Executive Committee Summary Records Summary Record of 72nd meeting of the Executive Committee – 16 August 2023

Sep 30, 2023 | Meeting Summary Records, Reports and Meeting Minutes

Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

72nd meeting of the Executive Committee

16 August, 2023

 

  1. The Executive Committee held its 72nd meeting on 16 August 2023. The meeting took place in in a virtual setting with the following participants: Amrita Choudhury (chair), Nigel Hickson (Treasurer), Anriette Esterhuysen, Chris Mondini, Flavio Wagner, Wisdom Donkor; and Jennifer (Secretariat). A quorum was established for the meeting, with six of the nine Executive Committee members taking part.

 

  1. The Agenda was adopted as circulated, and the summary record of the 71st meeting is pending approval if no comments or corrections are received on the IGFSA EC mailing list before 23 August 2023.

 

Status report on finances and funding requests

  1. Nigel Hickson, IGFSA Treasurer gave an update on the IGFSA bank account noting that the two Postfinance accounts have a frozen status due to the administrative process regarding the change of executive director (chair) of IGFSA. The IGFSA accountant is currently handling the process regarding the double signatory compliance reactivation requirements. It was noted that the bank has the documentation and the projected timeline to full functionality should be within the next week. Regarding the impact to the NRI payments, it was noted that the approved invoices are currently held as pending payment and should go through once the bank account matters have been resolved.

 

IGF Secretariat request for Intern support

  1. Amrita Choudhury, IGFSA Chair noted the request from the IGF Secretariat for travel support of the IGF Secretariat Intern to IGF 2023 Kyoto. There was some discussion regarding categorization of the support as a supplemental support instead of being tied to a specific individual, however it was explained that the rule surrounding the travel support for the intern only allows the funds to be sent in this manner. The request is approved by the EC and the Secretariat will be working with the IGF Secretariat regarding invoicing.

 

IGFSA support to the IGF Trust Fund

  1. The Secretary mentioned that IGFSA’s support to the IGF Trust fund for the past two year have been at 10k USD. The EC continued the discussion regarding general support for the IGF Secretariat via the IGF Trust Fund, and it was decided that IGFSA will raise its support level this year to 15k USD. The Secretary took an action to work with the IGF Secretariat and DESA to arrange for this official support transfer.

 

Discussion on Funding questions

  1. The EC had a general discussion on the funding support levels for regional youth IGFs as it was decided earlier on in the year to raise levels of IGFSA support to initiatives with a youth component. The independent national youth initiative also received a standard figure in the previous discussion. The case for Youth LACIGF was discussed as a special case because it was noted that according from current information from the focal point and also from the IGF Secretariat it may be the only physical meeting in the region. The EC decided to create the category for regional youth initiative and set the support level at 2500 USD.

 

  1. The EC also discussed the question of whether an initiative is eligible to receive IGFSA grants if the meeting was already held and the IGF Secretariat grant was denied. The case for Ghana IGF was brought up for discussion. The EC requested further information regarding the reason why the IGF Secretariat grant was denied, as well as further information on what the shortfall on funding is for Ghana IGF. It was decided that the Secretary reach out to the IGF Secretariat to understand reasons why the IGF Secretariat grant was denied, and Wisdom Donkor will contact Ghana IGF to understand the shortfall in funding that is requested.

 

Outreach and communication

  1. Anriette Esterhuysen lead the discussion on retaining an outside source to produce an Annual Report for IGFSA. It was noted that several consultants were contacted and Wim Degezelle would be available to produce a concise report for IGFSA. Details regarding the proposal will be coordinated between IGFSA and Wim.

 

  1. AOB
    1. IGFSA General Assembly at IGF Kyoto to be be discussed at next EC meeting.
    2. Doodle to be sent to schedule September call.