[NCUC-DISCUSS] Deadline for WSIS proposals is tomorrow - here are some ideas for the NCUC to consider proposing

[Ayden Férdeline]

Greetings, all-

The next World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will be held in Geneva from 12 to 16 June. The deadline for workshop proposals is tomorrow.

Last year, the NCUC hosted a highly successful thematic workshop at WSIS on engaging un-represented and under-represented communities in local, national, regional, and global Internet governance debates. The session was closely tied with Sustainable Development Goal 17 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I was pleased to coordinate this event in conjunction with Renata Aquino Ribeiro, and we had a broad range of speakers from our stakeholder group (including the NCUC’s James Gannon and NPOC’s Klaus Stoll) along with panellists from the business, end-user, and technical communities. In the audience at our session was an ICANN board member, Markus Kummer, ICANN staff and community members, and high-level government officials and civil society representatives. Our panel had a gender balance, the most remote participants of any WSIS workshop, and featured in the official outcome document of the event. Privately it has been communicated to us that the workshop would be welcomed at WSIS again this year, but more on that in a moment…

This was not the extent of the NCUC’s engagement at WSIS last year. Bill Drake moderated an insightful session on Internet fragmentation, with NCUC members Anriette Esterhuysen and Wolfgang Kleinwächter among the panellists. Anriette moderated a session on advancing Internet governance principles and practices, with NCUC members Avri Doria and Bill Drake among the panellists. The Cross-Community Working Group on Internet Governance had a session on the IANA transition moderated by Matthew Shears with speakers including the NCUC’s Tatiana Tropina. Offsite, Tatiana, Matt, and I spoke at an event organised by the Geneva Internet Platform on how civil society actors can get involved in policymaking at ICANN and potentially shape the future of the Domain Name System. And NPOC's Adela Goberna spoke eloquently during the Opening Ceremony's high-level dialogue on the WSIS Action Lines and the SDGs.

In my opinion, the stage is set for further NCUC engagement in WSIS. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been helpful to ‘crowd source’ a theme a few months ago and to catalyse community involvement sooner so that we could submit a workshop proposal on a topic which we as the NCUC care deeply about. Alas, with the deadline for workshop proposals being tomorrow, that isn’t feasible now (the failure was mine for not suggesting that we do this sooner), so instead Renata and I have drafted a few workshop proposals for the NCUC to consider submitting. [Here’s a link to them on Google Docs.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d3AyMelaMuQJmI4odYFZK7b-O-fjKEE_UqzQ9NuzGvI/edit?usp=sharing) Your comments and suggestions on how the NCUC can become more involved in creating and exchanging knowledge that helps realise the WSIS action lines is warmly welcomed, and please also feel free to suggest an alternative proposal if you do think what Renata and I have drafted is not suitable. Thanks!

(Renata and I were planning on submitting all the ideas for workshops that we can think of, and if any are accepted by the International Telecommunications Union, coming back to the EC to ask if it is something the NCUC would like to carry forward and host under its moniker, and if the response is in the affirmative, then coming back to this list to further develop the proposal in a more collaborative manner.)

Best wishes,

Ayden Férdeline


[linkedin.com/in/ferdeline](http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline)
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