Duties and Responsibilities
The Internet Governance Forum Secretariat is based in the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG). The Secretariat supports the IGF project, convened by the Secretary-General following the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis on 16-18 November 2005. The mandate of the IGF, set out in Paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society is to discuss the main public policy issues related to Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet. A report produced by the UN General Assembly Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Working Group on Improvements to the IGF called for the development of more tangible outputs to ‘enhance the impact of the IGF on global Internet governance and policy’. To enrich the potential for IGF outputs, the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) developed an intersessional programme intended to complement other IGF activities. The outputs from IGF intersessional activities are intended to become robust resources, to serve as inputs into other pertinent forums, and to evolve and grow over time. Under the supervision of the IGF Programme and Technology Manager of the IGF Secretariat, the Consultant will be responsible for facilitating and documenting the work related to convening of the Policy Network on Meaningful Access (PNMA), recommended by the IGF MAG. The Consultant will be responsible for carrying out tasks related to hosting and reporting on IGF PN meetings, synthesis and drafting of outputs, presenting and discussing them during dedicated sessions at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum. The assignments will be the following: 1. Work closely with the appointed multistakeholder working group for the Policy Network on Meaningful Access (PNMA) to develop the implementation strategy and workplan, as well as to ensure that the convening work and preparation of outputs are consistent with the work done by the IGF multistakeholder intersessional teams, including the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) work and PNMA multistakeholder working group. 2. Suggest and advise the PNMA on modalities and concrete actions to effectively respond to: a) The recommendations of the UN Secretary-General (in his statement at IGF 2018/19) to extend from multistakeholder to multidisciplinary; create share language and references; and include and amplify the weak and the missing voices. b) The Secretary-General priorities “to strengthen the Internet Governance Forum to serve as a central gathering point to discuss and propose effective digital policies” (remarks to UN GA 22 January 2020). c) The United Nations Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation Agenda, which envisages a strengthened IGF including better integrating programme and intersessional work policy development work in other priority areas of the roadmap (Roadmap, para 93). d) The Secretary-General’s call for the IGF to ‘’adapt, innovate and reform to support effective governance of the digital commons and keep pace with rapid, real-world developments’’ (Our Common Agenda report, para 93). 3. Monitor and manage the discussion mailing lists and carry out meetings using Zoom or other methods setup for the assigned PNMA and document the process by compiling meeting summaries, feeding into the output documents and the related substantive sessions at the 19th IGF. 4. Gather information on the subject of the PNMA, in consultation with the MAG appointed facilitators, the PNMA multistakeholder working group and the IGF Secretariat, in line with the discussed methodologies. It is recommended to use the list of questions defined in the proposal for PNMA. 5. Prepare the substantive output report for the PNMA (minimum 20 pages, maximum of 40 pages, (annexes not included) in 12 points single space, using preferably the font, “Times New Roman”), based on the inputs and the work produced by the PNMA community participants, other identified stakeholder groups, complemented with independent research. 6. Invite and engage the wider community, including members of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), members of the PNMA multistakeholder working group and their affiliated networks, networks of National, Regional and Youth IGFs (NRIs) as well as the network of Dynamic Coalitions (DCs), to comment on the draft output reports and incorporate comments into a revised paper. 7. Prepare summaries, introductions and background materials that can be used to brief the press and experts on subject matter and conduct outreach toward the wider community ahead of the PNMA sessions at the annual IGF meeting, as well as summaries of achievements for subject experts after the meeting. This also includes populating the dedicated PNMA section on the IGF website, advising on social media outreach, and providing input for the online meeting schedule. 8. Act as rapporteur and summarize all inputs provided to the PNMA work over the course of the contract, update and adjust the draft outcome document, and compile the final draft that will be presented at the annual meeting, as per the requirements referenced above. 9. Support the PNMA facilitators in coordinating the organization of the PNMA sessions at the 19th annual IGF meeting and for each session, summarize discussions, taking into account the proceedings, and adjust the outputs if necessary. 10. Together with the full IGF Secretariat team, under the guidance of the supervisor, taking into account the reports from the session organizers, contribute to drafting of the IGF 2024 Messages (minimum 4 pages in 12-point font single-spaced). 11. For publication of the outputs on the IGF website and their distribution, produce publishable summaries of PNMA, including executive summaries, that could be used as stand-alone documents or compiled with the executive summaries of the other intersessional work-streams in one document and annexed to the final IGF 2024 report. On these, coordinate with the Secretariat on layout and structure of the final document (minimum 3 pages each in 12 points single space, using preferably the font, “Times New Roman”). 12. Over the course of contract, contribute to the IGF Secretariat’s capacity development activities, by contributing inputs from the PNMA into the capacity development workshops.
Qualifications/special skills
Master’s degree in information communication technologies, social sciences, development studies, management or other relevant disciplines or equivalent fields. A first university degree in combination of 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. A minimum of 5 years of professional experience including analytical work related to ICT, Internet governance, public policy-making, development management, participatory governance, capacity building, etc. Considerable related experience drafting high-level reports, meeting summaries, and synthesizing complex information and inputs. Evidence of high-level level knowledge, particularly in the discourse of access and connectivity, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, gender policy, participatory policy development or other related area is required.