ISIF Asia at the Internet Governance Forum 2017

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) brings together representatives from civil society, academia, private sector, government and the technical community as equals, to discuss about public policy issues relating to the development of the Internet. It is a unique space that informs and inspires. The IGF facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise. The IGF 2017 starts officially tomorrow in Geneva, Switzerland, and today a series of pre-events set the tone for the discussions that will take place from 18 to 21 December 2017 an the UNOG building.

IGF 2017
IGF 2017

ISIF Asia has hosted its awards ceremony at the Internet Governance Forum since 2011, and most recently as a joint ceremony with the Seed Alliance regional partners, FRIDA and FIRE Africa. For this year, the Seed Alliance partners have organized 3 sessions, all running on Monday 18 December:

  1. At 9:00 am in Room XXVI – E the Seed Alliance Open Forum will be sharing with the community what the Seed Alliance is, and the work of FIRE, FRIDA and ISIF Asia to support innovation on Internet development. In particular, the Seed Alliance will be focusing on its gender programming, ahead of the 2018 plans to have a specific funding category across the 3 regions to fund gender and technology projects.
  2. At 11:50 am in Room XXII – E a round table will discuss how devices, content & innovative business models shape our digital future. The workshop speakers will discuss how the business models behind content and services as well as infrastructure development (devices and networks) has a direct impact on how we can achieve the goal to connect the next billion to enhance opportunities to all.
  3. Then at 1:30 pm in room Room XXVI – E the Seed Alliance Awards ceremony will take place and 6 amazing projects will be presented. Please join us to acknowledge the great contributions each and everyone of them is doing for our digital future. The ISIF Asia award winner from Indonesia, PetaBencana.ID will be among these amazing group.

The Seed Alliance will also have a booth at the IGF Village, so please come to meet the award winners and learn more about their work, and the work of the regional partners to support innovation across the global south.

Then, on Tuesday 19 at 10:10 am in Room IX – A, Duncan Macintosh (CEO of the APNIC Foundation) will be sharing about the Foundation support for cybersecurity projects, included those funded during the ISIF Asia 2016 and 2017 grants at the session Cybersecurity: Balancing security, openness, and privacy.
On Wednesday 20, the Global Information Society Watch 2017 on National and Regional Internet Governance Forums will be launched at 1:30 pm in Room XXV – E. ISIF Asia supported the development of this resource, as an important tool to capture the diversity and richness of IG discussions around the world.

As co-chair of the APrIGF, I also would like to invite you to join the presentation of the APrIGF Synthesis Document, on Thursday 21 at 9:00 am at Room XXII – E. The document, developed through a community process online produce a collaborative outputs of the discussions held at the last APrIGF in Bangkok, a remarkable effort lead by the APrIGF secretariat.

Many ISIF Asia grant and award winners are actively involved at the IGF and organizing or speaking at different workshops. Here are some of the few:

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Sylvia Cadena - ISIF Asia secretariat

After ten years managing the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) at APNIC, Sylvia was appointed Head of Programs at the APNIC Foundation in December 2016. As Head of Programs, Sylvia works on the management, design and implementation of collaborative programs to expand APNIC’s capacity building efforts and its overall Development Program. At ISIF Asia, Sylvia continues to lead a grants and awards program that seeks to empower communities in the Asia Pacific to research, design and implement Internet-based solutions for their own needs. One of the region’s most established Internet development programs, ISIF places particular emphasis on the positive role the Internet has on social and economic development in the Asia Pacific. Sylvia also leads APNIC’s engagement with the Seed Alliance, a global collaboration with the African (AFRINIC) and South American (LACNIC) Internet registries. Together with its funding partners, and various regional sponsors, the Seed Alliance supports innovative Internet development across the global south. She is also a member of the ICANN CCWG on new gTLD auction proceeds and co-chair of the APrIGF. Throughout her career, Sylvia has focused on the strategic use of the Internet for development with an emphasis on capacity building. Since her early years as a UN Volunteer, she has worked across the multi-stakeholder spectrum of organizations with technical and advisory roles, mainly about information systems, access provision and innovation. In July 2003, her work was recognized with the "Annual Award for Young Professionals" by the International Development Research Center (IDRC).