Session
Organizer 1: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Technical Community, African Group
Organizer 3: Technical Community, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 1: Theresa Swinehart, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Valts Ernštreits, Director / Representative of Latvia, and University of Latvia Livonian Institute
Speaker 3: Amrita Choudhury, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 4: Elizabeth Bacon, Senior Director, Policy and Privacy at Public Interest Registry
Speaker 5: Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO
Classroom
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: Designed in a classroom-style format, the workshop will blend expert insights with collaborative exercises to deepen understanding and equip session participants with strategies for effective engagement in global technical internet governance. By the end, attendees will have skills and knowledge to contribute meaningfully to digital cooperation discussions and governance processes. A 60-minute session will ensure a focused, interactive session with a well-structured flow.
1. How can we ensure underrepresented communities have a meaningful role in technical Internet governance? 2. What near-term opportunities can foster cross-sector collaboration to promote diverse participation in digital governance? 3. How can we address the challenges of ensuring inclusive digital cooperation while integrating underserved communities into technical Internet governance? 4. How can UNESCO’s policy frameworks, including the 2003 Recommendation Concerning Multilingualism in Cyberspace, support the integration of underrepresented languages and communities into technical internet governance? 5. What governance mechanisms should be developed to ensure AI does not contribute to linguistic homogenization?
What will participants gain from attending this session? 1. Deeper Understanding of Digital Cooperation & Stakeholder Participation: participants will gain a clear understanding of how technical internet governance supports digital cooperation and the importance of diverse and balanced stakeholder participation, including UNESCO’s role in promoting multilingualism and digital inclusion. 2. Concrete recommendations for strengthening multistakeholder collaboration and knowledge sharing through partnerships between governments, academia, industry, civil society, and indigenous communities to co-create sustainable, community-driven language solutions, while gathering valuable feedback from the Internet governance community on UNESCO's newly developed Roadmap on Language Technologies and Multilingualism, which was recently created based on the outcomes of the Language Technologies for All (LT4All) conference held at UNESCO in February 2025. 3. Attendees will learn about near-term opportunities for encouraging diverse stakeholder engagement in technical internet governance processes, including initiatives like the Applicant Support Program, Universal Acceptance, and UNESCO's policy frameworks supporting equitable participation in the digital space.
Description:
Digital Cooperation and Empowerment: Strengthening Multistakeholder Participation in Technical Internet Governance Building effective digital cooperation requires a balanced and diverse representation from all sectors, including governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community. Fostering meaningful participation among diverse stakeholders goes beyond connectivity and skills development; it involves active participation in technical internet governance. This session will highlight tangible opportunities to foster more active, balanced, and diverse participation in key elements of technical internet governance such as ICANN’s new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) Program, its Applicant Support Program (ASP), Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), and enabling users to engage online in their languages, scripts, and preferred digital identities via Universal Acceptance (UA). In line with the UNESCO 2003 Recommendation Concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace, fostering linguistic diversity in digital spaces is crucial to ensuring equitable access to information and knowledge. This workshop will also explore how language technologies can address linguistic diversity in the digital space, referencing UNESCO's Roadmap on Language Technologies that aims to provide strategic guidance for stakeholders to collaboratively develop and use language technologies as a means to ensuring inclusivity and accessibility for all language communities. By exploring opportunities for stakeholder participation and global collaboration, workshop participants will engage in discussion on how technical internet governance–and efforts to ensure linguistic diversity– can offer underserved communities meaningful opportunities to contribute to digital cooperation, fostering more fulsome participation in the digital economy, governance, and society.
1. How participation in technical Internet governance–(via operational management and policy development) contributes to digital cooperation, offering a tangible pathway for marginalized or underserved communities to shape the future of the internet. 2. Near-term, tangible opportunities for promoting diverse and balanced participation in internet governance processes and structures, with an emphasis on how new opportunities for participation in technical internet governance can foster digital cooperation across the broader digital ecosystem and related multi-stakeholder processes. 3. Trigger thinking for cross-sector collaboration to promote balanced and diverse participation particularly from underrepresented groups, in shaping digital cooperation and governance–focusing on near-term opportunities in technical Internet governance. 4. Highlight the role of UNESCO, as an International Organization in advancing multilingualism online and fostering inclusive digital cooperation through policy advocacy, capacity-building and International collaboration.
