The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was created from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to
provide an environment for dialogue on Internet public policy issues to ensure the sustainability,
robustness, security, stability, and development of the Internet. Now in the fourth year of its
five-year mandate, the IGF has continued to be an important global arena for international multi-stakeholder
dialogue about policy issues affecting the Internet's management, development, and deployment. Enabling meaningful
participation of developing nation partners has long been identified as an important priority in achieving an
equitable and accessible Information Society. It was with this goal in mind that in 2008 a regional IGF process
in East Africa was started. Now in its second year, the EA-IGF brings together participants from Rwanda, Tanzania,
Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, and South Sudan to identify, explore, and build consensus around common Internet Governance
priority issues. The EA-IGF meetings have found that Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD.s) are weak institutionally
and need repositioning and stregthening at policy, regulatory, operational and management levels.

ccTLDs are the identifiers used to denote a country or territory in the internet domain names system, for example the
ccTLD for Burundi is .br. They are a significant part of every national information infrastructure, without a well
functioning national internet suffix a country is not represented on the Internet, and its citizens, businesses and
institutions are denied an effective way to associate themselves with other territories, regions and countries.
This has considerable impact on the opportunity to participate in global development, commerce, trade, political
and cultural discourse.

Issues surrounding the functioning and management of ccTLDs include such diverse, and interdependent points as
government policy and regulation, availability and access to internet and local content, consumer and trademark
protection, cybercrime, access to broadband and the management structure of the ccTLD. Their good operation is
important to the security and stability of the Internet in a country, in terms of service quality and development,
they are important to the success of E-education, E-commerce, E-health, and the utility of the Internet as a space
for social, political, and cultural activities, discussions, and innovation. Addressing these issues will empower
East African ccTLDs to play their rightful role in strengthening critical internet infrastructure and mainstream
internet as critical tool for development.

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This research therefore aims at identifying trends in the management of East Africa.s ccTLDS and strategies t/o
strengthen them. The research will conduct a strategic evaluation of the evolution, management, positioning, and
contribution of ccTLDs as a critical component of the internet infrastructure in the region. It will highlight
consumer right issues, governance, access, policy regulatory issues and identify types of cybercrime. The research
will be conducted in the five East African countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania Uganda, and Kenya. It will entail
literature review, primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data collection, and study dissemination.
Descriptive in nature, the study will collect data within the ccTLDs and internet stakeholders, through questionnaires
administered over the email, telephone and some face to face sessions.

It is hoped that this research will be the first in a series dedicated to strengthening Africa.s internet institutions
and creating a community of practice and will contribute to enhancing the role of research in policy and decision making.