7ème Forum national sur la gouvernance de l’internet au Sénégal (FGI-SN) 2019 — seventh edition — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 22–23 October 2019 the seventh Senegal national IGF, FGI-SN 2019, met at the YALI Centre (CESAG) in Dakar with 120 participants from government, business, academia and civil society, themed 'Developing the Internet of Things in Senegal.'
Day one delivered training on internet governance and IoT security; day two ran two panels on the state and prospects of IoT, producing thirteen recommendations — from opening the 5G debate to tapping the universal-service fund for IoT projects.
Behind it lay the question of whether Africa must remain a bit player in internet governance — answered with a train-first-then-debate design that fused capacity building with policy dialogue.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on 7ème Forum national sur la gouvernance de l'internet au Sénégal (FGI-SN) 2019 — seventh edition draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	7ème Forum national sur la gouvernance de l'internet au Sénégal (FGI-SN) 2019 — seventh edition
Dates	22–23 October 2019
Venue	Centre YALI, on the CESAG campus, Dakar
Theme	'Développement de l'Internet des Objets au Sénégal : enjeux et perspectives' (Developing the Internet of Things in Senegal: stakes and prospects)
Participants	120 (Official report: 120 participants from the public, private, academic and civil-society sectors)
Host	The ISOC Senegal Chapter (president Ndèye Maimouna Diop) with partners, within the multistakeholder IoT-security project of the digital-economy ministry (MENT), the regulator ARTP, ISOC Senegal and the ISOC Africa bureau

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. An IGF That Trains First — Capacity Building Built In

Sessions: Training sessions 1–2 (22 October; trainers incl. Ndèye Maimouna Diop and Alex Corenthin)

"« L'objectif de ce Forum, qui se décline en deux jours de formation, est de sensibiliser sur la politique et la gouvernance de l'Internet » (The aim of this forum, structured as two days of training, is to raise awareness of internet policy and governance)"
— Ndèye Maimouna Diop (President, ISOC Senegal) — translated from French [1][2]

"« Plus qu'une technologie, l'Internet c'est aussi des usages » (More than a technology, the internet is also its uses)"
— Alex Corenthin (lecturer, École supérieure polytechnique de Dakar; former ISOC Senegal president) — translated from French [1][2]

Day one paired governance training (Diop, Corenthin) with hands-on IoT security workshops — an intrusion-test demo, 3D design of a connected object, and IoT web development with Node-RED [1][2]
InnovAfrica framed the goal as building the people who could lift Africa's — and Senegal's — 'negligible' weight in global internet governance [1][2]
Sitting within an African Union programme, the forum doubled as regional capacity building [1][2]

2. The State-of-IoT Panel — Academia, the Regulator and ISOC Africa

Sessions: Panel 1 'The state and stakes of IoT in Senegal' (23 October, moderated by Mamadou Top)

Prof. Moussa Diallo (ESP) walked through IoT's sensor-based data pipeline, radio technologies such as SigFox and LoRa, and the confidentiality and security challenges they raise [1]
Victor Ndonnang of ISOC Africa presented ISOC's framework for building trust by design across manufacturers, buyers and distributors, including a labelling scheme against cyber threats [1]
Mana Aidara of the regulator ARTP reported work on an IoT development framework grounded in the December 2018 electronic-communications code, following a 2018 public consultation, with a final decision due shortly [1]

3. Prospects for IoT — Start-ups and Industry Speak

Sessions: Panel 2 'Prospects for IoT development in Senegal' (23 October, moderated by ISOC-SN SG Gervais Mendy)

Guedal Ndiaye, CEO of IoT firm AYYANA TECH, presented his services and business constraints; Mouhamed Diouf of trade-facilitation firm GAINDE2000 introduced education and research support via the Gaïndé Start-up Challenge [1]
Security expert Edem Kobla Nunekpeku shared best practices for both users and manufacturers [1]
Alongside regulation, speakers kept returning to skills development and adapting technologies to local realities as the conditions for growth [1]

4. Thirteen Recommendations — from Opening the 5G Debate to Tapping the Universal-Service Fund

Sessions: Recommendations and closing (23 October)

Recommendations included a baseline study of IoT in Senegal, a comprehensive framework for data use, infrastructure sharing, more pilot programmes and dedicated training tracks [1]
They went concrete on regulation and finance: open discussions on launching 5G given its benefits for IoT; use the universal-service fund (FDSUT) to support innovative IoT projects; set minimum security requirements for manufacturers; strengthen data protection [1]
Closing, president Diop urged deeper engagement in ISOC Senegal's work — the multistakeholder IoT-security project, online-safety training for schoolgirls, and its annual gender-and-ICT dashboard [1]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What did the meeting decide?

A. Thirteen recommendations — open the 5G debate, use the universal-service fund for IoT projects, impose minimum security requirements on manufacturers, strengthen data protection — addressed to government and the regulator.

Q. What was unusual about it?

A. Day one was pure training, down to a live intrusion test and 3D-designing a connected object. Participants learned hands-on before debating policy on day two.

Q. Why should I care?

A. IoT security requirements and labelling are being legislated worldwide, and the trust-by-design principle championed here is the same direction consumer-IoT policy is taking everywhere.

What Is Senegal IGF? (for first-time readers)

Senegal IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2019 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.