Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

 Annual Report 2018-2019

This report covers the Association’s activities between its fifth General Assembly, held in Paris, France, on 12 November 2018 and its sixth General Assembly, to be held in Berlin, Germany, on 28 November 2019.

1.         Structures of the Association
a)         The General Assembly

The IGFSA held its fifth General Assembly during the 14th IGF in Paris, France on 12 November 2018.  More than 50 IGFSA Members attended the meeting in person.

The General Assembly approved the 2018 Budget Allocation.
Two members of the IGFSA Executive Committee, Marilyn Cade and Avri Doria were up for renewal. The were both re-elected and two IGFSA members, Makane Faye and Nilmini Rubin were also elected to fill the remaining open seats on the IGFSA Executive Committee.

b)         The Executive Committee

The full 2018-2019 IGFSA Executive Committee was constituted as follows:

  • Markus Kummer, (Chair)
  • Marilyn Cade, mCADE LLC
  • Edmon Chung, DotAsia Organisation
  • Avri Doria, Independent Researcher
  • Makane Faye,AFIGF
  • Tarek Kamel, ICANN
  • Jimson Olufuye, AfiCTA
  • Eduardo Santoyo, .co
  • Nilmini Rubin, Tetra Tecch

The entire Internet community was deeply saddened by the passing of Tarek Kamel in October 2019. Tarek was held in high esteem and was widely recognized as an Internet pioneer who contributed significantly to the development and deployment of the Internet in Africa. His support and advice was always helpful and inspiring. He leaves a big void.

The Executive Committee expressed the Association’s condolences to his family and asks all IGFSA members to honor Tarek’s memory.

The Executive Committee, at its meeting on 6 November, held in the margins of ICANN 66 in Montreal, appointed ICANN’s Vice-President for Europe, Nigel Hickson, to replace Tarek for the remainder of his term, which will expire at the General Assembly 2020.

The Executive Committee held four meetings over the course of the year. Some meetings were held in person, or in conjunction with an ICANN meeting. All physical meetings had remote participation available via a communication application.

In carrying out its tasks, the Executive Committee is supported by Jennifer Chung as the Association’s Secretary.

On 6 November 2019, the Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the DotAsia Organisation, setting forth the tasks related to running the website and performing other administrative tasks.

c)         Membership

The Executive Committee informs the General Assembly that the following new members were admitted:

  • Phils, Rod
  • Buckridge, Chris
  • Lloyd, Louisl
  • Olawale-Roberts, Lawrence
  • Gahimbare, Arnaud
  • Dumbuya, Musa
  • Cudjoe, Bernard Brian
  • Martial Ngounou, Charlie
  • Brahim Mahamat, Zina
  • Mamattah, Raymond
  • Awuah, Kwaku Nyarko
  • Solomon, Arthur
  • Kwabena Agbozo, Eric
  • SIBIRO, Philippe Junior
  • Gab-Hingonné, Gabdibé
  • Estrada, Miguel Ignacio
  • Sulieman, Adil
  • Salyou, Fanny
  • Momeni, Avis
  • Soko, Edwin
  • Ntogue, Lydienne
  • van Aardt, Frans
  • Babalola, Olumide
  • Pandey, Romkant
  • Donkor, Wisdom
  • Micek, Peter
  • Sabirov, Shavkat
  • Khawar, Ahmad Reza
  • Weber, Sarah
  • Rowney, Paul
  • McKnight, Lee
  • Tews, Shane
  • Kleeb, Beat
  • Sassi, Melissa
  • MacFie, Joly

This brings the total of registered IGFSA Members up to 226.
The Association collected USD 1,725 in membership dues.

2. Activities of the Association
a)         Fundraising
In 2019 the Association received a total of USD 115,000 in contributions. Below is a breakdown of the contributions received as of 1 November 2019:

Amount in USD Organization
50,000 ICANN
50,000 NRO
3,500 Afilias
1,500 LACTLD
10,000 Google Inc.

Since its inception at the 2014 IGF in Istanbul, IGFSA has raised USD 869,511.
b)         Budget and allocation of Funds
(i) Overview
As agreed at the 2017 General Assembly, the Executive Committee allocated the available fund in a flexible manner, prioritizing the NRIs.
(ii)        Regional/National IGF Initiatives (NRIs)
The Executive Committee attached a high priority to strengthen, seek and promote exchange and collaboration with National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs), with a focus on NRIs from developing countries and economies in transition. This is one of the purposes of the IGFSA, according to Article 3 of the Articles of Association. A pre-condition for being considered as a recipient of IGFSA funding is to be recognized by the IGFSA Secretariat and listed on the IGF website.
As part of this priority, since the General Assembly 2018, IGFSA contributed a total of USD 97,000 to the NRIs.
USD 35,0000 were allocated to 9 Regional and Sub-Regional IGF and USD 62,000 to 31 National Initiatives, bringing up the total of its contributions to NRIs to USD 410,000.
Regional IGFs

  • Caribbean IGF
  • Central Africa IGF
  • Central Asia IGF
  • East Africa IGF
  • EuroDIG
  • LACIGF
  • North African IGF
  • SEEDIG
  • West Africa IGF
  • Southern Africa

National IGFs

  • Afghanistan
  • Armenia
  • Belarus
  • Benin
  • Bolivia
  • Chad
  • Colombia
  • DR Congo
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Ghana IGF
  • Guatemala
  • Kenya
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • North Macedonia
  • Mauritius
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Rwanda
  • Saint Vincent & Grenadines
  • Senegal
  • South Sudan
  • Tanzania
  • Trinidad& Tobago
  • Togo
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • Vanuatu
  • Zimbabwe

(iii)       Contribution to the UN-IGF Trust Fund
The Association made a contribution of USD 10,000 to the UN-IGF Trust Fund, bringing up the total of its contributions to the UN to USD 280,000.
(iv)       Accessibility Fund
The contribution from Google was earmarked for enhancing the accessibility of the IGF. A special fund was set up for this purpose. The first contribution of USD 10,000 was used for providing real-time transcription in intersessional calls of the IGF’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and the Dynamic Coalitions.  A second contribution of USD 10,000 allowed the funding of three persons with disabilities to take part in the 2019 IGF.
(vv)    Outreach/Communications/Miscellaneous
The IGFSA Executive Committee and the Secretariat made use of various events to promote the Association, raise awareness and recruit new members, such as NRI and MAG meetings, as well as ICANN meetings.
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 The contribution from Google Inc. Is earmarked for a special fund to enhance accessibility in IGF related meetings.