In a statement, A4AI states that Mr. Nsengimana has 15 years of experience in the private sector, international development, and academia. A respected policy leader in Africa and beyond, he is involved in a number of high-level initiatives working toward universal access, including the World Economic Forum\u2019s Internet for All initiative. <\/p>\n
In his capacity as Minister of ICT and Youth in Rwanda, Mr. Nsengimana championed several flagship initiatives including Transform Africa and YouthConnekt Africa.<\/p>\n
He led the design and implementation of Rwanda\u2019s ICT priorities through the SMART Rwanda Master Plan, which, among other issues, focuses on broadband for all and digital literacy. The plan is credited with enabling Africa\u2019s largest national 4G LTE network rollout, which now covers 95% of the Rwandan population and the world\u2019s first commercial use of drones for delivering life-saving medical supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Nsengimana joins us at a time when our work is becoming ever more urgent. Growth in internet access and use is slowing dramatically, and our latest Affordability Report shows that over 2 billion people do not have access to the affordable internet. As the global digital divide deepens and entrenches offline patterns of inequality, we need policy change to advance affordable access now more than ever,\u201d reads part of the statement released by A4AI on Nsengimana\u2019s new role.<\/p>\n
Remarking on his new role, Jean Philbert Nsengimana said: \u201cInternet affordability is one of the most significant \u2014 but solvable \u2014barriers to achieving access for all. This deep conviction has driven my work over the last 15 years, and I am excited to continue and amplify this work as the Honorary Chairperson of the Alliance for Affordable Internet. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years that I have worked in ICT, I have witnessed the power of the internet to grow economies and empower communities \u2014 and the vital need for affordable internet access globally. I look forward to working with the A4AI team and its partners to make this a reality,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
The Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) Sonia Jorge said: \u201cWe are honored to have the opportunity to work with Jean Philbert in this capacity, and to benefit from his extensive experience, strategic advice, and leadership as we move A4AI to the next phase of our work to advance affordable internet for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nsengimana replaces Dr. Omobola Johnson, Nigeria\u2019s former Minister of Communication Technology, who served as A4AI Honorary Chair from 2014 until 2018, and who assumes a new role on the Web Foundation Board of Directors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Rwanda Minister of ICT and Youth and current Special Advisor at SMART Africa has been named Honorary Chairperson of the Alliance for the Affordable Internet (A4AI).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-38429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38429"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=38429"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=38429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}