[governance] Text of speech - losing remarks at UNESCO Connecting the Dots Conference

[Nnenna Nwakanma]

Connecting the Dots: Options for Future Action

UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France.
Closing Remarks by Nnenna Nwakanma

Africa Regional Coordinator

The World Wide Web Foundation.

March 4, 2015



Deputy Director General
Friends and colleagues
Onsite and online





My name is Nnenna.  I  come from the Internet. And I have been asked to say
a few words to us, as a member of the civil society, before we leave. I
coordinate the activities of the World Wide Web Foundation in my continent,
Africa. The Web Foundation is  that organization that believes that the
Internet is for everyone.  Therefore we work on affordable access to all,
we work on opening up data for participation and  we support  the global
Web We Want Coalition.



I have three things to say.  The first is on the UNESCO study itself.  The
second is on one of the issues raised.  The third is  on where we go from
here.

>From the Civil Society end, we recognize that UNESCO’s consultation towards
the study was open, online, multistakeholder and tried to be as inclusive
as could be. This for me, lends trust. Trust in the organization, trust in
its capacity to bring key actors to the table. The R-O-A-M principles of
the study (Rights based, Open, Accessible, Multistakeholder participation)
are not just important for the study, but they also are key in implementing
its recommendations.  So  it is only natural that we engage as civil
society, during, now and going forward.


Do we endorse the outcome  document? I do.  But the Civil Society is too
large a constituency for just one person to say yes on behalf of all others.



On the issues, I will settle for one. Just one. Access.  Just today, the
Alliance for Affordable Internet launched the Affordability report.
Affordability
Report shows that Over 2 billion people living in poverty cannot access the
Internet affordably and that a fixed broadband connection costs on average
40% of monthly income across 51 developing countries.


And we are working  towards access for everyone.



To UNESCO,  I must say, that the Global Internet is of global importance
and we must  seek at all times, to manage it for global interest, global
benefit and global utility.  So,  many thanks for putting Internet
Governance  and the IGF in the heart of the process.

-        - In working for  access to knowledge and information,

-        - in working  for freedom of expression

-        - in working for privacy

-        - in working for ethics

We are not   just connecting dots. We are connecting people. We are
connecting cultures, we are extending science by connecting knowledge to
knowledge,  men and women, we are connecting continents.  We are righting
the wrongs of the past,  consolidating the present and  building a viable
future.


We have a heritage.  A global heritage.  The Internet.

The Internet represents a masterpiece of human creative genius

It is  the most important  tool of interchange of human values

And an exceptional testimony to our common civilization

These are the basis on which UNESCO  selects sites as heritage. And here,
we have more than a heritage. The Internet is our global heritage



Ladies and gentlemen, friends here and online.  Tomorrow is my birthday.
And my sister told me to make a wish.   I asked if I should keep my eyes
open or closed and she said “any way”.  So I will close an eye and keep one
open, for security purposes.  And here is my wish..


*That the open Internet, the open web, will be established as global public
good and a basic right of all men and women, all humans and that everyone
can access it can use it  freely.*
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