Fellows
Emmanuel Elolo Agbenonwossi
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Emmanuel Elolo Agbenonwossi has more than 5 years of work experience in various fields of online journalism and web content management. After several years of practice in Togo working for the government official website www.republicoftogo.com, the Moroccan websites www.northafricapost.com and www.medafricatimes.com, and several other media in West Africa, Emmanuel has won many awards, including the prestigious Young African Leaders Initiative of the U.S. government.
Based in Accra since 2014 and travelling extensively through Africa, he has been working for www.ghanaweb.com – the most popular African website in the world (Alexa Ranking). He is a Veteran blogger and columnist of Radio France International, Emmanuel has realized many interviews with Africa’s heads of government, entrepreneurs, political and economic leaders. He is also one of the most promising continental web-journalists and social entrepreneur according to the Tony Elumelu Foundation which ranks him among the Top 1000 young African entrepreneurs.
Emmanuel holds a Master Degree in Journalism and a post-graduate diploma in Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
Komi Abel Elitcha
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Komi Elitcha has more than 7 years of work experience as an IT Engineer based in Lomé.
He previously worked as a Network Technician for an IT security & Solutions Company and helped develop an e-Banking project for a state-run Bank, BTCI, based in Lomé.
Well known for his abundant energy, Elitcha is currently working as a System & Network Engineer.at the biggest breweries in Togo, B.B Lomé.
In the last four years, he has shown a great interest for ICT policies and internet governance, participating intensively both locally and internationally into building sustainable policies for the future of Internet in Africa.
Fellow of Internet society (ISOC) and AFRINIC (AFRIca Network Information Center), Komi is a co-author of two policies of the Mauritius-based institution.
As Internet activist and IETF enthusiast, Komi believes in Open Source philosophy and freedom of expression.
He is currently leading the Education Committee of Internet society (ISOC) local chapter in Togo.
Serge-Parfait Goma
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Serge-Parfait Goma is from the Republic of Congo, he holds a master’s degree in Tele-Information and is currently completing another master’s degree in E-Service International, he is working as an IT-manager at Campus Numérique in Brazzaville, and as a substitute teacher at Marien Ngouabi University.
He is also very active in the ICT community in Congo, indeed, he has participated in building the Congolese code country top level domain .CG as a coordinator in the project of the Association Congolaise de Nommage Internet en Coopération (ACNIC ). At the same time he is working on building the Congo exchange point as an ISCO member.
In 2008 he was a president of the youth chamber international Brazzaville leader; as a civil society activist he is leading the project “Peace is Possible”.
Darcia Dieuveille Kandza
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Darcia Dieuveille Kandz is a national ICT champion from the Republic of the Congo, a project assistant on new technologies for the NGO Azur Développement. She is also involved in communication as an administrator for the Facebook page of “Innovator Ladies English Club” and for the “Association Congolaise Accompagné (ACA)”. For her, the Internet is shaping the world and communication has shaped the world, so they are to be used together in a good way.
Frederico Links
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Frederico Links is a Namibian journalist and the editor of Namibia’s award-winning current affairs monthly magazine Insight Namibia since mid-2011. He is also a freelance researcher with a long association with Namibia’s leading think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). In both, his journalism and research work, Frederico Links is primarily concerned with democracy and governance issues, particularly corruption and maladministration, both within the public and private spheres. He is also an ardent access-to-information advocate and a founding member of the Access to Information Namibia (ACTION) Coalition of civil society and media organisations and social activists. Mr Links is also a founding member of the #MyConstitutionMyDecision social movement that opposed undemocratically introduced changes to the Namibian constitution in 2014.
Gabriel Ramokotjo
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Gabriel Ramokotjo is an Internet Activist, who currently serves as President of Internet Society Gauteng Chapter and Secretary of Soweto Wireless User Group (NPO). He is a fellow at the Nepad African School on Internet Governance and at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN). Previously he was with the ZA Central Registry providing Technical Support to the .ZA ccTLD domain name and is currently pursuing his studies at the University of Witwatersrand in Telecommunications Policy, Regulation and Management.
Gabriella Razzano
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Gabriella is a law graduate working at the Open Democracy Advice Centre as the head of research, and is a Founding Co-Director of Code for South Africa. She has a BA LLB from the University of Cape Town, graduating with distinction in Sociology. She formerly clerked with Justice Yacoob of the Constitutional Court and worked with University of Witwatersrand. She has a particular focus on access to information and freedom of expression issues. She is also the current Chair of the African Platform on Access to Information.
