Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), participated in Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), held on November 20-22 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The event was supported by key partners, including the African Union, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; GIZ, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Huawei, and Meta.
AfIGF is a platform for stakeholders from government, civil society, the private sector, academia, and the technical community to discuss policies and strategies for Internet governance in Africa, focusing on inclusivity and digital development.
Key topics at the 2024 forum included emerging technologies, digital rights, universal access, data governance, and cybersecurity.
In a session titled “Her Data, Her Policies: Towards an Inclusive Data Future in Africa,” MCIT representative made significant contributions to discussions on gender inclusion in data governance frameworks.
She emphasized the importance of awareness and capacity-building initiatives as foundational steps toward empowering women and fostering inclusivity in the field.
She also highlighted the need to encourage young girls to pursue education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as a way to ensure greater representation and influence in the technology and data sectors.
Reflecting on Egypt’s progress, she discussed national training programs aimed at strengthening data governance and privacy capabilities. She also announced the imminent launch of Egypt’s Personal Data Protection Center, which will focus on safeguarding privacy, ensuring equitable treatment of data subjects, and raising public awareness about data rights. She stressed that data protection is an evolving field that requires sustained national, regional, and international efforts, and she called for stronger collaboration across Africa to address systemic biases and promote inclusive data governance.
MCIT insights reinforced the importance of adopting holistic approaches to data governance that prioritize gender equity and empower marginalized groups. These contributions highlighted Egypt’s commitment to advancing gender inclusion in data governance while contributing to broader regional and global efforts to address critical digital issues
