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Laptop project: Ndemo Ndemo asks opposition to support Govt
by Grace Githaiga 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHjrghroGiU#at=40

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KENYA POWER TO 'EXIT' RURAL ELECTRIFICATION MARKET - A CASE OF THE TAIL WAGING THE DOG?
by Ali Hussein 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

Listers Kenya Power has announced that they will no longer prioritize Rural Electrification because of what they term unacceptable terms for connectivity. This, even when the Government has offered 2.7B in subsidies to the Monopoly Power company. I don't need to dwell into the myriad of issues this country's consumers have faced at the hands of this monopoly. Now we have a case where the tail is trying to wag the dog.. http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Kenya+Power+dumps+rural+… [View More]

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Dr. Ndemo parting shot
by Grace Githaiga 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

Dr Bitange Ndemo, the former Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Information and Communications can be termed as a key pioneer of Kenya’s ICT sector.A passionate man in matters ICT, Dr Ndemo is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi after he left the ICT docket in government. http://www.nation.co.ke/business/Tech/Kenya+ICT+Bitange+Ndemo+parting+shot/…

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Re: [kictanet] [ISOC_KE] FW: News from the dotAfrica Team - Africa Domain Name Industry Awards 2013
by Barrack Otieno 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

Hi Wangari, We had an opportunity to nominate KeNIC, interestingly we did not, let hope next year we will do that same, granted we have many challenges, we need to work together for the glory of the republic. Best Regards On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 4:32 PM, WANGARI KABIRU <wangarikabiru(a)yahoo.co.uk>wrote: > Happy Thursday! > > Hope you are all great. > > "We would like to congratulate everyone who was nominated for and won > awards at the Africa Domain Name Industry … [View More]

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Bright Spots Competition Announced by the OGP
by Muchiri Nyaggah 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

Good morning Listers, In case you haven't come across it yet, see this announcement from the Open Government Partnership blog. Governments and civil society reformers both have powerful stories to tell. > Maybe it was a campaign to get your country to sign up to OGP or to design > a difficult but potentially transformative commitment. Or maybe it was > finishing your first analysis of community data to improve community > development planning. We want to hear about your *bright … [View More]

