Carlos Alfonso
From ApcAccess
Carlos Alberto AFONSO
updated Oct.2007
Born in April, 1945. Studied naval engineering at the Polytechnical School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Master in Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada, with doctoral studies in Social and Political Thought at the same university.
Works in human development fields since the early 1970s, when he worked with Chile’s National Planning Office under Salvador Allende’s government. Has been a consultant with several UN and other multilateral and bilateral agencies, as well as international foundations (UNDP, IDRC. Kellogg Foundation and others).
Co-founder of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses, Ibase (1981), Rio de Janeiro, where he conceived and led the first Internet services provider project in the country (Alternex, 1989). Co-founder of the Association for Progressive Communications, APC (1990), an international consortium of NGOs with the overall mission of promoting universal access and democratization of information and communication. Proposed and coordinated the Eco ’92 Internet project in Rio de Janeiro in association with APC and the UN.
Member of Brazil’s Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) from 1995 to 1997, and since 2003 as one of four representatives of non-profit civil society organizations. Works since 1998 with the Information Network for the Third Sector (Rits), a Rio-based organization dedicated to democratize information among NGOs, and to proactively work on public policies related to information and communication technologies and digital inclusion. He is currently Rits’ planning director.
Member of the UN’s Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) – 2004-2005. Former council member of ICANN’s GNSO (Generic Domain Names Supporting Organization) – 2003-2004 -- on behalf of the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC). Chairperson of NCUC – 2005-2006. Currently is special advisor to the Brazilian co-chair of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
Has been active as a consultant for UNDP, IDRC (Canada), Kellogg Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation and other international organizations, on themes related to communications, ICTs and human development in Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Honduras, Mozambique, Nicaragua, São Tome and Principe, among other countries.
Is author of several articles, studies and books on social and political themes and about Internet development, published in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English.
