IGF ABCs for Newbies

-Special Edition for the 10 years of the YCIG (download PDF here)

(Last update: December 5, 2021)

INTERNET GOVERNANCE AND THE IGF

undefined Welcome to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)! We were all new here at some point, so we hope to make it easier for you to participate in all of the activities that happen during the IGF meeting and in the time between meetings. This page is a basic guide to help make your first IGF meeting more meaningful. Virtual IGF at this link

This is an evolving project, and our objective is to create a welcoming IGF environment and enhancing experience for youth. And for more information about youth IGF initiatives, check out this link. We also encourage you to check out a document the IGF secretariat produced called Youth Engagement at the IGF, which is also a useful resource and highlights all youth-related activities in Internet governance.

Check out this informative video produced by the Internet Society (ISOC), which includes an 8-point guide on how to make the most of your IGF experience. We also encourage you to pick your schedule using the IGF2021 agenda (available at the IGF website once you register for the hybrid format, regardless you are at Katowice or online), which also provides details for how to participate in Katowice Poland and remotely. If you are attending online, here are the updates guidelines regarding COVID-19 information.

Still curious about how to participate? Check out our getting involved guide.

WHAT IS INTERNET GOVERNANCE?

undefined Who? It includes members from government, the private sector (e.g., technology companies, infrastructure providers, etc.), civil society (e.g., NGOs, human rights defenders, etc.), the technical community (e.g., computer scientists, Internet networking engineers, etc.), and academia (e.g., university professors, research scholars, etc.). For more information on specific groups that are involved, check out the list of actors on the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP): http://giplatform.org/actors.

What? Shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making processes, and programs that shape the development and use of the Internet.

How? In a multistakeholder way, which means that everyone is able to participate equally, and no stakeholder is more important than another. Therefore, you have as much a say as governments or businesses in this process.

Where? Everywhere! Internet governance concerns and impacts all Internet users.

WHAT IS THE IGF?

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a United Nations-supported initiative that brings people and organizations together from various stakeholder groups, as equals, to discuss public policy issues relating to the Internet. It was created in 2005 during the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as part of the 2005 Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (paragraph 72), and its mandate was renewed for another 10 years by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015.

The 17th annual IGF will be hosted in a hybrid format in Addis Ababa. The meeting will aim at accommodating the participation of stakeholders present on-site or participating online in an equitable manner. This hybrid approach also extends to the session organizing teams (organizers, speakers, moderators, and rapporteurs) who will participate online or onsite.

The overall objective is to make participation in IGF 2022 meaningful and inclusive for all participants.

Elements of the hybrid format are currently under careful review by organizers.

Note: Although the IGF officially starts on December 7, many individuals and organizations participate in pre-events, such as those on “Day 0” (December 6, including the Youth Summit).

WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR THE IGF?

undefined While the IGF has no negotiated outcomes or policy-making powers, like some other UN institutions, it is the only multistakeholder platform that enables parties to come together to discuss important Internet challenges and issues. As you’ll see at this meeting, participants discuss, exchange information, and share best practices on various Internet-related topics. The IGF serves to inform and inspire those with policy-making powers in both the private and public sectors, as well as shed light on various issues by incorporating voices that are often excluded from global policy discussions. It also helps people reach a common understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address the risks and challenges that are constantly arising.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The IGF has one large meeting every year where a number of activities take place, most of which are led by the multistakeholder community itself (e.g. workshops on various topics), as well as local, national, and regional IGFs. In addition, the IGF also has inter-sessional activities (i.e., those activities that take place throughout the year), like the Best Practice Forums (BPFs), Dynamic Coalitions (DCs), and the Policy Networks (launched this year!), which are also referred to as “inter-sessional activities.” You can learn more about these in the section on intersessional activities below.

INTERSESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Best Practice Forums

The Best Practice Forums, or BPFs, are community-led projects that work on specific themes throughout the year. Their primary aim is to gather broad stakeholder input to define and gather effective and/or efficient practices to address certain important challenges in Internet governance.

In 2022, there are 2 BPFs, namely:

Each of these BPFs will present their findings at the IGF meeting, and you are welcome to attend and read their reports, which are published on the IGF’s website.

You can also check the Previous Work of the BPFs here

Dynamic coalitions

Dynamic Coalitions, or DCs, are informal, issue-specific groups comprising of members of various stakeholder groups. Ahead of the DCs Main Session at IGF 2021, participating coalitions have submitted substantive papers in accordance with the general guidelines provided as a result of the Dynamic Coalitions Coordination Activities.

