The ICANN 55 Meeting is taking place this week, 5-10 March in Marrakech, Morocco. It's vital that the African community takes part, whether in person or remotely, to ensure that the needs of our community are placed at the forefront of discussion about the future of the Internet.
Participate remotely
Just because you are not able to attend in person does not mean that your voice should not be head. The event offers high-quality live streaming and remote participation tools. Importantly for our region, low-bandwidth options are also provided and simultaneous translation into some of the continents widely spoken languages, including French, Portuguese and Arabic, is facilitated for many sessions.
Get involved with AFRALO and help to shape the future of the Internet
At-Large is the name for the community of individual Internet users who participate in the policy development work of ICANN. More than 140 At-Large Structures representing the views of individual Internet users are active throughout the world. Our region is represented by the African Regional At-Large Organisation (AFRALO) and participation is open to everyone. AFRALO will be organising and taking part in many sessions during the ICANN 55 Meeting, including:
Relevant sessions for the AFRINIC Community
5 March:
- 08:00 to 09:30 WET: AFRALO Program for African NGOs
6 March:
- 10:30 to 12:00 WET: How it Works: Internet Networking
- 13:30 to 15:00 WET: How it Works: Domain Name Registry Protocols
- 15:15 to 16:45 WET: How it Works: Root Server Operation
- 16:45 to 18:15 WET: DNSSEC for Everybody: A Beginner's Guide
7 March:
- 10:30 to 11:45 WET: IANA Transition Stewardship Implementation
- 13:30 to 15:00 WET: How it Works: Internet Networking
- 14:00 to 15:15 WET: Multi-stakeholder Model Good Practices
- 15:15 to 16:45 WET: How it Works: Domain Name Registry Protocols
- 17:00 to 18:30 WET: How it Works: Root Server Operation
8 March:
- 08:00 to 09:15 WET: Francophonie Coordination
- 08:00 to 09:00 WET: AFRALO Program for African NGOs
- 09:30 to 10:45 WET: Community Translation
- 11:00 to 12:30 WET: Joint AFRALO - AfriICANN Meeting
- 12:30 to 14:00 WET: GAC Commonwealth Members Meeting
9 March:
- 07:30 to 09:00 WET: AFRALO Program for African NGOs
- 09:00 to 15:15 WET: DNSSEC Workshop
- 09:15 to 10:15 WE: At-Large Capacity Building Working Group
- 15:45 to 17:00 WE: Africa Strategy and Looking Ahead
10 March
- 08:30 to 10:15 WET: ICANN/IANA Operating Plan & Budget
- 09:00 to 10:15 WET: Internet Governance Public Session
Here is an overview of news, activities and and events from last month in case you missed something:
Mwendwa Kivuva, AFRINIC community member, explains how African organisations would benefit from becoming a member of AFRINIC and his concern over the low Internet penetration rate in the African region in this article published by the Daily Nation.
AFRINIC policies are a set of guidelines and processes that determine the manner in which Internet Number Resources (IPv4 Addresses, IPv6 Addresses and Autonomous System Numbers) are distributed by AFRINIC to operators of IP networks in Africa. The method through which these policies are developed (commonly referred to as the Policy Development Process, or PDP) is open, transparent and bottom up. 
