Bendjedid Rachad Sanoussi

Person
◀ ▶
ICANN group	AFRALO
Organization	Digital Grassroots
Country
Websites	digitalgrassroots.org

Bendjedid Rachad Sanoussi is a young digital champion from Benin. You can call him Ben or Rachad or Ben Rachad.

He is telecom engineer with proven skills in information and communication technologies, internet governance, human rights protection, digital inclusion, biodiversity conservation, and promoting free and open knowledge. He is seeking to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to socio-economic challenges using ICTs.

Career History

Ben Rachad was selected as an ISOC Internet Governance Youth Ambassador in 2019. He currently serves as Secretary-General of the organization’s Benin chapter and provides technical support for Digital Grassroots, a youth network to increase digital citizenship at the local level.

For four years, he worked as a laboratory technician at the University of Abomey-Calavi where I devoted myself to teaching and facilitating practical work for students in telecommunications engineering. During that time, he contributed to the training of electronic technicians on the management of electronic waste and the environmental impacts of the transition from analogue to digital. These experiences exposed him to the professional world and especially to academia for several years.

Rachad is an SDG advocate and serves as Projects and Partnerships Assistant within Ecolotrip.  Ecolotrip is indeed a network of young French-speaking actors in the fight against climate change and environmental protection. He actively participates in dialogue and learning, to shine the light on climate change issues. Also, he has dedicated himself to the role of Social Media Ambassador of Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), a multi-stakeholder forum dedicated to promoting the landscape approach.  He uses this position to raise awareness of the importance of creating a sustainable world for all.

ICANN and Internet Governance Participation

He first participated in an ICANN meeting in 2020 as an ICANN fellow, an experience that gave him a better understanding about how the ICANN community works. Rachad is currently involved with the African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) and the GNSO.

He is also a fellow and mentor of the Ghana School on Internet Governance (Ghana SIG) and a member of the Benin Domain Name System Forum’s (BDF) steering committee.

Sanoussi is the first recipient of ICANN’s Paul Muchene Fellow Award.

Education

He holds a Master of Engineering degree in Computer Science and Telecommunications from University of Abomey-Calavi, in Benin.

Currently, he is pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Telecommunication Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Ghana.

Projects / Policy Papers

He contributed to many policy papers, including:

• Project Youth Summit, Points of Action in a nutshell, December 2021, Youth IGF Poland, Youth Coalition on Internet Governance and Youth Observatory
• 2021 Climate Action Position Paper, November 2021, Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN)
• Project Youth for Digital Sustainability, Recommendations for a Sustainable Digital Future, November 2020

Honours, Awards and Fellowships

• First Paul Muchene Fellow Award - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
• Marketing and Communications (MarCom) certified issued by Atlas Network Academy
• ICT for Agriculture Youth Ambassador - ICTforAg
• 2021 Youth Digital Champion (Award) - mEducation Alliance
• ICANN 72, 73, 76 Fellow - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
• 2022 AfriSIG Fellow - African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) by APC
• 2021 YALI Dakar Fellow - Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Dakar RLC
• Climate Ambassador - Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN)
• Green Ambassador for the climate in Africa – Climate Change Africa Opportunities (CCAO)
• 2020 Community leader for internet health - Digital Grassroots
• 2019 Internet Society Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Youth Ambassador - Internet Society

The African Regional At-Large Organization

Internet Governance Forum