[governance] IMPORTANT : Merging IGC with Best Bits

[Bruna Martins dos Santos (via governance Mailing List)]

Dear All,

Thanks Arsène for kicking off the discussion here on IGC.

When the merger discussion was brought up, some of the attendees agreed
that the *"**The historical moment that required the separation of IGC and
Best bits is long gone and that the merger would be interesting due to the
limited volunteering time and resources available for managing both
groups". *Therefore, while I dont yet have a personal opinion with regards
to the merger, I believe that it could result in a stronger and (even) more
active CS caucus/coordination group.

I guess it is safe to say that we all acknowledge the importance of both
groups, as well as their legacy. And with IGC being the first Civil Society
gatherings having started back in 2003 (in the early stages of the WSIS
process) I would not be pleased with a merger that did not bear in mind the
importance of the statements issued in the past or even the importance of
groups such as ours in strengthening Civil Society participation.

At the same time, we have to consider that this list is no longer as active
as it once was and that our website <http://www.igcaucus.org/> is no longer
functional and some other things that were lost in the transition. So the
merger suggestion comes in light of the future discussions and
coordinations that could be generated within a joint/stronger group.

Having said that, I agree that we could come up with a draft merger
proposal, as suggested by @Nadira Araj <nadira.araj at gmail.com>. If we agree
on this new group, there might be a need for discussions around structure -
best bits has a steering committee while Best Bits has only two
co-coordinators - and a new institutional mandate. With regards to the
CSCG, Best Bits and IGC are 2 of the 5 CS groups represented there, but Id
say that the CSCG composition and the discussions about representation
there should be discussed in a second moment.

But I would also like to hear more from the list on this subject.

Best regards,
Bruna Santos

Em seg, 17 de dez de 2018 às 16:54, Akinremi Peter Taiwo <
governance at lists.riseup.net> escreveu:

> Thanks Arsene for sharing your thought. I could not attend the call
> because of my engagement during the ecommerce week in Nairobi.
>
> I would say that we don't rush into this merging of IGC and Bestbit
> without first clarifying questions such as the purpose of existence and
> whether the merging will translate automatically to the group active
> participation. It would be good to conduct an assessment that will lead to
> a reliable recommendations.
>
> With that in mind, how would that affect the structure of CSCG and
> expanding it scope to accommodate more civil society organization.
>
> Regards
> Peter.
>
> Regards.
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 17, 2018, 3:00 PM Arsène Tungali <governance at lists.riseup.net
> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> You have probably seen this already on a different thread but thought
>> it well to have this discussion solely on the IGC list (as I expect
>> Best Bits to do the same), that's why i started this thread hoping to
>> hear from you on this important question.
>>
>> This need for merging was raised by some IGC members during a civil
>> society call that had mostly IGC and Best Bits participants; many of
>> whom are both IGC and Best Bits (BB) members. The call happened last
>> week and Farzaneh offered to share the link to the recording.
>>
>> I will not go into much details about the rationale but would welcome
>> anyone to weigh in and share their reasoning on whether or not we
>> should merge both lists. We will need to also answer the question on
>> how (who is doing what?) will this happen? Is the IGC going to become
>> BB or the latter becoming IGC? Or are we working towards a different
>> group where members of both groups will all be added?
>>
>> This brings back to my memory the whole hassle we had to migrate
>> (SAVE?) this list and allow us to have this discussion list (which
>> hasn't been quite active for a few months but where many feel safe to
>> share IG related updates). So i hope we discuss and take into account
>> the technical cost of the merging process (should it happen).
>>
>> I am also not sure how we will gauge consensus about this question on
>> this list? Should we vote? How long do we take to decide? Should we
>> consult IGC 'founders' or former Co-coordinators separately and ask
>> them what they think?
>>
>> During the call, Bruna and I offered to have a decision by mid-January
>> and we hope this is realistic given the holiday season. We will then
>> report to the group.
>>
>> I just wanted to throw this all here and would REALLY appreciate a
>> discussion that will help us move forward and come to a conclusion.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Arsene
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-- 
*Bruna Martins dos Santos *

Skype ID: bruna.martinsantos
@boomartins
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