English subtitles for clip: File:ICANN History Project - Interview with Nii Quaynor, ICANN Board Member, 2000-2003 (301E).webm

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[Brad White]: Nii Quaynor,
a man who is often referred to

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as the father
of the internet for Africa.

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Nii, thank you very much for
taking the time to talk to us.

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Let's start out in terms of
ICANN and the way it is viewed

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and what it should
be around the world.

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What are your perceptions
of ICANN as a global entity?

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[Nii Quaynor]: Okay, I came
when it started, around '98.

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It did not have many
Africans participating.

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And so we took it upon ourselves

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to actually try to increase
the African participation,

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and one would consider
that as the beginning

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of more global inclusion
in ICANN's activities.

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Nii, when did you first start to
become involved with ICANN?

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Around '97 when the internet ad hoc
communities work was going on.

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[Brad]: So it was very early stage.
[Nii]: Very early stage.

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[Brad]: When it was founded.
[Nii]: Yes, very early stage.

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Have you seen a difference
from those early days to now?

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Have you seen a difference
with the organization

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as regards its outreach
to the rest of the world?

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There's been a big difference.
Of course, it was gradual.

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And the difference is that

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there's much more
participation from Africa,

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and there's also much more activity
of ICANN in Africa than before.

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And the participation is not only
from the technical community,

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which was the
case in the beginning.

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But you can see a wide spectrum
of disciplines participating

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from legal to civil society
to governments, and so on.

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So on the whole, there has
been an increased participation

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from the region, and increased
presence of ICANN in the region.

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Why is it important that
there be global participation

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in this organization?

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Well, we view
the internet as for all,

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and as an essential
resource for development.

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And for such a public interest
resource, participation is crucial,

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because there may
be some side effects

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in the development
or adoption of the internet,

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and to ensure that side effects
are not so negative in impact,

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participation must be
strong not only in numbers,

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but in the diversity
of the participation.

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And from that point of view,

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I think it's a good thing
that ICANN is doing.

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In the early days of ICANN,

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was there a legitimate effort
to outreach to the global body,

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or was it pretty much
a token effort where

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ICANN said yes,
we're a global body

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but there weren't
a lot of efforts.

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There wasn't a lot of
concentration on

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a variety of languages
and translations.

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What was your sense
between then and now?

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Okay, from my point of view,

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ICANN has always been
interested in global participation.

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It may have been that certain
regions were not as prepared

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because we had very small,
much smaller networks.

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And it's true that
the initial participation

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was from the technical community,

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but there was always an open door.

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And, in fact,
that is the reason why

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we were able to increase the
African participation in ICANN.

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So, I believe that ICANN
has always made an effort

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to commensurate with
the stage of development

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for Africa to be involved.

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In fact, there were times
that we could not even find

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sufficient Africans from the
technical perspective to participate.

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But as we went along,
the numbers increased.

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We made more demands of ICANN,

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and ICANN responded,
and we made even more demands.

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And that is why you have
the multilingual environment,

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and you also have
lowering of barriers and so on

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to participation in general.

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At what stage, and maybe
there wasn't a specific stage,

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did you see that
ICANN had upped its game

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in terms of including stakeholders

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from not only Africa,
but other global regions?

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Okay, right from
the very beginning

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I remember there was
some committee of sorts

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chaired by a Board member
[inaudible name] at the time.

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And the object was, in fact,
to determine what it would take

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for more multi-stakeholder
participation from the regions

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which were not
adequately represented.

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And that effort did define
a number of things

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that if maybe emphasized, would
result in increased participation.

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So it has always
been a conscious concern,

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right from the very beginning,

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that there should be
sufficient participation,

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especially from the
under-served regions.

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I'm willing to bet
that in the early days,

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when you would
talk to your colleagues

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on continental Africa and
you were talking about ICANN,

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they would go
what the hell is ICANN?

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[laughter]

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How has that changed?

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Okay, there's much more knowledge
about the internet in general.

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And also about some
of the resources of ICANN,

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that one would say,
administers or managers.

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And so there has been
a significant improvement

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in the awareness
of the role of ICANN.

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Some thought ICANN
was something in the US.

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But now it's different.

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Now, we see
numbers, registry issues.

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We see domain names issues.

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We see, in general,
public policy related issues

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and people view ICANN as a
significant player in that regard.

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And the government engagement
has also been very constructive.

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So the viewpoint has changed.

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Of course, there's
a lot more work to be done.

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But I'd like to point out
that the work

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is commensurate with the
state of our internet development.

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The faster Africa develops,

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the improved engagement
and participation in ICANN.

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It's often said that Africa
is the next growth center

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for all forms of tel comm but
specifically internet expansion.

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Is that true?

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Oh, very true.
Very true, because now

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we are beginning to see
governments come out with policies

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regarding the internet
and internet development.

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We see them talking about
ICT and ICT planning,

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and so on, at all levels.

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We see governments trying to build
and roll out their own networks,

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aha, using the same
TCIP internet things.

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And you see governments
moving to open data.

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All these things
ride on the internet.

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And so I would say countries
are beginning to come in,

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not only from
the government side,

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but from all
the other groupings.

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We see groups
pushing for inclusion,

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expression,
freedom of expression.

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We see groups pushing
for protection of minors.

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All different types of services.

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All. Now it is very wide open.
And I think that's a good thing.

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Nii, does anything
specific have to happen

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to increase the involvement
to an even greater level?

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Okay, for me,
the first thing is education

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because some of the challenges
are capacity oriented,

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both in terms of
engineering capacity,

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but as well as
policy related capacities.

