The Impact of the Global Pandemic on Schools on Internet Governance

Part 1 - Lead Organizer

Contact Person

Satish Babu

Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate)

APSIG

Designation

Chair

Gender

Male

Economy of Residence

India

Primary Stakeholder Group

Civil Society

Part 2 - Session Proposal

Your proposal is for

Main Conference (Day 1-3)

Session Title

The Impact of the Global Pandemic on Schools on Internet Governance

Track

Inclusion Sustainability Trust

Session Format

Panel Discussion

Where do you plan to organize your session?

Virtual / online

Specific Issues for Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted most face-to-face activities. Schools on Internet Governance (SIGs) have been a major capacity building initiative in the domain of Internet Governance. All SIGs around the world have been impacted adversely by the pandemic. This panel brings together the APAC regional SIGs (APSIG) and national SIGs (inSIG, pkSIG, bdSIG) together with the Virtual SIG, a post-pandemic innovation, to examine how the challenge of capacity building can continue on a sustainable basis by comparing the strategies of the legacy regional/national SIGs with the Virtual SIGs.

Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF

SIGs are an important part of the Internet Governance ecosystem, especially in a region such as APAC, given the wide diversity between the capacities of communities in different subregions and countries. Some regions, such as South Asia, already has significant SIG activity, whereas others such as the Pacific islands or the Mekong Delta, have very limited efforts so far. Regional SIGs such as APSIG are therefore important to consider given that they are perhaps the only way some of the countries can be provided with capacity building services. The pandemic has hit SIG activities hard, and unless addressed properly, this may lead to adverse regional impacts in future. This round-table will examine ways by which different models of SIGs (face-to-face, hybrid, virtual) may be leveraged to continue providing capacity-building services in the region, and what innovations could be attempted to further enhance their effectiveness (eg., national face-to-face hubs).

Methodology / Agenda

The following methodology is proposed for the session: 1. A round-up of the present status, in comparison with the pre-COVID SIG strategy 2. Innovations and models for SIGs during the pandemic 3. Global innovations

Please provide 3 subject matter tags that best describe your session.

#SIG, #SchoolOnInternetGovernance, #IGCapacityBuilding

Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.

SIGs are usually run by non-government, non-business, non-profit institutions, and so the speakers do not include persons from the Government or Business. However, we are addressing this issue and we will be having representatives from these stakeholders amongst the audience. The speakers identified are those with direct experience with SIGs, both pre-COVID and post. After an initial round of interventions by the identified speakers, the moderators will open the floor for audience questions and comments which will be responded to by the speakers. The outcome expected from the session is a community-vetted set of acceptable strategies for SIGs going forward, assuming that the global pandemic may continue for some more time in different parts of the APAC region.