Session
Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min
The rising digitization across all sectors is shaping a new reality for people across the globe. More people are able to reap the benefits of digital solutions and online services every day, but as they do cyber threats are increasingly targeting the most critical functions of society, fueling distrust online and offline. To adequately support and secure digital transformation all countries should engage and invest in building cyber capacities. Cyber capacity building (CCB) is a key enabler of sustainable and resilient digital development. Much has been done to promote CCB programs and initiatives, but insufficient awareness among key decision-makers, and a lack of financial and non-financial resources and coordination sometimes hinders implementation. Putting policies into practice requires enhanced understanding of the value of cybersecurity, the implementation of best practices and increased coordination to accelerate CCB efforts globally. There is an urgent need for high-level multistakeholder collaboration. To drive this forward, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE), the CyberPeace Institute, The World Bank (WB) and the World Economic Forum have joined forces to organize the Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (planned for May 2023) to advance, operationalize and collaborate on CCB.
The Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B) will be the key global gathering of leaders and experts to mobilize effective, sustainable, and inclusive stewardship of international cooperation for cyber resilient development and cyber capacity building. The 2023 conference will focus on “Cyber Resilience for Development” as a central theme. Its overarching aim is to catalyze global action to elevate and mainstream cyber resilience and capacity building in the international development agenda, as well as in national development plans and investments, as key enablers of sustainable development, inclusive economic growth, and social prosperity for all.
This open forum session will present the concept, aims and foreseen outcomes of the conference while highlighting the opportunities for global cooperation through the GC3B. The session will also explore the importance of cyber resilient development and provide an update into a key outcome of the conference: a high-level, demand-driven African Cyber Capacity Building Agenda. An overview of the conference program will be provided, delving into the Open Call for session leads for specific sessions, requesting input the global multistakeholder community on session topics. The target audience for the sessions are stakeholders of various groups interested in discussions related to the development agenda, digital divide, access and related issues in the context of cybersecurity.
Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) - on behalf of Conference co-organizers (World Bank, CyberPeace Institute and World Economic Forum)
- Chris Painter, GFCE
- Francesca Bosco, CyberPeace Institute
- Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere, AUDA-NEPAD
- Theoneste Ngiruwonsanga, SmartAfrica
Tereza Horejsova, GFCE
Anna Noij, GFCE
4. Quality Education
4.4
4.5
4.7
4.b
4.c
5. Gender Equality
5.1
5.5
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.5
8.6
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
10.2
10.3
9.1
9.4
9.5
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
16.4
16.6
16.7
16.8
16.b
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.2
17.3
17.5
17.6
17.7
17.8
Targets: Several SDGs are indirectly connected to the theme of this workshop. As capacity building is a form of education, the most direct relevance is of course to SDG 4 of Quality Education, especially its lifelong learning elements. Of particular relevance are targets 4.4 of equal access of people with different skills to financial success, 4.5 of limiting discrimination in education, 4.7 of education for sustainable development and global citizenship, 4B for scholarships for higher education for developing countries and 4C of increasing the number of qualified teachers. For Goal 5 of Gender Equality, we want to stress targets 5.1 of ending discrimination against women and girls, 5.5 of full participation in leadership and decision making, and 5.8 of empowerment of women through technology. For Goal 8 of economic growth, the following targets are applicable to the session: 8.1 of sustainable economic growth, target 8.2 aimed to diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity, 8.3 to promote policies to support job creation and growing enterprises. Capacity building is also linked to job creation, thus target 8.5, as well as training for young people in target 8.6. Innovation related SDG 9 is relevant for our discussion especially in the context of target 9.1 on resilient infrastructures, since they represent the backbone of our societies and are increasingly undergoing the digital transformation process, 9.4 of upgrade of sustainable infrastructures and target 9.5 on enhancing technology research. SDG 10 deals with inequality in and in between countries, which is highly relevant when it comes to the intersection between development and cybersecurity, in particular in the context of targets 10.2 of equal political and economic inclusion, 10.3 on end of discrimination, 10.8 of special and differential treatment for developing countries. To ensure a sound improvement of cyber resilience at a global level, inequalities should be addressed: therefore 10.9 is relevant for encouragement of more investment in development assistance. Promoting strong institutions is vital in providing quality capacity building support, thus the relevance of SDG 16, notably targets 16.4 of combatting organized crime, 16.6 of developing transparent institutions, then target 16.7 of responsive, inclusive and representative decision making, crucial importance is of target 16.8 of participation in global governance and 16B of strengthening national institutions. Finally, SDG 17, partnership for development, is extremely relevant for the proposed session since global improvement cannot be achieved without strong collaboration of different partners, specifically in its target 17.2 of implementing development assistance commitments, 17.3 of mobilizing resources for developing countries, 17.5 of investing in least developed countries and finally 17.6 of knowledge sharing and 17.7 of promoting sustainable technologies to developing countries, 17.8 of strengthening science, technology capacity of developing countries, 17F or respecting national leadership and 17H of developing sustainable partnerships.
Report
The Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B) is needed to bring multi-stakeholders together and mobilize effective, sustainable and inclusive stewardship of international cooperation for cyber resilience, bridging international development with international cyber capacity building.
A priority for cyber resilience is making sure there is sufficient support and sustainability. Opportunities and challenges of financing cyber resilience through different sources needs to be tackled, in addition to ensuring that resulting global public goods remain sustainable.
Sessions under the Operationalizing Solutions pillar will be opened up to the global multi-stakeholder community in an Open Call for proposals for session leads., starting 15 December, at gc3b.org. Interested parties should submit a proposal for session leadership.
