<div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Dear Norbert,</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">With reference only to this paragraph in your message</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">"Because I asked about how Andrew's work is funded, I've been sent (by</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">one of the authors) a copy of a research paper on "capacity building"</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">funding where the initial BestBits meeting (the one prior to the Baku</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">IGF) is described as having been part of a capacity building project</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">funded in part by the US government."</span><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">And Jeremy's response on 11th November:</font></div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">That's just false, so that paper needs to be corrected.</span><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">i was puzzled, so I went back to check my pre-Baku email, where I found this message:</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><div class="" style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><table cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody><tr class="">
<td class="" style="width:293.8210144042969px"><table cellpadding="0" class="" style="width:294.5454406738281px"><tbody><tr><td><div class=""><span name="Jeremy Malcolm" class="" style="font-size:12.727272033691406px">Jeremy Malcolm</span> <span class=""><a href="mailto:jeremy@ciroap.org">jeremy@ciroap.org</a></span> <span class=""><a target="_blank" href="http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en-GB&answer=1311182&ctx=mail" class="" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">via</a> <a href="http://lists.igcaucus.org">lists.igcaucus.org</a> </span></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td class=""><div class=""><span id=":2zb" class="" title="17 August 2012 04:38" alt="17 August 2012 04:38">17/08/2012</span><div class="" tabindex="-1" style="outline:0px"><span class=""><img class="" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></span></div>
</div></td><td class=""></td><td class="" rowspan="2"><div class="" title="Reply" tabindex="0"><img class="" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></div><div id=":2zt" class="" title="More" tabindex="0">
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<span class="">to <span dir="ltr" name="governance" class="">governance</span></span></div><div class=""><img class="" id=":2zs" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
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<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">This is a "save the date" notice for a gathering on Internet governance and Internet rights in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 3-4 ahead of the global IGF, titled "Best Bits". This will be an advocacy-focused event designed for sharing knowledge and collaborating on tangible outputs. It arose from discussions of a diverse group of North and South based experts held at the Asia-Pacific Regional IGF.<br>
<br>You can download a short document which gives more details about the motivation for the event, the programme, and the expected outputs from<a href="http://igf-online.net/bestbits.pdf" target="_blank">http://igf-online.net/bestbits.pdf</a>. For more information, you are also invited to join the "Best Bits" mailing list at <a href="http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/bestbits" target="_blank">http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/bestbits</a>. Specific details such as the venue will be confirmed later.<br>
<br>The importance of this meeting for the IGC is that it is meant partly as a bridge between our IGF/WSIS world and the US tech policy world, leading to better informed, more effective, and more complementary and consistent advocacy outcomes - though there is no intention to subsume or supersede any existing work. The other purpose is to produce specific outputs, including the long-planned civil society statement of principles for the IGF, and a slightly different one to WCIT.<br>
<br>If you plan to attend, please let me know off-list - this is just for planning purposes, as a formal registration form will come later.<br><br>If you would require any assistance with travel expenses, a very limited fund may be available courtesy of Google to assist certain individuals with specific skillsets who will contribute to the meeting by way of moderating, presenting, helping to prepare briefing documents, or working on the zero-draft texts that are to be discussed and finalised at the meeting. Those seeking support must let me know strictly within 1 week, ie. by 24 August 2012 at the latest.<br>
<br><div>-- <br><p style="font-size:9pt"><b>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>Senior Policy Officer<br>Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumer</b></p><p style="font-size:9pt">in which it appears that the funding was provided by Google.</p>
<p style="font-size:9pt">This seems to be something that needs to be clarified.</p><p style="font-size:9pt">Deirdre</p></div></div></div></div></div>
