Session
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable is best suited to this session discussing how the WSIS+20 Review Process can help ensure that the WSIS Action Lines are contributing fully to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This format will allow for the free and open exchange of ideas. The 60-minute roundtable is envisioned to invite opening remarks from speakers (approximately 20 minutes) and then provide an open opportunity for all attendees to contribute their thoughts (approximately 30 minutes), ending in a presentation of conclusions and a call to action (approximately 10 minutes).
Our collective commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals hasn’t changed...but has our urgency to act? In 2025, the WSIS+20 Review will review progress on the WSIS Action Lines. Sustainable development is at the core of the WSIS process, with a focus on the role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development all the way to cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content. With 2030 rapidly approaching, and the urgent need to make further progress on realising the SDGs, now is an opportune moment to consider how the multistakeholder community can work together through the WSIS process to ensure digital technologies can support the acceleration of progress on the SDGs. In this session, stakeholders will have the opportunity to join a dynamic roundtable as contributory participants, brainstorming ideas in real-time for how the WSIS+20 Review process can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. The session will conclude with agreement on further collective steps. Together, we can move from commitment to action.
This session will be conducted in hybrid format to allow individuals from all stakeholder groups around the world to actively participate on an equal footing. To maximise virtual participation, we will work to create a ‘virtual roundtable’ segment online, bringing together the in-person and online groups in discussion while also allowing for virtual participation to take precedence at a specific stage in the conversation to ensure virtual attendees have an equal opportunity to participate.
UK Government - Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Patrick Wheatley (UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Western Europe); Lillian Nalwoga (Chair of the Africa IGF MAG; Africa)
Lillian Nalwoga (Chair of the Africa IGF MAG, Africa); Tracy Hackshaw (ICT and Digital Economy Strategist currently working at the UPU, Latin America/the Caribbean); Paul Gaskell (UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Western Europe)
Patrick Wheatley (UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Western Europe)
Lillian Nalwoga (Chair of the Africa IGF; Africa)
Patrick Wheatley (UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Western Europe)
17. Partnerships for the Goals
Targets: This session centres on the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, it will examine how the WSIS+20 review process, taking place in 2025, can contribute to the realisation of the SDGs. Importantly, the session will focus on collecting ideas from all stakeholders on how we can collectively work together as a multistakeholder community to achieve the SDGs.