Hybrid Format: ICANN has a proven track record of successfully organizing large-scale hybrid meetings that foster inclusive, multilingual, and globally diverse participation. Our moderators are highly experienced with the hybrid approach, and the online moderator will facilitate engagement between virtual and in-person attendees, ensuring seamless integration of questions and comments from both audiences using Zoom's various functions. Additionally, ICANN and UNESCO Communications teams will collaborate for social media engagement via Twitter (X) and LinkedIn. This will extend the conversation beyond the session, allowing broader input from the global community. These tools will ensure an inclusive, interactive, and engaging experience for all participants.
Report
Workshop Summary Report: IGF 2025 WS #226 Strengthening Multistakeholder Participation in Technical Internet Governance (Thursday, June 26, 09:00 CEST)
Moderator: Anne-Rachel Inné, IGF MAG Member, Director General, Niger Information Society
Agency (ANSI)
Speakers:
- Guilherme Canela de Souza Godoi, Director of UNESCO's Division for Digital Inclusion and Policies and Digital Transformation on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register
- Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy, ICANN
- Valts Ernštreits, Director of the University of Latvia Livonian Institute / Representative of Latvia, Co-Chair of Ad-Ho Group IV on Digital Equality and Domains, Global Task Force, Member, International Decade of Indigenous Languages
- Elizabeth Bacon, Senior Director, Policy and Privacy at Public Interest Registry
- Amrita Choudhury, Director, Cybercafe Association of India (CCAOI)
Workshop Overview
Digital Cooperation and Empowerment: Strengthening Multistakeholder Participation in Technical Internet Governance
Building effective digital cooperation requires a balanced and diverse representation from all sectors, including governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community. Fostering meaningful participation among diverse stakeholders goes beyond connectivity and skills development; it involves active participation in technical internet governance.
This session highlighted tangible opportunities to foster more active, balanced, and diverse participation in key elements of technical internet governance such as ICANN’s new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) Program, its Applicant Support Program (ASP), Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), and enabling users to engage online in their languages, scripts, and preferred digital identities via Universal Acceptance (UA).
In line with the UNESCO 2003 Recommendation Concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace, fostering linguistic diversity in digital spaces is crucial to ensuring equitable access to information and knowledge. The workshop also explored how language technologies can address linguistic diversity in the digital space, referencing UNESCO's Roadmap on Language Technologies that aims to provide strategic guidance for stakeholders to collaboratively develop and use language technologies as a means to ensuring inclusivity and accessibility for all language communities.
By exploring opportunities for stakeholder participation and global collaboration, workshop participants will engage in discussion on how technical internet governance –and efforts to ensure linguistic diversity– can offer underserved communities’ meaningful opportunities to contribute to digital cooperation, fostering more fulsome participation in the digital economy, governance, and society.
Key Themes and Insights:
1. Multilingualism as a Gateway to Inclusion:
- UNESCO underscored multilingualism as central to equitable digital participation and freedom of expression.
- UNESCO’s forthcoming Global Roadmap on Language Technologies will guide stakeholders in fostering linguistic diversity online.
- The role of linguistic representation in cyber governance was described as foundational for true digital cooperation.
- Valts Ernštreits reinforced that digital multilingualism is not just about translation—it requires infrastructure that reflects the full diversity of scripts and language systems, especially for indigenous and under-resourced languages.
2. Universal Acceptance (UA) and IDNs:
- Universal Acceptance ensures that domain names and email addresses in any valid script or format function seamlessly.
- ICANN and its community continue promoting UA across platforms and service providers, emphasizing inclusivity for users of all languages and scripts.
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) allow domain names to be registered in local scripts, expanding cultural and linguistic autonomy in digital spaces.
