NRIs Meting VI


NATIONAL, (SUB)REGIONAL AND YOUTH IGF INITIATIVES
- Virtual Meeting VI, 13 August 2018, 13:00 p.m. UTC -

SUMMARY REPORT

About 

  1. The 6th virtual meeting of the National, Subregional, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 13 August 2018 at 13:00 p.m. UTC.
     
  2. The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point. Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. The list of shared documents is attached to this report as Annex A3.

Summary of key points

  1. The meeting was opened with a few updates shared from the IGF Secretariat, related to the status of the preparatory work for the IGF 2018 annual meeting. These updates were the following:  
  1. From the APrIGF, the coordinator briefly provided an update on the 9th annual meeting of this regional IGF (13-16 August 2018), noting that the meeting hosted a set of capacity building activities, and that they have two more days ahead. The Youth APrIGF is scheduled in parallel with the APrIGF; while the sub-regional Pacific IGF took place as a pre-event. A full update will be shared after the meeting.
     
  2. The EuroDIG coordinator updated that the EuroDIG 2019 annual meeting will be hosted from 18 to 21 June 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands.
     
  3. From the African IGF, the coordinator said that the African 2018 IGF will be hosted in Sudan during October under the theme: Development of digital economy and emerging technologies in Africa. The African School on Internet Governance will be hosted in Tanzania from 11 to 15 October 2018.
  1. The Italian IGF coordinator shared an update that their 2018 annual IGF meeting will be hosted from 5 to 7 November 2018, including the Day 0 dedicated to Youth Initiatives in Italy and capacity building activities. The Mission Publiques was invited to conduct a survey to assess the opinion of the Italian community on the Internet policy. The Call for Workshops for the Italian IGF 2018 is underway.
  1. The Indonesian IGF will be hosted during October, 2018.
  1. The IGF-USA coordinator in her personal capacity, added that the preparations for the NRIs informal gathering during the ICANN 63 meeting in Barcelona are underway, and the goal is to have a bigger room and online participation, followed by a dedicated social event. The invitation will follow through the NRIs mailing list.
     
  2. After these updates, the participants moved to discussing the next agenda item focused on the NRIs Main Session at the 2018 IGF.
     
  3. The Host reminded that the 80-minutes long NRIs Main Session was approved by the MAG, to be co-collaboratively co-organised by the NRIs and interested MAG members, with respecting the NRIs procedures. The Host provided a provisional overview of the MAG members that indicated their interest to join the work on this session. It was noted that all these members are affiliated with various NRIs, thus aware of the NRIs principles and procedures.
     
  4. The Host asked the participants for inputs on the substantive focus of the NRIs Main Session.
     
  5. From the IGF-USA, it was said that all stakeholders need to have understanding of the diversity of issues across the NRIs. It was elaborated that this is important, as inputs that come from the developing countries are not necessarily similar to the ones coming from the developed countries. It was added that during the past two years, the format was misunderstood by some stakeholders, and that for this year, the NRIs could think of having the ‘Town Hall’ approach. The IGF-USA coordinator noted that this approach was used during the session on the WSIS+10 Review. If endorsed by the NRIs, this format would require defining the policy questions, and having the NRIs responding to one of these questions within limited time. It was added that given the restricted timing for this session and large number of NRIs, not all NRIs would be required to respond to these policy questions, but just those with direct interest and concrete inputs, with making sure that there is a good regional and stakeholder balance among speakers. However, all NRIs would be required to participate in the bottom-up process of defining policy questions.
  1. From the African IGF the bottom up process for defining the policy questions was supported, and added that the NRIs should use the assigned time slot wisely and have one intervention per one NRI as a standard.
     
  2. The Host asked the NRIs to continue advising on the substantive focus of the session, and reminded on the input from the Spanish IGF that the NRIs session should focus on cases where the multistakeholder model contributed to decision making and development of the Internet[1]. The IGF-USA coordinator caution that we should add the word ’policy’ or ‘Governance’ to this proposal, as focusing on the Internet is much broader and goes beyond the NRIs scope of work.
     
  3. The EuroDIG coordinator agreed with the Spanish IGF input, summarized above, noting that it is important that the NRIs focus on concrete cases, as that will help the NRIs to be specific and will streamline the discussion and prevent its unnecessary expansion.
     
