[governance] IGF public consultation

Tue Sep 4 12:01:10 EDT 2007

thanks for posting this carlos

it sounds pretty incoherent to me :)

karen should not have let me speak... i was on a plane for
12 hours the night before and did not get any sleep

but, APC will try to build on some of these ideas, and
inputs from others in the open consultation and then
submit this in more coherent manner

i thought that the comments from IT for Change and ISOC
about having more established procedures for decision
making were very useful

these procedures could and should include opportunities
for input, comment, and reporting routines (e.g. the
summaries mentioned by Parminder)

it would make it that much easier for the AG to maintain
transparency and a regular flow of information to the
public

and.. i think it could be kept quite simple

anriette

> You are right, Jeanette -- we missed a good opportunity, and were
> saved in some way in the last minute by Anriette's statement, which
> touched some crucial issues, like the role and "modus operandi" of the
> two co-chairs, the renewing and the process of the MAG and so on. Her
> statemens were made on behalf of APC of course, but were quite
> relevant in my view and I quote some portions in full:
>
> On the MAG -- "...it would be important not to again have a delay in
> the renewing of the mandate, because it has made your task so much
> more difficult. And in terms of renewal and rotation, we endorse the
> suggestion that there's some turnover of membership, but it's also
> important to have continuity. And we would propose roughly a process
> that would create some kind of nomination process to bring in about
> 30%, 30 to 40% of new people every year. And aside from a nomination
> process, a transparent process.  It might also be good to link this to
> assessment.  It might even be useful to ask members of the Advisory
> Group to do a self-assessment of how effective they feel they have
> been in fulfilling their role. I think that it would also be important
> to achieve better balance between stakeholders on the Advisory Group,
> particularly with the input of civil society and also regional
> diversity. And then to ensure that the Advisory Group that is
> constituted actually operates as such.  The issue of resources which
> have to be addressed. And as we know from the current Advisory Group,
> because there isn't financial resources to support participation, it
> becomes de facto a group of people that can afford to come or that are
> geographically close to the location of the meeting.  And that's just
> not good enough. I think that -- the nomination process, that's very
> important. [...] I think whereas it's not a good idea from our
> perspective to create too many rules, we do feel that the work process
> of the Advisory Group should be more structured. Participation
> requires transparency, it requires good information and communication
> and flow. It also requires accountability, and a little bit more
> procedure, time frames for submission on aspects of the Advisory
> Group's work. Time frames for submitting content, comment on the
> agenda, names of speakers.
>   So to facilitate participation in that way. I know that virtual
> participation is very important, and we appreciate that, but it's not
> a substitute for a good, solid, transparent process that allows people
> over time to give input to the work of the Advisory Group. And then I
> think also to endorse perhaps what some of the other speakers have
> said, informality is very important.[...] I think it's important to
> not lose that role of the IGF where it creates spaces for people to
> just network.
>   And I think the Advisory Group needs to keep that in mind. I also
> think the process, the internal work process of the Advisory Group is
> very important, that there's clear communication within the group.  At
> times today, it felt like some of the Advisory Group members were
> speaking, because they needed to speak, when, in fact, ideally, they
> should be listening, because the closed consultation is the space for
> Advisory Group members to speak. The open consultation is the space
> for Advisory Group members to listen. But I can also understand why
> that has been -- it's been difficult for the Advisory Group, because
> you [the MAG] haven't really had an opportunity, perhaps, to work
> enough on this IGF. And I think, finally, just to look at the review
> and assessment process. [...] it's very important to use that and to
> have an approach of evolving the functioning, the rules of procedure,
> terms of reference of the Advisory Group. [...] let's have a cycle
> every year where the Advisory Group can reflect on its own functioning
> and rules of procedure and build on that."
>
> On the co-chairs -- "...the other principle we would like to endorse
> is the idea of the host country co-chair role.  It's a legitimate
> principle.  It's important that governments take the IGF seriously and
> that they participate.  And we have the president of Greece having
> played a really effective role in hosting. And at the same time, it is
> important to avoid the host country co-chair or the host country
> government having undue influence over the agenda and over who
> participates.  And we have to take a long view on this.  There are
> different governments who will host various IGFs. So while we feel as
> APC that too many rules is not a good idea, but at the same time let's
> avoid setting precedents that we might regret in the future. And again
> here, a review and assessment process will be very helpful after this
> IGF  to look at the co-chair role."
>
> frt rgds
>
> --c.a.
>
> Jeanette Hofmann wrote:
> > Hi, in case you didn't notice there was no caucus statement
> > yesterday. While the business sector had interventions on almost
> > every issue on the agenda, the caucus didn't have a single one.
> > There were only contributions by ICT for Change, APC, some other
> > organizations and a few individuals. This is a missed opportunity to
> > influence the discussion on the further institutionalization of the
> > IGF. It also makes the role of cs people in the advisory group more
> > difficult. We have less papers and interventions to refer to in the
> > advisory group meeting than other stakeholders. jeanette
> > ____________________________________________________________ You
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>
> --
>
> Carlos A. Afonso
> Rio       Brasil
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------------------------------------------------------
Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director
Association for Progressive Communications
anriette at apc.org
http://www.apc.org
PO Box 29755, Melville, South Africa. 2109
Tel. 27 11 726 1692
Fax 27 11 726 1692

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