Session
Organizer 1: lovensky leon, BoostIT
Organizer 2: Lily Edinam Botsyoe, Ghana Youth IGF
Organizer 3: Eileen Cejas, Youth SIG & Youth Coalition on Internet Governance
Speaker 1: Lily Edinam Botsyoe, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 2: Eileen Cejas, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: lovensky leon, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
lovensky leon, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Eileen Cejas, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Kindy Vereus Montreuil, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min
1. How to engage policymakers and regulators to understand and act on their role and responsibility to support open market participation through their licensing regime and spectrum allocation practices and how can a CN build political advocacy capacities? 2. What stakeholders can do to promote and facilitate affordable and meaningful connectivity through community networks? 3. What methodological and scientific approach can stakeholders use to create commitment and an adequate environment to facilitate the involvement of beneficiaries in the process, and what are the parameters and guiding principles to be applied to improve internet access and digital inclusion that can bring about transformation in marginalized regions?
Connection with previous Messages: 1. The open Internet can be considered a multistakeholder domain, fostering dialogue. There are three main elements that structure the concept of meaningful access: (a) affordable access (e.g. to connectivity, devices); (b) social environment (skills, education, content, multilingualism); (c) meaningful, permanent, and quality connectivity (including the technical foundation that allows meaningful access to become a reality). 2. For all stakeholders working on connectivity and access in community contexts, it is vital to map out their community networks. Data from these exercises can feed into building participatory training curriculums or refining existing curriculums. Community networks are also struggling to have a financial sustainability model. Some countries are reviewing their Universal Access Funds requirements to allow small cooperatives or community networks to access those programs and increase rural and remote connectivity. In addition, regulatory measures and public policies should consider the sustainability of private sector investments, in order to help strengthen infrastructure coverage globally. This session can be considered as an efficient follow-up for the two listed IGF 2021 messages, given that it is exploring solutions that work to come over CNs project efficiency and sustainability challenges.
8.2
8.3
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Targets: The community network is democratically controlled in order to solve the problem of internet access, to increase employability without taking into account borders (teleworking). Nowadays a community network can even help in the accessibility of health care. It is an educational instrument and it helps to increase the economy. Following the sustainable development goals, the establishment of an effective community network project aligns on several points including: decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, sustainable city and community, etc. Industry innovation infrastructures: A community network is a vector of growth and development, it is a technological progress which makes it possible to provide solutions to the lack of Internet of approximately 4 billion people e Reduced inequalities: The lack of access to the internet for some people is a form of social inequality, inequality in the accessibility of internet services which the community network can work to reduce considerably
Description:
Framework to improve the effectiveness of community network projects in improving Internet access and digital inclusion in rural and/or underdeveloped communities. Context: New data recently released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, 2019) reveals that almost 3 billion people around the world still do not have access to the internet and therefore remain cut off from what is now a communication channel. information and communication major. Although nearly two-thirds of the world's population is now online, there is still a long way to go before everyone is connected to the internet. Lack of internet access is most prevalent in poor countries, where 96% of the world's unconnected population lives. The digital divide also persists between rural and urban areas, with city dwellers twice as likely to be online as rural dwellers (76% vs. 39%). However, the internet is a powerful enabler of human rights. As a medium of communication, the freedoms afforded by the internet to express ideas, connect and associate with other people, and exercise our human creativity and innovation are unparalleled. These freedoms are essential elements of personal autonomy and dignity and fundamental human rights. Access to the internet continues to expand around the world and permeates every aspect of our lives. The internet has a direct impact on their ability to access news and information, political discourse, religion and culture, markets and commerce, and libraries of knowledge. It is important to support and expand this access as more users connect to the internet every day, and to do so in a way that supports human rights. As a result, the world is divided between the information haves and have-nots. People who have internet access tend to be well educated and have higher incomes, while those who are not connected tend to belong to marginalized groups, such as indigenous and tribal communities, women and girls, and people who live in remote places. This remains a violation of human rights for sustainable development because, the Internet being a source of educational and economic opportunities, this lack of access can exacerbate socio-economic inequalities. However, with growing interconnectedness, local solutions can quickly scale and have global impacts. A viable model and lasting impact on the population: community networks, Community networks are networks created, managed, and used by local communities. These are last-mile telecommunications infrastructures often built using low-cost Wi-Fi equipment in rural and remote areas, regions that commercial Internet service providers do not always find financially attractive. Community networks involve more than just creating infrastructure. They are centered on communities, that see Internet access as a way to improve their lives. This access can also improve the lives of the countries of the South and of poor and marginalized groups. After more than 25 years of Internet development, there are still deep connectivity gaps in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries, leaving more than half of the world's population without Internet access—3, 58 billion people currently have Internet access. These connectivity gaps exist in unserved and underserved urban, rural and remote areas of many countries, especially developing and least developed countries. Community networks face a myriad of challenges: lack of affordable access to basic infrastructure, barriers to entry (e.g. business and/or service licensing, regulatory fees and taxes, access to spectrum), high deployment costs, and limited funding, including difficulty in securing universal service funding, among others. It would be appropriate, on the occasion of this forum bringing together stakeholders as diverse in terms of background, experiences, and certainly challenges experienced, related to internet access, to discuss, to exchange around these challenges, with a particular focus on challenges related to Internet access improvement projects, community network projects in particular, and probably around the solutions experienced by some, or otherwise possible solutions to adopt.
