The 5th African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF2016) started  here in eThekwini, Kwazulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. The regional IGF will be hosted till 18 October 2016. The Conference has been themed :

• Inclusive development and the Digital transformation of Africa,
• Internet Governance in Africa: Building a gender balanced and truly inclusive multi-stakeholder model

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a platform for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on prevailing and emerging issues on Internet governance ecosystem. The IGF mandate was extended for ten years by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 2015. IGF aims at fostering the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and the development of the Internet, thus facilitating content development and access to information and knowledge. Africa’s contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process has led to the formation of the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) in September 2011.

AfIGF was convened by the sub-regional IGFs in cooperation with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the 6th IGF in Nairobi, Kenya. The AfIGF was formally launched on 30 September 2011.