IGF 2022 Day 0 Event #28 Shaping global digital governance and measuring meaningful connectivity for all: the ROAM approach 

    Time
    Monday, 28th November, 2022 (11:05 UTC) - Monday, 28th November, 2022 (14:05 UTC)
    Room
    CR6

    UNESCO
    UNESCO, jointly with partners : Polish National Commission for UNESCO, German National Commission for UNESCO Information for All Programme (IFAP), Council of Europe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Association of Progressive Communications, Missions Publiques, CETIC, Universite Bordeaux Montaigne, Internet Society (ISOC), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) NIC.br, 7Amleh, Development House KICTANet, Centro de Estudios en Technologias en Sociedad (CETyS), Media Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Global Network Initiative (GNI), I and J, CIPESA 

    Speakers

    Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Sidi Mohamed RALIOU, Secretary General of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and New Information Technologies - Niger Marielza Oliveira, Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring Xianhong Hu, UNESCO Programme Specialist  Sadaf Khan, Co-founder, Media Matters for Democracy – Pakistan   Mona Shtaya, 7Amleh – Palestine   Simon Ellis, International consultant – Thailand   Santosh Sigdel, Chairperson, Digital Rights Nepal – Nepal    Shavkat Sabirov, President, Internet Association of Kazakhstan    Ms. Ariunzul Liijuu-Ochir, consultant for Digital Era - Mongolia  Pisal Chanty, Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (CADT) - Cambodia  Asrat Mulatu, Lead Researcher of the ROAM-X assessment project, Ethiopia   Simon Kafui Aheto, Researcher, Development House – Ghana   Alain Kiyindou, Université Bordeaux Montaigne – Benin-Niger-Cote d’Ivoire   Grace Githaiga, Convenor, KictaNet - Kenya     Nashilongo Gervasius Nakale, Internet Society Namibia   Fernanda Martinez, Executive Director, The Center for Technology and Society Studies (Cetys) – Argentina   Eduardo Carrillo, Association of Technology, Education, Development, Research and Communication (TEDIC), Paraguay   Matthias Ketteman, Head of Research Program, Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) - Germany    Alexandre Barbosa, Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (CETIC.br) – Brazil   Lucien Castex, Internet Society – France Simon Ellis, international Advisor of ROAM-X

    Onsite Moderator

    Xianhong Hu

    Online Moderator

    Karen Landa

    Rapporteur

    Viktoriya Grudyuk

    SDGs

    4. Quality Education
    4.1
    4.2
    4.3
    4.4
    4.5
    4.6
    4.7
    4.a
    4.b
    4.c
    5. Gender Equality
    5.1
    5.2
    5.3
    5.4
    5.5

    Targets: This IGF session will underline the relevance of the indicators in providing stakeholders of ICTs for sustainable development with tools to strengthen their alignment with the UN SG’s roadmap of digital cooperation and Global Digital Compact for the completion of the SDGs. By aiming to give concrete responses for the completion of the Goals 4,5, 10, 16 and 17 of  the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  Goals, UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators framework fills a standard-setting void at the global and national levels and proves a holistic research tool to foster Internet policies for sustainable development in all countries. 

    Format

    Presentations and panel discussion

    Language
    English
    Description

    In the aftermath of COVID-19, it became clear that the world needs an Internet that respects human rights, is open without fragmentation, is universally connected and assessed by all people around the world. This is necessary in order to enable everyone to participate equaly in knowledge societies, to protect vulnerable and marginalized groups, and build reconciliation and peace in times of conflict. This is the call of UNESCO’s Internet Universality R.O.A.M principles, complemented by 303 indicators.    The session serves as the annual presentation to the global Internet Governance community on  the progress and challenges in advancing Internet Universality worldwide, and on reporting the evidence-based findings and recommendations that emerge from the national ROAM-X indicators assessment projects in over 40 countries across the five continents.     The session will trigger critical policy discussions on three domains : 1) How to shape Internet governance and digital transformation by embracing ROAM (human Rights, Openness, Accessible by all and Multi-stakeholder Participation) principles at all levels, including for bridging gender and other divides, and for supporting a human-centered Africa’s digital transformation by scaling up the ROAM-X support to Africa.    2) How to strengthen capacities so that national assessments are conducted via a multi-stakeholder process, and how to encourage additional countries and stakeholders to undertake voluntary assessments. 3) How to update ROAM-X indicators to after five years of fast digital transformation?  4) How can ROAM contribute to operationalizing the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and contribute to the consultations towards Our Common Agenda' s formulation of the Global Digital Compact.  For more information on the ROAM-X project and the Dynamic Coalition of ROAM-X, kindly visit the dedicated webpages: https://en.unesco.org/internet-universality-indicators along with https://en.unesco.org/feedback/join-our-internet-universality-community  

    This session will be an interactive panel discussion with the moderator allowing very short statements from on-site and remote national leading experts to trigger discussion on the national Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators assessment in their country. We aim to display their diversity in expertise and share outcomes of the assessment results in more than 40+ countries in five different countries, provide good practice  and  lessons learned  from the methodology and process of  conducting ROAM-X assessments  at  national  level. 

    Key Takeaways (* deadline 2 hours after session)

    - The global community recognizes UNESCO’s ROAM-X framework and indicators,currently progressing in 40+ countries,as a unique tool to shape the development of Internet, AI and other ICT emerging digital technologies in line with UN SG’s roadmap of digital cooperation and the development of Global Digital Compact for enhancing universal values and standards in the digital age.

    - Experts not only highlighted the transformative impact of the ROAM-X framework but also weighed on the challenges encountered while conducting the assessment. The challenges were ranging from the update of the framework including new dimensions (AI policies, climate change, gender equality) to the lack of disaggregated data to build evidence-based analysis leading to concrete reforms and policy improvement for meaningful access.

    Call to Action (* deadline 2 hours after session)

     - UNESCO called for the support of global stakeholders for the update of the core ROAM-X indicators by reducing or revising the number of indicators and adding new dimensions reflecting fast-changing digital and political environments (climate change, gender equality, privacy).

     - UNESCO encourages more countries and stakeholders to formulate clear, strong policy recommendations through their voluntary assessments using the ROAM-X framework to achieve meaningful connectivity for a more resilient Internet.