[governance] Draft IGC Workshop Proposal

[William Drake]

PS, I knew I forgot something.  Probably it should also say under #2 that
the caucus would warmly welcome the co-sponsorship of any stakeholder entity
that would like to participate.


On 6/25/07 11:29 AM, "William Drake" <drake at hei.unige.ch> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Parminder has asked me to circulate a tweaked version of the original proposal
> in the required format for discussion and possible adoption.  I don¹t have
> much time this morning so the below is a quick first cut.  Parminder can
> manage the process from here...
> 
> 
> 1.  Provide a concise formulation for the proposed workshop theme.
> 
> Fulfilling the mandate of IGF
> 
> The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society mandates the IGF to perform the
> following functions:
> 
> a)    Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet
> Governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security,
> stability and development of the Internet;
> b)    Facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross-cutting
> international public policies regarding the Internet and discuss issues that
> do not fall within the scope of any existing body;
> c)    Interface with appropriate inter-governmental organisations and other
> institutions on matters under their purview;
> d)    Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and in this
> regard make full use of the expertise of the academic, scientific and
> technical communities;
> e)    Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the
> availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world;
> f)    Strengthen and enhance the engagement of stakeholders in existing and/or
> future Internet Governance mechanisms, particularly those from developing
> countries;
> g)    Identify emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant
> bodies and the general public, and, where appropriate, make recommendations;
> h)    Contribute to capacity-building for Internet Governance in developing
> countries, drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise;
> i)    Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the embodiment of WSIS
> principles in Internet Governance processes;
> j)    Discuss, inter alia, issues relating to critical Internet resources;
> k)    Help to find solutions to the issues arising from the use and misuse of
> the Internet, of particular concern to everyday users;
> l)    Publish its proceedings.
> 
> Based on the experience of the Athens conference and the draft program outline
> for the Rio conference, it could be argued that the IGF is contributing to the
> realization of some of these objectives.  However, other items in the list are
> more difficult to promote solely through annual conferences comprising main
> sessions with panels of speakers and an assortment of workshops.  Accordingly,
> it would be useful to have an open, inclusive, positive and constructive
> dialogue about what additional steps, if any, could be taken on a consensual,
> multistakeholder basis to help the IGF community achieve the mandate.  To that
> end, the workshop would consider such matters as:
> 
> A. The thinking behind the formulation of the mandate, which derives from the
> WGIG Report and the discussions held during Prep-Com 3 of the WSIS Tunis
> phase;
> B. Whether some or all of the functions enumerated in the mandate are
> important, value-adding, activities that are not being performed elsewhere,
> would benefit the global community, and are uniquely suited to the IGF;
> C. Operationally practical steps that could be pursued on a consensual,
> multistakeholder basis by the IGF community in order to perform those
> functions identified in B, above.
> 
> 
> 2. Provide the Name of the Organizer(s) of the workshop and their
> Affiliation to various stakeholder groups. Describe how you will take
> steps to adhere to the multi-stakeholder principle, including geographical
> diversity.
> 
> The Internet Governance Caucus comprises a diverse range of individual and
> organizational civil society actors who are committed to the promotion of
> global public interest objectives in Internet governance decision-making.  The
> caucus was created in early 2003 and played a leading role on Internet
> governance issues for the broad civil society coalition that participated in
> the WSIS process.  Some of its members were early proponents of an IGF and
> active participants in the WGIG, and in the current IGF Advisory Group. The
> caucus strongly supported the WGIG¹s proposal of an IGF, as well as the
> mandate given to it by the Tunis Agenda.
> 
> The caucus has many connections to all relevant stakeholder groups. For
> example, a number of caucus members are employed in the private sector; and
> many members, and indeed the caucus itself, have had productive collaborative
> relationships with international organization, government, and business
> representatives in the course of the WSIS and IGF processes, as well as in
> other Internet governance-related contexts.
> 
> The caucus has every intention of organizing a multistakeholder panel of
> speakers representing all groupings involved in the IGF and diverse range of
> views on the subject matter.
> 
> 
> 3. Why do you think the proposed theme is important?
> 
> The theme concerns the purpose and possibilities of the IGF.
>  
> 
> 4. Describe the workshop¹s conformity with the Tunis Agenda in terms of
> substance and the mandate of the IGF.
> 
> The proposed workshop is about the Tunis Agenda¹s mandate for the IGF.
> 
> 
> 5. Provide the Name and Affiliation of the panellists you are planning to
> invite.
> 
> We will solicit speakers if the workshop is approved.  Again, the panel would
> comprise known representatives from the international organization,
> government, business, technical and administrative, and civil society
> communities who are well informed about the mandate, have a diversity of
> perspectives on the issues, and can engage in a constructive and collegial
> dialogue.
> 
> 
> 6. Describe the main actors in the field. Have you approached them and asked
> whether they would be willing to participate in proposed workshop?
> 
> See # 5, above.
> 
> 
> 7.  List similar events you have organized in the past.
> 
> Caucus members have organized many related panel discussions during the WSIS
> process (including workshops on the nature and mandate of the then proposed
> IGF), at the Athens conference, and elsewhere, and are involved in various
> proposals for the Rio conference as well.
> 
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.cpsr.org
> To be removed from the list, send any message to:
>      governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
> 
> For all list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance


***********************************************************
William J. Drake  drake at hei.unige.ch
Director, Project on the Information
  Revolution and Global Governance/PSIO
  Graduate Institute for International Studies
  Geneva, Switzerland
http://hei.unige.ch/psio/researchprojects/Drake.html
***********************************************************


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20070625/774f037b/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: message-footer.txt
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20070625/774f037b/attachment.txt>