NRIs Virtual Meeting VIII

NATIONAL, (SUB)REGIONAL AND YOUTH IGF INITIATIVES
- Virtual Meeting VIII, 27 September 2018, 14:00 p.m. UTC -

SUMMARY REPORT

About 

1. The 8^th virtual meeting of the National, Subregional, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 27 September 2018 at 14:00 p.m. UTC.
2. The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point. The final, adopted version of the 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.

Summary of key points

3. The Host opened the meeting by introducing the agenda and underlining that the goal of this meeting is to finalize the NRIs main session structure and format.  
    
4.  It was reminded that the session’s work title is: Evolution of Internet Governance, focus on the multistakeholder approach, and that the session is scheduled to be on the second day of the meeting, 13 November from 11:30 a.m. until 12:40 p.m. CEST in Salle I.
    
5. The Host asked the participants if the version of the policy questions (Annex 3) can be adopted as the finally agreed one.
    
6. The Italian IGF coordinator noted the importance of policy questions allowing the participants to exchange practices on how to involve individual, specific stakeholders in the national/regional IGF processes and related to this, how to gather funds. To illustrate this input, the Coordinator said that the Italian national IGF struggles with engaging with the national registry, while for example, the NRIs Network is aware of the good relationship the Brazilan IGF has with their national registry. The Coordinator confirmed to post this comment to the NRIs mailing list, and the Host suggested to wait for the reaction of the NRIs, and based on it, to try reaching compromise on refining the set of policy questions. In addition, the Host asked the Italian IGF coordinator to think if the first two policy questions would give space for suggested inputs.

7. It was agreed that the NRIs will submit prepare written inputs on their positions for the NRIs main session, according to the policy question they will intervene on. Following the question from EuroDIG on the purpose of these written inputs, it was agreed that they will serve to document the overall preparatory process after the meeting, and to help the moderator(s) to understand the speakers’ positions and accordingly, to develop a matrix for creating a dialogue-based discussion among all speakers.

8. As the APrIGF coordinator has underlined, the session has to create an interactive discussion and the Host noted that these written inputs will serve as an orientation of the overall discussion, while of course the speakers are not expected to read out these statements, but just to frame their positions accordingly.

9. It was agreed that the soft deadline for the written inputs to be sent to the IG Secretariat is in a two-week time, as that would give the IGF Secretariat one week to review received material. Exceptionally, on a case-by-case basis, the NRIs can ask for a five-day deadline extension.

10. It was agreed that the session will be open with a brief presentation, up to 5-minutes long, on the nature, mission and records of the NRIs network, by the IGF Secretariat. Some participants underlined the importance of this presentation containing the NRIs map and statistic on the overall network’s growth. The presentation will be prepared and shared with all NRIs for their final approval.

11. Participants agreed to follow the proposed Town Hall session format (Annex A3), while the number of speakers with their designations toward the policy questions will be confirmed by mid-October.

12. It was agreed that an email will be sent after the meeting, that will call for the NRIs to suggest who could be the moderators and rapporteurs for the session. Coordinator for the Armenia IGF and co-coordinator for the SEEDIG noted that the co-moderation should be a continued practice, as during the past two IGF annual meetings, since the session is complex both organizationally and content wise.

13. Based on what has been agreed, summarized above, it was concluded that the NRIs Focal Point will update the session proposal and share it with all NRIs via the NRIs mailing list.

14. The coordinator of the Spanish IGF announced an outreach event that this national IGF will host during the ICANN 63 meeting, to engage local community prior to their annual IGF meeting. This informal meeting will be in Spanish language and everyone were invited to join. The exact time of this meeting will be shared through the NRIs mailing list.

15.  The Host followed up to the question raised on the NRIs mailing list by the IGF-USA coordinator about what kind of visa support the Host Country provides to the IGF participants. The Host advised all to visit the IGF 2018 Host Country website and to follow the guidance on the visa support: http://igf2018.fr/ Participants were reminded that an approval of online registration for the IGF 2018 annual meeting serves as an official invitation letter that can be used for visa purposes. Everyone were kindly reminded to register online, as the onsite registration will be complex and time consuming.

16. In closing, the Host confirmed that a reporting toward the MAG on the preparatory status of the NRIs main session was presented, as agreed on the list. It was added that there were no incoming comments by the MAG, only the comment from the MAG Chair that outlined the interesting concept of the policy questions and positive expectations.