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And prioritizing
internet related issues

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in the minds of
the biggest players

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in our environments,
being governments.

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And education, our system
needs to undergo some reforms

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to adopt more of the
computing science technologies

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that underpin the internet.

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And we need to venture
into some new areas

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that depend on
the internet as well.

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So yes, there's work to be done,
but I think we are in progress.

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In the right direction.

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In the right direction,
very right direction.

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How does the work of the Panel
on Public Responsibility Framework

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relate to ICANN's goals
in terms of global expansion?

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Okay, public responsibility
is extremely important so that

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we value the resources
that have been given to us

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and use them
in a responsible manner.

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I think the work of the
Public Responsibility in ICANN

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made significant progress
in the eyes of governments

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who see themselves as, you might
say, custodians of public interest.

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So in that area,
we did get a good match of

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ICANN focused interests
and the interest of governments.

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It was concurrent,
that was very good.

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At the same time,
it helped assure

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non-government
oriented organizations

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that ICANN is acting
in a responsible way.

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And ICANN had a definition
of public responsibility

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which was very effective.
It has been discussed

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in important forums
like IGF, and so on.

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So all of these things, I thought,
were helping in a good way.

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The IANA stewardship transition
has now occurred successfully.

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Do you notice a difference?

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Was there a lot of discussion,
resentment, argument about

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the US unique role in ICANN before
the stewardship was accomplished.

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And if so,
how has that changed

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now that the
stewardship has occurred?

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Okay, prior to the transition,

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at least in the African context,

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I recall that around 2011
there was a meeting in Senegal,

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and ministers

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In Dakar?

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In Dakar.
They issued a communique

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asking for more
inclusion in general

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in a variety of different ways.

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That was an indication
that something was not right

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in the sense that
governments from Africa

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were asking
for more involvement.

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I know that it was underpinned by

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the US being
perceived as a sole oversight.

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And it also occurred in
many other international forums

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that I had been working at it.

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However, from the transition

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and the play that we saw

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of multi-stakeholder
activity at work

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many governments
began to feel at ease.

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That not only is
the US being generous

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to give "oversight"
to a multi-stakeholder body,

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but ICANN was also
going through a process

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of increasing participation
and people appreciation

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of the multi-
stakeholder processes.

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So, that's acted in a lot of work

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in advancing the
interest in that regard.

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And I'm sure you
probably have noticed

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more African participation in GAC

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from the government point of view,

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and also in the
other sectors as well.

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So it did a lot of good.

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That brings me to a question.

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I'm interviewing right now,

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we're in Johannesburg,
we're at ICANN59.

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As I look around,
I see many more African attendees

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than I have seen
at previous ICANN meetings.

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Are they here
are trying to figure out

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what is ICANN, what's this about,

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to see whether or not
they want to be involved?

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Or are a large
majority of the attendees,

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they know what ICANN is,

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and they're ready to start
working in the organization?

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Give me a sense of it.

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Okay, it's a mixture.

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Well, when ICANN
comes to a region,

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the region gets
mobilized to participate.

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And so you see a
good number of newcomers,

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new entrants,
or people who are interested

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but have never had a chance.

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Because it's closer,
that makes a difference.

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But at the same time,
you see a lot of the

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senior people view it as a
place that they must be a part of.

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And so you see a lot of
the old folks who have moved.

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It cannot be ignored.

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They don't want to be
left out of that as well.

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And so it creates
a good atmosphere

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for exchange among the
experienced and the new as well.

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Some governments would normally

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not go to Buenos Aires
from Africa to participate.

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But when it is in Africa,
they feel obligated to be present.

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So all these factors
actually contribute to

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the mix of participants
that you see here.

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Does anything specific have to
happen to make that even greater?

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To make African participation
in ICANN even greater?

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Okay, I think we are doing it,

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but we need to do more of it.

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The presence of ICANN in
Africa makes a big difference.

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Because we are
looking to own something,

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own a piece of "ICANN".

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And so the more there is presence,

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the better
the participation will improve.

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By presence, do you mean
opening up more ICANN offices?

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We have an office now in Nairobi.

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Or do you mean have
more meetings here?

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What are you talking
about specifically?

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Okay, I'm talking
about more meetings,

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more leaders here.
About more activities,

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more participation with us.

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In other words,
if there is some meeting

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that is important
happening in Africa,

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we'd like to see
ICANN present more.

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If, for instance,
there is something going on

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with research and
education networks,

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which is a major
pillar of our work,

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we'd like to see
more ICANN presence.

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ICANN should be visible
within the different

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caucuses that we are developing,
whether it is in the names area

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that would be directly
related to ICANN interest.

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Or, for example, in the research
and education networks area,

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which is not directly
in ICANN's interest,

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but it's an important forum that
is also advancing the internet.

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We would like to see
more of ICANN presence.

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Of course,
more offices makes a difference,

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but Africa is very huge.

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Okay, and so it's
good to have one in Kenya,

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but if we can do more.

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At least three more.

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Yeah, there should be more.
It will make a difference because

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we have five to six sub-regions.

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And if it appears
that only one sub-region,

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then participation
will not be as much

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as if you had two or three
of them covering the continent.

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So what I'm hearing you say is
ICANN's going in the right direction,

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it just needs to go further.

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Correct. Yes, because engagement
can't stop at the first step.

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You have to continue
and do some more.

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You have to communicate.

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ICANN has to communicate
that it is genuinely reaching out.

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Okay, both to governments
and to different geographies,

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and to different communities.
I think that helps.

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Nii Quaynor, considered the
father of the internet in Africa,

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thank you again for
taking the time to talk to us.

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It's been a pleasure.