African Regional Bureau

Welcome to the African Bureau

Established in September 2006, the African Regional Bureau will work closely with ISOC chapters throughout the continent to promote technical education and capacity building, and to help policy makers understand the implications of Internet technologies and the long-term economic benefits of carefully planned implementation.

ISOC has been present in Africa for the last fifteen years. In particular, from 1993 to 2001, through the annual Internet Society (ISOC) Network Training Workshop for Countries in the Early Stages of Internetworking, professional men and women from Africa have being taught the design, operation, maintenance and management of Internetworks Read more in ISOC's "e-oti".

More recently, ISOC has supported various training programs organized by AfNOG, AfTLD and AfriNIC as well as INET workshops. These trainings have contributed greatly to the proliferation of Internet in the continent in the mid nineties and to its development ever since.

ISOC has also constantly increased its global reach through the launch of new chapters in all parts of the world as well as through the establishment of Regional Policy Advisory Groups and Regional Bureaus. Currently, there are 82 active chapters throughout the world. The African Regional Bureau will also help in the establishment of new chapters and welcomes interested groups to read the Frequently Asked Question Page or to contact the Bureau for questions related to starting a chapter.

The Bureau is managed by Dr. Dawit Bekele, an Ethiopian citizen, who received his undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D degrees from Université Paul Sabatier in France, all degrees in Computer Science. In the past twelve years he has been involved in teaching, research, management, consultancy and other directly related Internet activities in Africa, focusing on distributed systems, security, advance databases, network systems and e-commerce.

Internet Society on the BBC

Listen to the BBC Afrique interview with Dr. Dawit Bekele and the Internet Society Benin Chapter Chair about the recently held INET Cotonou conference (Please note that the interview is in French only).