level. We need to build the capacity of our members build effective and purposeful coalitions that will see their countries not only subscribe to global advocacy canvassed just positions but also to implement them at the national spaces. It is only when this happens that advocacy results in substantive change.
I will like to see an APC that speaks globally but also acting effective locally. I will like to see members to strengthened with skills to engage broader social justice movements in their countries and contribute to the creation of an alternative order in which digital technology is deployed to address inequalities, promote democratic and accountable governance and addressing global and national power asymmetries.
I want an APC that is rooted in community movements, leading and contributing the campaigns for environmental justice, digital inclusion, promoting and rooting circularity not only in the technology sector but also in the broader economic and social discourses globally, enhance the capacity of citizens and their organizations to hold both governments and tech companies accountable and fending off digital infringements on privacy as well as AI-based citizens surveillance and manipulation that would reinforce negative global trends. We need to campaign against the implementation tech algorisms that are driven by money and for a click economy does not continue to promote the dissemination of harmful contents in the interest of profit. Without turning our members into techies, we need to be able to speak and advocate from a position of knowledge and authority on core issues that that are at the heart of technology design and deployment. This means that we need to significantly pay attention membership capacity building programming.
Overall, our voice must be clear and unequivocal on the demand for a just work where technology is deployed for its liberatary impulse and not in the in the service of profit as the driving motive
Michel Lambert
He has launched several projects using technologies starting from the Quebec Center for Alternative Media in 2000, Civil Society internet portals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2002) and in the Maghreb-Mashreq (2007), and digital security schools in Montreal and Tunis.
More recently he contributed to launching the LabDelta initiative. Also active on Internet governance issues, Michel was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Progressive Communications between 2017 and 2020, then a founding member of the Canadian Internet Governance Forum . He has contributed to multiples GISWatch issues. He’s also engaged with Isoc-Quebec. Active on the issues of international solidarity, he was the President of the Quebec Association of International Cooperation NGOs (AQOCI) from 2017 to 2020 and was involved with various Quebec and Canadian coalitions including: Pas de démocratie sans voix, Voices/voix, the Quebec network of continental integration (RQIC), the Common Front for Energy Transition and more recently, contributed to founding the Cultiver Montréal network. Previously, he has been member of the Boards of Food Secure Canada between 2009 and 2012, Alliance Syndicats Tiers -Monde between 2015 and 2020 and the International Council of the World Social Forum.
Co-founder in 1994, then Executive Director of the solidarity organization Alternatives between 2007 and 2020, Michel Lambert played an important role in planning and organizing the People’s Social Forum held in Ottawa in August 2014.
Statement of Intent
After that, I was involved in various ICT initiatives for content propagation, research, Internet governance, online rights, digital security, etc... I am a founding member of both the Quebec and Canadian IGFs and my personal blog is about building the Internet we want.
I have been a member of the APC Board twice. Between 2005 and 2009 and more recently, between 2017-2020. Even now as I am working for a different member organization than in my early years, my approach has always been to not only work with APC partners in realizing the APC program, but also to concretely engage with APC partners into developing joint actions.
Recently, I was sending a message to every members, inviting them to join eQualitie new dComms program. For me, APC members are priority partners with whom I spontaneously seek to develop new initiatives to strengthen our movement and carry our voices further. I believe this is also an APC priority expressed in its recently adopted strategic plan (Outcome 1)
Speaking of movements, we are going through a particularly troubled period where strong social movements are more necessary than ever. Despite the extraordinary developments that we can see on the Internet, the network is every day, less and less what we were hoping for. A new digital divide is growing on the horizon as the promise of a global digital commons has given way to an increasingly fragmented collection of closed internets with their own separate infrastructures, controlled by Big Tech and nation states, including by autocratic states. The Internet’s inherent open architecture is increasingly weaponized as a tool for censorship and persecution. States have begun to shutdown or implement national networks or regulations isolating citizens from the global commons. Tech companies are separating users into corporate marketplaces and digital walled gardens. Outcome 3 of APC latest Strategy plan is collectively mobilize and strategize to counter that. We believe in the importance to engage in and influence priority national, regional and global processes to UN-breack the Internet and build it in full respects of human rights.
At eQualitie, we also know that Internet governance is a big and quite slow boat to move, so we develop technology to circumvent censorship and favouring global connectivity. We want to promote these decentralized technology and we hope to see the so called end-user not at the end of a service but at the core of the Internet. I believe the APC is the THE network to promote this and I hope to be able to to contribute to realize this vision in the coming year as a member of the Board.
Arsene Tungali
Arsene Tungali
Goma/Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the CongoExecutive Director
Rudi International
He also got involved with ICANN in 2014 and has participated – in various capacities – in more than 10 ICANN meetings, then was elected to serve on the GNSO Council in November 2017 for two years.
Arsene has been a strong voice of civil society, he has been co coordinating the Civil Society Internet Governance caucus (IGC) from 2016 to nearly 2019 while also representing it on the Civil Society Coordination Group. He was appointed in 2018 to serve on the IGF MAG, a position he left in 2021 after three terms. Arsene is a well-known digital rights advocate who has been working for the last 8 years on some Internet governance key issues such as Internet freedoms and domain name policy. He has either spoken on, conducted or supported research projects documenting, violations happening online such as Internet shutdowns, censorship, human rights violations, etc in his country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and across Africa.
Statement of Intent
I have been around the Internet governance space since 2011 and have known APC since then, before my organization formally becomes a member in 2018, after a very challenging process in terms of timing. I would like to be considered for a seat on the APC board for the following reasons:
- I am 33 years old and believe I have fresh blood that I would like to bring to the table. I understand priorities of young people as well as of young organizations and would be in a good position to advise the APC board on how to better serve this category of people/members. I am fluent in both French and English which is a plus. This ability can help the APC Board be able to navigate Francophone spaces and cater for members operating in these specific language zones. I would like to support the membership process by providing suggestions on how this can be effectively conducted. Specifically, I would like to see the time be shortened to allow organizations who are willing to become APC members be notified of their status within reasonable time. I have proven experience working and/or collaborating with the leading organizations in the ICT field as well as those part of the internet governance processes (these include: ICANN, ISOC, AFRINIC, the IGF, Facebook, Twitter, etc). I would like to use this experience in supporting APC’s global advocacy work. APC as an organization has done tremendous work through its staff running the organization and supporting the network.