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FW: News from the dotAfrica Team
by Grace Githaiga 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Subject: News from the dotAfrica Team From: octavia(a)africanregistry.org To: ggithaiga(a)hotmail.com Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 06:15:30 +0000 News from the dotAfrica Team … [View More] 13 August 2013 Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend In this newsletter 1. Note from the editor 2. dotHIV 3. Welcoming Ceremony 4. Music Night & Gala Dinner 5. Africa Strategy Day 6. Africa DNS Awards 7. Steercom Project Team Meeting Updates 8. Personality Profile Note from the editor The 47th ICANN was held from 14 to 19 July in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, at the Durban ICC. We are very pleased to announce that our proudly African initiative to unite the continent "in one space" - dotAafrica - has passed ICANN's initial evaluation. It was certainly a wonderful way to start the ICANN conference meetings. After hearing about our achievement we decided to celebrate at Zack’s restaurant on the Durban beach. We would like to express our appreciation for all those who were involved in this project. This is a big win for Africa. Until next time... Octavia Kumalo dotAfrica Marketing & PR Manager Some of our team members participated in meetings and workshops during ICANN 47.One of the meetings was the 2013 Africa DNS Forum, attended by our CEO Neil Dundas. On the agenda of the meeting were: the trends, opportunities and challenges of the DNS industry, development of policies regarding registrar accreditation, billing for registries, among other things. Calvin Browne, one of our Directors, attended the apc.org Internet Governance Training Workshop. The meeting tackled issues to do with Internet governance, country participation and development. dotHIV ROUNTABLE DISCUSSION On 14 July we attended the roundtable discussion on HIV work and IT hosted by dotHIV. dotHIV is a new group gTLD applicant working to establish dotHIV domain names in order to raise awareness and funds to fight the epidemic. It has been noted that KwaZulu-Natal has the highest HIV prevalence in South Africa. The meeting was an opportunity for parties to discuss the HIV statistics in our country, the challenges, opportunities for ICT in HIV work and the role that DNS development can play within it. In this discussion was the WhizzKids United organisation representative, Stefan Kunze, who explained that WhizzKids United uses soccer to teach 12-16 year old boys and girls the skills needed to prevent HIV infection. They draw on facets of the game and translate them into life skills. The Blue Roof Wellness Centre represented by Tessa Beaunior is a project of the Keep a Child Alive Foundation. The centre provides free and effective HIV medication, treatment and food to more than 200 families affected and infected by HIV in the area of Wentworth, Durban. Octavia Kumalo, our Marketing and PR Manager, was there as well to provide facts and statistics with regard to Internet usage in Africa. She also spoke about the role and development of Internet infrastructure in Africa and how ICT can help fight the HIV pandemic. WELCOMING CEREMONY ICANN CEO and President, Fadi Chehade, opened the ceremony and addressed the conference. He urged delegates to unite and embody Madiba’s spirit in the information age. He also spoke about the Country Code Name supporting organisation’s 10th year anniversary which gave us some insight into the organisation, and had us dancing to their live band afterwards at the cocktail party. Some of the speakers at the Welcoming Ceremony included Lukonga Lidunda, Hamadoun Toure and Dr Elham Ibrahim who reminded us of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the African Union, the Organisation of African Unity. ICANN was commended for its achievements in raising Africa’s profile thus far. ICANN has a 5-year strategic planning process which includes areas for consideration such as role clarity, internationalisation and regional development. Lastly, there was the signing of new Registry and Registrar Agreements. For the welcoming ceremony transcripts and audio-cast click here: Welcoming Ceremony Speech The Internet community was asked to give 67 minutes of their time to honour Nelson Mandela on his birthday. This spirit was present when hundreds of ICANN delegates went to Chesterville High School on Nelson Mandela Day to paint the school corridors and interact with the children. MUSIC NIGHT AND GALA DINNER For more picture click here: Music Night Afilias and dotOrg sponsored the Music Night event at Elangeni Hotel from 20:30-24:00 on 16July. Karaoke, Indian and Zulu dancers entertained guests before they took to the dance floor. The following night was even more exciting, with the Gala Dinner theme being ‘A journey through South Africa’. It started at 19:00 with Zulu dancers at the entrance, Indian and Pantsula dancers as we proceeded to the venue, and lastly fire breathers at the entrance to the venue. We were treated to a performance by the dolphins who put on an evening performance especially for us. We were then escorted to the undersea venue for our authentically South African dishes. Finally, saving the best for last, we were entertained by Zahara and her dancers, and then local DJ Matthew Suttner (SLY). AFRICA STRATEGY DAY The meeting was held on 15 July at the ICC. The objective of the Africa strategy is to build capacity in order to make Africa an ideal market. One of the issues discussed in the meeting was the action plan which includes multi-stakeholder projects in collaboration with governments, businesses, engineers, registrars, etc. The 3-year strategic plan is fundamentally about capacity development in Africa. There are already some special priority projects and incubator programmes aimed at the youth. These are aimed at interesting the youth in the technology sector and about finding investors in the sector. The strategy is in line with the Ministers’ declaration. The African Ministers in charge of ICT compiled a 12 question communiqué which discusses the need for ICANN’s presence in Africa and Africa’s authentic participation in ICANN. They are calling for partnership within and outside Africa for the strategy to have reach. The focus will be on individuals and registrars on the ground. AFRICA DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY AWARDS We would like to congratulate everyone who was nominated for and won awards at the Africa Domain Name Industry Awards 2013.The nominees