Proposer's Name: Mr. Tracy Hackshaw
Proposer's Organization: Internet Society Trinidad & Tobago Chapter
Co-Proposer's Name: Mr. Patrick Hosein
Co-Proposer's Organization: Director, Trinidad & Tobago Multistakeholder Group (TTMAG)
Co-Organizers:
Mr.,Tracy,HACKSHAW, Technical Community, Internet Society Trinidad & Tobago Chapter (ISOC-TT); Ms.,Maureen,HILYARD, Civil Society, Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC); Dr.,Patrick HOSEIN, Academic Community, Trinidad & Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group (TTMAG)
Session Format: Round Table - 90 Min
Proposer:
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Stakeholder Group: Technical Community
Co-Proposer:
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Stakeholder Group: Technical Community
Discussant: Samuels Carlton - Jamaica
Discussant: Hosein Patrick - Trinidad & Tobago
Discussant: Yaw Ching Rhea Trinidad & Tobago/United States of America
Discussant: Maureen Hilyard - Cook Islands
Discussant: Jane Coffin - United States of America
Discussant: Anju Mangal - Fiji
Discussant: Bevil Wooding - Trinidad & Tobago
Content of the Session:
As the Internet continues growing and consumption patterns increase globally, will there come a point when the resources available in Small Island Developing States be unable to support the needs of its users?
The SIDS continue to struggle with resource challenges in all forms - water, food, shelter, energy, quality of air - and many of these challenges have the potential to further drain the limited bandwidth, network resources and human capacity available to public, private and civil society actors in these territories.
While these resource challenges engage the attention of inhabitants of the SIDS, the Digital Economy is advancing at breakneck speed, attracting talent and attention to the OECD countries, and increasingly, to the emerging mega economies of Brazil, India, Russia and China.
The increasing disparity in resource allocation at all levels exacerbates the "Digital Inclusion problem" - both within SIDS and between SIDS and the OECD+BRIC economies - which then presents "traditional" employers, entrepreneurs seeking to grow and participate in the Digital Economy, Government policymakers grappling with mounting socieconomic challenges and perhaps most critically, the "average citizen".
How then do we, as small, vulnerable economies, work together to meet and rise above this challenge, or risk being quite literally drowned in the Digital Revolution?
The 2017 Roundtable will bring together developmental and Internet Governance and Policy experts from the Caribbean and Pacific Islands as we continue to advance our shared/collective research and action Agenda at the most open and inclusive United Nations Forum dealing with issues relating to the Internet, ICT and Development.
DRAFT AGENDA
Welcome & Introductions (5 mins)
Discussant Topic 1 - 20 mins - OPEN ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
As the Internet continues growing and consumption patterns increase globally, will there come a point when the resources available in Small Island Developing States be unable to support the needs of its users?
Discussant Topic 2 - 30 mins - OPEN ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
The SIDS continue to struggle with resource challenges in all forms - water, food, shelter, energy, quality of air - and many of these challenges have the potential to further drain the limited bandwidth, network resources and human capacity available to public, private and civil society actors in these territories. How then do we, as small, vulnerable economies, work together to meet and rise above this challenge, or risk being quite literally drowned in the Digital Revolution?
Open Roundtable Discussion & The Way Forward
Relevance of the Session:
The inclusion of the economic action by Small Island Developing States must form a part of any global debate on Shaping the Digital Future. Given the sustainability challenges being faced by the SIDS, the Roundtable and the topic addressing head-on the issue of looming technical, human and bandwidth resource deficits is critical to a Forum looking towards the Future and how ALL stakeholders, including the approximately 65 million inhabitants of the 50+ countries and territories that make up the SIDS.
Tag 1: #accessandinclusion
Tag 2: #sustainabledevelopment
Tag 3: Digital Economy
Interventions:
As we have been doing for the last few years, we will be utilizing our highly successful Roundtable format where everyone in the session can participate equally. Our approach functions in like manner as combined "talkshow" and "Town Hall" format where a moderator will introduce the topic and invite identified "Lead Discussants" (the invited Subject Matter Experts) to introduce the key themes of the discussion - prepared and discussed with the moderator online in the leadup to the IGF - and immediately invite participation from in situ and remote participants on each of the key themes. Discussants and Participants will engage in meaningful dialog while the moderator will work to ensure that the critical elements of the engagement are documented and pushed forward in the ongoing SIDS Action and Research Agenda in the area of Digital/Internet Policy & Governance.
Diversity:
Over 90% of our discussants are from developing countries - the majority being from some of the most vulnerable countries on the planet. Additionally, the very nature of SIDS defines our session as being geographically diverse.
According to the UNOHRLLS, SIDS are by and large very small countries. Cuba is the most populated island with 11.3 million inhabitants and the least populated country is Niue with 1,500 inhabitants. The SIDS have a combined population of about 65 million, which is slightly less than one percent of the world's population. Further, some SIDS like Niue actually experience negative population growth (-2.3 percent) due to the high level of emigration (to New Zealand, in the case of Niue).
In terms of gender diversity, we propose to achieve full gender parity at the level of the Discussants.
Onsite Moderator: Tracy Hackshaw
Online Moderator: ISOC IGF Ambassador from a Small Island Developing State - name to be nominated by the ISOC NGL Leadership
Rapporteur: ISOC Youth@IGF Fellow from a Small Island Developing State - name to be nominated by the ISOC NGL Leadership
Online Participation:
Remote Participants will be treated as equals in the Roundtable. The Remote Moderator will be encouraged to engage in online discussions with our Remote Participants and to create opportunities for interventions in the live session - through both comments and questions - potentially directly from the participant if technically feasible. The Moderator will frequently poll the Remote Moderator during the discussions to ensure that Remote Participants are not treated as an "afterthought".
Discussion facilitation:
As in the past, the organizers and discussants will use social media and their own networks to "seed" the discussion prior to the Roundtable. Questions and ideas will be incorporated into the planning of the "live" Roundtable and the moderator will pose some of these questions directly during the Roundtable to create further engagement. Additionally, we will appoint a "Social Moderator" who will monitor the #IGF2017 and Workshop hashtags to incorporate comments and questions into the discussion.
Our approach functions in like manner as combined "talkshow" and "Town Hall" format where a moderator will introduce the topic and invite identified "Lead Discussants" (the invited Subject Matter Experts) to introduce the key themes of the discussion - prepared and discussed with the moderator online in the leadup to the IGF - and immediately invite participation from in situ and remote participants on each of the key themes. Discussants and Participants will engage in meaningful dialog while the moderator will work to ensure that the critical elements of the engagement are documented and pushed forward in the ongoing SIDS Action and Research Agenda in the area of Digital/Internet Policy & Governance.
Conducted a Workshop in IGF before?: Yes
Link to Report: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/filedepot_download/4098/214
