[governance] IGF Review Question 6 - additions Shiva and Jeremy

Ginger Paque gpaque at gmail.com
Thu Jul 9 06:56:04 EDT 2009


Thanks Shiva and Jeremy.

Jeremy's text and Shiva's idea are added to the new version below for 
your consideration. I think we should remember that the Secretariat is 
asking for new ideas that can change the IGF for the better, so this 
should not be interpreted as criticism, but as a suggestion towards the 
way forward.

Shiva, thanks for your work on this. A gentle request: these discussions 
are directed to the whole IGC, so it would be more appropriate to greet 
everyone at the beginning of your email. After you finish your exam, 
could you please go ahead and prepare a proposed draft on this point (6) 
as well? Since we need to submit by Wednesday, that allows us to get 
ahead on the final wording while discussion is still going on.

On Shiva's point: I like the idea of a fund for participation. Two 
things that might considered: a) Should funding be focused on need and 
inclusion rather than speakers who might be able to pay their own way? 
b) the terms are quite clear and demanding. Adding some flexibility, or 
being less specific about business class flights and top hotels might 
make this proposal more acceptable.

We should all be commenting on concept and ideas, while wording is going 
on in parallel. Please opine, everyone: this is a solid opportunity for 
participation. This is where our collective voice can be heard/read. If 
your primary organization has already submitted a statement, are there 
points from it you would like the IGC to consider including as well, to 
reinforce its strength?

"6. If the continuation of the Forum is recommended, what improvements 
would you suggest in terms of its working methods, functioning and 
processes?"

Since the value and effectiveness of the IGF are obvious, with 
near-unanimous response that it should continue, we believe that the 
review  should focus on addressing the issue of more inclusive 
participation.   More importantly, the energy not needed in a review of 
the current process could be spent in the search for ways to foster more 
active inclusion of rarely heard and developing country voices through, 
but not limited to, remote participation.

And here we include for example, Indigenous peoples worldwide, people 
with disabilities, rural people and particularly those who are the 
poorest of the poor and often landless or migrants, those concerned with 
promoting peer to peer and open access governance structures built on an 
electronic platform, those looking to alternative modes of Internet 
governance as ways of responding to specific localized opportunities and 
limitations, and those working as practitioners and activists in 
implementing the Internet as a primary resource in support of broad 
based economic and social development.

This requires a willingness to consider the inherent limitations of 
structures and processes that may have seemed natural or inevitable in 
2005, in the wake of a somewhat traditional intergovernmental summit. 
 For example, it may not be most inclusive and appropriate for the 
"forum" of the Internet Governance Forum to be conceived as an isolated 
face-to-face meeting held in a far-flung city.  Rather, perhaps the IGF 
should take a leaf out of the book of other Internet governance 
institutions such as the IETF and ICANN, in which most work and 
engagement takes place between meetings in online and regional fora, and 
for which global face-to-face meetings are more of a capstone for the 
work done elsewhere.

Similarly, we must no longer avoid considering the need for new 
structures and processes for the IGF that would allow it to produce more 
tangible outputs through a process of reasoned deliberation.  In the 
past various such innovations have been considered - including speed 
dialogues, moderated debates, and roundtable discussions - but always 
the MAG has demurred from going through with these reforms due to the 
reticence of some stakeholder representatives.  Although it may be 
palatable to all - change never is - the IGC contends that the IGF as a 
whole will suffer in the long term it it does not prove its value to the 
international community by adopting mechanisms for the production of 
non-binding statements on Internet public policy issues.

[Text to be re-written by Shiva]
suggest to IGF to work on ways of getting the IGF better funded to 
extend unconditional travel support (as opposed to travel support from a 
Business Trust which may have implied conditions) at least for 
panelists. To begin with IGF may have to set up a fund to extend 
comfortable assistance to about 200 lead participants (panel speakers, 
team organizers etc.) which may have to cover standard class airfare for 
distances up to 4 hours and business class fare for distances in excess 
of 4 hours, and hotel rooms for 5 days in one of the top two recommended 
hotels with incidentals considering the fact that most of the panel 
speakers invited would be high profile individuals who are required to 
be well treated, This would require the IGF to find between $500,000 - 
$700,000 as unconditional support from Business, Government, well-funded 
NGOs and International Organizations and from the UN. Such a fund would 
enable the IGF to bring in really diverse opinion to the IGF from 
Experts who are not the usual IGF participants. It would also help those 
participants who have a keen interest in contributing to panels but have 
difficulty in traveling to the IGF.