included registries: dotTZ, dotNA, dotZA, dotSN, dotTN, dotBI, and dotTD; and three registrars: Afriregister, Kheweul.com, and Diamatrix CC. The big winners for the night who walked away with a $5000 cheque and a certificate are Diamatrix, TZ, Kheweul.com. ZACR won the award for best registry for the ccTLD dotZA. The hard work is finally paying off. -- Our CEO Neil Dundas receives the award -- Winners of the first ever African Domain Name Industry Awards with the award panel STEERCOM PROJECT TEAM MEETING The Steercom Project team held a strategy meeting in Durban on 16 July to discuss the dotAfrica project thus far. Outlined below are the topics discussed. Neil Dundas(ZACR CEO) provided a status report on the dotAfrica project. He set out the time frames when delegation can be anticipated since dotAfrica has passed initial evaluation. The timeline content includes delegation testing, contract negotiation with ICANN, etc. No delays are expected. Sunrise and Landrush registration phases should start as early as March 2014, if all goes well. This means we have more than 6 months to prepare policy framework and our launch/communication strategy. Alice Munyua provided a status report on the Reserved Names Policy. There is a dire need to mitigate risk by creating awareness and greater engagement with the African Governments/Community. RNL policy must be published for public comment. The committee discussed questions raised with regard to the RNL policy. It was agreed that the national RNL should not to exceed 100 names. With regard to Trademarks Clearing House “TCH” vs Mark Validation System “MVS”, Neil Dundas noted that these issues are being dealt with through the Geo TLD group. dotAFRICA FOUNDATION Issues such as location and the organizational governance model were raised and discussed. There are ongoing Steering Committee discussions about where the foundation will run its operations. TRADEMARK CLEARING HOUSE TMCH provides trademark verification to support trademark protection in the launch of the new gTLDs. It was explained that the verification process is a‘4-eyes’ process which consists of 2 verifications per TM record plus the proof of usage. Accuracy and completeness of information and compliance with the requirement would be verified. However, in the event that the TM or proof of use is incorrect, a process called‘re-correction’ would kick in. Certain reasons would permit the occurrence of the re-correction process. Common errors in the process were noted: for example, name of trademark, registration date, name of holder address, etc. TMCH now includes: weekly notifications, newsletters, monthly webinars, and a full blown API test environment. TMCH animations are now available in more than 10 languages. In the near future one can expect to find the ‘proof of use’ uploaded as a separate document, an SMD file, implementation of the 50 abused labels, transfer of TM records, and updates on the clearing house guidelines which will be soon found in different languages. UPDATES ON SUNRISE AND CLAIMS The Sunrise services allow trademark holders an opportunity to register domain names corresponding to their marks, either defensively or with a view to exploiting a valuable new Web address before new names are made available to the public. New gTLD registries are required to offer a Sunrise period of at least 30 days. The trademarks claims period follows Sunrise and runs for at least 90 days after the opening of general registration. During the trademark claims period, anyone attempting to register a domain name matching a mark that is recorded in the TMCH will receive a notification displaying the relevant mark information. If the notified party goes ahead and registers the domain name, the TMCH will send a notice to the one or more trademark holders with matching records in the clearinghouse, informing them that someone has registered the domain name. ICT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA The meeting discussion included issues such as the Internet challenges in Africa and how we can overcome them. Africa reaches the Web very differently from the rest of the world. For instance, credit cards are very scarce in Africa compared to other parts of the world. It is clear that Africa still needs infrastructural development and financial investments. Another interesting discussion was the existence of opportunity for the youth in Africa to register domain names. Our own Octavia Kumalo who was there representing us and the Foundation for Internet Development, answered this worrying issue, by affirming that opportunity and space for competition does exist since Africa has only 6 ICANN-accredited registrars. There need to be more DNS training programmes and financial education to make it easier for youth start-ups. Africa has about 40-60 tech hubs which give visibility to innovation in Africa. The hubs are a reaction to the lack of support from governments and other organisations. They are a way for Africans to help themselves. According to Andile of the discussion panel, at least 60% of Africa is made up of youth who possess the majority of mobile phones. Therefore products and services should be addressing the youth specifically. Closing remarks: An ICANN Youth Dialogue is suggested to address such issues whenever ICANN meetings are held. African governments need to engage with their youth in order to make it easier for them to start their businesses in ICT. Features: PERSONALITY PROFILE In hosting the ICANN 47 meetings we had the opportunity to host her Excellency Dr Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim. She is the Egyptian Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy. She has a PhD in Electronics and Communications from the University of Cairo, an MSc in Electronic Engineering, and a BSc in Communication Engineering from Asuit University. Her career spans over 33 years in various positions such as General Manager for Training and Promotion in the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), Director of the Photovoltaic Research and Testing Department in Cairo, Associate Professor in Saudi Arabia and Director of the Specifications Department at the NREA in Cairo. For more ICANN47 photos click here: ICANN47 follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 dotAfrica, All rights reserved. General notices and communications from the dotAfrica SteerCom and Project Team Our mailing address is: dotAfricaCOZA HouseGazelle Close, Corporate ParkMidrand, Gauteng 1685 South Africa Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences [View Less]

