Agenda

Capacity building activities have been identified as crucial for the creation of a digital society. Already defined during the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005, capacity building was recognized “as one the key public policy issues (…) in relation to the experimental multistakeholder process, which leads to the accumulation of intellectual capital to development of relational infrastructure for the domain, and to the emergence of common global consciousness.” As the number of Internet users has gradually increased in the past 15 years, capacity building activities have become even more important for the smooth functioning of the Internet and the multistakeholder approach.

Both ICANN and the ITU-D have been conducting capacity building activities specifically developed for governments. Their aim is to allow participants to become more active in discussions and to better articulate their national positions on various issues in the field of ICTs. Governments and their civil servants have greatly benefited from these capacity building activities and have gained a deeper understanding of issues that are important for policy makers and for their national digital strategies. ICANN and the ITU-D have cooperated in the organization of several workshops in the past and look to improve the collaboration between the two organizations in this area in the future.

Capacity building activities need to be relevant to both the organizations’ missions and objectives as well as the context in which the organizations work. In recent months, COVID-19 has impacted the world in an unprecedented manner. Previously planned capacity building activities have had to be modified and translated into the new on-line work environment we are all experiencing. Both the format and the content have to be revisited and rethought with COVID-19 in mind, addressing the short and longer-term impact of the pandemic while also developing the participants knowledge about ongoing and future processes and issues. One example of a current issue is the implementation of the United Nation’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation Recommendations and the Roadmap released a few weeks ago which references capacity building .

This session aims to explore the different aspects of capacity building activities through the following focus:

• Introduction of the ICANN and the ITU-D respective capacity building activities for governments
• The impact of COVID-19 on these activities
• The significance of the recently published UN High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation Report and Roadmap for capacity building activities.

https://www.icann.org 

https://www.itu.int