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Southern Africa Youth Internet Governance Forum is a youth initiative formed to encourage and involve the young people in the substantive discussion on the Issues of Internet Governance, given the fact that a significant portion of the population is young. Specifically, 76% of the population is below the age of 35. This includes almost half of the population being youth under 18 years old. The region's youth population, particularly those aged 15-34, is a "demographic window of opportunity", constituting 35% of the population. . This forum is initiated to provide the platform for the youth audience to learn about the issues of Internet governance and raise the opinions of youth in national, regional, continental and international policy discussions. This platform will also help in capacity building of youths representing different stakeholders in the emerging issues of Internet governance such as Digital Divide, Universal Access, AI Governance and Digital Compact, The Southern Africa Youth Internet Governance Forum follows the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Principles being multistakeholder, open, inclusive, bottom-up, and non-commercial.
The respective Member States National IGF Coordinators as inspiring leaders have a big role to play in supporting and sponsoring the activities of the Youth IGFs. The coordinators play a vital role in ensuring that national interests are represented at regional and global IGF events. They plan and facilitate national IGF events, bringing together various stakeholders, including government, civil society, technical community, academia, and the private sector, to discuss internet governance issues. They act as representatives of their countries within the broader IGF framework, advocating for their nation's priorities and participating in regional and global IGF discussions. They contribute to the development and implementation of regional and global IGF processes, sharing best practices and lessons learned.
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Southern Africa IGF is working towards supporting the hosting of the Southern Africa Youth IGF 2025. For this edition, SAIGF would like it to be held in hybrid mode, onsite and online. There will be presentations by the youth on insights into internet governance, SDGs, digital safety, digital compact, AI and emerging technologies. All stakeholders will be invited to join the youth conversations and suppport empowering youth in shaping the digital future.