[kictanet] The future of the IGF

Wed Oct 21 07:37:06 EAT 2009

"How do we (Africans) push
harder the wheels of revolutionary change? your question is timely Eric, i
hope we get some answers through this Forum
Nice article, it captured the spirit at EAIGF, all stakeholders led my
Markus Kummer at the IGF secretariat, Alice, Waudo at UN-MAG, Vincent
Ngundi,  Walu and Mwende to name but a few have done a commendable job, i
must have underestimated its impact, , someone needs to educate me on the
relationship between IGF and issues like Climate change, Human rights,
Children issues, i guess this is what the author means when he asks Civil
society to respond, Waudo, Edith or Nyaki do you have any research on write
ups on the issues i have mentioned?

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:26 AM, <emko at internetresearch.com.gh> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> The wheels of change are in motion, question? "How do we (Africans) push
> harder the wheels of revolutionary change? if i may mix my metaphor, we
> MUST  give history a revolutionary push. to borrow the words of Ghana's
> founding President and Foremost Pan Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah.
>
> Eric here
>
>
>
> > Excellent piece!  Great to know that the EA initiatives are having a
> > global
> > impact.
> > regards
> > Mwende
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:58 AM, alice <alice at apc.org> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>   http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/2009/09/the-future-of-the-igf/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>   The future of the IGF
> >>
> >> Posted by: Nick Thorne <
> >> http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/category/uncategorized/>
> >>
> >> *The UN Internet Governance Forum will meet in November at Sharm El
> >> Sheikh.
> >> The IGF has matured into a useful tool. But it is under threat.
> >> Stakeholders
> >> should speak up!*
> >>
> >> **
> >>
> >> **It’s IGF season again. Representatives of key stakeholders are meeting
> >> again in Geneva to prepare the ground for the forthcoming fourth meeting
> >> of
> >> a body that has turned out to be considerably more useful than those of
> >> us
> >> involved in its invention expected. But despite its success, the future
> >> of
> >> this, the only multi-stakeholder forum available to consider Internet
> >> Governance, is under threat. If we want it to continue then we all, we
> >> /multi-stakeholders/, must speak up and demonstrate how and why we find
> >> it
> >> useful.
> >>
> >> These issues were highlighted last week at the excellent East African
> >> Internet Governance Forum. Very well run, with solid participation from
> >> regional governments, CCTLD’s, Civil Society and Industry. A novelty was
> >> a
> >> special session for Parliamentarians. I argued that Members of
> >> Parliament
> >> had a vital role to play and should consider themselves internationally
> >> as
> >> another /stakeholder/ group. They knew what their constituents needed,
> >> and
> >> were best placed to put pressure on governments and resist unnecessarily
> >> restrictive legislation, which might stifle the benefits of the Internet
> >> as
> >> we have come to know it.
> >>
> >> All this was taking place in Nairobi, against the background of the
> >> remarkable progress being made in Broad Band connectivity in Kenya. No
> >> less
> >> than four undersea fibre-optic cables will be coming on shore in the
> >> coming
> >> two years. One has already landed and will be coupled to links reaching
> >> beyond the immediate East African region and north to Ethiopia and South
> >> Sudan. We talked about various different methods for distributing links
> >> beyond the cable proper. Wi-Max systems will link up the smallest
> >> municipalities with all the attendant benefits. Exciting stuff. It will
> >> be
> >> fascinating to see how these cables will spread their invaluable
> >> tentacles
> >> throughout the region. Can there be a more effective multiplier for
> >> economic
> >> and social development?
> >>
> >> In Nairobi we also discussed the proposal for a Commonwealth IGF,
> >> designed
> >> to take advantage of that unique coalition of like-minded countries of
> >> all
> >> sizes, shapes and stages of development. The Commonwealth Secretariat is
> >> active in support of this initiative and side-events are planned for
> >> Sharm
> >> El Sheikh. Something else which will be raised in Geneva this week where
> >> representatives from Commonwealth countries will consider how best to
