Session
Organizer 1: Sarah Moulton, National Democratic Institute
Organizer 2: Morgan Frost, 🔒Center for International Private Enterprise
Organizer 3: Nick Benequista, 🔒CIMA
Organizer 4: Amara Shaker-Brown, National Democratic Institute
Speaker 1: Sarah Moulton, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Paola Galvez, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Ananda Gautam, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 4: Nompilo Simanje, Civil Society, African Group
Sarah Moulton, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Morgan Frost, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Amara Shaker-Brown, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: The roundtable format is well-suited for this session as it allows for the inclusion and representation of diverse perspectives, given the varied stakeholder groups, regional affiliations, and gender diversity of the speakers and participants. By bringing together a diverse group of experts, we will ensure a structured and inclusive discussion that covers a broader range of ideas and perspectives. Moreover, the roundtable format promotes audience engagement through interactive interventions and Q&A sessions, enabling attendees to directly interact with each other.
A. How have dialogues from international fora in 2024 shaped or reshaped the conversation around the future of internet governance?
B. What are the opportunities and challenges for a continued multistakeholder approach after the meetings of 2024, and how can those lessons be integrated into new internet policy conversations in 2025 and beyond?
C. How can digital rights advocates from the Global Majority take internet governance norms and standards established at the international level and implement them locally through direct engagement with policymakers?
What will participants gain from attending this session? This session will bring together speakers from civil society, the media, and the private sector from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. It will serve as a foundation for the broader IGF community to outline key ways to engage between local, regional, and global digital rights networks and policymakers. Representatives from the IGF Parliamentarian track will be encouraged to actively participate in the discussion to provide their perspectives on improving dialogue on digital governance topics in their local contexts. Participants will have the chance to collaborate with other stakeholders, including government officials and private sector actors, to foster new partnerships and develop concrete recommendations that explore potential areas for further collaboration. Participants will leave the session with a strengthened network of contacts and increased knowledge and skills to support their efforts to promote inclusive, transparent, and effective digital governance policies through policymaker engagement.
Description:
Recognizing the vital importance of the internet to engage socially, economically, and politically, 2024 served as a pivotal moment for the international community to come together and articulate the future of internet governance. This can be seen through the key international fora in 2024 and will continue through the WSIS process in 2025. A multistakeholder approach to internet governance is crucial to the future of a free, open, and interoperable internet and Global Majority voices are essential in international events like the IGF since they are underrepresented at the governance table. This roundtable discussion will convene current and former Open Internet Leaders (OILs) from the Open Internet for Democracy Initiative (openinternet.global). OILs are emerging leaders in digital rights and open internet issues from the Global Majority representing civil society, the media, and the local private sector, supported collaboratively by the National Democratic Institute, the Center for International Media Assistance, and the Center for International Private Enterprise. They will discuss the key themes coming out of regional and international fora such as NetMundial+10, the G20, the WSIS+20 High-Level Forum, the UN Civil Society Conference, the Summit of the Future, and regional IGFs and identify how digital rights advocates in the Global Majority can better engage with policymakers at the global, regional, and local levels on a wide range of emerging issues impacting the digital space. The panel will specifically examine areas of collaboration among Global Majority multistakeholder coalitions and ways to engage with multilateral processes like the GDC. The panel will be gender-balanced and convene experts from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and Eurasia.
This session will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the internet governance discussions from 2024 and practical insights and strategies for effective civil society engagement with policymakers on digital governance issues specific to the 2025 landscape. By exploring different political contexts and the perspectives of parliamentarians, media, big tech, local private sector, and governments in the Global Majority, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities for multistakeholder collaboration in 2025 and engagement in digital governance decision-making processes.
This session will also identify concrete recommendations and actions that civil society, the local private sector, independent media, and policymakers in the Global Majority can take to promote transparency, accountability, and participation in digital governance in 2025 and beyond, drawing on the lessons from major developments in internet governance in 2024.
Hybrid Format: To ensure that the workshop accommodates both in-person and virtual participants, the session will be designed to allow for maximum engagement from all participants in a hybrid format. The session will be moderated in a way that ensures that all speakers have equal opportunities to contribute and that virtual participants have equal access to the discussion. The moderator will also actively encourage interaction between in-person and virtual participants through Q&A sessions or live polls, to ensure that everyone is engaged and invested in the discussion. Additionally, the session report and recording will be cross-posted on the Open Internet for Democracy Initiative’s website and shared on social media, reaching a global network of digital rights advocates dedicated to preserving an open and inclusive internet.