The W3C is a standardisation watchdog body with two categories of affiliation. A W3C member can either be involved in working groups that determine internet standardisation, or a member can act as an office to promote the work of the W3C and encourage international participation in W3C activities. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web.

W3C  is managed by three organisations on three continents: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics in Europe, and the Keio University in Japan. It has a further 16 offices across the globe. The Meraka Institute becomes only the second organisation in Africa to operate as a W3C office. The mission of a W3C office is to promote adoption of W3C recommendations among developers, application builders, and standards setters, and to encourage inclusion of stakeholder organisations in the creation of future recommendations, by joining W3C.

W3C has published numerous standards, called W3C Recommendations;  is involved in education and outreach; develops software; and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web.

By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation.

The W3C office at the Meraka Institute in South Africa will serve as the office for Southern Africa’s Developing Countries. Morocco hosts the other African office.

Kagiso Chikane, centre manager at the Meraka Institute says: “The launch of the W3C office is  showing that Meraka is stepping up as a leader in Southern Africa and on the global ICT stage to become an active participant and custodian in the international WWW market."

Researcher Dr Quentin Williams, adds: “The award to host this office in South Africa means that the international community recognises the institute's capabilities and its reputation as an African ICT leader.  

“In Africa, there’s been little awareness of W3C. Now that we have this office, we will use this platform to promote standardisation and the role of the W3C in the Southern region. This is an opportunity for us and the rest of our continent to put forward our agenda to the international community,” says Williams, adding, “This means that the Meraka Institute will bring to the W3C a valuable approach that includes the development of local language web content, reporting on region-specific web needs and adoption strategies and policies; but also giving a broader understanding of the demands of an ever increasing technological global world that includes the developing world.”

South Africa ranks among the top 20 countries in the world in telecommunications development and internet use.