[governance] Should the IGF be reformed?

[Ayden Férdeline]

I take no pleasure entering into this conversation and painting a purely negative picture, but I do think the time for saving the IGF has passed. I'm not convinced that it can be reformed, though I hope I am wrong, because there is definitely a need for an institutional home for stakeholders to effectively collaborate upon the development of global public policy for the Internet. Civil society aside - I know we engage in the IGF - I think other stakeholders have moved on. It is my perception that important, consequential discussions are happening elsewhere and unlikely to return to the IGF.

I have only attended two IGFs, in Guadalajara and in Geneva, but it has been my perception that the IGF has never recognised its own shortcomings nor taken steps to address and overcome them. This lack of self-awareness, I believe, has hindered its own legitimacy.

If the IGF can be reformed that would be wonderful. We need a venue which can credibly generate and communicate policy recommendations. I'm just not convinced the IGF is up to the job, be that because of a lack of funding, a lack of agility, or another reason altogether.

Best wishes,

Ayden Férdeline
[linkedin.com/in/ferdeline](http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline)

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On 20 March 2018 9:39 AM, Akinremi Peter Taiwo <governance at lists.riseup.net> wrote:

> Thanks for Sharing Arsene. The Internet Governance Forum actually needs to be an avenue for concrete outcomes that feed into policies. I think those points raised by Raul was part of MAG discussions yesterday at the WSIS which I was privileged to attend. But though it goes beyond discussion to implementation.
>
> Regards.
> Peter
>
> On Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 8:39 AM, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for posting Raul's blog, Arsene. It is very good.
>>
>> Also posting here, in case we forgot to earlier  this year, the link to APC's submission to the  stock taking. We will be reading a short version today.
>>
>> http://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/index.php?q=filedepot_download/5916/1057
>>
>> The synthesis paper on submissions prepared by the secretariat is here:
>>
>> http://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/index.php?q=filedepot_download/5915/1068
>>
>> Anriette Esterhuysen
>>
>> APC.org
>>
>> On 20/03/2018 00:12, Raoul Plommer (via governance Mailing List) wrote:
>>
>>> I was asking him this as well and I think we'll know the result in the next week. Let's keep each other posted on this. :)
>>>
>>> -Raoul
>>>
>>> On 19 March 2018 at 15:37, Arsène Tungali <governance at lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2018/03/lets-reform-igf-ensure-healthy-future/
>>>>
>>>> A blog from Raul (ISOC) about the need to reform the IGF. I know this is what so many other people believe we should do. Let’s talk about it!
>>>>
>>>> Can we discuss what are the changes that we would like to see happen to make the IGF as strong and powerful as it used to be? As of now, no one know where the IGF 2018 will take place and we are in March! All i know and heard from Chengetai is that they have 3 countries in mind but are yet to decide!
>>>>
>>>> Now that the new MAG was announced, what are our expectations of its members? What do you think of new and past members? What can we expect from our CS representatives there?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Arsene
>>>>
>>>> -----------------
>>>> Arsène Tungali,
>>>> about.me/ArseneTungali
>>>> [+243 993810967](tel:+243%20993%20810%20967)
>>>> GPG: 523644A0
>>>> Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone (excuse typos)
>>>>
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> --
> Akinremi Peter Taiwo
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