Draft Program Outline for the Third Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

Hyderabad, 3-6 December 2008

Introduction

This paper aims to provide an input into the open round of consultations on 13 May 2008 to discuss programme and agenda for the third meeting of the IGF in Hyderabad. It gives a first draft programme outline, focusing on structure rather than content. The draft programme outline tries to make best possible use of the facilities that are available at the conference venue. It also takes into account the fact that participation at the first meetings in Athens and Rio de Janeiro exceeded expectations and that as many, if not more, people are expected to attend the Hyderabad meeting.

The paper is conceived a rolling document. Comments submitted to the IGF Web site by 1 May will be reflected in a revised version that will be issued as a conference room paper at the consultations on 13 May.

2 Basic structure for the Hyderabad meeting

The proposed meeting structure builds on the successes of the Athens and Rio de Janeiro meetings and takes into account the comments made in the stocktaking process, both on-line and at the meetings in Geneva on 26-28 February. As was the case in Rio de Janeiro, the Hyderabad meeting will not be merely repeating the structure of the inaugural meeting, but will have its own character and will go beyond the formats used previously. The informal, interactive multistakeholder format was generally seen as one of the key factors of the success of the first two meetings and should be maintained as a guiding principle. Participation will follow the format used at the previous meetings and all entities and persons with proven expertise and experience in matters related to Internet governance may apply to register as participants.

The basic format of the previous meetings, with main sessions and workshops, should be maintained. The five broad themes – access, openness, security, diversity, and critical Internet resources – will be retained but not necessarily as themes for the main sessions. The point was made that the general issues had been effectively covered during the previous two IGF meetings and that the sessions in Hyderabad should be more focused.

Based on the “lessons learned” from the Rio meeting as discussed by the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), the following changes could be introduced:

– Two days with general themes and main sessions focused on specific issues and not general overviews.
– Some workshops could be held on themes defined by the MAG (main workshops), but organized by others who respond to a call for proposals.
– Main workshops, which are linked to the main sessions and workshops on the five substantive themes, are not to be held in parallel to main sessions.
– Other workshops may be held in parallel to the main sessions, depending on the quantity and quality of the proposals.
– All organizers of events (workshops, best practices etc) will be asked to commit themselves to submit a report on their event. Non-submission of a report will disqualify the organizer for the following year.
– Preference will be given in 2008 to those who did submit a report for 2007. (Submission of reports is still possible and encouraged.)
– No official meetings starting after 1800 hours.
– No official meetings during the lunch-break between 1300-1400 hours.
– Further efforts will be made to enable remote participation
– Efforts will be made to publish the proceedings of the meeting also in other formats.

The objective continues to be to maximize the opportunity of open dialogue and the exchanges of ideas; to try and create feedback loops between the different types of sessions; to create opportunities to share best practices and experiences; to listen, debate and learn as well as to identify key themes that would, in the future, benefit from the multistakeholder perspective of the IGF.

There will be no prepared statements read out during the main sessions. However, prepared statements will be recorded in a specially equipped AV-studio and shown in a loop in selected areas of the conference venue as well as made available on the IGF Web site. Efforts will be made to improve the promotion of this possibility. Prepared statements can be submitted in advance to the IGF Secretariat.

The meeting facilities in Hyderabad will leave room for some innovations. An “IGF village” will be set up next to the main meeting hall to allow interested entities to present themselves for free. The village will include squares (with chairs and rostrum) for ad-hoc meetings and poster sessions. This “IGF village” will be organized in the form of different “neighbourhoods” or thematic clusters (e.g. according to the five main themes and also the cross-cutting priorities. The “IGF Village” will also contain the cyber-cafe?.

