<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;"><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 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 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 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><div><div>Dear colleagues,</div></div></div><div><br></div><div>Greetings again from Montreal. As part of an ongoing experiment in university-civil society collaboration, I’m sending a second invitation for expressions of interest from potential civil society partners (for Fall 2015, in the Americas only, preferably not in Canada or the US) seeking research that supports their Internet-related policy advocacy work. Of particular interest are proposals from groups involved in IGF (or considering becoming involved in them). Other proposals for research assistance are also invited.</div></div></span><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">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 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><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">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">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">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 timeframe, please feel free to contact me off-list.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Becky Lentz</div></div></span><div>McGill University<br></div></div></div><div></div></span></div></div></span></div></div></span></body></html>