NRIs VM III 23 May | Internet Governance Forum

NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND YOUTH IGF INITIATIVES
- Virtual Meeting III, 23 May 2018, 14:00 p.m. UTC -

SUMMARY REPORT

About

The 3^rd virtual meeting of the National, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 23 May 2018 at 14:00 p.m. UTC.
The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point, Anja Gengo. Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. The list of shared documents is attached to this report as Annex A3.
The Host asked the participants to review the shared agenda for its final approval. From the IGF-USA, it was suggested to add under the AoB, an update on the NRIs informal gathering during the ICANN62 meeting in Panama[1], and NRIs plans for the ICANN63 meeting in Barcelona[2]. With this addition, the agenda was adopted (Annex A1).

Summary of key points

The meeting was opened with a few updates shared from the IGF Secretariat, related to the status of the organizational process for hosting the 2018 (13^th) annual IGF meeting. Participants were informed that the Host Country for the 13^th IGF has not been confirmed to date, and that the negotiations are underway with two potential hosts. It was reminded that, during the latest MAG virtual meeting, the IGF Secretariat has confirmed that the potential dates for the 13^th IGF meeting are: 11-15 November and 10-14 December 2018[3].
All participants were invited to contribute to the four Best Practice Forums, approved by the MAG, as well as to the continued intersessional activity called the Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s), phase IV (CENB IV):
1. Cybersecurity (continued from 2016-2017, builds on 2014-2015 BPFs on SPAM and CERTS)[4]. As asked by one of this BPF co-facilitators, it was briefed that this BPF particularly would like to work with the NRIs and explore national level norms on this topic and if there is any divide in this sense across various communities. It was said that a dedicated call(s) will be organized, and that the NRIs will be informed timely via the NRIs mailing list about relevant information.
2. Gender and Access (continued from 2016-2017, builds on 2015 BPF on Countering Online Abuse Against Women Online)[5];
3. Local Content (continued from 2017)[6];
4. Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data (new in 2018)[7];
5. Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s), phase IV (CENB IV)[8].
A number of questions were asked regarding the potential Call for Workshop deadline extension. The Host confirmed that to date, the deadline remains the same, as initially proposed.
The Host informed that the calls for Day 0 events, IGF Village, and Open Forums should be expected to come soon, and that the official announcement will be posted through all mailing lists and at the IGF’s website.
On all the above updated, the Host confirmed that the NRIs will be informed as soon as any decisions are made and officially announced.
The Host gave a brief update on the IGF Secretariat’s onsite attendance at the 2^nd national IGF of Afghanistan. It was noted that the meeting was very successful, due to an excellent Organizing Committee of this national IGF, and very vibrant community. In particular, it was mentioned that youth and gender focused sessions were very rich in content, and that outputs from these sessions will be valuable inputs to the IGF’s intersessional work. Ms. Marilyn Cade, in her capacity as a member of the Afghanistan IGF Organizing Committee, took the floor to thank the IGF Secretariat for its presence, and noted the success of the meeting despite challenging conditions this national IGF works within.
The Host followed with updates on the NRIs that are in formation, or recently recognized. These are: East Africa Youth IGF; Indonesia Youth IGF; Hong Kong IGF; Albania Youth IGF; China Youth IGF; Gambia IGF.
The Host announced that the IGF Secretariat and the MAG Chair participated online at the annual meeting of SEEDIG and Caribbean region, and that they will participate in person at the upcoming EuroDIG meeting, 4-6 June, including Day 0). Participants were advised to look at the EuroDIG’s consolidated programme[9], especially the session called the NRIs Assembly[10] where the ISOC officials will present their project on Collaborative Governance and where many of the NRIs will identify issues to be discussed during the 3-hours long session.
After these updates, the participants moved to discussing the second agenda item dedicated to the status overview of the preparations for the NRIs Joint/Main Session.
The Host reminded that the MAG will discuss the main session allocations on the next week’s virtual meeting (30 May, 11 a.m. UTC).
With reminding that the NRIs initiated the bottom up process for determining the topic for the NRIs Joint/Main Session a few weeks ago, the overview[11] (Annex A3) of so far received proposal was reviewed, as it follows:
1. 33 NRIs responded with up to 3 priority topics: 26 national IGFs, 5 (sub)regional IGFs and 2 youth IGFs.
2. To each of priority topics a thematic tag was assigned, as per the tags classification of the IGF 2018 Call for Issues, which are: 1) Cybersecurity, Trust & Privacy; 2) Digital Inclusion & Accessibility; 3) Emerging Technologies; 4) Evolution of Internet Governance; 5) Human Rights, Gender & Youth; 6) Development, Innovation & Economic Issues; 7) Media & Content; and 8) Technical & Operational Topics. With applying similar methodology as last year, these tags will allow for the NRIs to see what is the broad topical area of mutual interest for all, under which more focused session topic can be developed.
3. According to current results: the NRIs priorities are focused on: 1) Cybersecurity, Trust & Privacy; 4) Evolution of Internet Governance; and 2) Digital Inclusion & Accessibility; 3) Emerging Technologies.
The Host shared concerns regarding the number of the NRIs that submitted inputs until the agreed soft deadline, and asked the participants to advise if this should be understood as an indication that there is a lack of interest among the NRIs to co-organize this session, or there are other reasons.