Next Steps

17.  A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list within the next three working days, for further consultations.
18.  The IGF Secretariat will send separate emails on the following subjects:
    • Call for the NRIs moderators and rapporteurs
    • A reminder for the NRIs to confirm their onsite/online participation at the NRIs main sessions, along with other NRIs- related activities at the IGF 2018 by mid-October:  https://doodle.com/poll/55v68bbpz7pdm3q5
    • Guidance for the NRIs to send written statements underling their positions on the NRIs main session policy questions.
19. Next meeting: A doodle poll will be sent in two weeks-time, for scheduling the next virtual meeting.
20.  For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].org.

ANNEX A1
AGENDA: Virtual Meeting VIII

1. Welcome and introductions (5 min)
2. Session Content: (15 min)
   a) To see if any of policy questions needs final refinement
   b) To agree if all NRIs should send prepared written interventions and if they should feed into a documented output after the meeting
   c) To see how long the informative introductory brief on the NRIs Nature and Global Presence should be
3. Session Format: (15 min)
   a) To see how many NRIs will delegate speakers
   b) To agree on the minutes for duration of all segments and individual interventions
   c) To see how we will manage the Q&A section
4. Rapporteurs and Moderators (10 min)
   To see how/when we should start planning this process
5. AoB

ANNEX A2 
MEETING PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order):

1. Aleksandar Icokaev, Macedonia IGF
2. Ana Baptista, Portugal IGF
3. Andres Azpurua, Venezuela IGF
4. Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat
5. Bhredipta Socarana, Indonesia Youth IGF
6. Concettina Cassa, Italy IGF
7. Dajana Mulaj, Albania Youth IGF
8. Diana, Indonesia IGF
9. Fotjon Kosta, Albania IGF
10. Jennifer Chung, APrIGF
11. Lianna Galstyan, Armenia IGF, SEEDIG
12. Lucien Castex, France IGF
13. Maheeshwara Kirindigoda, Sri Lanka IGF
14. Makane Faye, African IGF
15. Mary Uduma, Nigeria IGF
16. Mohammed Yousif, Youth Africa IGF
17. Montresor Konan, Ivory Coast Youth IGF*
18. Sandra Hoferichter, EuroDIG
19. Santosh Sigdel, Nepal IGF
20. Vinicius Santos, Brazil IGF
21. Ying-Chu Chen, observer
22. Zoraida Frias, IGF Spain

ANNEX A3 
LIST OF SHARED INPUTS

• NRIs Main Session: Policy Questions

1. Examples from the NRIs on how the application of the multistakeholder model to discussing the Internet governance pertaining matters, contributed to development of Internet governance. Is there an impact on policies from the Internet Governance Forum initiatives?  [Inputs included: decision making through multistakeholder model, engaging all stakeholders to work together]
2. What are the challenges we face while engineering/developing and implementing the multistakeholder model for discussing the Internet governance pertaining matters?  [Inputs included: awareness level, competing initiatives, specific issues require specific discussion models, complexities related to achieving consensus, stakeholders acting on unequal footing]
3. How can we improve the implementation of the multistakeholder model on the national and regional levels? [Inputs included: strengthening the multistakeholder model, raising awareness, increasing collaboration between IG initiatives on national, regional and global levels; increasing NRIs outcomes and outreach]
4. Multistakeholder model on a global level: current status and recommendations for improvements. [Inputs included: functioning of the multistakeholder model in UN context; future of the IGF]

• NRIs Main Session: Format

1. Segment One: 25minutes ‎
   2 minute statements by 15 -17 NRIs, with regional diversity, and equal treatment ‎of all NRIs - e.g. no special treatment of a regional or sub-regional over and ‎national IGF. ‎
2. Segment Two: 25 minutes ‎
   2 minute comments from 15* NRIs [seeking to have different NRIs from Segment ‎One] to reference the key challenges to effect national level changes - 1 minute ‎on challenge/1 minute on concrete recommendation to address the challenge ‎referenced
3. Segment Three: 15 Minutes
   Open Mike/Q&A - including inclusion of ‎comments/questions received from remote participants
4. Summing Up: 10 minutes
   Rapporteurs and co-moderators sum up with ‎identification of specific messages
5. Close by Chair/Host: 3 Minutes‎