3. Practical Opportunities for Underrepresented Groups:
- Global-to-local impact: Participation in international forums led to local policy change in Latvia, where indigenous language – Livonian – is now being integrated into national digital infrastructure.
- Multistakeholder necessity: Language technology requires diverse participation—governments, linguists, technologists, academia, and communities must co-create inclusive solutions.
- Survey-led engagement: Global surveys on indigenous language use in digital spaces can catalyze reflection within communities, triggering local capacity-building and participation.
- Dedicated Platforms: There’s a need for tailored repositories, forums, and networking platforms to connect expertise and share resources for multilingual and indigenous digital innovation.
- Theresa Swinehart detailed upcoming opportunities in ICANN’s ecosystem that support participation:
- New gTLD Program: Next Round (launching April 2026) offers communities, nonprofits, and organizations a pathway to establish digital identities.
- Community-Based gTLDs and Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) prioritize qualified groups (e.g., cultural or linguistic communities) when multiple applicants compete for the same domain name.
- Applicant Support Program (ASP): A key instrument of digital cooperation, the ASP offers financial and technical support (similar to a scholarship model) to nonprofits, indigenous groups, small businesses, and NGOs seeking to participate in the New gTLD Program.
4. Bridging Technical and Non-Technical Communities:
- Panelists highlighted the importance of bridging gaps between technical experts, policy leaders, and grassroots users.
- Digital cooperation must be human-centered—emphasizing mentorship, inclusive language, and accessible frameworks to empower new voices.
- Diverse Skillsets Are Essential: Internet governance shouldn’t be limited to technical voices—policy, legal, and user perspectives are vital for balanced and effective governance.
- Non-technical “translation” and “Bridge Roles”: There is a pressing need for individuals who can interpret and mediate between the technical, policy, and end-user communities. Without this, policy risks being either ineffective or technically unworkable.
5. Grassroots and Regional Engagement:
- Amrita Choudhury shared examples from Asia-Pacific, including youth engagement through local IGFs, WhatsApp communities, and sustained mentorship.
- Regional and community-led approaches are essential for building long-term capacity and surfacing local priorities in global governance.
- Mentorship and Fellowship Programs: Regional IGFs and ICANN fellowships (e.g., NextGen) help build local capacity and interest.
- Sustained Engagement through Peer Networks: Creating WhatsApp groups, newsletters, and peer mentorship models keeps alumni engaged and supported.
- Localized Awareness Tools: Community education modules on phishing, DNS security, and UA were developed to improve digital literacy and feedback loops in underrepresented areas.
Outcomes & Opportunities:
- Create Dedicated Spaces for Knowledge Exchange:
o Establish structured platforms, forums, and repositories focused on indigenous language inclusion, language technology, and multilingual innovation. These should foster cross-sector collaboration and help underrepresented communities find relevant expertise and tools.
- Support Youth, Local Leaders, and Regional Forums:
o Foster intergenerational learning and locally grounded initiatives through fellowships, mentorship, community-led awareness campaigns, and inclusive digital literacy training tailored to local needs and languages.
- Promote Inclusive Digital Participation Through Multilingualism and Access to Technical Governance:
o Advance initiatives like Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and Universal Acceptance (UA) to ensure users can access and engage with the internet in their native scripts and languages. At the same time, expand awareness of tangible participation pathways—such as ICANN’s upcoming New gTLD Program, Applicant Support Program (ASP), and Community Priority Evaluation (CPE)—to enable underrepresented groups to establish a meaningful digital presence and shape internet infrastructure in ways that reflect their linguistic and cultural identities.
- Support UNESCO’s Global Roadmap on Language Technologies:
o Contribute to and implement the roadmap’s recommendations, ensuring linguistically diverse communities are at the center of digital transformation.
Conclusion
This session highlighted that meaningful participation in technical internet governance is not just a matter of infrastructure, but of collaboration and opportunity. By advancing multilingualism, expanding representation in technical programs, and strengthening global partnerships like that between ICANN and UNESCO, the internet governance community can foster a digital future that works for—and with—everyone.
