UK Government funds major redevelopment of IGF website
27 April 2020
The UK Government will fund a GBP 250,000 (USD 310,000) redevelopment of the IGF website into a fully-fledged interactive collaborative platform in order to better fulfil the IGF mandate. This work has taken on a new urgency and significance as COVID-19 has highlighted the world’s reliance on digital technology and a free, open and secure Internet. Support such as this is important for global Internet governance and will enhance the inclusive participation of all stakeholders. The grant aims to:
- Strengthen the ability for participants to exchange and find information and good practices
- Better support capacity-building to enable stakeholders, particularly those from underrepresented regions and marginalized communities, to engage in the global Internet governance processes wherever they are
- Improve accessibility for persons with disabilities
- Improve usability on mobile devices - the main way of accessing the Internet in developing countries
- Boost the multilingual features of the site. Including the translation of key documents into the six official UN languages
- Create a more comprehensive suite of community collaboration tools for IGF participants and the IGF community use for intersessional activities as well as during events
The funding for the updated website and its expansion of online community tools has come at an important time, with many countries having implemented stay-at-home schemes to combat the novel coronavirus. The IGF Secretariat hopes that the updated set of online community tools will complement the existing tools that have already made available for IGF community use.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group appreciate the generous contribution of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.