Introduction

As part of the ICANN Middle East Strategy [1] devised by the Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG), ICANN aims to develop and sponsor outreach programs and initiatives in partnership with national and regional stakeholders in order to stimulate the regional Internet community and ensure effective participation in regional and global Internet Governance fora.

To that end, ICANN through MESWG’s Task Force on Capacity Building and Awareness (TF-CBA) will be organizing the Middle East and Adjoining Countries School on Internet Governance (MEAC-SIG) 2014. This annual five-day event will be comprised of focused sessions tailored to fit the region's needs. These sessions will be covering a broad range of issues from technical to policy aspects of Internet Governance.

Objectives

The MEAC-SIG will help individuals from the MEAC region to better understand the global and regional Internet Governance issues, settings and processes while gaining access to comprehensive and structured knowledge on the various aspects of Internet Governance, and the actors, issues and settings surrounding it.

Format

The MEAC-SIG will offer a 5-day intensive learning course spanning five tracks. The course will cover the political, legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological and other dimensions of the Internet Governance within the context of the MEAC regional imperatives.

The program is expected to carry practical oriented workshops, round tables and case presentations.

Future Aspects

The MEAC-SIG program intends to continue community development by creating an alumni network and have students engage in ICANN, IGF, Arab IGF and other relevant regional activities and fora. TF-CBA will ensure that the MEAC-SIG program is rotated on yearly basis to various countries of the region.

Target Audience

The target audience will be derived from the countries of the MEAC region that are expected to be comprised of students, practitioners, researchers and professionals from the following sectors:

1. Academia and Research
2. Civil Society and NGOs
3. Government and Public Sector
4. Technical Community
5. Private Sector and Business

The Inaugural Event

The first edition of the MEAC-SIG will take place in Kuwait during May 25-29, 2014 with a generous invitation and host from the Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS). The venue for the event is the Holiday Inn Kuwait Downtown. The organizer of the event is ICANN, and the sponsors are RIPE NCC and Afilias.

Material

For further reading, folks are encouraged to read content found at the following links:

• An Introduction to Internet Governance by Jovan Kurbalija (AR | EN)
• Governing the Internet by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (EN)
• ICANN Handouts (EN)

Agenda

The agenda for the event can be found here. Please note that the agenda is being tweaked, so please check for a new version on regular basis.

Slides

• May 26 -- Multistakeholder Roles and Processes in Internet Governance - Desiree Miloshevic
• May 26 -- Introduction to ICANN, IANA, and the DNS - Baher Esmat
• May 27 – ccTLDs, gTLDs, and IDNs – Fahd Batayneh
• May 27 -- Understanding the DNS Industry both Globally and Regionally - Mohamed El Bashir
• May 28 -- Understanding Public Policy and Exploring Internet Public Policy - Fouad Bajwa
• May 28 -- Internet Governance for Development and Diversity - Christine Arida
• May 28 -- MENA Internet Insights and Trends - Rafid Fatani
• May 28 -- Legal Framework to Combat Cyber Crimes in the Region Qatar as a Model - Ehab Elsonbaty