Session
Organizer 1: Mardiya Siba Yahaya, Pollicy
Organizer 2: Phillip Ayazika, Pollicy
Speaker 1: Neema Iyer, Private Sector, African Group
Speaker 2: Berhan Taye, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Irene Mwendwa, Civil Society, African Group
Muyumba Jason, Private Sector, African Group
Phillip Ayazika, Private Sector, African Group
Mardiya Siba Yahaya, Private Sector, African Group
Birds of a Feather - Auditorium - 60 Min
1. How do we create an open, safe, secure, and reliable internet through policy-based interventions?
2. How can we make resources more accessible to grassroots digital rights communities?
3. How can we design platform-based policy to ensure an open, safe, secure, and reliable internets
Connection with previous Messages:
16.10
Targets: The proposed session relates to supporting digital rights defenders' work on advancing internet freedom which is related to SDG 16.10. To ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements, digital rights and security and safety communities require resources, support and policies against targetted violence to carry out their work. Internet freedom, correlates with free access to information, and expression and usage. As such, this session addresses the policy and systemic gaps that affect the work of these groups to reach the stated SDG
Description:
This session engages with digital rights, security and safety communities, organisations and practitioners to share research findings on how these communities are working together and distinctively to safeguard human rights and connect all people. The goal of the session is to share the success stories, resourcing strategies and frameworks, needs and challenges of digital rights, and provide stakeholders, funders and activists with insights into existing resources and capacity building for their work.
The Importance of Regional-Based Resources
The key questions surrounding digital rights and security resourcing is “what type of support do digital rights defenders need to advance internet freedom?”. In the global South, digital rights communities share that existing gaps in skills and limitations in funding affects their ability to continuously work towards internet freedom within their communities and contexts.
The session
As such the session, which is based on our research on advancing internet freedom, addresses questions regarding the type of resourcing , capacity building and support needed within the digital rights and security community. It presents regional case studies on best practices, and key lessons within the ecosystem. The session is a space for digital rights and security defenders to convene , learn, connect and share.
The anticipated outcomes for this session are:
- Follow-up engagements with the digital rights and security and safety communities for collaborative capacity building.
- A publication that reports the key recommendations and insights from the session with the digital rights community
- An interactive policy design workbook that assists both digital rights defenders and policy-makers with skills and an understanding of the technology ecosystem in Africa.
Hybrid Format: Our goal is to have a highly interactive session given the nature of the topic, each participant would be required to engage with either question prompts or form opinions on resources provided. As such we will facilitate the interaction between online and onsite participants would happen through :
- A designated facilitator(s) who will be incharge of moderating the online discussion.
- Ensuring that all rooms or the space they will be hosting the session has a protector, and will install an extra camera connected to the laptop for online to directly interact and engage with people onsite.
-All slides will be projected from the online session, and the facilitator for the online space will share questions posted on the chat to the speakers and participants onsite. Given that the online space is already being projected, speakers and participants will directly engage.
Session Design
The sessions will be designed in a round table format, where participants and presenters will address the key policy questions raised. The round table will account for people onsite and online, where each speaker will present their insights on the question and/or case study provided.
At regular intervals, the onsite moderator will revert to the online moderator if there are any questions or comments worth noting.
The onsite moderator will ask the online audience questions directly and elicit their response as the session progresses.
Extra Resources
- Miro Board : For organised note for online participants.
- Big Blue Button allows you to play external videos without “sharing screen”, this both parties online and onsite will be able to manage the pace of the video or content being shared at their discretion.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.