Arsene Tungali
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| Organization: | Rudi International |
| Affiliation: | Fellowship Program, I* Organization |
| Stakeholder Group(s): | ,|xyz|xyz| }} |
| Region: | Africa |
| Country: | The Democratic Republic of The |
| Email: | arsenebaguma [at] gmail.com |
| Website: | |
| Facebook: |  Arsene Tungali
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| LinkedIn: |  Arsene Tungali
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| Twitter: |  @arsenebaguma
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Arsene Tungali B. is a Congolese (DRC) young leader and role model, passionate about issues related to youth, media, leadership and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) among others. He currently identifies himself as an Internet Freedom advocate based on his current advocacy and research work in that area. He is also an entrepreneur running both a nonprofit and a business. Mr Tungali has received recognition such as the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders award, a program started by President Obama, which led him to take earn a Certificate in Leadership from the University of Delaware, in Delaware and an internship with the El Pomar Foundation, in Colorado Springs, USA.
Professional work edit
Has been a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Rudi International since July 2012, running programs such as providing access to education to children victims of war in Congo as well as programs in Internet governance, Freedom of Expression and Digital Rights. Rudi International runs a specialized program that aims to teach women and girls about the use of ICTs, in an effort to target a demographic that is still marginalized from internet usage in the DRC.[1][2] Rudi International has been involved with global activities and celebrations including the ITU's Girls in ICT Day as well as their Child online protection initiatives and was able to put together events in these areas.
Additionally in 2013, Mr Tungali started the Mabigwa Forum, an annual gathering which brings together emerging leaders from numerous sectors to connect, inspire, and get inspired.[1] He just started (yet in 2016) a multi-services company, Smart Services Sarl, specialized, among others, in translation and interpretation services, benefiting individuals as well as institutions.
His work experience includes working with UNICEF DRC as Consultant Communications and Advocacy; being the Field Officer of Peace One Day, where he supported and represented the British peace-making organization's efforts in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region of Africa for their Peace Campaign 2014. Arsene also worked as Web Editor with Mutaani Project where he was in charge of producing articles for the website and training web journalists in web content production. Before joining Mutaani Project, he worked in the same capacity for Now Africa CAN. He was also associated with The Congo Tree as a leadership trainer and Mentor[1]
ICT policy and Internet governance edit
Mr Tungali is consulting in Internet governance projects and initiatives since 2011 when he first attended the UN's Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a youth participant. He then was involved in IG related debates on a local, regional and global levels, attending the African IGF in 2013 and in 2016 (after he went to the 2016 African School on IG in Durban, South Africa), the global IGF as an Internet Society Ambassador (2015 and 2016). At the IGF, he is either a speaker at various workshops or a session organizer on topics ranging from child online safety, participation of civil society in Internet governance, cyber security and youth participation in discussions. He does research, speaks at conferences and meetings on Internet freedom in Africa and in the world. He is one of the prominent voices fighting Internet shutdowns in Africa and worldwide.
ICANN 51 in Los Angeles was Tungali's first ICANN Meeting, and as an ICANN Fellow, was one of the first young people in the DRC to attend meetings like ICANN and IGF.[2] He then got interested and joined working groups, constituencies such as the Non Commercial User Constituency (NCUC, a constituency under the NCSG) and is now very interested in the African region DNS policy development. He then came back for the ICANN 55 meeting in Marrakech and ICANN 59 in Johannesbourg as a returning fellow and coach. Tungali was elected to join the GNSO Council (seated at ICANN60 in Abu Dhabi) for a two years term, representing the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG).
Of what he hopes to accomplish in ICT in the future, Mr Tungali says, "My biggest plan is to engage more young people in my country in Internet related topics mainly regarding their online presence. The DRC is a fast growing its internet community so many young people have started using internet. I feel it is time to prepare them on how they can best benefit from the Internet and influence its policies." He is open to all new opportunities that will help young people in the DRC and hopes to engage in constructive discussions.[2]