Sivasubramanian Muthusamy wrote:
> Hello Coordinators,
>
> As part of point 6, we may have to suggest to IGF to work on ways of 
> getting the IGF better funded to extend unconditional travel support ( 
> as opposed to travel support from a Business Trust which may have 
> implied conditions ) at least for panelists. To begin with IGF may 
> have to set up a fund to extend comfortable assistance to about 200 
> lead participants ( panel speakers, team organizers etc. ) which may 
> have to cover standand class airfare for distances upto 4 hours and 
> business class fare for distances in excess of 4 hours, and hotel 
> rooms for 5 days in one of the top two recommended hotels with 
> incidentals considering the fact that most of the panel speakers 
> invited would be high profile individuals who are required to be well 
> treated, This would require the IGF to find between $500,000 - $ 
> 700,000 as unconditonal support from Business, Governement, well 
> funded NGOs and International Orgnaizations and from the UN. Such a 
> fund would enable the IGF to bring in really diverse opinion to the 
> IGF from Experts who are not the ususal IGF participatns. It would 
> also help those participants who have a keen intrerest in contributing 
> to panels but have difficulty in traveling to the IGF.
>
> Sivasubramanian Muthusamy
>
> Sivasubramanian Muthusamy
> Blog: http://isocmadras.blogspot.com
>
> facebook: http://is.gd/x8Sh
> LinkedIn: http://is.gd/x8U6
> Twitter: http://is.gd/x8Vz
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:04 AM, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org 
> <mailto:jeremy at ciroap.org>> wrote:
>
>     On 08/07/2009, at 10:42 PM, Ginger Paque wrote:
>
>         "6. If the continuation of the Forum is recommended, what
>         improvements would you suggest in terms of its working
>         methods, functioning and processes?"
>
>         Since the value and effectiveness of the IGF are obvious, with
>         near-unanimous response that it should continue, we believe
>         that the review  should focus on addressing the issue of more
>         inclusive participation.   More importantly, the energy not
>         needed in a review of the current process could be spent in
>         the search for ways to foster more active inclusion of rarely
>         heard and developing country voices through, but not limited
>         to, remote participation.
>
>         And here we include for example, Indigenous peoples worldwide,
>         people with disabilities, rural people and particularly those
>         who are the poorest of the poor and often landless or
>         migrants, those concerned with promoting peer to peer and open
>         access governance structures built on an electronic platform,
>         those looking to alternative modes of Internet governance as
>         ways of responding to specific localized opportunities and
>         limitations, and those working as practitioners and activists
>         in implementing the Internet as a primary resource in support
>         of broad based economic and social development.
>
>
>
>     This requires a willingness to consider the inherent limitations
>     of structures and processes that may have seemed natural or
>     inevitable in 2005, in the wake of a somewhat traditional
>     intergovernmental summit.  For example, it may not be most
>     inclusive and appropriate for the "forum" of the Internet
>     Governance Forum to be conceived as an isolated face-to-face
>     meeting held in a far-flung city.  Rather, perhaps the IGF should
>     take a leaf out of the book of other Internet governance
>     institutions such as the IETF and ICANN, in which most work and
>     engagement takes place between meetings in online and regional
>     fora, and for which global face-to-face meetings are more of a
>     capstone for the work done elsewhere.
>
>     Similarly, we must no longer avoid considering the need for new
>     structures and processes for the IGF that would allow it to
>     produce more tangible outputs through a process of reasoned
>     deliberation.  In the past various such innovations have been
>     considered - including speed dialogues, moderated debates, and
>     roundtable discussions - but always the MAG has demurred from
>     going through with these reforms due to the reticence of some
>     stakeholder representatives.  Although it may be palatable to all
>     - change never is - the IGC contends that the IGF as a whole will
>     suffer in the long term it it does not prove its value to the
>     international community by adopting mechanisms for the production
>     of non-binding statements on Internet public policy issues.
>
>     -- 
>     JEREMY MALCOLM
>     Project Coordinator
>     CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
>     for Asia Pacific and the Middle East    
>
>     Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM
>     7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg
>     TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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>     www.consumersinternational.org <http://www.consumersinternational.org>
>
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>     <http://www.consumersinternational.org>.
>
>
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