KICTANet Trust is a multistakeholder think tank for

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

policy formulation whose work spans stakeholder engagement, capacity building, research, and policy advocacy. The network was initially designed to welcome multistakeholder participation due to the ‘perceived strength and effectiveness in joint collaborative

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

activities, which would be based on pooling

skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gen ...

s and

resource ''Resource'' refers to all the materials available in our environment which are Technology, technologically accessible, Economics, economically feasible and Culture, culturally Sustainability, sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and want ...

s,’Adam, James, Munyua & Wanjira, 2007:7. as opposed to

wasting In medicine, wasting, also known as wasting syndrome, refers to the process by which a debilitating disease causes muscle and fat tissue to "waste" away. Wasting is sometimes referred to as "acute malnutrition" because it is believed that epis ...

resources in ‘competing, overlapping

’. Its operating

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...

was, ‘let’s talk, though we may not agree’. Tina James, who worked with CATIA when it supported the creation of KICTANet, points out: ‘the creation of KICTANet was just the right process at the right time.' With

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and other stakeholders apparently relying on it, KICTANet therefore continued after the ICT policy was adopted, leading to ‘quite a lot of successes’ like the 2010

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

ICT Master Plan, as well as the regulatory approval of

M-Pesa M-PESA (M for mobile, ''PESA'' is Swahili language, Swahili for money) is a mobile banking, mobile phone-based money transfer service, payments and Micro-finance, micro-financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone and Safaricom, the largest ...

and

Voice over Internet Protocol Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables Voice call, voice calls to be tran ...

(VOIP) services in the country. It also, for instance, participated in discussions that led to the drafting and passing of the National Cybersecurity Strategy (2014) and coordinated

public participation Public participation, also known as citizen participation or patient and public involvement, is the inclusion of the public in the activities of any organization or project. Public participation is similar to but more inclusive than stakeholder e ...

in consultations like the 2014

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

Convention on Cybersecurity.Sambuli, Maina & Kamau, 2016:17. By managing a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

and

mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. Mailing lists are often rented or sold. If rented, the renter agrees to use the mailing list only at contra ...

with over 1000 participants from diverse

stakeholder Stakeholder may refer to: *Stakeholder (corporate), a group, corporate, organization, member, or system that affects or can be affected by an organization's actions *Project stakeholder, a person, group, or organization with an interest in a proje ...

groups, it has been described as ‘the biggest convener of ICT stakeholders in

’. Over the years, KICTAnet has contributed to the development of various ICT laws in Kenya, among them the Kenya Information & Communications Act 2013, Kenya Data Protection Act 2019, Kenya Computer Misuse & Cybercrimes Act 2018, Kenya ICT Policy 2006, Kenya ICT Policy 2019, and the Kenya Data Protection Policy 2019. KICTANet's work has accelerated the uptake of ICTs in the African region and contributed to the achievement of the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

. KICTANet has played a major advocacy role in the liberalization of the voice of the internet, and such other processes as the Freedom of Information Bills, the Independent Communications Commission of Kenya Bill, and the Media Council Bill. KICTANet has been the convener of the Kenya IGF and the East African IGF. It was also one of the organizers of the global IGF held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2011.

Structure

In 2016, KICTANet was registered as a Trust governed by a board of Trustees which includes a convenor (Chief Executive Officer), a chair, a treasurer, and a secretary. The current convenor and Chief Executive Officer is Ms Grace Githaiga.{{Cite web, url=https://www.icegov.org/people/grace-githaiga/, title=Grace Githaiga – ICEGOV 2021

References

Information and communications technology Think tanks based in Kenya