</div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 9 November 2013 17:54, Norbert Bollow <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nb@bollow.ch" target="_blank">nb@bollow.ch</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">Deirdre Williams <<a href="mailto:williams.deirdre@gmail.com">williams.deirdre@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> I find this message to be very deeply disturbing for two reasons.<br>
><br>
> The first is the specific mention “ a US government agency is among<br>
> the funders”,.<br>
<br>
</div>Well the first several times that I brought up the issue of the<br>
importance of funding transparency in the context of how the BestBits<br>
process is steered, I was speaking more generally.<br>
<br>
Because I asked about how Andrew's work is funded, I've been sent (by<br>
one of the authors) a copy of a research paper on "capacity building"<br>
funding where the initial BestBits meeting (the one prior to the Baku<br>
IGF) is described as having been part of a capacity building project<br>
funded in part by the US government. Even though I was there, I am not<br>
able to judge the accuracy of that description. All I know is that<br>
1) nothing of the sort was disclosed to the participants,<br>
2) the content and outcome of that meeting turned out to be remarkably<br>
well-aligned with the geostrategic interests of the US government,<br>
3) since then, BestBits has been institutionalized to some degree with<br>
a steering committee, where with the exception of Jeremy, the<br>
steering committee members haven't been responding to the requests<br>
for funding transparency in any way that could possibly inspire me<br>
with trust.<br>
<br>
At some point, when there is specific reason for being concerned but<br>
clearly strong reluctance to publicly disclose the relevant<br>
information, it becomes appropriate to bluntly ask specific, pointed<br>
questions.<br>
<br>
This is not about a value judgment it is not about some kinds of<br>
funding for civil society work being less ok than others. I hereby<br>
promise to everyone that anyone who discloses receiving some of their<br>
funding from US government sources, or other government sources, or<br>
industry sources, will not because of that in any way lose my respect.<br>
<br>
But I definitely think that there is something that needs to be<br>
addressed as a potential problem when --at a time when a significant<br>
part of what is going on in Internet governance is about how much<br>
surveillance power and other power is going to shift away from the US<br>
government-- that same government is --as Sala's posting shows--<br>
seeking to have a central role in civil society "capacity building" at<br>
least in some countries.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> The second is the assumption that I am hearing in this message that<br>
> the recipient of such funding is helpless to maintain their<br>
> objectivity. (The fact that I hear this doesn't necessarily mean that<br>
> you intended it)<br>
<br>
</div>My relevant assumption or working hypothesis is:<br>
<br>
Human nature is such that when some someone's actual or potential<br>
funding may depend on not understanding something, that in many<br>
situations makes it very hard for the person to understand.<br>
<br>
I do not think that people are necessarily helpless in regard to this<br>
risk of partial loss of objectivity.<br>
<br>
Specifically in the civil society context, I believe that it helps to<br>
some extent already to have a strong policy of transparency in regard to<br>
funding sources.<br>
<br>
In regard to the important issue about the objectivity of the outcomes<br>
of group processes, I would suggest that key steps are to<br>
<br>
1) ensure high diversity of funding sources among the participants in<br>
the group,<br>
<br>
2) to use deliberative processes that are designed to make the key<br>
assumptions explicit and subject of conscious reflection, and<br>
<br>
3) to have a culture in the coordinating group (or steering committee or<br>
whatever it's called) that involves members of that group (which has<br>
particular influence on the agenda and outcomes) recusing themselves<br>
from decisions that could reasonably be seen as being related to<br>
particular interests of a funding source.<br>
<br>
Furthermore, specifically in regard to risks related to funding of<br>
civil society "capacity building" by actors with strong particular<br>
interests, I think it is important to have good awareness of these two<br>
potential scenarios that would IMO entail a collapse of the overall<br>
trustworthiness of civil society when seen as a whole:<br>
<br>
a) Agenda setting processes being captured (in actual reality or even<br>
just in plausible perception) so that those topics where the outcome<br>
would be contrary to the funder's interests are not put on the agenda<br>
in such a way that an effective outcome results.<br>
<br>
b) Discriminatory capacity building, where e.g. getting travel funding<br>
is correlated to how well someone's positions are aligned to not<br>
endangering the funder's particular interests. Or where people are told<br>
that they can get travel funding provided they do not "attack" a<br>
particular person.<br>
<br>
Greetings,<br>
Norbert<br>
<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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