http://www.glocom.ac.jp/e/publications/ A Step Towards Meaningful Participation April 10, 2009 A Step Towards Meaningful Participation By Adam Peake, GLOCOM Executive Research Fellow. Now in the fourth year of its initial five-year mandate, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is established as an important arena for international multi-stakeholder dialogue about policy issues affecting the Internet's management, development and deployment. However, an area where it has failed to perform as well as hoped has been attracting the interest and participation of stakeholders from developing countries. With limited knowledge of the issues and discussions, developing countries have too often been under-represented in the global arenas where Internet policies are developed, and also unable to contribute fully to the dialogue at the IGF. Enabling the meaningful participation of developing country partners in the formation of global Internet policy has long been identified as an important priority in achieving an equitable and accessible Information Society. Many of the rules and norms of global information society are being created in forums and processes discussing policies related to the Internet and ICTs, and it is important that all should have the opportunity to shape and influence the direction of these discussions. With this challenge in mind, in 2008 a regional IGF process in East Africa brought together participants from Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya to identify, explore and build consensus around common policy priorities. Each country began with an online discussion to identify the Internet policy issues most important to them, followed by a face-to-face national IGF meeting. These multi-stakeholder national processes then fed into the East African Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) held over three days in Nairobi, Kenya. The outcomes of the regional forum were then presented and discussed at the 2008 IGF meeting in Hyderabad. I was fortunate to be able to help with the organization of the 2008 EA-IGF, and hope to continue to work with colleagues from what will be five countries –Burundi asked to join the process– on the EA-IGF initiative this year. Contributing to this process is a continuation of work GLOCOM began when we participated in the G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force) where our focus was on recommendations to ensure universal participation in international policy and technical issues raised by ICT and the Internet. We knew at the time that participation had to mean more than simply attending meetings and being in the room where Internet and ICT issues were being discussed; developing country stakeholders had to be able to identify issues important to them, bring those issues to international processes and have the results contribute to local strategies and policies. However, in the seven years since DOT Force made its recommendations, little progress had been made in achieving the goal of "meaningful" participation. Developing countries are still too often under-represented and unable to contribute fully and effectively in the formation of Internet and ICT policies, even in the IGF. National and regional initiatives around the IGF themes and process provide an opportunity to build a local foundation from which to contribute and participate. The multi-stakeholder model developed in East Africa of online discussions, followed by national meetings, culminating in a regional process provides a framework for sharing knowledge, experience and expertise, whether local, national, regional or global. Goals of the 2008 EA-IGF process: * Raise awareness of Internet Governance among policy makers and stakeholders in the East African Region * Establish which Internet Governance issues are relevant to the countries of the region * Build consensus and national and regional positions around relevant Internet Governance issues * Share the outcomes of the regional forum with IGF Hyderabad 2008 And priority areas identified by the 2008 national and regional processes: * Connectivity and infrastructure development * Access including issues of local content development * Representation, inclusiveness and participation through fostering collaboration of all national and regional stakeholders * Capacity building to promote skills growth and general awareness * Policies for the development of local content * Development of legislative frameworks for information society * Cyber-security and setting up national and regional Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)/Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) * Critical Internet resources, the transition to IPv6, ccTLDs, new gTLDs and IDNs. These priority issues were shared with global partners in discussions at the 2008 IGF in Hyderabad, and are now the subject of ongoing discussions at the national level as the five East Africa countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda) identify needs, assess progress and develop common positions on an ongoing basis, and continue the regional EA-IGF process in 2009. While the global IGF was established as a non-binding forum and finds it difficult to directly influence policy, the processes in East Africa have no such restrictions. We are beginning to see outcomes relating to the harmonization of ICT policy in the region and more specific results such as progress being made with policy relating to country code top-level domains of Rwanda and Uganda. The first online discussions for the 2009 process are being planned now and once started will continue throughout the year. National face-to-face IGF meetings will be organized and held by the end of July 2009, the regional EA-IGF will be held before the end of September 2009. A recommendation from the 2008 EA-IGF was to develop a capacity building initiative around the issues highlighted by process. A curriculum is being developed based mainly on local East Africa expertise and themes identified by the national and regional processes. The course will target policy-makers and policy-influencers from government, the non-profit sector/NGOs, academia and the private sector, with objectives of: * Providing a deeper understanding of global internet governance issues, institutions and processes * Developing regional perception of Internet governance topics * Enhance use of the Internet in socio-economic development The EA-IGF is being considered as the model for other clusters of national and regional meetings being planned in Africa this year. It is my hope that these national and regional IGFs will help to realize many of the capacity building and development goals of the IGF discussions, as well as creating a sustainable foundation that supports developing nation participation and contributions to Internet policy processes that are shaping the emerging information society.