The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> PARTICIPANT: Now we are speaking. Co‑host, we need to know.
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>> PARTICIPANT: To leverage each and every one of our meetings. First to take up the capacity building to understand what actually the process looks like for nongovernmental stakeholders, and then, also, create the tools, materials, and opportunities for each of our meetings. Each of our NRIs to be able to consult with our communities and stakeholders. Finally, as a global NRI network, I wish that we would be able to create an actual input opportunity.
it a paper, be it some kind of concrete written input we can put into the process. I think it would be good suggestions for us to be able to take up in the upcoming year. Even starting now, I think, would be really important for us to do. Thanks.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you very much. Would that microphone work? Can you try?
>> SANDRA: It seems to work. Hello everyone. I'll stand up so you can see me.
Many of you mentioned already that your initiatives are trying to guarantee the stakeholder model in your country. And we all know, also, in Europe, that this is sometimes not really understood by all stakeholders. Particularly looking at governments. And because we identified that issue that, basically parliamentary needs to understand why the internet is so important to continue. We together made a brochure. It's called "50 Years of Internet." the main context comes from Internet Society, and in addition, we put together what the discussion has been on a European level.
But maybe this brochure is also interesting and useful for your countries and for your initiatives to use. It's rather short. It's not the a long book to read. But it may be something for your stakeholders to be aware of, so they, in particular, Parliamentary government understands what it needs to make any legislation.
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So they understand it. I don't have many of the paper copies with me, you find it on the website. If you would like to have paper copies, let me know. I'm sure we can ‑‑ we've printed a small addition. If there's a big need, we can possibly print many more. Let me know if you're interested. But I think this something that is useful for the entire global community.
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>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you. Let me start, as well. I don't know what that means. Africa IGF. Let me start from my Nigerian IGF. Since 2009, we started the Nigerian IGF. Or 2012, sorry. 2012.
It had been there but we reestablished it in 2012. And since 2020, we had to use ‑‑
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One of the things I've covered some of them are big players in the space. And one of the ones that rings a bell is [?] coming from the Nigerian Youth IGF. Secondly, we had to invite the Parliament into the advisory committee. Even when they do policy or legislation or open consultation, we are contacted to make input into whatever programme that has been done. By the Parliament IGF. And, again, the internet governance cooperating
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And some of them have found expression of their desired career through that meeting. Because when we are done, we give them little certificates. And some of them use it for other things. They are also playing great in this space. On the West African level, we started in 2022. During the West African governance, we had a full programme of three hours. Talking about our contribution. We made our contribution and the WSIS. We are sensitizing our people to know it's very important. And our Ministers are being informed about it.
And the youth, I think some of them are here. The West African Youth IGF, they have continued to make sure it's working very well. I'm proud of them! They're making a lot of contributions, even at the global level. And some of them made contributions to the GDC. At the African level, we have the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa supporting the process. The IGF Africa IGF process. And Parliamentarians are coming up strong. We started in 2002, and just like the Tanzania nation, we're seeing them stronger. And we're seeing them now. And they're getting involved in what the IGF is all about!
So my suggestion is that at the stakeholder level, please let the government be part. Let the legislators be a part of it. Because whatever we say. Whatever policy brief we come up, like in my country Nigeria, the agency that is in charge of ICT to call us to prepare what we call white paper on IGF. And what is all about. So with that contribution, it would also strengthen the policy process. And, also, we see results coming out.
So I want to share with you that we're not only [?] you do monthly. Somebody said they do monthly meetings. Is it? Okay. All right. So I think we shouldn't just do the run of the programme and go sit back. We should follow up and collaborate with your stakeholders. Make sure we hold them responsible. That they listen to our recommendations and doing something. Coming up with policy. And they understand more the stakeholder process. It's important. Today I have somebody representing my nation representing the Ministers here. My senator is here. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. The senator is here. The agency, the National Information Development Agency, they are now interested. They want to know what we are, what the IGF is all about, and when they get back, I don't think it will remain the same. They have to understand what a multistakeholder issue is. For Africa, we have what we call Africa. I think some of you attended. And they are passionate about it. And we have our contribution from Africa already. So we have contributors. If you can also organize that. So with the government and the legislators and all the stakeholders. To be able to come out and contribute to.
And it legitimizes the IGF. When you are strong, you are making an impact. You know, the government can't go down and say "oh, no. IGF is not important." So getting them involved.
