Session
Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific
Dennis Redeker, University of Breman & Digital Constitutionalism Network, Civil Society, Western Europe and Other Group
Sadaf Wani, IT for Change, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific
Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific
Dennis Redeker, University of Breman & Digital Constitutionalism Network, Civil Society, Western Europe and Other Group
Anita Gurumurthy
Sadaf Wani, IT for Change
Deepti Bharthur
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Targets: The fellowships that are envisioned are to be targeted around those working within the broad remit of the SDGs that have been selected here. In particular, the fellowships are intended to facilitate work that takes a critical, global south-centric perspective to challenging the inequities of the digital economy, challenging forms of neo-colonial dependency and extractivism, propagating robust multilateralism, and fighting for a sustainable and climate-sensitive digital transition.
The session will be advertised and invitations sent to relevant stakeholder groups in order to create a gathering of audience members that can provide constructive recommendations for designing the fellowship.
Following a brief input by organizers outlining the broad scope of the exercise, the session will be divided into short discussion rounds for collating inputs and suggestions through the use of prompts. These will include:
• What does the current landscape of funding/fellowships for young activists working in the digital space look like?
◦ What models, approaches and strategies do we see in play? What visions of change and impact are they anchored in? What are their relative strength and failures?
◦ What areas and domains/region and geographies dominate the funding scenario? What key areas and types of work remain significantly under-resourced and overlooked towards digital justice?
◦ How do these opportunities and platforms fare in terms of addressing inclusion, representativity and access?
• What do we reimagine a model for fellowships towards transformative change?
◦ What are the short to midterm priorities for action and the fora for advocacy and action we can identify?
◦ How should we bring the voices of the most vulnerable and least represented into youth-led action?
◦ What kind of programmatic shifts can yield transformative outcomes?
◦ How can we build bridges between individual centered approaches to fellowships (that afford flexibility and agility) with those that center institutional strengthening?
◦ How do we redefine impact and success differently in such strategies? What ought to be the hallmark of a successful fellowship model?
In the last fifteen minutes, we will reconvene and reflect upon the learnings from the discussions.
Today’s youth constituency includes the most highly educated and politically conscious citizens in modern history, yet, they belong in a world of inequality, economic uncertainty, and the erosion of democratic and public institutions. We believe that young people must shape the digital institutions and economies of today. But how do we create enduring pathways to effectively support this goal? How can we bring the voices of the most vulnerable into youth-led action? What models and approaches can we look to that are already in play? What are their successes and where are they falling short?
Through this networking session, we hope to kickstart a community dialogue around re-imagining a model for fellowships that can facilitate early-career scholars and activists to be engaged in truly transformative work on the digital economy, and pioneer visions for feminist, sustainable, equitable and just alternative futures.
Bringing together young activists and professionals, organizations and grant makers to share their experiences, the networking session will focus on
• Understanding the needs and challenges of young activists working in CSOs, research organizations, academia and trade unions
• Identifying key areas and types of work that remain significantly under-resourced and overlooked towards digital justice
• Determining short to mid term priorities for action and the fora for advocacy
Report
Radical Imaginings-Fellowships for NextGen digital activists (Day 1, 16:30-17:30 UTC+9)
Young people need to be at the forefront of shaping the digital institutions and economies of today. But how do we create enduring pathways to effectively support this goal? How can we bring the voices of the most vulnerable into youth-led action? What models and approaches can we look to that are already in play? What are their successes and where are they falling short?
This networking session aimed to kick-start a community dialogue around re-imagining a model for fellowships that can facilitate early-career scholars and activists to be engaged in truly transformative work on the digital economy, and pioneer visions for feminist, sustainable, equitable and just alternative futures. It focussed on:
• Understanding the needs and challenges of young activists working in CSOs, research organizations, academia and trade unions
• Identifying key areas and types of work that remain significantly under-resourced and overlooked towards digital justice
• Determining short to mid term priorities for action and the fora for advocacy
The networking session brought together young activists and professionals, organizations and grant makers to draw from their experiences and debate and deliberate upon the challenges for and possible solutions and good practices concerning fellowships in the field of digital governance/digital activism.
Challenges discussed
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Highly competitive nature of fellowships (competition between fellows of similar background/field)
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Online-only character of some fellowships that might limit accessibility
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Lack of continuity between the fellowship period and after, where former fellows join a very competitive field afterwards without further support
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Limited funding avenues apart from from Big Tech funders
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Lack of involvement of fellows in the design of projects they work on
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Defining fellowships in a too narrow way “digital” (e.g. not considering social or environmental challenges)
Solutions/good practices discussed
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Inviting fellows from different fields and places to lower the internal competition
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Involving fellows in the governance of the fellowship programs, e.g. through electing future cohorts of fellows or by co-designing the projects
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Being flexible with the goal of the fellowship as people’s lives change and new opportunities or limitations arise
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Involving fellows in all activities of the hosting organization and not just a distant add-on
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Fostering networking among fellows with internal and external partners
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Extending greater trust to fellows in balance with guidance and mentorship
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Tapping into alumni networks as a way to support fellows post tenure
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Centering respect and trust in funding, having limited rules on what to spend the money on and allowing fellows to prioritize resources