IGF 2019 WS #244 Inclusion & Representation: Enabling Local Content growth

Description: The goal of our panel on local content is to demonstrate through examples of local and global best practice how local content can be supported through a wide array of creative programmes and economic incentives. There are numerous examples of policies, projects, and initiatives from all parts of the world that demonstrate how governments and stakeholder programmes can help bring about an enabling environment for the development of a sustainable local content sector, including both commercial and public service offerings. Our panel speakers will highlight how they are contributing to the local content ecosystems in their respective countries/regions. They will also share their insights and suggestions as to the forms of Internet regulation which would best deliver a diverse, affordable, and sustainable availability of local content.

Local content is best promoted in enabling environments that have the appropriate policy measures and services. An enabling environment that facilitates, encourages and stimulates the development of locally relevant online content and services depends on different factors. These factors include the ability to monetize local content and services where appropriate, and related issues such as the digital literacy and skills of locals, IP and copyright, and payment systems, and the infrastructure for Internet access and local content distribution, which include the availability of broadband, local hosting and Internet exchange points.

We have been able to attract speakers from different regions and stakeholder groups to discuss why they believe local content is important and how they have creatively supported it through their professional or voluntary work. Additionally, we want to demonstrate that measures to support local content need not be restrictive ones – there are ways to implement policies that incentivize the production of quality content and support the growth of the local creative infrastructure. This includes discovering and nurturing local talent, promoting skills capabilities, developing local stories (or locally relevant educational content) and using local locations. In particular, the panelists will be encouraged to discuss the ways in which a “virtuous cycle” related to local content can be engineered, i.e., increasing locally relevant content of a good quality standard in turn leads to increased investment in the local creative economy as a whole, which also drives investment in the Internet delivery infrastructure and improves its reliability.

The workshop will offer attendees the opportunity to learn about various creative programmes and policies that support the local creative economy, through the accounts of speakers with considerable local experience of developing sustainable content production and distribution systems. Discussion during the panel will be facilitated by a moderator who will ensure that all speakers are able to speak about their diverse experiences and give specific recommendations that the audience can learn from. There will be a 30-minute Q&A session following the hour-long panel.

During IGF (possibly on the same evening of the day in which the workshop is to be held), the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) will hold a reception and film event showcasing a local work from the country of one of the speakers on the panel. Last year at IGF 2018, to highlight importance of local content, FIAPF held an event that showcased the Nigerian film, Kasala. Its director, Ms. Ema Edosio presented the film and talked about her experience in developing the original screenplay and creating a film that authentically reflects the experience of many urban youth in Lagos, Nigeria’s teeming capital. Over 150 IGF attendees, including about 40 IGF Youth, attended the film event and reception.

Given the success of the IGF 2018 film event, for IGF 2019, FIAPF is planning to hold a similar event and to showcase another film from a developing country where local content has been on the rise and is facing structural challenges to achieve long term sustainability. The discussion at the panel will prepare attendees for the film presentation by highlighting both the importance of locally relevant content and the obstacles (economic, legal, regulatory, infrastructural, etc.) that must be overcome in order to secure its ongoing growth.

Expected Outcomes: The outcome of the this panel will be that attendees will learn from a wide range of stakeholders on why local content is important and will gain valuable insights on how it can be economically and creatively bolstered through well-conceived policies and projects.

Another outcome of the session is that other governments, especially those who are interested in learning how to support both local content and Internet growth in their countries, can learn from the experiences of the Singaporean government’s training and content investment boot camp as well as the Chilean agency for the local film sector’s growth and development.
Of particular relevance to this strand of outcome will be the question of how to devise an enabling regulatory/incentive apparatus that makes it easier for local content producers and platforms to attain economic sustainability in the face of global competition for Internet users’ attention and use.