Session
Organizer 1: Neeti Biyani, APNIC Foundation
Speaker 1: Somia MELHEM, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Franz von Weizsaecker, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: David Hevey, Government, Asia-Pacific Group
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 75
Format description: This session is planned to be a collective brainstorming, and is premised to benefit from diverse perspectives from various stakeholder groups. The aim of the session is to engage speakers and audience in attendance as equal contributors to Internet and digital development in the region. This whole-of-community is necessary to enable a whole-of-goverment and whole-of-society approach to such development, and as such only an open dialogue can help the funding community establish a collective impact framework in the region.
[1] How can the funding community contribute toward development in LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDs, to meet their connectivity and meaningful access targets? [2] How can the funding community work together to create collective impact, contribute to replicating and scaling innovation, and avoid duplication of efforts? [3] How can funding toward Internet and digital development ensure that economies in the Asia Pacific are able to achieve human development goals and socio-economic progress?
What will participants gain from attending this session? As a continuing dialogue from IGF 2024, this workshop aims to provide a space for funders, donors, investors, and businesses to come together and identify gaps that persist with respect to connectivity, meaningful access, and knowledge in the Asia Pacific region. Speakers and the audience in attendance, including civil society, technical community, will have an opportunity to explore creative finance mechanisms to brainstorm refreshed approaches to establish a collective impact framework in the Asia Pacific.
Description:
As Official Development Assistance (ODA) declines globally, and philanthropic giving shrinks, the funding gap for Internet and digital capabilities in unserved, underserved, and remote regions continues to widen. However, meaningful access to the Internet remains fundamental to economic opportunity, social inclusion, and resilience in the face of increasingly complex global challenges. This session proposed by the APNIC Foundation will bring together donors, funders, investors, and development partners to help enable a collective rethink of funding models to ensure impactful and sustainable Internet and digital development in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. The panel aims to create an opportunity to explore creative financing mechanisms, catalytic investments, efforts at scaling innovative solutions, and pooled regional funds. Participants will discuss opportunities to align digital inclusion initiatives with broader development priorities, mobilise private-sector capital, and create investment-friendly policy environments. Through knowledge sharing and priority mapping, this session aims to foster collaboration and unlock refreshed approaches to financing last-mile connectivity and digital inclusion efforts. The session also aims at establishing a collective impact framework for furthering Internet and digital development and efforts to build capabilities in the Asia Pacific. This will help ensure we, as a community, can amplify and scale impact and avoid duplication.
[1] Actionable Policy Recommendations: The session is expected to generate tailored policy recommendations for improving Internet connectivity in the offline communities of the developing countries. These recommendations will be compiled into a report for dissemination to policymakers and stakeholders. [2] Partnership Building: By fostering collaboration among diverse players and sectors, the session is expected to create new partnerships to mobilize resources and share best practices for accelerating Internet connectivity. [3] Knowledge Exchange: Participants will share insights and best practices, deepening understanding of connectivity and infrastructure-related challenges and informing future interventions. [4] Capacity Development: Through interactive discussions, participants will gain insights and learn about strategies to effectively address internet connectivity challenges in their communities. [5] Follow-up Initiatives: The session will lay the groundwork for ongoing initiatives to further advance Internet infrastructure and connectivity, ensuring sustained progress towards universal access and digital inclusion focusing on the offline populations.
Hybrid Format: The session will have an onsite moderator, and a moderator present online. We will strive to provide seamless dialogue between onsite and online participants, allowing for equal representation in terms of time, and opportunity for contribution to the dialogue. We also anticipate one or two speakers to join online, and we will invite their inputs into the conversation no different to onsite contributors.