The 18th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), under the overarching theme Internet We Want – Empowering All People, will take place from 8-12 October 2023 in a hybrid format, accommodating participants onsite in Kyoto, Japan, and online.
At IGF, GDIP will bring the meaningful access agenda to the forefront of digital inclusion dialogues and public policy discussions. Here’s where to find us.
7 October
Gender in the Global Digital Compact Conference
Saturday, 7th October at 09:00-16:30 JST
The Prince Kyoto Takaragaike Hotel
GDIP Executive Director, Policy and Programs Onica N. Makwakwa will be speaking on the panel
The Gender in the Global Digital Compact Conference is a critical platform through which shared positioning to support the centrality of gender in the process and outcomes of the Global Digital Compact will be discussed. Given that Member state negotiations on the Global Digital Compact start towards the end of the year, this is an ideal opportunity to both align on feminist principles to ensure the centrality of gender as well as garner support from key negotiating governments.
8 October
Women IGF Summit
Sunday, 8th October at 09:00-10:30 JST
WS 3 – Annex Hall 2
GDIP Senior Research Manager Margret Nyambura Ndung’u will be moderating the session
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Transforming Technology Frameworks for the Planet
Sunday, 8th October at 10:45-11:45 JST
WS 2 – Room A
GDIP board member and Sulá Batsú Founder and General Coordinator Kemly Camacho will be speaking
This workshop will be a contribution to the active debate taking place across continents. While, for a large part of the 20th century, single entities had a monopoly in infrastructure, we now have different players with a range of different business models, corresponding to multiple ways to finance communication infrastructure. This workshop will explore the diversity of funding models and shed light on the financial landscape around connectivity infrastructure, ranging from submarine cables to fixed and mobile networks, and the different opportunities to leverage funds to connect people and things.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Financing Broadband Networks of the Future to Bridge Digital
Sunday, 8th October at 09:00-10:30 JST
Workshop Room 7
GDIP board member and Meta Vice President of Public Policy for Africa, Middle East and Turkey Kojo Boakye will be speaking
This pre-event at the global IGF aims to facilitate discussion of transforming models of technology and business, the role of governance and standards, and what changes are needed to ensure that technology companies are held accountable for their violations and to promote models for human rights, earth justice, and sustainable development. Speakers in the pre-event will share their experiences in working through cooperative and collective models, and reflect on questions that will guide a facilitated discussion with participants.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Digital Commons for Digital Sovereignty
Sunday, 8th October at 10:40-12:10 JST
WS 3 – Annex Hall 2
GDIP board member and Head of the Center for Technology and Society at FGV Luca Belli will be moderating the session
The structures of the Internet affect us more deeply than ever before, reaching out to all aspects of our lives, from our societies and cultures to our finances and politics – to our very individual human behaviours and identities. This event will explore how different approaches to Digital Commons can contribute to strengthen digital sovereignty.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Agents of Inclusion: Community Networks and Media Meet-up
Sunday, 8th October at 14:00-16:00 JST
WS 2 – Room A
GDIP board member and Sulá Batsú Founder and General Coordinator Kemly Camacho will be speaking
Our meet-up will bring together local community champions eager to share their learnings and practical solutions for a truly inclusive digital world. Practitioners from ten community-centered projects of the Global Majority – some of them on-site, others joining virtually – will explore digital inclusion along the “4C Framework”: What does it mean to design computing, connectivity, content and (human) capacity with local community members in the driver’s seat? What does it take to customize and sustain crucial hardware and software on a local level? How can offline networks and global access models be combined to serve community needs? Where does the platform economy end and reliable content creation start? What capacities and shared resources are key to live up digital rights? To keep asking those important questions, once the session is over, we will train all interested participants in the usage of open-source media creation tools to engage in a decentralized and participatory coverage of the 2023 IGF – putting into practice community-funded content and networking.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
A Global Compact for Digital Justice: Southern Perspectives
Sunday, 8th October at 16:00-19:00 JST
WS 9 – Room C-2
GDIP board member and Head of the Center for Technology and Society at FGV Luca Belli will be speaking
The pre-event will discuss how to center the vision of digital justice for the majority world in the Global Digital Compact, with a specific focus on the sustainable development agenda. Using a workshop format divided into 4 clear rounds of 40 minutes each, this event intends to build a robust multistakeholder dialogue on how to centre Southern/majority world perspectives into the Global Digital Compact.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
IGF LAC Space
Sunday, 8th October at 09:00-11:00 JST
SC – Room H
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
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Digital Rights and Wrongs: Voices from Indian Civil Society
Sunday, 8th October at 11:40-12:10 JST
WS 6 – Room E
Digital Empowerment Foundation
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Scoping Civil Society Engagement in Digital Cooperation
Sunday, 8th October at 13:30-15:30 JST
WS 10 – Room I
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
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Consumer Data Rights from Japan to the World
Sunday, 8th October at 13:45-16:45 JST
WS 11 – Room J
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Foundation for Media Alternatives
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Looking ahead to WSIS+20: Accelerating the Multistakeholder Process
Sunday, 8th October at 13:45-15:45 JST
Plenary Hall
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
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Advancing digital inclusion and human rights: ROAM-X approach
Sunday, 8th October at 16:00-19:00 JST
WS 7 – Room K
UNESCO and CETIC.br
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A Global Compact for Digital Justice: Southern Perspectives
Sunday, 8th October at 16:00-19:00 JST
WS 9 – Room C-2
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and IT for Change
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
9 October
Public-Private Data Partnerships in the Global South
Monday, 9th October at 15:15-16:15 JST
WS 3 – Annex Hall 2
LIRNEasia
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African AI: Digital Public Goods for Inclusive Development
Monday, 9th October at 17:45-18:45 JST
WS 5 – Room B-2
Pollicy
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10 October