Publication of a Framework mapping challenges and "How-to" process based on reported experiences and proposed, discussed and adopted solutions that may be applied to improve the effectiveness of community network projects in improving Internet access and digital inclusion in rural and/or underdeveloped communities.
Hybrid Format: - How will you facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees? the Set-up Here is a few set featurse we will ensure that works for an optimal experience - Ensure that the technology is up to the tasks required, especially that there is excellent audio and preferably also video. - Ensure that a technical expert is on hand to check that everything is working properly onsite, and to help online participants handle any glitches that arise. - Hold a practice run beforehand! - Make it easy for everyone to identify everyone else – we will probably consider providing: a list of photos and names collected from the pre-registration requirement - large nameplates that can be read by online participants and visible name identifiers for online participants. - Decide if any ancillary technology (eg., Google docs, mentimenter, slido) will be used ahead of the meeting and make sure everyone has access to it. - Plan small group work ahead of time and think through what’s necessary for online participants to be full members. For example, divide the online participants and have them join different small groups, or make them form their own small group. \We still discussing How the technology will work in each of those situation given that while two onsite small groups can work in the same room, this often does not work well when there are also online participants For onsite setup - Ensure that the screen showing the online participants includes them in the meeting eg., don’t have onsite participants sitting with their backs to the screen. - Delegate someone to manage what the online participants see and to use the technology to its full capacity, eg., if online participants can only see part of the meeting room, make sure the camera moves to take in where the discussion is occurring and if there is a zoom capacity, zoom in on the person speaking. - If possible, we ll delegate this task to a someone who is not a meeting participant, so that they can focus on it fully. If we decide that this task to be undertaken by meeting participants, we ll rotate it amongst the participants. for online set-up - Ensure that audio system is up to the task. - Strongly recommend usage of headphones to enhance enhance ability to hear; make sure they are comfortable. - Review on-screen appearence. Participation We assume that it is harder to build relationships when we are not interacting face-to-face. There is often a time lag, especially when online participants speak. for onsite participants - Make space for the online participants to contribute. - Make eye contact with online participants as well as those onsite. - Monitor how the online participants are going. This can be done by: regular check-ins, including monitoring the chat (commenting or messaging) system a buddy system pairing online and onsite participants, who connect during breaks and also via chat or e-mail during the meeting. - Record shared ideas in a way that is accessible to everyone: - use an inclusive technology eg., have someone record ideas on their computer, which is both projected into the room and screen-shared with online participants we assume that online participants generally cannot read what is written on a whiteboard or flip chart - if we must use a white board or flip chart, someone will be delegated to take photos and to share them with the online participants. - Organize a process for filling-in online participants on important onsite conversation outside the meeting eg., over dinner or lunch. - Be mindful of the soundscape and your contribution to it. Microphones do not filter sound in the same way that your ears do. Online participants can hear everything that is happening in the room, including the side-conversations. If there are too many side conversations, clatter from cups or plates, paper shuffling, or there is background noise (machinery, for example) this is much more disruptive for online than onsite participants. Tips for online participants - Encourage online participant to Treat the meeting in the same way they would if they were present onsite: - if there is a time difference, to adjust their body clock and meal times if you cannot be present the whole time, let the chair or facilitator know. - \encourage them to Become adept at muting their microphone when they are not speaking and turning it on before they do. - Participate! Recognize that it is harder than being in the room and push yourself a little more to have your say. - Liaise with the other online participants and speak up if something is not working with either the technology or the way the meeting is being run: the chat function is useful for checking in with other online participants. Chairs and facilitators - Ensure that the tips above are implemented. - Be clear about how they want to manage the flow of conversation and turn-taking. Make sure it works for the online participants eg., if you want people to raise their hands, make sure you can see when online participants have their hands raised. - Do not try to do everything yourself, eg., get others onsite and online to monitor when people want to speak and how the meeting is going. - Alternate between online and onsite participants when calling on people to speak. - Invite everyone to reflect on the process at the end of the meeting to build additional learnings. 2. How will you design the session to ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants? Step1. a first round table to contextualize conversation Step 2. Break participants into smaller groups, online and onsite to discuss challenge related to the proposed topic. with designated moderators from these groups. Gather all participants in a \u-format round-table to gather findings, which will be reported by the designated reporter. Step 3. Repeat step 3, with a focus on sharing experiences about solutions that work or could work. 3. Tools: - Miro - Slido - Google docs - Mentimeter
Usage of IGF Official Tool.