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IEBC ordered to surrender voting kits in laptop plan
by Grace Githaiga 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

The electoral commission has been ordered to surrender 45,000 laptops used in the March 4 election to the Ministry of Education.The gadgets are to be used to train teachers to implement the free laptops project whose implementation will begin in January. However, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has resisted, saying it can only release the computers if the correct transfer of assets procedures are followed. http://www.nation.co.ke/News/IEBC+ordered+to+give+laptops+for+schools/-/105…

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Laptops - policy, budgets, data
by Andrea Bohnstedt 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

Jason Lakin makes some excellent (and very very common sensical) points on policies, budgets and data - concerns the laptop initiative as much as as host of other issues: 'What is the vaunted laptop policy, for example? It is a matter of constant discussion, yet we really do not know what it entails. This lack of clarity leads to sterile debate. (...) Policies are not made on television or on the radio. Serious policy must be written down, it must contain details, and it must include … [View More]

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FW: Call for Proposals: Phase 2 of project on ICTs, Peacebuilding, and Statebuilding
by Grace Githaiga 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

Listers FYI > From: LKogen(a)asc.upenn.edu > Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 08:44:37 -0400 > Subject: Call for Proposals: Phase 2 of project on ICTs, Peacebuilding, and Statebuilding > To: ggithaiga(a)hotmail.com; alice(a)apc.org > CC: iginio.gagliardone(a)csls.ox.ac.uk; nicole.stremlau(a)csls.ox.ac.uk; lsh(a)asc.upenn.edu; bsmith(a)asc.upenn.edu > > Dear Grace and Alice, > > I wanted to let you know about a second Call for Proposals for our > project on ICTs, … [View More]

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Introducing an ICT solution to you
by Ignite Consulting 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

Dear colleagues, Thank you for the overwhelming reviews and queries. We truly appreciate the follow through. We have a DemoDay Monday 19th at the Business Lounge, 4th Floor, The Junction Mall. From 9:30am to 4pm. Dayvee hosts the the DemoDays, incase of additional queries and confirmation on attendance, please email him Dayvee(a)insite.co.ke or call 0705 980 520. Video link for those who missed it here you go... http://youtu.be/F2t-R6UeFjw With thanks, Njeri Rionge, ------ Dear … [View More]KICTAnet Members, Over the years we (Ignite Consulting) have interacted with different sectors on Organization Effectiveness, ICT Sensitization and other related Management Consulting work. During this period we learnt a lot about what makes or breaks organization development and builds sustainable businesses. These lessons learnt were not in vain, they have informed the innovative development of our intuitive PeachCRM.com, a product of Insite Limited, Insite was incorporated to handle technology enhancements that benefit business retooling needs for small and medium size companies, based on work that we do as Ignite Consulting Limited, with intention to separate capacity and organize service delivery mechanisms that are effective. We opted to drive the online technology business separate to help on board ICT tools for your business. To learn more about this tool have a look at the video informercial http://youtu.be/F2t-R6UeFjw and let us know what you think. As we all know with cloud computing, services offered on the cloud have no restrictions. And customization is not difficult to do when the need arises. This tool can be used by english speaking companies around the world. In particular here at home, distributors, traders, service providers, our 47 counties, associations and professional e.g doctors, lawyers, accountants, business advisors can all benefit from using this tool. Our testers said I quote "It's more then a CRM". You will see that last month the tool received the CIO 100 Award recognition and for that we thank the judges and CIO for the work they are doing for our East African region. For more information please contact our Chief Software Architect Dayvee Ngugi on 0726577045 or email dayvee(a)insite.co.ke This is a true vision 2030 agenda product and I am sure those of you that need this tool and support us will benefit. It goes for kes. 1000 per user per month and it's pay as you go, no contracts, which means your responsible for your documents when you chose not to continue with the services. Your feedback is important to us. I have not been active on this list in a long while, though I remember the beginning of this list only to well. Stay Blessed. Regards, Njeri Rionge Contacts: Cell +254 705 980 520 LandLine +254 20 360 1630 Purshottam Place, 7th Floor Or c/o Business Lounge The Junction Mall 4th Floor. Sent from my iPhone [View Less]

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