A group of seventeen professionals from around the world were this year sponsored by the Commonwealth Internet Goverancen Forum, with the support of the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to attend the fourth Internet Governance Forum meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

For many of these professionals, this was their first IGF meeting. Apart from immersing themselves in the plenary sessions, parallel workshops and events, the participants reported on these events through blogs.

Below are links to the participants’ blogs. Some of the blogs are in the form of transcripts or reports; other contain personal insights on the event; most have been tagged by workshop number, for easy reference.

Read Dalsie Baniala’s blog here.

Read Pascal Bekono’s blog here.

Read Priyanthi Daluwatte’s blog here.

Read Emmanuel Edet’s blog here.

Read Marsha Guthrie’s blog here.

Read Subhodeep Kundu’s blog here.

Read Mwende Njiraini’s blog here.

Read Deirdre Williams’ blog here.

How best can the Commonwealth add value to the IG process and to its members?

What could you list as :

3 specific suggestions for what you would like see coming out of the Commonwealth IGF,|

3 things you can contribute to the Commonwealth IGF,

3 links to existing resources on best practices in any aspect of

Fouad Bajwa is from Pakistan, he is an Internet Governance policy advisor, ICT4D research and consultant, and UN-IGF IGC and MAG member.

Comments on the CommonwealthIGF at IGF 09, Sharm el Sheikh 
…

My Experience:
I come from Pakistan and represent the voice of the Technical and Technology Civil Society both locally and globally. My capacity was developed by DiploFoundation in 2006 when I was given a scholarship to participate from Pakistan. After the program I catalysed ICT Policy development and Internet Governance awareness efforts from bottom to top.

Then I moved towards joining the Civil Society Multistakeholder component of the international UN-IGF and was nominated by the Internet Governance Caucus (Civil Society) for position on the Multistakholder Advisory Group (MAG) that helps the UN Secretary General plan, organize and conduct the IGF. I am amongst the many Commonwealth member country citizens that have moved from regional policy making initiatives to the global level.

All this has been catalysed due to DiploFoundation's support and scholarship and continuing to engage us with other Diplo Alumni through their global Diplo Alumni network. We strengthen the focus of the international IGF today and this is an example for the Commonwealth for stimulating IGF participation from other countries.

MY SUGGESTIONS:

Commonwealth IGF Vision:

The Commonwealth IGF Secretariat should adopt the following approach as its slogan and strategy:
• Identify
• Capacity
• Engagement
• Strengthening
• Sustaining Participation at the IGF from Commonwealth Countries

Global Policy Engagement Perspectives:
• I appreciate and congratulate the Commonwealth Secretariat on launching the bursaries but they were started very late and have not been able to be well advertised from my perspective. There is a need to get this message out much further and include the widest amount of multistakeholders including ICT/IT/Telecom/Social Ministers, members from the Private Sector, the Civil Society and in particular more Women and Youth participation from the Commonwealth.
• The most effective output of any multistakeholder participant in the IGF is the level of National and Local engagement on IG related issues in their country, understanding what IG is, how it affects their countries and citizens and then the perspectives of Global IG issues from a wide variety of perspectives. Indeed the Commonwealth is stepping into a new form of Global Governance and Institutional Transformations where process result in quicker changes due to the speed of engagement and response as well as technological change due to the open and inclusive nature of the Internet.
• When Commonwealth touches the issue of IGF engagement, it has to keep in focus that there are three stakeholders, Governments, Private Sector and Civil Society with a focus on more youth and women from these societies and equal participation is a must in the process of International IGF. Commonwealth Bursaries, Sessions and Engagement should be based on this equal participation perspective.  

Regional Stimulation through Capacity and Local Issue Engagement:

Dr Anja Kovacs is a fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society

Input on possible Priorities for CIGF in Sharm el Sheikh

…
At the moment, there are many groups/communities with a stake in Internet governance that are not adequately represented in the IGF, if at all. Such groups include, for example, large human rights organisations, whose absence from an area that gives rise to so many human rights curtailments nowadays – and this in supposedly 'democratic' countries as much as in 'dictatorial' ones - is a matter of real concern. But I am also thinking of groups such as indigenous people in Canada, who have used ICTs in innovative ways to try and defend their rights and interests, and have a very different perspective to bring to debates on Internet governance.

Although the multistakeholder model is of great value, its actual worth in terms of democratic governance depends much on the extent to which it is able to take into account a range of concerns. Thus, the representation of a wider range of interests than is currently the case would considerably contribute to strengthening the legitimacy and value of the IGF processes and their spin-offs.

I realise that it may be too late to take up this suggestion with an eye on the forthcoming IGF in Sharm el Sheikh, but it would be of tremendous value if this could be considered towards the 2010 event.

Dr. Anja Kovacs

Fellow
Centre for Internet and Society