[governance] IGF workshop on a development agenda for IG (remote participation)

[William Drake]

Hello,

For people who will not be attending the IGF in Sharm el Sheikh, there  
is now another remote participation opportunity, in addition to the  
IGF main sessions and the GigaNet symposium, courtesy of Derrick  
Cogburn and his Cotelco center.  This is the workshop I've organized  
on, "Implementing the WSIS Principles: A Development Agenda for  
Internet Governance."  Description and RP information are below if the  
topic is of interest.

Best,

Bill



http://tinyurl.com/devagenda-igf2009proposal

Concise Description:

The Tunis Agenda’s WSIS principles on Internet governance comprise  
both procedural and substantive prescriptions. The former state that  
governance should be conducted in a manner that is multilateral,  
transparent, democratic, and fully inclusive of all stakeholders. The  
latter state that governance should, inter alia, ensure an equitable  
distribution of resources, facilitate access for all, and be an  
essential element of a people-centred, inclusive, development- 
oriented, and non-discriminatory information society. Taken together,  
these latter principles suggest that Internet governance should help  
to advance development objectives. In addition, the Tunis Agenda  
mandates the IGF to, “Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the  
embodiment of WSIS principles in Internet Governance processes.”  
Implementing the substantive WSIS principles and this element of the  
IGF mandate would require that stakeholders use the collaborative  
opportunities afforded by the IGF to assess and encourage governance  
mechanisms’ contributions to development. But unfortunately, the  
development dimension often has been overlooked in discussions of the  
WSIS principles and the IGF mandate. Accordingly, this workshop will  
help redress the problem by fostering a dialogue that takes seriously  
the concept of IG4D and by exploring ways to promote its realization  
in both the IGF and Internet governance mechanisms.

More specifically, the workshop will consider the possible  
establishment of a development agenda for Internet governance that  
would facilitate implementation of the WSIS principles and the IGF  
mandate. A development agenda is a holistic program of analysis and  
action intended to mainstream development considerations into the  
procedures and policy outputs of global governance mechanisms. While  
there have been concerted efforts to pursue such agendas in the  
multilateral institutions dealing with issues like international trade  
and intellectual property, there has been no discussion of a  
corresponding initiative for global Internet governance. With this in  
mind, a workshop entitled “Toward a Development Agenda for Internet  
Governance” was held at the IGF in Rio de Janeiro in 2007 http://tinyurl.com/devagenda-igf2007report 
. Participants considered the general desirability of pursuing a  
development agenda and agreed that a properly configured and  
consensual initiative could help to promote an open, accessible,  
diverse, and secure global Internet. To carry the discussion forward,  
a second workshop entitled “A Development Agenda for Internet  
Governance: From Principle to Practice” was held at the IGF in  
Hyderabad in 2008 http://tinyurl.com/devagenda-igf2008report. Here  
participants began to explore the possible substantive focus and  
operational aspects of a development agenda, and inter alia affirmed  
that the IGF is the most appropriate venue in which to elaborate a  
cross-cutting and flexible agenda that could encourage development- 
oriented enhancements within Internet governance institutions.

This third workshop in the series, to be held at the IGF in Sharm el  
Sheikh, will build on the prior discussions and seek to progress  
consensus building in three interrelated issue-areas:

1. The substantive focus of a development agenda, i.e. the key  
institutions and issues (pertaining both to Internet infrastructures  
and core resources and to their use for networked information,  
communication, and commerce) to be assessed from a developmental  
baseline so as to identify best practices and guidelines that  
organizations could consider employing within their respective work  
programs.
2. The procedural and institutional dimensions of an agenda, e.g.  
assessing the transparency and inclusiveness of participation, per the  
WSIS procedural principles, from the standpoint of people-centered  
development.
3. The operational aspects of pursuing an agenda in the IGF and  
beyond, e.g. the challenges of agenda setting, building a dynamic  
coalition and/or other collaborations, consensually defining  
assessment criteria and modalities, aggregating and presenting  
information, interfacing with governance stakeholders and  
institutions, providing feed-back mechanisms for input, etc.


Institutional Co-Sponsors

•	Government of Argentina (TBC)
•	Association for Progressive Communications
•	Centre for International Governance, Graduate Institute for  
International Studies
•	Council of Europe
•	Diplo Foundation
•	Institute for Internet Policy & Law, Beijing Normal University
•	Internet Society of China
•	Federal Office of Communication, Government of Switzerland


Scheduling and Remote Participation

The workshop will be held on Day 3 of the IGF--- Tuesday 17 November,  
from 9:30-12:30 in Room 3, Suez Canal.

Remote participation in the workshop will be provided for by the  
Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced  
Learning Communities at Syracuse University, USA.

Information on computer system requirements and use of the  
webconferencing technology (Elluminate Live!) is available at:
http://giganet.igloogroups.org/remotepart

Remote participation during the workshop will be available at
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.10FC7E24BA568E8B69C7D3F0DDC21E


Agenda

I. Welcome and Overview by the organizer

William J. Drake
Senior Associate, Center for International Governance, Graduate  
Institute for International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland


II. Panel Presentations

Moderator: William J. Drake

Speakers

Anriette Esterhuysen
Executive Director, Association for Progressive Communications, South  
Africa

Derrick Cogburn
Associate Professor of International Relations, American University,  
and Senior Scientist and Chief Research Director at the School of  
Information Studies, Syracuse University, United States of America

Olga Cavalli
Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representative to the  
Governmental Advisor Committee of ICANN, Government of Argentina

Christine Arida
Director for Telecom Planning and Services, Egyptian National Telecom  
Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Government of Egypt

Alice Munyua
Convenor, East African IGF and Kenya ICT Action Network,
Communications Commission, Government of Kenya

Hong Xue
Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Internet Policy &  
Law, Beijing Normal University, China

Fiona Alexander
Associate Administrator (Head of Office) for International Affairs,
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department  
of Commerce, Government of the United States

Elfa Yr Gylfadottir
Adviser, Office of cultural affairs, Ministry of Education, Science  
and Culture, Iceland


III. Q&A with the Panelists


IV. Group Discussion

Possible elements of a development agenda:

1. Capacity building
2. Institutional/procedural issues
3. Substantive policy issues: Governance of infrastructures
4. Substantive policy issues: Governance of networked
information, communication & commerce

How to move forward with a DA:

5. In the IGF & global IG institutions
6. Research and capacity building


V. Synthesis and Conclusion

***********************************************************
William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
  Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
***********************************************************


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