From the Brazil IGF, UK IGF, IGF-USA, West Africa and Nigeria IGF, Youth IGF Movement, as well as from the African IGF, it was clearly explained that most of the NRIs host their annual meetings during the second half of the year. This stands as a challenge for the NRIs to finalize their bottom up process with their respective communities, on choosing topics of interests for the current yearly cycle.
The above explanation was confirmed by a number of participants present on this Meeting.
However, the participants were unanimous and concrete in stating that the NRIs should host a main session, as last year, that will allow them to bring bottom up inputs from their respective communities to the IGF. It was concluded that the session should not be split as last year; and that its importance relates to bringing bottom up inputs to the IGF, and creating stronger bandwidths among each other and with the IGF.
It was agreed that the NRIs Focal Point should draft a formal Note to inform the MAG Chair that the NRIs decided, in a bottom up manner, that they would like to host the Main Session, as they did last year on a topic of mutual interest. The Chair should be informed that the bottom up process on selecting the topic is underway and that the final results will be submitted as soon as the process is finalized. Prior to sending the Note to the Chair, it will be shared with the NRIs for their final approval, on Monday, 28 May.
The coordinator for the Colombia IGF agreed with other participants that it is important for the NRIs to host a main session. However, it was added that rather for the session to be organized on a topic that is already represented in the programme, the NRIs should focus on the importance and development of the NRIs processes and work done on this level; as well as how to strengthen these important processes. The Colombia IGF coordinator further explained that this will allow the NRIs to bring unique and important topics to the discussion table, without risking to have any duplication with workshops, open forums and other types of sessions.
From the IGF-USA it was added that this aspect is important and suggested to add it under the thematic tag on 4) Evolution of Internet Governance. It was also suggested to add additional tag called: ‘Evolution and development of the NRIs: changing the Internet governance at the national and (sub)regional levels’.
The Host noted that many of 33 received inputs aimed at this tag as area of interest, and that this proposal should be further discussed with all NRIs via the mailing list.
With an agreement on formally informing the Chair on the NRIs consensus based conclusion as summarized above, and underling once again, the importance of the NRIs main session, the participants moved to discussing the future of the NRIs collaborative sessions.
Many noted that these sessions were successful in delivering the bottom up developed substantive content; and that they should be continued. Upon the Host saying that the MAG was deciding on these sessions last year, the IGF-USA co-coordinator followed with a point of correction saying that the IGF Secretariat approved these sessions, on the basis of the availability of space. The Host wrapped up this segment briefly noting that the MAG had extensive discussion on these sessions last year, acknowledging that the IGF Secretariat confirmed the availability of space for these sessions, after what they were officially announced.
It was agreed that the NRIs view on the continuation of the collaborative session is affirmative; that these should be continued as they were well visited, they brought good, people-centred content to the IGF, with respecting the IGF core criteria and the Session Guidelines[12] the NRIs developed for all pertaining sessions last year.
The coordinator from the Spain IGF asked for the update on the development of the 2^nd NRIs Publication focused on the NRIs process. The Host informed that at this stage NRIs annual reports and websites are reviewed, to gather and present information about stakeholders involved in the NRIs organizational processes. The NRIs will be collectively informed as soon as the first draft is done, and conditions met for the first rounds of comments.
Also, it was said that the IGF Secretariat works on finalizing the output document on Youth engagement at the IGF and ways for improvements that should be available for public commenting next week. In light of this, the IGF Secretariat will inform the NRIs about ways the ICANNWiki platform could support the network. From the ICANNWiki, it was said that the platform won’t necessarily be called the ICANNWiki, but that more neutral name will be presented, while the newly created platform will stay with the same organization as ICANNWiki.
The IGF-USA co-coordinator added that an informal gathering of the NRIs will be most probably hosted during the upcoming ICANN62 meeting in Panama. It was briefed that for the ICANN63 meeting in Barcelona, the plan is to make a bigger outreach gathering, with inviting the IGF Secretariat and many high level Government officials that are announced to attend this meeting. From the Nigeria IGF and West Africa IGF it was added that these gatherings are excellent opportunity for the NRIs to meet and exchange inputs; and that online participation is very important for attending. All related updates will be posted on the NRIs mailing list.

Next Steps

A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list, for further consultations.
The IGF Secretariat will develop the above mentioned Note to the MAG Chair and share with the NRIs for final approval, before sending it to the MAG Chair.
Next meeting: A doodle poll will be sent in two weeks-time, for scheduling the next virtual meeting.
For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].

ANNEX A1
AGENDA: Virtual Meeting III

Welcome and introductions (NRIs and IGF Secretariat updates)
Topic of the NRIs Joint Session: overview of results and next steps
NRIs collaborative sessions: exploring NRIs views and ways for the NRIs integration in the IGF 2018
AoB