3. Meeting types

a) Main sessions – The main focus of the meeting will be on the main sessions. These sessions will take place in the main meeting hall and they will be organized around focal themes. In addition, there will be an opening and a closing ceremony in the same meeting hall. Interpretation will be provided into all six UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) for all meetings taking place in the main hall. The discussions will be Web cast and will be rendered in real-time transcription. One session could be devoted to ‘emerging issues’ and another session to ‘taking stock and the way forward’. Duration of the main sessions will remain two hours.

b) Workshops
These sessions will be designed to explore detailed issues of the main themes. As such all interested stakeholders are being invited to submit proposals for workshops in a similar way as was done for the previous meetings of the IGF. In addition, some proposals may be initiated by the IGF Secretariat or the MAG. The main workshops will be scheduled before the main plenary session on the same theme, thereby allowing detailed debate to be fed into that session. These workshops will be supported/facilitated by the IGF Secretariat, but organized by the proposer of the individual session. Each session will conform to the WSIS principles of multistakeholder participation in both the proposal to the IGF Secretariat and in its implementation. As important as the multistakeholder approach is the need to present different perspectives on the issue under discussion.

The IGF meeting in Hyderabad should also allow for a number of open workshops where multistakeholder groups can host a meeting. The scheduling of these workshops will be determined by the IGF Secretariat on the basis of maintaining a balance across the issues and efficient use of meeting space.

Each IGF workshop will be required to produce a report on the workshop. Duration of the main workshops will be extended to 2 hours.

Other workshops: 90 minutes.

Deadline for submission of proposals: 30 April 2008. c) Open Forums

All major organizations dealing with Internet governance related issues will be given a slot, at their request, to hold an open forum in order to present and discuss their activities. The meetings should focus on the organization’s activities during the past 12 months and allow sufficient time for questions and discussions.
Duration of these meetings: 90 minutes.

d) Best Practice Forums

The aim of these sessions is to demonstrate, in a multi-stakeholder environment, some of the best practices that have been adopted with regard to the to key IGF themes in general and to the development and deployment of the Internet in particular. The sessions can have either a thematic or a country focus. The presentations will be based on a common template.

Presentations should not only cover practices that were successful, but also focus on challenges and mistakes. Thus, ‘lessons learned’ would be an important output of these sessions. They will be moderated by independent experts/hosts and participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments. The aim is to provide a space to discuss what constitutes a best practice’ and share relevant information that can be transferred to other situations and strengthen capacity- building activities.

Duration of Best Practice Forum meetings: 90 minutes. Deadline for submission of proposals: 30 April 2008.

e) Dynamic Coalitions
The meeting will provide space for the dynamic coalitions to meet and further develop their proposals.

All Dynamic Coalitions are requested to present a report on their achievements so far in general and on their activities since the Rio meeting in particular. The reports will be posted on the IGF Web site.

Duration of these meetings: 90 minutes.

Deadline for submission of reports: 30 June 2008.

The reports will be taken into account in the allocation of rooms. f) Other meetings

Meeting rooms will be given to interested stakeholder groups on a first-come- first-served basis, as available. A number of rooms will be reserved for this purpose for the meeting itself, to accommodate ad-hoc requests.

4. Location

a) Meeting rooms

Main Meeting Hall, for opening and closing ceremony and main sessions, seating 1800 participants in a mixed classroom and theatre- style setting. All proceedings in this room will be Web cast, interpreted in all six UN languages, and rendered in real-time transcription. A public remote chat capability will be provided for the Main Meeting Hall. Four major Workshop Rooms, seating around 250-300 participants in a theatre-style setting. All proceedings will be Audio cast. A public remote chat capability should be provided for the Workshop Rooms. One Workshop Room will have facilities for interpretation (interpreters can be provided by workshop organizers, if desired).

Several smaller rooms for workshops, fora, dynamic coalitions meetings and other meetings seating 100-250 participants in a theatre- style setting. All proceedings will be Audio cast.

Other facilities
A fully equipped AV-studio to record prepared statements. The studio can also be reserved for TV interviews.

A media centr, with a room for media conferences, seating 250 journalists in theatre style setting and work space for journalists
An “IGF village”, located next to the Main Meeting Hall, to allow interested entities to present themselves and have meetings and poster sessions.
Restaurants/refreshments:
• A buffet with will be organized
• Coffee will be served in the conference premises.
• A restaurant is located in the hotel adjoining the conference center.

Format

The proposed order and flow of the meetings will be set out in a draft schedule, which will be based on the feed-back received.

Original Article (PDF): http://www.intgovforum.org/hydera/DraftProgramme.Hyderabad-draft.26.03.2008.pdf