National and Regional IGF Initiatives: Planning the IGF 2016 Substantive Session
- Virtual Meeting IX: 6 September 2016 -
About
1. The ninth virtual planning meeting for the National and Regional IGF Initiatives’ (NRIs) Substantive Session at the IGF 2016 took place on 6 September 2016 at 15:00 pm UTC.
2. The Meeting was hosted by Ms. Anja Gengo from the IGF Secretariat, and moderated by Ms. Marilyn Cade, MAG Member and NRIs Substantive Coordinator. This Summary Report will reflect the main key points raised during the meeting.
3. The Agenda is attached to this document as Appendix A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Appendix A2. Appendix A3 includes a list of other relevant documents, as referenced in this report.
SUMMARY REPORT
Introductions and Agenda adoption
4. Participants introduced themselves stating which NRI they are affiliated with, and were asked to share any updates on their Initiatives’ activities and future plans.
5. The Host shared the agenda with everyone. Ms. Marilyn Cade asked to add under the last agenda item, Any other Business (AoB), a brief update on potential funding options for NRIs representatives to attend the IGF 2016 annual meeting. Briefing on the IGF2016 project Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) was also added to the agenda, as per request of Mr. Brian Gutterman from the IGF Secretariat.
6. All suggestions were fully endorsed and agenda unanimously adopted. Debrief from the Coordinator of the IGF 2016 intersessional activity: Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) II
7. Ms. Constance Bommelaer, the Coordinator for the IGF 2016 intersessional activity: ‘Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion - Phase II’ ( further referred to as CENB) has briefed the participants about the working plans and kindly invited the NRIs to contribute with their inputs.
8. It was reiterated that this year’s work is focused on gathering contributions that are reflecting the local, national and regional specificities on the relevant issues.
9. As per participants queries, it was explained that the deadline to submit contributions would be no later than 3 to 4 weeks before the IGF annual meeting, but with a general intention to receive them as soon as possible, so they can all be analysed and reflected better in the output document.
10. In terms of the work process and applied modalities, it was explained that all received compilations are being published on the IGF website, as they are being received. For more details on the overall work, participants were kindly asked to contact the coordinators at the addresses available at the IGF website.
11. One Participant asked what will happen with the produced output document(s). It was explained that, in accordance with the Recommendations of the CSTD Working Group on Improvements to the IGF, the intention is to produce a tangible outcome that later on can help in improving mapped issues. This compilation will be shared amongst the various stakeholders, so that it could assist them in addressing the related issues.
12. Website and contact details for the CENB Phase II were posted for further reference [Appendix A3].
Updates from the IGF Secretariat
13. Participants were briefed that the third face to face MAG Meeting will not be held. Instead, regular online meetings are being hosted with the next one scheduled for Tuesday next week, 13 September 2016. It was noted that the discussion from this meeting and the progress on the main session organization will be reported to this upcoming MAG Meeting.
14. A possibility for the NRIs respective communities to organize Remote Hubs for the IGF 2016 meeting was announced. Interested participants were invited to visit the IGF website for more details and encouraged to contact the IGF Secretariat for further questions. It was stressed out that each Hub needs to be registered by 5 October 2016, by filling up the Form publicly available on the IGF website.
15. It was reminded that the Outcome Document from the Retreat on Advancing the 10 Year Mandate of the IGF is still available for public commenting. Participants were encouraged to express their opinion about the proposed improvements, as this output is a valuable guiding document for the future IGF work plans that will reflect the support and engagement between the global IGF and wide NRIs network.
16. In reference to the Retreat outcome document, the Secretariat was asked to share the document again through the NRIs mailing list and attach the .pdf version of the Document with highlights on the parts where the NRIs were referenced.
17. Participants were briefed about the that the Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO) tool, a project initiated by the European Commission. It was explained that GIPO is an online tool to help monitor developments on Internet policy around the world and provide better understanding and access to the largest number of potential stakeholders. The NRIs were encouraged to use this tool, as it allows to share any information details about IGF initiatives, as well as to find relevant information and to connect with different stakeholder groups. Details about the upcoming GIPO webinar were shared [Appendix 3]. Updates from the NRIs Members
18. It was noted that the National IGF of Germany, along with Youth IGF, is scheduled to be on 9 September 2016.
19. The national IGF of Italy will take place in Venice from 14 to 15 November 2016.
20. The 7th national IGF of Ukraine will be hosted in Kyiv on 14 October 2016.
21. Participants were invited to attend the Colombian national IGF, if not possible on-site, then online, scheduled to take place on 1 October 2016.
