On the 14th of September 2021, the Africa CCB Coordination Committee held its first virtual meeting. AUDA-NEPAD, Africa CERT, UNECA, ACBF, AFRINIC, UMA, IGAD, AFRIPOL, and EAC were among the CCB Coordination Committee members present at the meeting, which was supported by the GFCE Secretariat..

The Coordination Committee was initiated because of the GFCE’s flagship project, the AU-GFCE Cyber Capacity Building project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  The project aims to enhance cyber capacity building knowledge to enable African countries to better understand cyber capacities and identify and address their national cyber capacity needs to strengthen their cyber resilience. The Coordination Committee will provide oversight and feedback on this specific project as well as will regularly meet to discuss future CCB efforts in the region and ensure implementation of future projects is conducted in an inclusive and efficient manner.

Members of the CCB Coordination Committee are drawn from key institutions representing various stakeholder interests in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Cybersecurity in Africa. They will play a role in implementation of CCB activities in Africa by:

1. Providing general oversight of implementation of projects,
2. Reviewing and approving workplan and schedule of activities of projects,
3. Facilitating engagement with African stakeholders for data collection and project activities, and
4. Reviewing and approving project task reports and deliverables.
5. Developing ideas for new CCB projects

The projects will build on and utilize existing cyber structures, plans, expertise, and capacities within the AU, as well as within the multi-stakeholder and international GFCE Community. The GFCE Secretariat and AUDA-NEPAD will be responsible for the coordination of the programs.

Speaking during the opening of the meeting Mr. Moctar Yedaly, the Coordinator for Africa at the GFCE expressed his appreciation for the presence of the members and emphasised the need for a coordinated approach to cyber-initiatives. “We want this Coordination Committee to lead Africa in the implementation of the various projects and programmes that we have across the continent. The Committee has been constituted to represent diverse multi-stakeholder interests and will help us to achieve coherence, efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of cyber-projects.”

Mr. David van Duren, Director of the GFCE reiterated the GFCE’s commitment to building Africa’s Cyber-capacity. The added value of the GFCE is to connect the rest of the world to CCB projects in Africa. <insert quote here>

During the inaugural meeting, members were briefed on the various elements of the project and their critical role in its implementation. In the discussions that ensued, members welcomed the initiative and expressed their interest to ensure that the project was linked to existing initiatives and would provide the space for Africa to step up its implementation of cyber-initiatives. The meeting also welcomed the establishment of the African Cyber Experts (ACE) community which will have its first meeting in early October.

The meeting was chaired by AUDA-NEPAD as an implementing partner of the GFCE and in her remarks Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Head of Economic Integration at AUDA-NEPAD, underscored that the success of this project and other cyber-initiatives rested with the commitment of the Committee.

The meeting ended with agreements for the members of the CCB Committee to exchange information on initiatives they have undertaken or are undertaking across the continent. The next meeting of the Committee will happen later in the year, possibly alongside the GFCE annual meeting.

 Further information on the project can be found at https://thegfce.org/auc-gfce-collaboration-enabling-african-countries-to-identify-and-address-their-cyber-capacity-needs/