Natasha Tibinyane
Africa Fellow IGF Academy
Natasha Tibinyane is a Namibian feminist human rights defender, with a focus on freedom of expression, and the empowerment of women. A journalist by profession, she currently serves as the National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Namibia Chapter. My work involves advocating and lobbying for a conductive environment for freedom of expression, as well as building the capacity of media practitioners, civil society actors and the youth.
Htaike Htaike Aung
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Htaike Htaike Aung is co-founder and executive director of Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO), one of the very few ICT-focused non-governmental organizations in Myanmar/Burma. MIDO focuses on ICTs for development, Internet freedom and Internet policy advocacy works in Myanmar. Since the introduction of the Internet to the public in Myanmar, she has been involved in Myanmar’s Internet propagation events. She is also a digital security & privacy trainer/consultant for human rights defenders in Myanmar. Some of the notable initiatives that MIDO is involved in are Panzagar (anti-hate speech campaign), Kyeet election monitoring application, Myanmar Internet Freedom Forum, Peace Tech Exchange and Lighthouses (community information centres) etc. She is an award holder of Jemseti TaTa fellowship – ICT Champions, and also an alumnus of Deboer Fellowship.
Nalaka Gunawardene
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Nalaka Gunawardene is a science writer and multimedia journalist in Sri Lanka.
Over the past 25 years, he has worked for national newspapers, international news magazines, business magazines, radio and TV channels, as well as global websites on science, development and media related issues.
From the early 1990s, Nalaka has been chronicling and critiquing the evolution of information society in Sri Lanka. He is considered a leading commentator and analyst on social, cultural and political impacts of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in South Asia. In numerous op-ed essays and radio/TV shows, Nalaka has consistently called for a measured response to the web, so as to optimize its potential for economic, social and cultural transformation of developing countries like Sri Lanka.
He has written and spoken widely on issues such as the digital divide, gender disparities in ICT use, rise of digital natives, social media proliferation, ICTs for good governance, online hate speech, political campaigning online, and Internet freedom. From 2003 to 2009, he was a contributing author to Digital Review of Asia Pacific, an Asian regional publication that surveyed the growth and impact of digital technologies. During 2003-5, he covered the UN World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) as a journalist and broadcaster, participating in both summits (Geneva & Tunis) and also being involved in regional consultations on Internet governance and digital inclusion.
He teaches new media as a visiting faculty member at the Colombo University, and the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, two leading universities in Sri Lanka.
Maheeshwara Kirindigoda
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Maheeshwara Kirindigoda is from Sri Lanka and considers himself a “Millennial” despite being born in year the 1980. He had the good fortune to receive his primary and secondary education at the Dharmaraja College Kandy. Further education he received at the National Institute of Business Management and System Designing. He is presently following a degree course in Mass Communication at the Open University of Sri Lanka.
The doors to the IGF were opened for him by the ISOC through a fellowship program, during which he attended a chapter workshop in 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. The experience made at UN IGF Bali lead him to organize the Local IGF in March 2016.
Being an activist in the ICT field, he is privileged to hold responsibilities as Secretary to the Internet Society Sri Lanka chapter, as the President of the Chamber of ICT, as Chairman of the IGF Sri Lanka organizing committee and as Secretary to the Central Province Export Chamber.
He has gained the knowledge and the required experience to take on the above responsibilities mainly through engagements in various positions such as Assistant Secretary Sri Lanka Computer Vendors Association, Vize President- ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter, Exco & Chairman Membership Committee – Isoc Sri Lanka Chapter.
While promoting the Internet to all generations, he was aware of people’s insecurity towards using the Internet because of safety-risks. He wanted to addressed that at large and therefore introduced two projects to increase awareness “Safer Internet” and “Be-Aware Beware” for school children in cooperation with ISOC – LK and Chamber of ICT.
He currently holds the position of Media Secretary to the Honorable Governor of Uva Province of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka where he could not only utilize but also promote the concept of multi-stakeholdership in his professional engagements, including media and governance.
Ireen Sultana
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Ireen Sultana is a strong vocal activist in the Bangla blogosphere. As a columnist she writes in www.bdnews24.com, the first online citizen journalism based newspaper in Bangladesh, as well as in the daily Samakal and www.banglatribune.com. Her articles center on war criminals of 1971 and women’s rights. In the last five years, Ireen has been contributing to let citizen journalism thrive in Bangladesh. She plays a leading role in capacity building conducting workshops and publishing books and multimedia on experiences in citizen journalism. She has also initiated ‘Nagar Nabya’, a regular printed publication of blog.bdnews24.com on selected blog posts on citizen journalism.