The list of active DCs are as follows:

NEW! You can also check the DC News page here to be updated on the last activities of the DCs

POLICY NETWORKS

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation ‎envisages a strengthened ‎IGF with a view to making it more responsive and relevant to digital issues, and inter alia, foresees ‎‎“93.(e) Better integrating programme and intersessional policy development work to support other ‎priority areas outlined in the present report;”‎‎. ‎

To better respond to its mandated objectives, the intersessional work takes a form of policy networks, as multistakeholder efforts that provide in-depth expert view on broad Internet governance topics of global population’s interest. These Policy Networks are facilitated by multistakeholder working group of experts, based on a broad bottom-up community consultations:

Policy Network on Meaningful Access (PNMA): this Policy Network emerged from the recommendation of the UN-Secretary General at the Roadmap on Digital Cooperation. In this matter, The PNMA would provide in-depth look at why achieving meaningful and universal Internet access remains ‎so challenging, in spite of years of efforts by policy makers and other actors from all stakeholder ‎groups. It will assess and gather good practices and policy recommendations already discussed at the ‎IGF; identify what the key barriers are to these not being implemented and facilitate networking ‎among actors from all stakeholder groups that are concerned with the topic. ‎It will further provide linkages between the existing efforts and the many stakeholders in the IGF who are ‎undertaking related efforts, as well as create opportunities for the voices of those who are affected by ‎the lack of meaningful access to be part of policy debate and development.‎ You can attend the PNMA Main session on Wednesday December 8 at 13:50 CET.
Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF): this policy network aims to offer a systematic and comprehensive framework, complemented by case studies, that defines Internet fragmentation, its causes, and its potential effects and it aims to establish recommendations or codes of conduct that prevent fragmentation.

These Policy Networks have evolved from an intersessional workstream called the Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion (s) that you can check the information here and below: “In 2015, the community contributed to the development of a set of Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion(s). This first phase focused on the creation of enabling environments, including deploying infrastructure, increasing usability, enabling users, and ensuring affordability.

After the 2016 meeting, the final output resource from the second phase of this intersessional, multistakeholder, and community-driven activity of the IGF was added here. The resource is aimed at investigating challenges and opportunities for addressing and overcoming barriers to meaningful Internet access, promoting meaningful access in diverse contexts and regions, and ensuring that meaningful access also supports the achievement of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

You can check the old notes about the Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) Phase IV were published on the IGF 2018 website here.

National, subregional, and regional IGF initiatives

The national, subregional, and regional IGF initiatives (NRIs) are IGF events held around the world throughout the year. They gather stakeholders locally or regionally for a one-, two-, or even three-day event, and they produce “messages” summarizing what they discussed and the outcomes of the meeting, which feed into the global IGF. There are at least 26 youth-related IGF initiatives or programs as well. Each year, the NRIs have a main plenary session at the IGF, as well as a number of auxiliary sessions throughout the week. For more information about the NRIs, see this link.

It is important to emphasize that Youth NRI can also apply for funding for their annual meetings from any of these three sources: the IGF Secretariat, IGFSA, and Internet Society Foundation. Kindly check their websites for further information.

YOUTH AT IGF2022

After the IGF 2021, the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance began the conversation with Youth IGF Poland on the plans for the youth within the frames of IGF2021 and related activities. As you know, we had the precedent of the Youth Engagement Plan for 2020, in which the IGF Secretariat created a coalition of collaborators to develop the youth engagement plan for 2020 with the Polish government, NASK Institute; including among the collaborators the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance, Elisabeth Schaeurmann, Youth SIG (Youth Observatory) and Youth IGF movement. This youth engagement plan included the launch of a newsletter (which is available at the igfyouth mailing list), and a series of webinars that took place in May, September 21 and October 14 looking towards the IGF2021) and the IGF 2020 Youth Summit.

For 2022, we planned several activities to engage youth in the IGF 2022, including the submission of workshop proposals through our usual Working Groups, the planning of webinars based on the thematic issue areas of the IGF2022, and mostly, the IGF Youth Summit 2022.

THE MEETING

How do these meetings work?

A variety of workshops and sessions will be held over at the full week of IGF16 and you are welcome to attend any of them. You can check the schedule of the 2021 IGF here. Bear in mind that the schedule is subject to last-minute changes, so double-check the session dates and timings closer to the IGF meeting.

As a first-timer, we understand you might feel overwhelmed or even intimidated. As sessions overlap, make sure that you identify sessions you find potentially interesting or relevant beforehand and work out your own agenda here for the meeting.

Prepare, prepare, prepare! You can research about the panel speakers and topics ahead of time. There are several types of session for this year’s IGF including new ones:

Special Tracks:

Who can participate during and speak at meetings?

Everyone has an equal opportunity to speak when the panel moderator opens the floor. When the time comes for audience participation during a session, please raise your hand or approach a microphone to speak. For IGF2022, remember to raise your hand at the Zoom chat so both online and onsite moderator can see you.

Tip: You might feel others in the room are more experienced than you and you don’t know the topic well enough to contribute. Remember though: no one knows the youth’s perspective or situation in your own country better than you! Keep in mind that this is also a discussion forum – there is NO right or wrong, only perspectives, reason, and evidence.

What is allowed and what is not allowed during these meetings?

Besides respecting other participants, and not verbally attacking anyone personally, there are no rules. Read more about the IGF’s guidelines for participation here.