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WSIS. Yes. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: I'm going ask you to pause the microphone. I think here on your left and then we're going to go back to Miriam.
>> AUDIENCE: okay. Okay. You can hear me, right?
Thank you very much. I'm from the IGF
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We are very young in the process. We are on the second iteration of the IGF. And I want to take this opportunity to compliment the work and support we get from this process. This is something we personally are also continuing to African Regional Space, supporting other youth and initiative in Africa. Mainly supporting the Burundi. How we contribute to the WSIS+ process. I think it was mentioned something I want to mention. We address three different NRI events. We have recommendations from those events.
I think now is time to make a kind of repertory, if I can say. Those recommendations. And have a guideline on how we assess the impact of the recommendations. And one of the KPI Parliamentarian are engaging in the process. How many government officials are ready to support youth initiatives. Are ready to support the national IGF initiatives. And how many policy implementations are actually coming out of our recommendations. At the national and even the youth NRI events. Highlight that we need to ask ‑‑
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>> >>: to highlight. So we have contributions to those objectives. In the end, give a calendar of when we want to facilitate regarding the key issues. Thank you very much.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Let's hear from Miriam.
>> Thank you. Can everyone hear me? Good. All right. Good morning. My name is Miriam. I'm from Gambia. I serve for the Africa Youth IGF. My contribution to answer the question what can we can do ahead of the wsis. It's along the lines of what was mentioned.
I think it's high time we go back to the community, we go back to the multistakeholder approach, and go back to the development involved in the IGF since the establishment of the national IGFs. And assess and evaluate what are the impacts that have been made. Because I believe that at the end of every IGF, their recommendations, policy recommendations, or actionable steps to recommend moving forward.
It's time to assess what went wrong, what went right, what sometimes organizations or youth ‑‑
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Or international development agencies on certain issues. For instance on data protection or so. What are some of the recommendations from those papers that actually have been taken into action. And what are the ‑‑ what worked and what didn't work. Ahead of the WSIS. A year goes by fast. My recommendation from the conversation what has been happening for each of the NRIs to go back to the community and their individual countries and reassess what went wrong right and what went wrong. In the WSIS we need to provide concrete evidence. And provide which is why the IGF must stay.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Miriam. Jacque, please, you have the floor.
>> JACQUE: Hello everyone. I'm from Switzerland.
I serve on the board of the European IGF. I'm speaking now in the capacity of the culture of the Swiss IGF. What I would like to share with you, besides that I'm happy to be among so many friends from all over the world here. What we discovered in our IGF is that to have most impact, we should have something to distribute afterwards. Distribute to government, to associations, to just other stakeholder groups. Such as the Asian‑pacific we issue messages. There's some rough consensus on it. We approve it on the spot and it has a huge impact.
Something else I would like to share what we have achieved over the past years in Switzerland, is the buy in of business. And recognising that large, small, medium enterprises are also corporate citizens are hugely affected by what happens to the internet. We also found their engagement and will not also use this to leverage the impact. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Jacque, can I ask you to pass the microphone to the back.
>> PARTICIPANT: Hello everyone. It's great to be here with so many friends. And some in friends, as well. That are joining this great community!
I wanted to comment on two things. One, some of us mentioned it before about the government participations in this process. The indication of Bolivia, actually, we had a very extended relationship with the government. We, from our first IGF was in 2017. From the beginning, the government was also actively involved.
This last time, actually, after two years, because we also need to talk about bad things. In our case, we had to stop the IGF for two years. The last one we did was in 2021. Actually, we managed to [?] the IGF in Bolivia this year. But from a full engagement from the Regulator's office. He was supposed to come here to Riyadh, but couldn't make it because of different agenda issues.
But what I want to say regarding this, we need to keep trying. When we talk about it, most of the stakeholders are participating in the processes. But the government usually takes more time. Sometimes it's very difficult to involve them. But I think it's important from the people that are supporting the processes in each of our countries. To keep trying. To keep inviting them. And, hopefully, finally make them part of the process. Finally at the end, the ones that can provide the policy are the governments, Parliamentarians, of course, with the input we can provide from the different actors.
That's about my capacity as facilitator of the process in Bolivia. I also want to comment in my capacity [?] foundation member.
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we were requested by many chapters around the world. In our case, we had three countries, three chapters that asked support from us to provide training and internet governance. And also from many countries in Africa.
