Annual Report 2020-2021

This report covers the Association’s activities between its seventh General Assembly, held in a virtual setting during IGF 2020 on 2 November 2020 and its eighth General Assembly, to be held in a virtual setting, on 10 December 2021. With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of the National and Regional IGF initiatives (NRIs) and the preparatory work for the IGF2021 changed, as most activities moved into a virtual or hybrid setting. IGFSA adapted to the new situation and continued to support the NRIs holding online and hybrid meetings.

1.         Structures of the Association

a)         The General Assembly

The IGFSA held its seventh General Assembly during the 16th IGF (virtual) on 2 November 2020.  Over 60 IGFSA Members and observers attended the meeting via remote participation.

The General Assembly approved the 2021 Budget Allocation.

Five seats on the IGFSA Executive Committee were open for elections.  Eight IGFSA members put their names forward to seek election to the IGFSA Executive Committee.

The following four candidates were elected to the IGFSA Executive Committee

• Ms. Joyce Chen;
• Mr. Brian Cute;
• Mr. Wisdom Donkor;
• Mr. Christopher Mondini

The following candidate who was serving the remainder of Mr. Tarek Kamel’s term was re-elected to the IGFSA Executive Committee

• Mr. Nigel Hickson, incumbent IGFSA Executive Committee Member

The full 2020-2021 IGFSA Executive Committee was constituted as follows:

• Markus Kummer, Independent (Chair)
• Joyce Chen, APNIC
• Brian Cute, Independent
• Wisdom Donkor,
• Nigel Hickson, Independent
• Christopher Mondini, ICANN
• Jimson Olufuye, AfICTA (Treasurer)
• Eduardo Santoyo, .co

Please refer to the Summary Record of the 2020 IGFSA General Assembly for more details.

b)         The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee held nineteen meetings over the course of the year. There were also committee meetings that were held to address specific fundraising and communications initiatives. All meetings were held in a virtual setting.

In carrying out its tasks, the Executive Committee is supported by a Secretary and Secretariat responsible for day-to-day activities, carrying out the Association’s operational tasks, preparing for meetings and other regular office requirements. Jennifer Chung is the Association’s Secretary while Kelvin Truong from DotAsia provides technical support as part of the Secretariat.

Michael Parratt (CMAC) is retained as the IGFSA Accountant.

c)         Membership

The two categories of membership agreed upon at the inaugural General Assembly continued in 2021: individual membership with annual membership dues of USD 25 and organizational membership with annual membership dues of USD 100.

In 2021, 5 new individual members and 1 organizational member joined the Association, bringing the total to 256 registered members.
 The Executive Committee admitted the following individual members:

New individual members:

1. Amrita Choudhury
2. Anriette Esterhuysen
3. K Mohan Raidu
4. Olusegun Olugbile
5. Lida Best

The Executive Committee admitted the following organizational member:

1. European Internet Forum

2.         Activities of the Association

a)         Fundraising

In 2021 the Association received a total of USD 114,473.18 in contributions. Below is a breakdown of the contributions received as of 14 October 2021:
While membership fees are not the primary source of funding to fulfill the IGFSA mission, USD 1,973.18 were received as regular membership dues and individual donations.

Below is a breakdown of all the contributions received as of 15 November 2021:

b)         Budget and allocation of Funds

1. Overview
   As agreed at the 2017 General Assembly, the Executive Committee allocated the available fund in a flexible manner, prioritizing the NRIs.
2. 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 2020, IGFSA contributed a total of USD 20,000 to the NRIs.

USD 3,000 were allocated to 2 Regional and Sub-Regional IGF, USD 15,000 to 9 National Initiatives, USD 2,000 to Youth Initiatives bringing up the total of its contributions to NRIs to USD 499,000.

Funding situation as of 15 November 2021 (in USD)

(i)         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 300,000.

(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). This is one of the purposes of the IGFSA, according to Article 3 of the Articles of Association.
As part of this priority, 1 Sub-Regional IGF Initiative was approved to receive 2,500 USD funding:

1. CAIGF

1 Regional IGF Initiative was approved in a special case to receive 500 USD funding and in-kind speaker contribution:

1. EuroDIG

4 National IGFs were approved to receive 1,500 USD funding:

1. Armenia IGF
2. Chad IGF
3. Lebanon IGF
4. Guatemala IGF

4 National IGFs were approved to receive 2,000 USD funding in a new category where these NRIs also have a concurrent youth program or affiliated youth initiative to encourage youth capacity building:

1. Ghana IGF
2. Kenya IGF
3. IGF Cameroon
4. Uganda IGF

In addition, one NRI having its first meeting, and 2 Youth Initiative were approved to receive 1,000 USD funding

1. Comoros IGF
2. Youth IGF Argentina
3. Youth IGF Ukraine

A total of 20,000 USD was spent in support of NRIs.

(iii)         IGFSA Contingency

The Funds allocated under this category cover the daily operations of the IGFSA, such as banking fees, postage and shipping and other costs associated with running the IGFSA Secretariat.

(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 contribution of USD 10,440.90 was used for providing real-time transcription in intersessional calls of the IGF’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and the Dynamic Coalitions.

(v)         Outreach/Communications/Miscellaneous

This year, IGFSA established a small group within the EC to look at value proposition for donors. Various targeted efforts, messages and presentations were made to different stakeholder groups and constituency groups to broaden the donor base.

The IGFSA Executive Committee and the Secretariat also made use of the virtual NRI meetings to promote the Association, raise awareness and recruit new members.

A new quarterly IGFSA newsletter was launched in June 2021 to inform members about developments in the Internet Governance sphere as well as showcasing newly produced video interviews from the IGFSA community from donors, NRIs and IGFSA EC members.