Open Forum The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) held an Open Forum (#50) on the ‘Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B) 2023: Cyber Resilience for Development’ on Wednesday 30th November 2022, during the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2022 in Addis Ababa. This open forum session presented the concept, aims and foreseen outcomes of the conference while highlighting the opportunities for global cooperation through the GC3B.
Tereza Horejsova, Outreach Manager of the GFCE Secretariat, opened the event by summarising that the GC3B will be a key global gathering of leaders and experts to mobilize effective, sustainable, and inclusive stewardship of international cooperation for cyber resilient development and cyber capacity building. Its overarching aim is to catalyze global action to elevate and mainstream cyber resilience and capacity building in the international development agenda. She explained that this Open Forum was convened to consult with the global multi-stakeholder community on the conference program.
Chris Painter, President of the GFCE Foundation, outlined the conference’s aims and objectives. He noted that much has been done to promote best practices in cyber capacity building, but insufficient awareness among key decision-makers and a lack of resources and coordination sometimes hinders implementation. This is why the GFCE partnered with the CyberPeace Institute, World Bank, and World Economic Forum to work together in convening the Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building: to advance, operationalize and collaborate on cyber capacity building. He affirmed that the need for cyber capacity building as a key enabler of sustainable and resilient digital development will be highlighted, reflecting the key theme of the conference for 2023: ‘Cyber Resilience for Development.’ Lastly, he highlighted the two main objectives of the conference: elevate and mainstream cyber resilience and capacity building as a first-order, strategic and operational priority in international cooperation and development, and to support middle- and low-income countries in incorporating cybersecurity and cyber resilience into their national strategic plans, including their digital and infrastructure strategies and investments. These objectives will be achieved through several concrete outcomes.
Theoneste Ngiruwonsanga, Project Manager in charge of Cybersecurity & Data Privacy at SmartAfrica, re-iterated the importance of cyber resilience for development and the need for the GC3B, by highlighting that cyber resilience requires deeper understanding of risks and communities at the regional level and that developing countries should introduce resilience into their critical functions. He explained that this is also because individuals will always strive to live and invest in countries that are resilient. Finally, he spotlighted the importance of the conference’s aim to be multi-stakeholder and inclusive, to mobilise effective, sustainable, and inclusive stewardship of international development and CCB, and that it is necessary to be open to input from the global community, in order to catalyze global action.
Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Head of the Economic Integration Division at AUDA-NEPAD, highlighted that a key outcome of the conference is a Global CCB Agenda that can be linked to Regional CCB Agendas. She zoomed in on the Africa CCB Agenda by stating that it is currently in the process of being written and finalized with contributions from the community such as through the GFCE Africa Regional Meeting 2022 which took place in the margins of the IGF 2022. Moreover, this process is being led by the Africa CCB Coordination Committee who represent key institutions with various stakeholder interests in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Cybersecurity in Africa. The Agenda relies on a demand-driven approach for the coordination and implementation of cyber capacity-building programs and initiatives on the continent. She also affirmed that a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to cyber capability building is needed. The key themes identified to be addressed in the Agenda are: political willingness from governments; revision of legal framework on cybercrime and technical capacity building for CERT and DFLs; coordination at national, regional, and international levels; and cyber awareness and skills development. Lastly, she explained the next steps, which include finalizing the proposed Africa Agenda on CCB together with the Africa CCB Coordination Committee, and subsequently submitting it for endorsement by the African Union, after which it will be presented at the GC3B.
Francesca Bosco, Senior Advisor at the CyberPeace Institute, presented an overview of the GC3B program, highlighting its four pillars: Making International Development Cyber-Resilient; Collaborating to Secure the Digital Ecosystem; Cyber Capacity Building for Stability and Security; Operationalizing Solutions. All the pillars will involve sessions and discussions on sub-topics and the 4th pillar, Operationalizing Solutions, will be further divided into four tracks: Empowering Better Program Management for Cyber Capacity Building and Cyber Resilient Development (Track A), Implementing Successful Cyber Capacity Building and Cyber Resilient Development Actions (Track B), Using Global Public Goods for Cyber Capacity Building (Track C) and Coordinating at the Regional Level (Track D). It was explained that the conference program has purposely left space for up to 12 session slots for members of the community to propose and/or lead sessions, under the cross-cutting theme of “Operationalizing Solutions”. An Open Call for proposals for session leads or session topics under this pillar will be launched on December 15th 2022. Prior to this, the conference co-organizers are looking for feedback from the global multistakeholder community on the topics included per track (A-C).
Following the presentation of the GC3B and its program, participants were invited to partake in an interactive discussion regarding which topics should be prioritised under each of the tracks of Pillar 4. For Track A (empowering better program management for cyber capacity building and cyber resilient development) bringing cyber expertise into development programs and upskilling/reskilling development staff on cyber issues was identified as the preferable priority. Diversity and inclusivity were also identified as principles the Conference should aim at promoting and representing. Secondly, under Track B (implementing successful cyber capacity building and cyber resilient development actions), participants proposed that the track priorities opportunities and challenges of financing cybersecurity and cyber resilience in developing countries through different sources. In this way, the conference can serve as a launching pad for assessing the way in which resources are used and involve additional donors. Lastly, under Track C (Use of Global Public Goods for Cyber Capacity Building), participants highlighted the importance of giving wider access to existing resources and ensuring global public goods are designed and used sustainably.
Participants were thanked for their contributions and are invited to visit the website at gc3b.org for more information, or get in touch with [email protected] for any questions or to provide any further input.