Annex 1

A SWOT Analysis of ICANN perception from Africa derived from the questionnaires

Strenghts

1. Icann's meetings in Africa every two years and its rotational basis
2. The fellowship programme which ensures African participation to Icann's meetings
3. Bottom up approach in policy development
4. Multistakeholders mechanisms for engaging with the community

Weakness

• Lack of communications
• Poor perception of Icann's activities
• Poor outreach to African governments
• Lack of a physical presence in Africa
• Partial linguistic coverage of the continent
• No impact on growth of the domain name industry
• Poor relashionships with African ccTLDs
• No clear link with the AF*
• Poor representation of Africans on the Board

Opportunities

• Current outstanding growth of the mobile telephony implies majority of next Internet users will be from Africa; thus, a need for specific projects for Africa
• Africa as one of highest GDPs
• Icann's image and perception to be increased through contribution to the growth of a continental Internet economy Icann's legitimacy to grow with more participation from African communities, namely at GAC level
• Develop IDN to boost content in Africa

Threats 

• Poor reach out to African communities
• Lack or Poor financial commitment to an Africa
• Internet Agenda
• Poor or inadequate representation of ICANN in Africa