> >> share
> >> experiences and best practice across the broadest possible range of
> >> ideas.
> >>
> >> But governments are only one element of the unique /multi stakeholder/
> >> approach to which many of us attribute the phenomenal success of the
> >> Internet. And not all the influences are positive.
> >>
> >> At WSIS, when we created the IGF, we also agreed that there should be a
> >> programme of “enhanced cooperation” among all the actors involved in
> >> Internet Governance. The UN Secretary General was asked to produce a
> >> report
> >> on how matters might be improved, possibly with recommendations.
> >>
> >> I think this report was supposed to be produced after about a year, but
> >> it
> >> eventually appeared a couple of months ago in the form of a compilation
> >> of
> >> the views of interested parties which had been called upon to
> >> contribute. It
> >> included submissions from e.g. the Internet Society, ICANN, and also
> >> from
> >> the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In each case the views
> >> and
> >> ambitions of the authors were made very clear. I would recommend that
> >> all
> >> those interested in the continuation of liberal internet governance look
> >> at
> >> this report, and in particular the views of the ITU Secretariat. [
> >>
> http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan035383.pdfI
> >> say Secretariat because I understand the contribution was not
> >> necessarily
> >> cleared in advance with its membership. Nevertheless it would appear to
> >> be a
> >> clear statement, as it were, of intent, and should serve to encourage us
> >> to
> >> work harder to ensure that the IGF mechanism will continue to give all
> >> parties, all /stakeholders/, an opportunity to express their views.
> >>
> >> This should of course include developing countries whose interests are I
> >> believe much better served by this liberal approach rather than by the
> >> repetition of the sort of government driven bureaucratic rules
> >> previously
> >> deemed appropriate for the old telecoms system. I think our experience
> >> in
> >> Kenya last week amply demonstrated this.
> >>
> >> And so I was delighted when the Kenyan Government formally announced its
> >> intention to host the IGF in the year 2011. (Next years event is already
> >> fixed for Vilnius, Lithuania). This guarantee of continuity is very
> >> important as we face the five-year review process built in to the WSIS
> >> decisions. I am a great believer in such reviews. Too often we create
> >> mechanisms which trundle along, impelled only by their own bureaucratic
> >> existence. Not so with the IGF which has demonstrated a real vitality as
> >> all
> >> the previous meetings, and in particular Rio (2007) and last year
> >> Hyderabad
> >> have shown. And all with only the most limited bureaucratic support.
> >> “Secretariat-lite!” Well done Markus Kummer!
> >>
> >> Nevertheless there are still those who for a variety of reasons seek
> >> either
> >> to supplant or suppress this useful mechanism. If we are to maintain
> >> this
> >> admirable energy we must all, all we /multi-stakeholders/, redouble our
> >> efforts to renew the mandate of the IGF. Some governments are doing
> >> their
> >> best, but I would like to hear more from Industry, and from Civil
> >> Society,
> >> particularly among developing countries where most of the next billion
> >> Internet users reside. We should all speak up to announce that we all
> >> still
> >> have much to learn from each other, through Sharm El Sheikh, then
> >> Vilnius
> >> and on to Nairobi in 2011.
> >>
> >> Nick Thorne
> >>
> >> Les Augers.
> >>
> >> September 2009
> >>
> >> (Nick Thorne CMG was UK Ambassador to the UN in Geneva from 2003to 2008
> >> and
> >> led the UK and the EU at the Tunis WSIS Summit. He now consults on
> >> Internet
> >> Governance issues and is International Relations Adviser to the
> >> President
> >> and CEO of ICANN. )
> >>
> >> Tags: Commonwealth IGF <
> >> http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/commonwealth-igf/>, East African
> >> IGF
> >> <http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/east-african-igf/>, IGF <
> >> http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/igf/>, Internet Governance Forum <
> >> http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/internet-governance-forum/>, Sharm
> >> El
> >> Sheikh <http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/sharm-el-sheikh/>
> >>
> >>
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