This season is a busy one for national internet governance forums! In addition to Uganda and Togo earlier this month (and Kenya early next week), Senegal hosted a “Forum National sur la Gouvernance de l’Internet” on September 19, 2013. The event, with three key panels, was organized by ISOC Senegal under the theme of economic development. The first panel discussed the role of various Senegalese ICT stakeholders. The second asked how to bring together private entities to strengthen Senegal’s digital economy. Lastly, the Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy spoke on strengths and weaknesses of Senegal’s digital economy.

Seydou Badiane has written an excellent recap of the event which is posted on Social Net Link. #FGISN2013 also has a substantial amount of content spoken by panelists, mostly shared by @seybalogos and @NatachaSeck:

Senegal (government?, investors?) does not yet take seriously ICT entrepreneurs:

#FGISn2013 "Au #Senegal on ne prend pas au sérieux un entrepreneur dans le domaine des #TIC"

— Seydou Badiane (@seybalogos) September 19, 2013

Mobile operators should fund incubators and startups:

#FGISn2013 "Au lieu de financer la lutte, les opérateurs de téléphonies mobiles doivent financer les incubatuers, startups"#kebetu

— Seydou Badiane (@seybalogos) September 19, 2013

Should create internet clubs in schools:

créer des clubs d'#internet dans les lycées et écoles pour encadrer les jeunes sur l’utilisation des #TICS #FGISN2013

— Natacha queen seck (@NatachaSeck) September 19, 2013

Quantifying ICT progress is difficult:

Comment on peut quantifier notre avancée sur les #tics? nul ne parle d'un programme pour un accès facile aux outils informatiques #fgisn2013

— Natacha queen seck (@NatachaSeck) September 19, 2013

The state expresses readiness to make ICT boost the economy:

#FGISn2013 "L'État du Sénégal prêt à travailler main dans la main pour faire des TIC un secteur phare de l'économie " #kebetu #Ministre

— Seydou Badiane (@seybalogos) September 19, 2013

National 3G coverage still won’t bring services to the illiterate:

Une couverture nationale du #3G est possible mais pour une population à moitié analphabète, il y a un gros travail à faire #fgisn2013 #tic

— Natacha queen seck (@NatachaSeck) September 19, 2013

A visual showing the players in the Senegalese ICT ecosystem:

Rôle des différents acteurs de l'écosystème dans le développement des TIC #mindmap #FGISN2013 #senegal http://t.co/2fIPpITHh0

— Mamadou Diagne (@dofbi) September 19, 2013

Of course the event was not without its criticisms. Issues of limited youth and female participation came up. For example, a Minister expressed the government’s desire to encourage youth participation. Yet no youth were given the podium at this event. Another critique was how the same issues are discussed over and over by ICT stakeholders yet little change is seen the next year. A shift in the ICT paradigm is needed to actually strengthen Senegal’s digital economy.