AF*
AF* are organisations that constitute the African Internet ecosystem. The idea to set up the AF* regrouping organisations supporting Internet development in Africa dates back to December 1998. A meeting held in Cotonou, Benin was organised where African Internet pioneers debated on the theme of Internet Governance in Africa. This was theFirst global meeting on Internet governance to discuss Internet governance issues in the African region.
At this meeting, Dr Nii Quaynor, the first African recipient of the John Postel Award highlighted the need to set up technical institutions to support Internet growth and to unite the African Technical community.
These organisations today constitute the ecosystem of the African Internet. They cover the following areas: Numbers (AFRINIC), Security ( AfGWG, AfricaCERT ), Community and Policy (AIG, AfGWG), Capacity building (All AF*), Research and Education (AfREN), Infrastructure (AFPIF), Names (AfTLD). Other organisations in Africa are emerging within the ecosystem.
AFNOG
AfNOG is a forum for exchange of Internet-related technical information. The forum engages in issues like implementation of new networks through community participation. Workshops and meetings allow network service providers to gather and discuss on how to provide a stable service to end users. The first AFNOG meeting was held from 30 April to 6 May 2000.
AFREN
The African research and education networking (AfREN) is a forum for building an all-inclusive African Research and Education community that addresses collectively issues like collaboration, access to bandwidth and other critical resources, capacity building and content development.
AFRICA Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
The Africa CERT programme is an initiative to fight cyber crime in Africa. AFRINIC, AFNOG and the Africa Asia Forum on Network Research & Engineering have been actively involved in promoting and supporting the CERT programme following the Declaration of Kigali to create a Computer Emergency Response Team. CERT Training sessions were held during AfNOG-11/AFRINIC-12 in Rwanda, AFRINIC-13 in South Africa, AFNOG-12/AFRINIC-14 in Tanzania, AFRINIC-15 in Cameroon and AFNOG-13/AFRINIC-16 in The Gambia.
AfTLD
AfTLD is the ICANN recognised representative of Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) managers from the African region. AfTLD was established and registered in 2002 to act as a focal point for African ccTLD managers in coordinating, formulating, developing and presenting a unified approach to issues related to the Domain Name System. AfTLD also provides a platform for technical capacity development, information exchange, ccTLD Best practices and Research & Development
AfGWG
The AFRINIC Government Working Group (AfGWG) was set up at the initiative of AFRINIC to work with African governments and regulators to address general Internet governance challenges in Africa.
AfPIF
The African Peering and Interconnection Forum is a multi-stakeholder platform that addresses Interconnection, Peering, and Traffic Exchange issues in Africa and provides participants with insights and opportunities which help grow Internet infrastructure and services in Africa.