[governance] the forthcoming MAG meeting and open consultations

[Roland Perry]

In message <4DBF8F2A.3060904 at itforchange.net>, at 10:44:18 on Tue, 3 May 
2011, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net> writes

>1) Unlike all earlier times, the MAG has not been re-constituted before 
>the May meeting. I am not sure why, and what does this mean.

It's because the group advises the Chair, and there is no Chair.

Over the last six months there has been speculation about the process 
for selecting a new Chair and even whether that new Chair (after the 
CSTD's improvement meetings) would require a new MAG, or might it be 
something closer to a "multi-stakeholder bureau".

Now that the CSTD's improvement committee's process seems stalled (they 
want to take a second year to deliberate), this could go on for a while.

On a related note, normally by now there would be a volunteer country 
for IGF-2012 standing in the wings. I wonder when that part of the 
process will resume?

>2) There is no funding support for civil society MAG members from 
>developing countries, unlike earlier times, and I expect most to them 
>to be unable to attend. This puts a huge question-mark on the 
>legitimacy of the preparatory process, especially from civil society 
>point of view. I think we should raise this issue. I expect the room to 
>be filled by non-government actors from developed countries, and 
>obviously the conversation will be determined and lead by them (which, 
>because of a variety of factors, do often happen in any case; it will 
>simply be, shall I say, much worse this time). 

The last two May meetings, the attendance was pretty much confined to 
workshop organisers, and the only real business was fine-tuning the 
timetable and encouraging people to do a little face-to-face workshop 
merging.

[I'm not attached to any particular stakeholder entity at the moment, 
and therefore I'm am available to go and plead the cause for any groups 
who have a more difficult travel scenario than myself. I've worked with 
all stakeholders at one time or another, and I might be extra useful for 
any first-time workshop organisers this year.]

>I have on numerous occasions asked the IGF secretariat for  data about 
>additional participants that turn up in open MAG meeting. I have even 
>sent reminders but never got  a response. So much for transparency.

The number of people attending the Open Consultation has dwindled over 
the years, and the attendee list is published. While some of the MAG do 
not attend the Open Consultation, most of the others there for Day 1 
will also turn up as observers at the MAG.

There's no separated registration or badging for the two days, hence an 
assumption that it's more like one two-day meeting rather than two 
separately documented 1-day meetings.

>3) Interestingly, for the first time, registration for open 
>consultations and attending MAG meetings is a part of the registration 
>for the WSIS forum. While I am all for convergences and doing a 
>dialogue in common spaces with shared participants etc, I wonder if 
>this new arrangement is entirely innocent, and if some may want to read 
>something in this new development.

I think it's simply because of the off-site location (similar to when 
the EBU was used in 2009). May 2007 was also run using WSIS-week 
registration and badging, the meeting being at the ITU building. The 
dates are usually picked to align, and thereby reduce the travel 
commitments for attendees of both sets of meetings.
-- 
Roland Perry
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