So what I meant to mention about is this is, I think, a very good point. It's an important contribution to prepare the newcomers in our countries, in order to make them active in this process. So I also want to offer the support. You can reach us directly or through our chapters. You know, that we have working many chapters in all of the world. So we would be happy to support this kind of process to you! Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Sebastien. These types of processes are valuable but they come at a cost. And budgets are important. And I know funding has been an issue ongoing. But things have changed. To a good extent, I think. Over the past couple of years, we have now entities that established the grant process for the NRI. So I'm about to remind an important point. And I'm glad to ISoc foundation. That have been a great champion and supporter of the NRIs. It deserves an applause. Such as the IGF Support Association, as well. I'm not sure if it's here, but Jennifer is here as a Secretariat. They are giving a limited number of grants to the developing countries NRIs.
And with that in mind, I know we have here a couple of requests for the floor. But if you agree if you would like to hear about a few words about the foundation plans for supporting the NRI long‑term.
I would like to give the floor to Lilian, the chair of the African IGF. She's with us online. And then we'll go to Umut. Lilian, you have the floor. Technicians will unmute you.
>> LILIAN: Thank you. Good afternoon, colleagues. I had a few challenges connecting to the meeting. Physically there. Probably able to see you tomorrow.
But in addition to ‑‑
>> MODERATOR: And then back to Lilian. Can we try this? Umut, can you try speaking?
>> UMUT: Hello.
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>> MODERATOR: We're having some technical issues Channelling the audio back into the room. I know our online participants can hear us. Colleagues from the technical team are working on it to fix. I think it's just an output issue.
But while you're working on it, I would like us to come back to the room. I know there was a request for the floor. I think somewhere here. And then from the back.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. Can you hear me? This is Natalja from the Czech IGF. We were established recently. Earlier this year, we had the first meeting. I wanted to share how it went. Because it is quite challenging in our country to even spread the event wide into the governance. Why we should talk about it. We wanted to make this first event more in the traditional fashion to bring barriers, stakeholders, bring members from the Civil Society, academia, high schools. As we struggled with
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Okay. Excuse me. To understand that their voice can really matter. And we can take part in the conversation. So we had to change the approach. And start by forming, like, a round table with people who are already interested to share, okay, how we can actually mobilise the people more. What we know about these issues. What worked well in the past. What can be probably made better. Because we still struggle, also, with regard to the Ministry in government. To make a point ‑‑
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It should not just happen behind closed doors. And we should provide this platform when we know it can be done. So going back to even
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Was crucial in our nation. Briefly I would like to highlight, also, something that Daniela already said. We should try and
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To work together on consultations. I don't feel like I'm... okay. I will soon finish. Hopefully it'll be fine. So for the consultations, we joined forces. We had a representative formed a statement together with the Czech Republic and the EU representatives from Germany. And then we submitted the consultations. We found it was valuable and managed to gather more elaborate when we join forces. I would like to highlight this approach, in case anyone feels like their voice is not as loud as they maybe need at the beginning. To not be afraid. Just reach out to other NRIs that are well known in the system and know their way around. It was very effective in our case. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Natalja. Can I ask you to pass the mic to in front of you.
You reminded me, I don't think our colleagues from the national IGF are here yet. But I recently met them at the Southeastern European IGF. Last year they changed the name. It was just easier. Easier to communicate to pass information. To translate it to their national language. Perhapses what you're saying now is something that would be considered to elaborate a little bit more about the concept of Internet Governance being basically inclusive of everything that is digital.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. For now, I have two interventions.
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From Tanzania.
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Can you hear me now? Sorry. Sorry. I have two interventions. Number one, I will take one minute to the Honorable from the High Court of Tanzania just to say hi. What we are doing is just to make sure that we bring as many to the IGF space as we can possibly do.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you very much. It's a big surprise. I didn't expect this. But, hi everyone! I think I saw some of you last year. I remember a few faces. And I really want to congratulate each one of you. You're building the future!
Since I came to this room, there are so many individuals like you passionate about global issues and thinking about the future. You could not be in a better place. Thank you very much. God bless you.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you. Thank you. I didn't know if he would speak, but I wanted to make sure that he speaks. Even to say hi.
Number two, number two, in Tanzania, because if you look at the fundamental principles of the IGF. You can conclude simply that these are just [?] and what we're doing in Tanzania next year, I think for the first time, organize a national workshop on WSIS+. So we are using this opportunity as a national IGF to organize the WSIS+ forum. So we can begin to do the input in terms of reviewing the action. The WISIS action. The IGF is at the grassroots in Tanzania. And we will send out the Zoom link. Thank you so much.
