[governance] [5 of 6] How best to link with regional meetings?

[Jeremy Malcolm]

The penultimate question in the MAG's questionnaire that we have been working through is:

How best to link with regional meetings?

Since the first IGF meeting was held in Athens, a similar concept has been taken up at a regional and national level.  There are currently as many as eight of these at a regional level, and fourteen at a national level.  Often, these meetings also use the name "Internet Governance Forum" or "IGF".  However, they have no formal link with the Internet Governance Forum beyond being listed on the IGF's Web site, and sharing a few of the same participants.

The main issue that this question raises, as I see it, is whether there should be a stronger link between the regional meetings and the central one.  If so, we need to consider and provide feedback on questions such as:

What criteria should the regional/national IGFs satisfy in order to qualify for this stronger linkage?  For example, how open and multi-stakeholder must they be, and how transparent and inclusive their organisation?
If there should be a set of criteria that regional/national IGFs must meet, how and by whom should it be developed?
Should it be permitted to have more than one IGF per region or country, or should the global IGF enforce a rule that only one event per region or country can be officially recognised?
Should the programme of the regional/national IGFs be coordinated with that of the global IGF?  If so, how? - perhaps through some sort of global council of IGFs?
Should written reports of regional/national IGFs be distributed to the global IGF?
Should verbal reports from regional/national IGFs be given at a main session at the global IGF?
Should panelists from the other IGFs be given priority in selection for panels at the global IGF?
Should each session organiser at the global IGF be required to give an opportunity for reports relevant to that session from regional/national IGF organisers?

I'm sure you can think of more ideas, so please let's hear them.  A practical example of how one organisation has addressed a similar issue is found in the guidelines that the TED conference sets for its affiliated events: http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/351.

-- 
Jeremy Malcolm
Project Coordinator
Consumers International
Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599

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