22. It was reported that for Arab IGF, a review group was established and so far it had two meetings. A questionnaire for receiving public comments on the overall review of the Arab IGF process will be published during this month. The final report on this will be produced by the end of this year.
23. As for the North African IGF, it was explained that a MAG group was established, and that has already started its work. However, the group is lacking support from the Government stakeholder group.
24. The Pakistan Youth IGF will be having its meeting during the last week of September, while the preparations for hosting a national IGF in Pakistan are ongoing with the aim to host the event on 12 November 2016. The Participants were also briefed about the attendance on the IGF annual meeting on behalf of this initiative, stating that a representative, acting in a role of an ISOC Ambassador will attend the meeting.
25. The EuroDIG is working on producing a final report of the last IGF held in June this year. The Report will be shared with the Secretariat and the NRIs network after it’s finalized. Discussion on the Main Session Preparations
26. The Participants were reminded that the NRIs are in a process of organizing a Main Session at the annual IGF Meeting. The session concept is composed of two main parts: the first one will reflect substantive themes discussed at NRIs meetings, and the second part will be focused on identified main challenges that the NRIs are facing in their work.
27. In regards to the First segment of the session, it was remind that the thematic frameworks to be discussed are: Access/Enhancing the opportunities for the under-connected and un-connected from the perspective of the national and regional IGF initiatives and Issues related to Secure, Resilient and Trusted Internet from the perspective of the national and regional IGF initiatives.
28. It was asked for this meeting to be more focused on the second section of the Main Session and the ways the NRIs will be identifying the main challenges to be presented and discussed at the IGF Meeting.
29. As one Public Call for identifying themes and challenges was sent out after the First MAG 2016 Meeting, it was reminded that inputs from 22 national and regional IGF initiative were received and accordingly clustered into broad frameworks. As not everyone shared their inputs in the mentioned Call, it was suggested to launch a Public Form for all the NRIs to answer if they are satisfied with these broad frameworks or they would like to add new proposals.
30. On the above said, the Secretariat was asked to create a Form that will contain the clustered proposals, as well as a free text field for all the NRIs that will have any new proposals to share their inputs.
31. The deadline for submission was discussed and it was agreed that ten working days or 2 weeks is reasonable for the NRIs to consult their Core Organizing Teams and submit the answers. The Secretariat will, in agreement with the NRIs representatives, cluster again the received responses. This will be discussed on the next Virtual Meeting, with the goal to adopt the two broad frameworks for the NRIs to be further discussed, from their perspectives.
32. Participants also addressed the concept of organizing a joint Booth at the IGF 2016 Meeting, by focusing this time on the material to be produced.
33. It was reminded that it was agreed on previous NRIs meetings, that the promotional material will consist of the following: NRIs World Map and Timeline , FAQs about the NRIs and one pager information per NRI.
34. While there were no discussions on developing the World Map and Timeline, that the Secretariat will produce and share with the network, the proposed one pager per NRIs was discussed, as well as the way the FAQs will be gathered.
35. On the above note, it was suggested to create a template for the initiative to indicate their basic information, reflect their history and most up to the date achievements, that they would like to share with the IGF2016 meeting attendees. It was suggested to discuss the design of the template and concrete content on the next Virtual Meeting.
36. Some participants raised the questions of how the FAQs will be created. It was agreed that the Secretariat will list all received questions by now, and seek for further inputs and discussion. From the Secretariat, it was said that this can be also useful to have for developing the NRIs Tool Kit.
37. Regarding the design of the Booth, participants welcomed the idea suggested by one of the NRIs coordinator that the Booth should have a TV screen, that could project the prepared presentation (‘visual NRIs story’) reflecting the NRIs landscape, with photos from their annual events. From the Secretariat, it was explained that the Host Country can provide TV screens under a reasonable price, which is why this proposal will depend on potential funding.
38. The visual story on all NRIs was accepted as a good idea and it was called to be implemented.
39. A need for the Booth promotional material to be translated on all six UN languages was emphasized by some of the participants. It was explained that it would not be realistic to expect for the materials to be translated to all six UN languages, but it was called for volunteers to support the translation to Spanish and French language.
AoB
40. Taking into account many of the received individual requests from the NRIs for funding to attend the annual IGF meeting, Ms. Marilyn Cade, as a member of the IGFSA, shared a draft version of a potential proposal to the IGFSA to fund the coordinators from the developing countries.
