Description: Since the proposed session will be held in a round table format, speakers are only expected to highlight the topics with some examples based on their experiences to spark and facilitate the discussion. Following this, further participation will be invited from the open floor to exchange insights and experiences regarding youth engagement on IG, how youth participation contribute to Internet ethics and policies, and how to achieve digital inclusion.
1) Introduction: 10 mins
The moderator(s) will start the session with the introduction of the work and activities of youth initiatives in the Asia Pacific region. To allow the exchange of ideas and insights between and among regions, the moderator(s) will invite youth leaders from different regions, e.g. African group and European group, to specifically talk about the context of youth engagement in IG in their regions. The floor will be opened to seek clarification questions about the youth initiatives and their works, in order to encourage the audience to think about how the youth initiatives contribute in building youth’s awareness and capacity, and contributing to the Internet ethics and policies for digital inclusion.
2) Panel Discussion: 25 mins
The moderator(s) will then invite speakers from different stakeholder groups, including technical community, the private sector, government/ intergovernmental organization, and civil society, to share their opinions and views on the importance of youth engagement and participation in IG process, and how youth’s advocacy contributes to policy change. Sharing from each speaker will be set to 4-5 minutes. Follow up with a 10-minute Q&A session before moving on to the round-table discussion.
3) Q&A and Remarks: 20 mins
Participants of the workshop can raise questions based on the sharing of the speakers. The discussion will then be continued based on and focused on the cases and examples shared by the speakers.
4) Open Floor Discussion: 25 mins
To further expand and deepen the discussion, the floor will be opened for comments, questions, and suggestions for further actions of different communities and stakeholder groups. By setting up an open-floor discussion, it allows and empowers attendees to advocate their opinions and points of view of the communities they are representing. This session is expected to be dynamic and interactive, in which the moderator(s) will queue up the audience and speakers for questions, responses or comments upon requests. The discussion will also be sought from remote participants, who will be welcome to engage and be involved in the open floor discussion.
5) Session Summary: 10 mins
Based on the collective experiences in the session, the moderator(s) will summarize the discussions in the previous section and move forward to explore any potential actions, activities or collaborations for regional youth initiatives and other stakeholder groups. These future ideas will aim to enhance and encourage higher youth participation and engagement in the IG process, proliferating Internet ethics and policies from the youth perspectives for digital inclusion. The suggested action items, activities, collaborations, the case sharing(s) from the discussion, and any public comments will be the output for the report of the session.
Expected Outcomes: This workshop will provide participants with an overview of current youth internet governance initiatives, current levels of engagement and perspectives from regions around the world. It is hoped that participants will conclude the workshop more knowledgeable about the different initiatives active in the world with the potential for cross-pollination and networking with other participants. This workshop will also demonstrate the link between youth engagement in Internet Governance and improved outcomes in internet ethics and digital inclusion. From this, it is hoped that this session can act as a springboard for further work to be done in this space.