  4.  The EuroDIG coordinator advised that the NRIs define a set of policy questions within a shared online document, given the low participation of the NRIs at this Meeting. This was endorsed by all participants, and the IGF Secretariat was asked to proceed with its implementation.
  1. From the IGF-USA, it was added that the NRIs should focus on the change the implementation of the multistakeholder model has brought to their respective communities.; but, at the same time, it is important to address the ways the multistakeholder model is implemented in various communities.
  1. It was agreed that the proposed ‘Town Hall’ format should be further analyzed by the NRIs, and the IGF-USA coordinator committed to send more information about this format to the NRIs mailing list. The participants agreed to continue with the practice of having multiple rapporteurs and producing key messages from this session.
  1. The discussion segment on the NRIs collaborative sessions was opened by the Host nothing that the information about the final number of available slots for these sessions is not available to date. However, it was advised to proceed with defining the topics. The Host shared the link to the selected workshops and advised that the NRIs look at the aspects the workshops cover and try to bring diversity with the collaborative sessions.
  1. Participants were invited to review the so far received proposals for the NRIs collaborative sessions, clustered under the eight IGF themes (Annex A3). The IGF-USA and the France IGF coordinators advised for three proposals focused on the fake news to be moved under the ‘Media and Content’ cluster. The coordinator from EuroDIG suggested to add as an input ‘Trade and IG’.
  1. Some participants advised that two out of potentially five NRIs collaborative sessions should focus on the ‘Access beyond mere connectivity’ and on the ‘Fake News’, given the fact that these are underrepresented in the IGF 2018 final workshop selection (Annex A3). The Host suggested that the NRIs potentially think about endorsing the proposal from the Armenia IGF to focus on the IDNs, as this topic is of high importance to many communities, and is not represented in the current setup of the programme. It was reminded that last year, the NRIs collaborative session focused on the IDNs was unique, and that it attracted high participation given the fact that it did not have topical similarity to other sessions.
  1. The Host asked if the NRIs should they have one session focused on the Cybersecurity, taking into account that this topic has good representation among the approved workshops, open forums and also has a dedicated BPF; and factoring in that the highest number of the NRIs inputs for session topics came under this theme. Some participants were of an opinion that the NRIs should contribute to the existing sessions focused on the Cybersecurity, while others remarked that this is a priority topic for many and that one collaborative session should be focused on this topic. The Host added that the BPF on Cybersecurity facilitators expressed interest to join the work on this collaborative session, should it be approved. The Host suggested to have all NRIs consulted on this matter. In the meantime, it was agreed that the IGF Secretariat will look at all sessions focused on Cybersecurity and will brief the NRIs in written about their focus. The purpose of this is for the NRIs to review aspects that other sessions will cover on this topic, identify potential gaps and consider covering these gaps with one collaborative session.
  1. The Host said that most probably the duration of the NRIs collaborative sessions will be 60 minutes, subject to final confirmation.
  1. Participants briefly discussed the NRIs Booth, and agreed to have the last year’s NRIs info materials prepared for this year as well. Also, it was agreed to create a schedule of who and when will spend some time at the booth.


Next Steps

  1.  A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list within the next three working days, for further consultations.
     
  2.  The IGF Secretariat will invite all NRIs to submit inputs on what the NRIs Main Session should focus on. An online shared document will be created, for inserting inputs.  
     
  3. The IGF Secretariat will invite all NRIs to help defining five topics for the NRIs Collaborative Sessions. Beforehand, the IGF Secretariat will review all approved workshops focused on the Cybersecurity to identify covered aspects and consult the NRIs for mapping gaps that could potentially be covered by the NRIs Collaborative Sessions.
     
  4. The IGF Secretariat will create a schedule for the NRIs Booth and update the NRIs 4-info pager.
     
  5. The IGF Secretariat will remind all NRIs to continue indicating their attendance at the IGF 2018 meeting and commitment to contribute to the NRIs-related activities, via this doodle poll: https://doodle.com/poll/55v68bbpz7pdm3q5
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  6. Next meeting: A doodle poll will be sent in two weeks-time, for scheduling the next virtual meeting.
     
  7.  For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].

 

ANNEX A1
AGENDA: Virtual Meeting VI

  1. Welcome and introductions (5 min)
  2. Updates from the IGF Secretariat and the NRIs Coordinators on the IGF 2018, NRIs processes and HLPDC (10 min)
  3. NRIs Main Session: content and format (20 min)
  4. NRIs Collaborative Sessions: overview of proposed topics and next steps (15 min)
  5. NRIs Booth: logistics (10 min)
  6. AoB

 

ANNEX A2 
MEETING PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order):

  1. Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat
  2. Concettina Cassa, Italy IGF
  3. Dajana Mulaj, Youth Albania IGF
  4. Fotjon Kosta, Albania IGF
  5. Jennifer Chung, APrIGF
  6. Judith Hellerstein, IGF-USA
  7. Lucien Castex, France IGF
  8. Makane Faye, African IGF
  9. Mard Diana, Indonesia IGF
  10. Marilyn Cade, IGF-USA
  11. Michel Linze, Central African IGF
  12. Petri Kuurma, Finland IGF
  13. Sandra Hoferichter, EuroDIG
  14. Tracy Hackshaw, Trinidad and Tobago IGF

 

ANNEX A3
LIST OF SHARED INPUTS:

  1. Cybersecurity - 13
  2. Human Rights, Gender & Youth - 13
  3. Digital Inclusion & Accessibility - 11
  4. Development, Innovation & Economic Issues - 11
  5. Emerging Technologies - 6
  6. Evolution of Internet Governance - 7
  7. Media & Content - 3
  8. Technical & Operational Topics – 7
 

[1] Record from the NRIs Virtual Meeting V: https://www.intgovforum.org/content/nris-meeting-v-0