Ireen is a poet and her first book ‘Golito Jochhnae Plabito Nagare Ishwar’ was published 2014. She has illustrated numerous book covers published in ‘Amar Ekushey Book Fair’. She publishes her poetry also in Braille for which she is associated with ‘Sporsho Braille Prokashona’.
Ireen has an ICT academic background and more than ten years of experience working with ICT platforms.
Chencho
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Chencho is from Bhutan. He has a Bachelor Degree in Economics from Delhi University and Diploma in Project Appraisal and Management from Maastricht School of Management from Netherlands. Chencho has been working in the department of IT&Telecom of the Bhutanese government for the last 15 years and is currently the head of Promotion Division under the department. As a head of Promotion Division, his main responsibility is to plan and formulate programs and projects to promote and build ICT capacity in the country. Chencho is working on connecting the remote parts of Bhutan through the establishment of CC (Community centers) to provide equal opportunity to the rural communities. For this the Bhutanese government has established 200 CCs connected to high speed internet.
Chencho is also responsible for the development of the ICT industry in the country. The 1st IT Park was established in the country to attract FDI companies. Till date Bhutan has 5 FDI companies operating their business from IT Park. The IT Park is providing jobs for about 800 youths of Bhutan.
Mya Thwin
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Mya Thwin is a passionate Entrepreneur & IT Professional who resides in Myanmar. Currently, he serves as the Managing Director for FMK Group, a Myanmar-based investment and ICT Consulting firm that offers various IT solutions. Mya is also the founder of the Myanmar E-Learning Institute.
Throughout the span of nearly a decade, Mya has acquired extensive expertise in the IT world and beyond. Most notably, he established numerous successful ventures and effectively worked in a multitude of industries. He even worked for Fortune 500 companies and the United Nations.
Mya’s primary specialties lie in System Analysis, Project Management, Human Networking, ICT Localization, Program Management, International Relations, Business Strategy, Capacity Building, and many more.
Mya Thwin holds a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from Kyung Hee University in Korea and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Assumption University in Thailand. He is also multi-lingual and speaks English, Myanmar, Thai, Chinese and Korean fluently.
Mohammad Kawsar Uddin
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Mohammad Kawsar Uddin has been in the ICT industry since 1999 and is well known in Bangladesh as an ICT journalist. Currently, he is General Secretary of the Internet Society Bangladesh Dhaka Chapter.
He is an executive member and former president of the Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF). BIJF is working for the development of science, for the ICT movement in Bangladesh and to stimulate and facilitate the growth structure of the sector. He is also Joint Secretary of the Bangladesh Science Writers and Journalists Forum (BSWJF), which is one of the members of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ). He is also a member of the Bangladesh Computer Society, the government-approved association for ICT professionals in Bangladesh. He is a member of the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN). He is one of the founding members of the Internet Society Bangladesh, Dhaka chapter and played an important role in rejuvenating it.
He also has several professional affiliations with international organizations like the International Institute for ICT Journalism and the Asia Media Forum. He played an important role in producing and publishing news and features that would give a general audience a better understanding of internet-related issues.
Mr Uddin participated in several conferences and workshops around the world to develop his leadership and technical skills; he always shares his experience and knowledge with the community.
Samten Yeshi
Asia Fellow IGF Academy
Samten Yeshi worked as a bilingual reporter with Bhutan’s national daily newspaper Kuensel prior to joining Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research as a programme manager. He worked as a bilingual reporter for about seven years, covering a wide range of topics, mostly reporting on political, business and cultural beats, writing both for the English as well as the Dzongkha Kuensel issue. While with Kuensel, he served as bureau correspondent in Southern and Central parts of Bhutan. He also represented Bhutan in the SAARC media delegation to China in June 2009 and he was the first journalist from Bhutan to receive the Chevening scholarship for South Asia Journalism Program (SAJP) in 2013. While in London on his Chevening scholarship, he interned with BBC online for a week and another week with BBC’s world radio. He initiated and developed a website for Dzongkha Kuensel, which was a contribution for Bhutan’s oldest newspaper. Until then Kuensel did not have a website in Dzongkha. While working with Shejun since August 2013 towards preserving and promoting Bhutanese tradition and culture, he also continues to be a freelance journalist, active as social media enthusiast blogging at http://saamyspeaks.blogspot.com/ and tweets regularly at SumsSaamy. He also maintains Facebook pages and Groups that are of public interest, such as a group to promote Bhutan’s national language Dzongkha.