>> MODERATOR: A little bit of a discretion to jump the queue. Because colleagues are still trying to fix the technical issues. So we can hear from Lilian and any other colleague online.
There are some NRIs that have joined us not that long ago. They have done amazing work.
>> PARTICIPANT: Hello everyone. It's great to be here. Great to connect with the community here. As mentioned, we recently joined the IGF and we started a second IGF this year. The Forum. I would say the first one was more like [?] among people that internet belongs to them. It's not only the voice of the technical people. When you talk about internet governance, it comes in the way that only technical people can talk about it.
So our first job was that. And, secondly, this year, our focus was mostly on inclusivity. Because there are some communities who don't have access to these platforms communicate about internet. And then, of course, bringing on the legislators. We had a new Parliament election this year. And then we had new Parliamentarians coming in. It means, like, internet governance and these discussions become completely new. And this process is difficult. And I wish we had something like one IGF101 for Parliamentarians. Some sort of book or tutorial that we can share with them.
But going forward, what we see is that we are trying to find out what it is trying to do for the GBC. And being part of six countries, I think for mentioning about the challenges that we have within the six countries, and how, like, IGF has supported empowering people. And talking about these platforms will be a good point to come as a statement. To join the six countries. And those are some of the things that I would like to see.
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I haven't met anybody from the six countries. I would love to communicate and see how we can do this together. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Can we try with Lilian online. And then maybe you can remind me. I want to ask Brian to speak at the end. Because all this vision comes with a budget. You'll be addressing that. Yes. Then we're going to come here. Okay. Good. Can we try with Lilian online. Lilian. Okay. Lilian left. Is Umut here? No, Lilian is here. No. Okay. You can unmute. Lilian, can you try to speak? I think you are unmuted now.
>> LILILAN: Yes. Can you hear me now?
All right.
>> MODERATOR: Still cannot hear. Maybe you an Umut can type your comment in the chat. I'm going to come back to this side.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you. And nice to see you all here. From IGF Japan.
After we hosted IGF last year in October, we are continuing our activities and becoming more active. For instance, we are having three weeks of information exchange and meetings. We are inviting government, private sector, and so on. And in addition to that, we are now planning to have a kind of study sessions. To pick up some interesting topics for general public use. Instead of the IGF, you know, groups.
We are doing something on digital public goods. As a first session. In addition to those activities, we are trying to include more use and using some of the published, you know, documents. Reporting Kyoto IGF. We're having a series of webinars. Inviting young students at the universities and so on. That's from Japan. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. Thank you very much.
So I will now go, maybe, oh, yes. I'm going to do a circle. We have maybe less than 15 minutes. So try to ‑‑ so we'll try to, hopefully, meet the time. And I want to leave a couple of minutes for Brian.
>> PARTICIPANT: Hi everyone. From Iraq. In September we become IGF in Iraq as a coordinator.
Okay. Yeah. We had three meetings from September until now. We're planning for the first IGF in Iraq. We find a lot of things. Issues in Iraq. Especially the government.
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And there is for the privacy about company. We did the research recently. We founded there's criteria research. So we have a lot of issues we need to work on it. And, also, we would love to learn from you. Because you have the experience. That you work on the IGF for the last few years. I'm open to discussion with anyone from you. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Now I'm going to come here.
>> PARTICIPANT: Greetings everyone. I'm from Zambia IGF. I'm mainly representing Tanzania chapter. With regard to the way forward. We rely on the media so much for election updates, campaigns, and so on and so forth. For me, the media then becomes critical in being a king maker. How about forecasting on this workshop efforts, in terms of the GDC, the WSIS. Working with the media to help amplifying their gender. In terms of making the internet more assessable for many people.
The reason for this, in my view, the media can be powerful to influence policy and who wins the elections. How about choosing the media to inform and influence how the internet is adapted be I our people. But pushing government to be more accountable. Ensuring the internet is open and more inclusive to our people. I think this is some of the things we've been thinking about. For this year in Zambia, we decided not to have the youth IGF. Mainly because we observed most people are only active when there's an event. Afterwards they sit back. We did an approach, we're raising awareness on why youth should be in the IGF. So after each event or main activity, there are more stakeholders actively engaged in improving internet access in our community. And keeping their government and other stakeholders accountable. Than just having an event and everyone goes quiet and then we meet again at the next event. There's been more engagement an how they can actively report on internet governance‑related issues. That way we feel it is more impactful.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
>> PARTICIPANT: I'm from Liberia. I'm the IGF coordinator. For the past five years.
