Summary Record of 41st meeting of the Executive Committee – 1 February 2021

Feb 25, 2021 | Meeting Summary Records, Reports and Meeting Minutes

Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

41st meeting of the Executive Committee

1 February 2021

Draft Summary Record

 

  1. The Executive Committee held its 41st meeting on 1 February 2021. The meeting took place in a virtual setting with the following participants: Markus Kummer (Chair), Wisdom Donkor, Brian Cute, Jimson Olufuye, Joyce Chen, Makane Faye, Nigel Hickson; IGFSA Secretariat: Jennifer Chung, Edmon Chung, Jenna Fung. Apologies received from Chris Mondini. A quorum was established for the meeting, with seven of the nine Executive Committee members taking part in the call.
  2. Anja Gengo from the IGF Secretariat was also invited to the call to provide an IGF Secretariat perspective on NRI processes. She gave an extensive update on behalf of the IGF Secretariat on capacity development efforts through NRIs, IGF Trust fund donor’s meeting, as well as the IGF 2021 timeline:

 

  1. Regarding capacity development efforts through NRIs, the IGF Secretariat noted that in 2019, 9 grants were approved (47k USD, 7 national, 2 regional). She further noted that UN reporting procedures were extensive and audits were needed for some grant applications due to legal status of some NRI entities. For 2020 grants were not issued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the 2020 funding was diverted to providing connectivity support to 100 individuals during the 12 days of vIGF 2020. For 2021, funding for hybrid (online and in-person) meetings may be possible, but will be based on detailed proposed budget and approved budget categories.

 

  1. There was some discussion on IGFSA funding criteria and the Chair explained that IGFSA has not performed due diligence checks in the past. The Chair confirmed that the current process is to verify with IGF Secretariat re eligibility/recognition of NRI status. He further noted that a past negative experience resulted in lost grant funding and an EC decision to not wire support funds to individual bank accounts going forward. The Executive Committee agreed that there was need for further discussion on how to apply due diligence procedures for future IGFSA funding requests.

 

  1. With regard to the 2021 IGF timeline, the IGF secretariat noted that the call for 2021 thematic inputs closed end of January and the IGF Secretariat was now clustering these into a synthesis report. Next steps on themes, parallel tracks will be discussed and decided by the MAG during the 1st Open Consultations and MAG meeting, hosted online from 22-24 February (https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/index.php?q=filedepot_download/11138/2394 )
  • The schedule of the annual meeting is expected to be announced in August 2021.

 

  1. Anja reported that a policy network, funded by the Swiss government, was launched to look at digital issues that intersect with the environment: (https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/policy-network-on-environment-and-digitalisation-pne ). The IGFSA EC applauded this initiative as having the potential to open door to donors who have not been involved in IGF processes so far.

 

  1. Brian Cute led the discussion on the IGFSA value proposition with the EC taking the contact spreadsheet with the value proposition document as guidance. Brian updated the EC on the information he received from some representatives of the private sector regarding the extent of their engagement with the IGF process, from dedicated policy personnel to being a donor to the IGF trust fund and IGFSA.  The Chair confirmed that previous funding support to IGFSA was tied to people who may have since changed their positions.

 

  1. There was continued discussion on how the EC can re-establish communications with these potential donors as well as avoid multiple outreach communications to the same organization.

 

  1. It was decided that next steps would be as follows:
    Action Item

    1. EC to add Domain Name Industry contacts to spreadsheet in collaborative folder by COB Monday 8 February for discussion for next call.

 

  1. The detailed discussion for the agenda item for website improvements and updates was deferred to the next EC call. Joyce Chen requested a discussion on membership benefits to be slated for the agenda as well.
    Action Item

    1. Secretariat to schedule a working call with Joyce Chen to discuss website improvements

 

  1. AOB
    The Chair confirmed the scheduling for the next EC call for Tuesday 16 February 2021 13:00 UTC.