41. The participants were called to suggest any changes to the draft proposal shared on the NRIs mailing list in the next 20 hours, after the meeting ends. The proposal will be submitted to the full Executive Committee of the IGFSA for further reconsideration.
42. Some participants raised the questions on the visa processes for Mexico, and the options for making online participation available to some of the NRIs. These were directed to the IGF Secretariat, as this meeting was focused on organizing the main session.
Next Steps
43. The Secretariat will summarize the key suggestions raised during the Meeting and will distribute the Meeting Summary Report during the week of 12 September.
44. A Public Form for gathering the NRIs proposal on challenges and solutions for the second segment of the Main NRI Session will be created and distributed, a day after the Meeting ends.
45. Doodle Polls for gathering information about the NRIs attendance at ICANN 57 and the 2016 IGF annual meeting in Mexico, to be re-distributed through the NRIs mailing list.
46. Next meeting: The Secretariat will distribute the Doodle Poll for the members of the NRIs to cast the votes for the best time slots for the two virtual calls, during the week of 26 September.
47. For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the Secretariat at: [email protected] or [email protected].
APPENDIX A1:
MEETING AGENDA: National and Regional IGF Initiatives Planning the IGF 2016 Substantive Session Virtual Meetings IX: 6 September 2016, 15:00 UTC
1. Updates from the IGF Secretariat
2. Updates from the NRIs Coordinators and Members
3. Updates on the NRIs Main Session Progress:
a) 1st segment: role of the NRIs Coordinators
b) 2nd segment: discussing suggested proposals
4. Developing the material for the NRIs Booth
5. AoB
APPENDIX A2
MEETING PARTICIPANTS ( in alphabetical order):
1. Abdeldjalil Bachar Bong, IGF Tchad
2. Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat
3. Brian Gutterman, IGF Secretaraiat
4. Charlotte Simoes, IGF Portugal
5. Christine Arida, Arab IGF and North Africa IGF
6. Constance Bommelaer, ISOC and IGF CENB II Coordinator
7. Daniel Macías, Government of Mexico
8. Diego R. Canabarro, NIC Brazil
9. Fotjon Kosta , IGF Albania (in formation)
10. Giacomo Mazzone, MAG Member, EuroDIG board member and member of IGF Italy
11. Imran Ahmad Shah, IGF Pakistan (in formation)
12. Jahangir Hossain, IGF Bangladesh
13. Janvier Ngnoulaye, Central African IGF
14. Jennifer Chung, Asia Pacific regional IGF
15. Judith Hellerstein, Washington DC ISOC
16. Judy Okite, West Africa IGF
17. Julian Casasbuenas, MAG Member, IGF Colombia
18. Juuso Moisander, MAG member and IGF Finland
19. Louise Marie Hurel, Youth LACIGF
20. Maemura Akinori, Japan, JPNIC
21. Maheeshwara Kirinidgoda, IGF Sri Lanka
22. Marilyn Cade, MAG Member, IGF USA and an NRIs Substantive Coordinator
23. Mary Uduma, IGF Nigeria
24. Michael Oghia, SEEDIG member
25. Nigel Cassimire, MAG Member and Caribbean IGF
26. Noha Fathy, HIVOS/West Africa IGF
27. Norbert Komlan GLAKPE, Togo IGF
28. Oksana Prykhodko, IGF Ukraine
29. Sandra Hoferichter, EuroDIG
30. Sorina Teleanu, SEEDIG
31. Tracy Hackshaw, IGF Trinidad & Tobago,
32. Zdravko Jukic, IGF Croatia
APPENDIX A3:
LIST OF SHARED DOCUMENTS:
- IGF Community Public Consultations: Retreat on advancing the 10-year mandate of the Internet Governance Forum - retreat proceedings: ideas and suggestions (Comment-press version) Available here: https://www.intgovforum.org/review/igf-retreat-proceedings-ideas-and-suggestions/https://www.intgovforum.org/review/igf-retreat-proceedings-ideas-and-suggestions/
- IGF Retreat Proceedings Available here: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/2016-06-23-15-15-52/igf-retreat-proceedingshttp://www.intgovforum.org/cms/2016-06-23-15-15-52/igf-retreat-proceedings
- Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) - Phase II Available here: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/policy-options-for-connection-the-next-billion/cenb-ii
- The Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO) Available here: http://www.giponet.org/en/content/gipo-observatory-tool-live-session-how-internet-governed-learn-how-find-information-you-need