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We believe this is a process and have been visible and the government now invites us to policy issues. And we contribute. It means that we are crossing the message over to the level of involvement. So we also are working very hard ‑‑ well to get Parliamentarians in Liberia to be part of the processes. All of these teams are key. We believe with proper education to our platform and collaboration with the ministries in other agencies. And be able to initiate the newly MRE IGF. We're happy to say we made progress. In the name of inclusiveness. Believe the internet needs to be across the whole country and other countries in Africa. Especially in West Africa. We've been able to bring several in Liberia, Guinea, and others together. We believe these are our contributions that can fit into the African levels. And we're very happy to appreciate the work that IGF is. To host this event at this level. It's making a lot of impact. For the MRE IGF we have a forum that looks at key countries and collecting issues that we can fit into the main agenda and select a particular country. We're happy to say we're in negotiations with Guinea, which has been very much on the local side. To be able to come into the system. To host the 2025. And thank you so much.
>> PARTICIPANT: Hello. I'm from Ghana, West Africa Youth IGF. It's refreshing listening to the various strategies put into place. But my question is how are we in terms of measured outcomes from the various discussions that we have here. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: I put the very good question on the floor. Somebody, hopefully, will respond. I think you've been waiting for a long time. I'm going to go here and then...
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you very much. I'm from Hong Kong Youth IGF. This year we successfully started the HKY IGF. And there have been challenges for organizing it. Resources, et. cetera. But then, unfortunately, we don't have a dedicated session for WSIS+ training. But we have a close relationship with the network that the youth from Asia‑pacific group have been actively engaged. When there's opportunities for input and comments, we view and actively engage on it.
We have a fellowship for the Hong Kong youth. They have passions and commitments. We have our own Hong Kong Youth IGF statements. We move forward and go to the regional Asia‑pacific internet governance forum. We send some youth from Hong Kong there. And we also take part in the town hall. If you're interested, please go to the Asia website to look into the documentation process we've been into. Documentation is important. This is how we capture our learning and way forward. Because this kind of process enables us ‑‑
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So what is the gap and how can we move forward? So I think that's something that I would love to share. But, yeah. Thank you very much for having me.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. I invite you to share your records.
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>> PARTICIPANT: Hello everyone. I'm the director of the internet jurisdiction policy network. We are here on the occasion to have the representatives of a lot of national IGFs. Next year there's the WSIS+ 20 process. There is one that is clearly of interest for everybody. Which is the future of the IGF. I do not expect, with all due respects to the governments with, that the discussion in the U.N., given the agenda of the U.N., in general, and the state of the world, will be focused extensively what the IGF will be.
It will be 20 years since the first IGF. There's one thing we can all contribute. Which is to have a discussion. On the one question which is what is going to be the next mandate for the IGF? What are the next 20 years? The institution of WISIS and what we have build since then sufficient? Or do we need a constitutional moment for the IGF. The appropriate funding for the Secretariat and the resources it needs.
If all the national and regional IGFs could dedicate one session at one moment. Even before the global IGF in Norway, or afterwards to feed into the U.N. discussion, that would be amazing! If we could bring that together. I believe we will not set the result by the end of 2025.
What we need, I suppose, is the equivalent of what was the working group of Internet Governance in 2004. To draft the charter of the IGF for the next 25 years.
The only thing we need is one paragraph in the United Nations Resolution, at the end of 2025 saying "we asked the Secretary General to establish a working group to design the renewed mandate or the refined mandate for the next years of the IGF." If all the national and regional ones could contribute to preparing this work, I think it would be a very nice getting together.
Thank you.
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>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. I don't think I skipped anyone. I know we'll take a couple of seconds to remind us of one important thing. Then I would like to conclude from the perspective of the donors to the NRI over the past couple of years.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you. Thank you everyone. I'm from Bangladesh. The secretary of the Internet Governance Forum.
After we are organizing the Bangladesh the summit of the future in Bangladesh. But after July, our political crisis going on. And that's why we're not organized Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum now. So we are facing political crisis. That's why we're not this year organizing Internet Governance Forum.