Tips for you:

Be proactive! Never stop reaching out to people/participants/speakers. The IGF doesn’t end after 5 days; you can build the relationship beyond the IGF meeting, and also use the IGF as a way to network and meet individuals working on issues you care about. By doing so, you can get involved in post-IGF activities such as the intersessional work or join other Internet governance processes and communities.
Be specific about your questions when reaching out to people.
Don’t ask questions for the sake of asking questions. It’s better to contribute (in U.N.-language, it’s called making an intervention) when you have a salient point to make or perspective to share that is relevant to what is being discussed during the session.
Take notes during the day and review them at night. It helps to reflect on what happened throughout the day.
Read up on the just-in-time reporting and daily briefs offered by the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP).
Be present during the session. It will make your contributions more relevant, and make your participation more meaningful. You will learn more too! It’s important to ensure that you aren’t distracted by things like Facebook, email, or Instagram.

You are encouraged, though, to share insight and what is going in the sessions on social media, especially Twitter. This year’s social media hashtag is #IGF2022.

How can I participate in what the IGF does?

Join the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance, or participate in (or even host) a youth IGF event.

Join a Best Practice Forum, Dynamic Coalition, or Policy Network by visiting one of the links above, or by reviewing the draft output documents on the IGF website.

Connect with the Youth Observatory Fellows and Internet Society IGF Youth Ambassadors (former Youth @IGF Fellows) through the website http://www.youthsig.org

What do I wish I had done at IGF?

Your opinions matter! Tell us what we can do better at: ycig[at]googlegroups.com.

Packing list

Before you leave home, don’t forget these essentials:

Laptop and/or tablet and charger
Travel adapter
Passport (you’ll need it to enter the venue) and visa (if necessary). For the COVID 19 requirements, please check the updated information from the Polish government website.
Business cards (so you can give them to people you meet and help them connect with you after. They are useful even if you aren’t working. You can include simple information such as your university affiliation or a group you are involved in, along with your name, email, and preferred social media information).
Pen(s) and notebook
Formal clothes
An open mind to discuss new ideas

IGF glossary

IGF – Internet Governance Forum

BPF – Best Practice Forum

MAG – Multistakeholder Advisory Group (the group of people appointed by the UN Secretary-General to manage and organize the IGF).

DC – Dynamic Coalition

Multistakeholder – also sometimes used as multi-stakeholder, refers to a process where multiple stakeholders (usually from all different fields – technical community, governments, civil society and academia, intergovernmental organizations (such as the UN), and the private sector) are involved.

Remote hub – an area set up away from the meeting with the aim of enabling people in different countries to listen to and participate in the IGF proceedings.

IGO – intergovernmental organization, e.g. the United Nations

UNDESA – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

WSIS – World Summit on the Information Society

You can also find a handy acronym glossary at the DiploFoundation booth with more abbreviations and acronyms, or here

We’d also like to thank the former development team

Bianca Ho

Anri van der Spuy

And the contributors

Ginger Paque

Susan Chalmers

Michael Oghia

Israel Rosas

Hailey Yang

David Ng

Élisson Diones

Luã Fergus Oliveira da Cruz

Esteban Aranda

Mili Semlani

Yannis Li

ABOUT THE YCIG

The Youth Coalition on Internet Governance (YCIG) is an open group for organizations and individuals, representing all stakeholder groups, willing to collaborate together in order to encourage and enrich youth participation in local, regional, and international Internet governance discussions and processes.

YCIG was established to advocate for the voice of children, young people, and young professionals in Internet governance fora and processes.

YCIG is open to all young people and other relevant stakeholders interested in Internet governance issues. It has been successful in securing a commitment from the IGF to include young panelists at annual meetings, as well as at organizing a series of panels at different levels of engagement, and producing clear statements during IGF closing plenary sessions.

As a registered IGF Dynamic Coalition, YCIG has a meeting slot at each forum to bring together youth stakeholders from across the IGF to identify and discuss relevant issues, and network together to build a stronger youth voice in Internet governance processes.

YCIG is run through its mailing list. You can also find more information on the YCIG Facebook group, the YCIG website, the YCIG blog, and on the IGF website. Remember we are also at Twitter,Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Find out more ways to get involved here.

The nature of a youth coalition is that founder members grow older and need to hand on responsibility for the coalition to new groups. Thus, right now there is no active chair or lead group within YCIG.

And that is where we need you.

If you are under 35, interested in Internet governance, and able to get involved in Internet governance debates, join the YCIG mailing list, introduce yourself, and get the discussion going over what this coalition should be doing. You might be new to Internet governance and the IGF, or you might have already taken part in the IGF as a young person but not engaged with the YCIG. The group needs new volunteers, new ideas, and new leaders. In short – it needs you!

Check THIS year’s Youth-related workshops and sessions @ IGF2022 – virtual

You can find the descriptions and details of every single workshop in the IGF 2022 program at the following link (to be updated). The IGF 2021 youth-related workshops have been highlighted below:

1 sesiones canva

2 sesiones canva

3 sesiones canva

know more about the roadmap on digital cooperation!

Check the DESA USG Letter to the MAG on SG’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation