BPF Gender and Access: Meeting IV

2018 INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM
BEST PRACTICE FORUM

GENDER AND ACCESS

- Virtual Meeting IV, 24 August 2018, 14:00 UTC -

SUMMARY REPORT

  1. The fourth meeting of the BPF Gender took place on 24 August 2018, 14:00 UTC, and was moderated by Radhika Radhakrishnan.
  2. The agenda (see Annex A1) for the meeting was the objectives for the 2018 report, the discussion of survey draft, timelines, mapping regional diversity of active contributors, and inviting speakers for upcoming calls.
  3. Each participant was given the opportunity to introduce themselves, along with their interest in the BPF’s work. The list of meeting participants is attached as Annex A2 to this Report.

Summary of raised key points

  1. 2018 Objectives

Trajectory and focus of previous year BPFs was traced and primary objectives of 2018 discussed.

2016: barriers and needs to meaningful access (framing, baselining)

2017: barriers and initiatives focussed on specific populations of women (specifying, focussing)

2018: initiatives and alternatives that responds to needs of specific populations of women (exploring potential impact)

Objective for 2018 would be exploring the potential impact of initiatives that support/develop alternatives ways of connectivity that directly or indirectly responds to the needs of specific populations of women.

Specific attention would be made to the following communities:

  • non binary identities and LGBTQIA communities
  • indigenous women
  • youth women
  • women refugees
  • Women with disabilities
  • Migrant women

For alternatives ways of connectivity, the work will be focused in particular but not exclusively on:

  • Community Networks
  • Public Wifi
  • Zero Rating
  • TV White Spaces

The above objectives and focus points are in line with the 2018 MAG Proposal.

Analytical as well as anecdotal evidence would be collected in the above focus areas.

  1. Survey Draft Discussion

A draft of the survey was shared with the call participants for comments and feedback.

The draft can be accessed here (and will also be shared on the mailing list).

It was discussed that the survey needed to be shortened and some suggestions were offered for the same. One suggestion was to discard stakeholder-specific questions to assess impact of initiatives that support alternative methods of connectivity. Acknowledging the importance of collaborations among stakeholders, methods other than survey could be used to gather stakeholder-specific inputs. These methods could include inviting diverse stakeholders on weekly theme calls to gather their inputs and assigning focal points dedicated to conducting interviews with various stakeholders.

The finalized survey would be circulated online.

  1. TImeline

The identified and agreed upon timeline is as follows:

Till August 29 - Keep survey draft open for comments.

August 31 - Final version of draft shared with mailing list for final approval.

September 3 - Survey is taken live and open to contributions.

September 30 - Survey is closed for contributions.

While the timeline is tight, it is deemed necessary in the interest of producing the outputs in a timely manner.

  1. Mapping regional diversity of active contributors / volunteers

A Google Form has been set up to gauge the interest in volunteering as focal points for this year’s BPF Gender work as well as mapping the regional diversity of active contributors this year.

The form can be accessed here (and will also be shared on the mailing list).

So as to avoid any potential confusion between the volunteer form and the survey form, it was decided to circulate the volunteer form only internally within the members of the BPF Gender mailing list. New members would be informed of the volunteer form as and when they join the group.

It was also noted that “Country” could be changed to “Country / Region” in the volunteer form to capture more diverse populations.

  1. Inviting speakers for upcoming calls

It was decided that weekly calls would be conducted for BPF Gender in September - with each week alternating between a theme-specific call and the regular work-updates call. Theme-calls would identify specific themes relating to the 2018 work and invite organizations working in these fields to make short presentations during the calls. Possible speakers for upcoming calls were identified. If you have any suggestions regarding potential speakers / organizations to invite, please share on the mailing list.

  1. Doodle Poll for 5th BPF Gender Call

The BPF Gender will have its fifth call the week of September 3 – September 9.

Please complete the Doodle poll by Wednesday, August 29. Link to the Doodle Poll:

https://doodle.com/poll/abr8hwfyazwu5dcv

 

Annex A1

Meeting Agenda

  1. 2018 Objectives
  2. Survey Draft Discussion
  3. Timeline
  4. Mapping regional diversity of active contributors
  5. Inviting speakers for upcoming calls
  6. Doodle poll for 5th call

 

Annex A2

List of participants

  1. Agustina Callegari
  2. Ale Erramuspe
  3. Amrita Choudhury
  4. Bruna Santos
  5. Paul Rowney
  6. Paula Real
  7. Radhika Radhakrishnan
  8. YingChu Chen