Our challenge is how we are in line. This is the huge challenge. And, also, we are facing the AI, artificial intelligence, and, also, we are facing is the social media disinformation. And hate speech. So thank you everyone. Thank you, IGF Secretariat.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Nigel I wants to make a brief introduction. And then, if you could please pass the microphone to Brian.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you. It's very quickly. Just to remind that we are going to have another IGF session. Just before WISIS plus 20. I'm going suggest she uses the network. Our e‑mail network, essentially, to basically coordinate our ‑‑ possibly along the lines we mentioned now. In terms of meeting a specific intervention into the WSIS+ 20. One of the things I didn't mention earlier, is that we also started an IGF. I'll give you my contact. So we can make collaborations afterwards. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Nigel. A good session. Brian, please, finally to you. You've been supporting so many NRIs. Substantially from one aspect. Financially, as well. Can I ask you, what is the plan of the future? Long‑term speaking. We seem to have a robust action plan. It will come with a budget.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thanks. Thank you for giving me the time. It's nice to be here with so many faces or particulars e‑mail signatures. If we have not yet in person, I've been in contact with many of you throughout the years. It's nice to see everyone in person. My name is Brian. I work with the Internet Society Foundation. And I support our what we call Internet Governance Forum event sponsorship programme. This is a programme through which we sponsor not just NRIs but the IGF global and schools on Internet Governance. We're committed to continuing to support multistakeholderrism. And Internet Governance discussions, and supporting that through the existing channels, like the IGF, like the NRIs.
So kind backing up that support. We were able to increase our budget. Supporting all the different initiatives going up from $300,000 to a half million. We have 40NRIs. So made up 37% of all the sponsorships we made this year. It's 22% of all NRIs out there in the world. I would like to say, we're a leading supporter of the NRIs and the Internet Governance initiatives.
So, yeah. 37% of our sponsorships went to National IGF, specifically. And underscoring the importance of that, through the data from our grant applications, we see that at the time that a lot of NRI organizers are applying for funding with us. 32% don't have any other funding lined up
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That's a little bit higher for the national IGFs. Around 40% may not have additional funding, at that time. And so, yeah. This is, I think, especially true of maybe forums that are starting up for the first time. Sometimes folks who are interested in starting up the initiative for the first time in their country may find their funding programme before contacting the Secretariat. We're supportive of helping them, yeah, to go through the different steps to get recognition and to be able to organize successful inaugural forums. So, yes. Thank you for the time. Happy to speak with everyone here about their plans for the next year, or if you're looking to start the forum. Looking for funding, please feel free to, yeah, take time to talk to me afterwards.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Brian. Thank you to the foundation. Much appreciated.
Jennifer, briefly, also supporting NRIs. What is the plan long‑term?
>> JENNIFER: Thank you. I don't see our chair, Amrita. IGF Support Association. We're giving out small‑seed funding to youth initiatives. This year we were happy to be able to support 26, which is great! So six from the regional sub regionals, 10 nationals, and 10 youth. I think we have an increased number. This is really encouraging sign of youth initiatives that are popping up! Because they are getting more involved with, you know, Internet Governance and wanting to have a seat at the table. Not just listening, but actually actively inputting. I think it's great!
For IGFSA, we've been around longer. Supporting, I guess, the NRIs. It's in our 11th year now. We have supported 271 different meetings. And cumulatively, we have supported over 600,000 U.S. dollars to all of these different meetings. Of course, the foundation has deeper pockets than IGFSA. Please come to the general assembly. It's happening in half an hour. And workshop room 8. If you have any suggestions for us to expand our donor base, if you have suggestions on how we can continue so support NRI meetings, please give us our feedback. I know the many faces here. I know about IGFSA. We want to continue to serve this community and serve better. That's just brief from me.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. Thank you very much, Jennifer! Thank you to everyone here in the room, as well as colleagues online. We have a plan. So everything that has been shared in this room and, also, on the chat will go into an action‑oriented output document. Which will then, hopefully,... for a second round of consultations among the NRIs. It will feed into the WSIS+. It will have more concrete steps how to prepare.
In conclusion, I want to recognise the two comments received. Speaking about integration of young people and recognising an opportunity in the NRI agenda for discussing action points. As well as from Lilian speaking about conducting capacity development. Creating short customized courses on IG for different stakeholders of interest. Which is also an action point that will feed into our action document.
With that, huge thanks to the technician that have been receiving that note of warning for a couple of times. I know we're over time. This is a very important group! And basically the whole world is in this room! Thank you so much for everything. And see you around!