Advocacy to Action: Engaging Policymakers on Digital Rights
Tuesday, 10th October at 8:30-9:30 JST
WS 1 – Annex Hall 1
Foundation for Media Alternatives
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WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event: Open Consultation Process Meeting
Tuesday, 10th October at 11:00-12:00 JST
WS 8 – Room C-1
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
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Global Digital Compact & Beyond: A Multistakeholder Perspective
Tuesday, 10th October at 13:30-15:00 JST
Plenary Hall
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
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WSIS at 20: Successes, Failures and Future Expectations
Tuesday, 10th October at 15:15-16:45 JST
WS 6 – Room E
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and IT for Change
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Promoting Efficient E-waste Management in Africa and Asia
Tuesday, 10th October at 16:30-17:00 JST
Speaker’s Corner Room H
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Digital Empowerment Foundation
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11 October
All hands on deck to connect the next billions
Wednesday, 11th October at 14:45-16:15 JST
Room B-2
GDIP Executive Director, Policy and Programs Onica N. Makwakwa will be speaking on the panel
This workshop will bring together policy and technology experts who work on delivering universal connectivity through varied technologies, economic and business models, as well as policy and regulatory approaches. The session aims to take stock of their experiences and discuss concrete approaches that can be transposed or scaled up to enable non-traditional and innovative solutions to ensure meaningful connectivity to everyone, everywhere. The session will also take stock of the policy environment required to enable investment and cross-sector partnerships, specifically between the private and public sectors, while unlocking and harnessing the potential of all types of technologies.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Policy Network on Meaningful Access: Meaningful Access to Include and Connect
Wednesday, 11th October at 17:30-19:00 JST
Main Hall
GDIP Executive Director, Policy and Programs Onica N. Makwakwa will be speaking on the panel
The concept of meaningful access has emerged in response to the growing body of evidence that even when people have connectivity, they might not have been fully benefiting from the Internet. How one gets connected to the Internet is an equally important challenge to the experience that a person will have once they are online, even more so to the community/country in which they live.
This year, the PNMA process focused on experiences with implementation and problem-solving for the issues previously raised. By building a repository, the network could explore reasons on why practices have or have not expanded, why digital divides persist, and which structural issues repeat themselves in different scenarios. In this session, we will explore how stakeholders are working towards better local content online, the use of non-Latin alphabets, lack of connectivity, and more. We expect great participation from the audience, as the key ideas emerged during this discussion will be registered in the policy network’s 2023 output report.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Framework to Develop Gender-responsive Cybersecurity Policy
Wednesday, 11th October at 16:30-17:30 JST
WS 2 – Room A
GDIP board member and Sulá Batsú Founder and General Coordinator Kemly Camacho will be speaking
This session feeds into ongoing international and national cybersecurity policy advocacy efforts. Building on this session, APC will continue working to train and provide guidance to policymakers for the incorporation of gender perspectives into cybersecurity policies; strengthen civil society to engage in global and national policy spaces to advocate for inclusion of gender into cyber policies and norms; inform international diplomatic delegations engaging in cyber security negotiations. With this workshop, we also seek to discuss the framework, its usefulness and gaps, and gather input for future work on this agenda and continue giving visibility to the differentiated impacts of cyber incidents on women and LGBTQI+. APC also seeks to identify and work with interested stakeholders from the IGF community to use the framework. This session will also seek to collectively identify future policy advocacy and research opportunities, including unresolved questions around an intersectional gender approach to cybersecurity norms/policy.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Digital Democracy and Future Realities
Wednesday, 11th October at 08:45-10:15 JST
WS 5 – Room B-2
Pollicy
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Viewing Disinformation from a Global Governance Perspective
Wednesday, 11th October at 13:00-14:30 JST
WS 5 – Room B-2
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Digital Rights Foundation
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Taxing Tech Titans: Policy Options for the Global South
Wednesday, 11th October at 13:30-15:00 JST
WS 4 – Room B-1
LIRNEasia
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
What is the Nature of the Internet? Different Approaches
Wednesday, 11th October at 14:45-16:15 JST
WS 7 – Room K
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and IT for Change
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
12 October
UNECA Role in the Internet Ecosystem in Africa
Thursday, 12th October at 10:15-14:45 JST
WS 4 – Room B-1
GDIP Executive Director, Policy and Programs Onica N. Makwakwa will be speaking on the panel
The session is expected to bring in various stakeholders from development organisations that collaborate with UNECA on the field, academia, researchers, end users, mostly youth and women, countries in the region and other participants from the global Internet governance ecosystem. Online participants will be the first to be asked to intervene after each speaker’s contributions before in-person participants are asked to take to the floor. This is done to ensure the voices of online participants are heard first based on various time differences between Kyoto, Japan and where they joined the session virtually during the 18th Internet Governance forum.
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Disrupt Harm: Accountability for a Safer Internet
Thursday, 12th October at 13:30-14:30 JST
WS 7 – Room K
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
We are here too! African perspectives on social media futures
Thursday, 12th October at 11:40-12:10 JST
WS 7 – Room K
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
Visit the session page for more information, register, or add it to your schedule.
Global Digital Value Chain: Africa’s Status and Way Forward
Thursday, 12th October at 13:00-14:30 JST
WS 3 – Annex Hall 2
Africa ICT Alliance
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About GDIP
The Global Digital Inclusion Partnership is a coalition of public, private, and civil society organizations working to bring internet connectivity to the global majority and ensure everyone is meaningfully connected by 2030. Founded by a global team of experts who successfully championed affordable and meaningful connectivity around the world, GDIP