<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><div>(Please forward/post as appropriate, and excuse any unavoidable cross-postings)</div><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div><div class="hmmessage"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="ecxgmail_quote"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;"><div>Dear colleagues,</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></span><div><br></div><div>Greetings from Montreal. As part of an ongoing experiment in cultivating collaborative (vs. extractive) models for university-civil society partnerships, I’m writing to invite expressions of interest from potential civil society partners for Fall 2015 (preferably from the Americas only, excluding Canada and the US) seeking research that supports their Internet-related policy advocacy work. Of particular interest are proposals from groups involved in the IGF (or considering becoming involved in it). Other proposals for research assistance are also invited, but discussion would be needed to ensure the appropriate history/context can be accommodated for research purposes.</div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div class="hmmessage"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="ecxgmail_quote"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;"><div><div><br></div><div>As background, previous civil society partners have included Derechos Digitales (DD) in Santiago and the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) in Kampala. Outcomes for two semester-long projects with DD include the following research brief, which was developed by students and then edited/translated/formatted by DD: <a href="https://www.derechosdigitales.org/wp-content/uploads/PP05.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.derechosdigitales.org/wp-content/uploads/PP05.pdf</a>; we are now completing a second project featuring a review of the literature (scholarly, news, government, and civil society sources) about the benefits of the IGF for civil society organizations, a report that anticipates the 2015 IGF in Latin America. Testimonials and references from DD are available about how DD has benefited from both of these collaborations.</div><span><div style="word-wrap:break-word;"><div><br></div><div>The third semester-long project resulted in establishing 3 university-supported internships to help WOUGNET with a variety of capacity building needs: an Information/ Communications Intern (<a href="http://wougnet.org/2014/02/internship-opportunity-informationcommunications-deadline-28th-february" target="_blank">http://wougnet.org/2014/02/internship-opportunity-informationcommunications-deadline-28th-february</a>/), a Technical Support Intern (<a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/files/arts-internships/wougnet_tech_support_intern.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/files/arts-internships/wougnet_tech_support_intern.pdf</a>), and Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy (<a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/files/arts-internships/wougnet_gender_and_ict_policy_advocacy_0.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/files/arts-internships/wougnet_gender_and_ict_policy_advocacy_0.pdf</a>). Testimonials and references from WOUGNET are also available.</div><div><br></div><div>The process for identifying a civil society partner for the Fall semester 2015 is now underway; it consists of the following steps: 1) an expression of interest by a potential civil society partner; 2) based on a possible match, an invitation for a short proposal (template will be provided); and 3) if selected, a jointly-crafted memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the selected civil society partner and my class. There are no costs to the partner organization other than a modest commitment of time during the semester-long project.</div><div><br></div><div>If you have advocacy-related research needs and you think a September-December timeframe for working together with a report available to you in late December 2015 meets your needs, please feel free to contact me off-list.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Becky Lentz</div></div></span><div>McGill University</div></div><br></div></div><br><br></div></div> </div></div></span></div></span><style><!--
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