A quick refresher of the current Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework, which is currently being revised and should be finalised this month.
Mid-to-late next week, 10–12 August to be exact, ICT specialists and stakeholders from across the Caribbean will be meeting in Belize for the 12th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum, which has been organised by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, and through which the following will be undertaken:
* Facilitate open discussion on current Internet governance matters of global interest e.g. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) transition, net neutrality, etc.
* Develop strategies and approaches for building and/or strengthening national multistakeholder structures to enhance Internet governance capacity, expertise and action in the Caribbean
* Conclude review and update of the Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework V 2.0
* Explore and spread awareness on opportunities for Caribbean growth through the Internet Economy
* Build local capacity in Internet governance to enable, maintain and strengthen effective Caribbean representation at global Internet Governance Fora.
(Source: CTU)
Consistent with past experience, some of the sessions may be live streamed, thus allow individuals who have an interest in the topics being discussed to join remotely. However, one of the key objectives of this year’s forum is to update and finalise the Caribbean Internet Governance Policy Framework. The current version of the Framework, which was finalised in 2013, focusses on the following six strategic areas:
- Infrastructure for Broadband Connectivity
- Internet Technical Infrastructure and Operations Management
- Legal Frameworks and Enforcement
- Internet Content Development and Management
- Public Awareness and Capacity Building
- Research
Under each strategic area, a number of priority recommendations have been set out to address a number of key issues, as shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Strategic areas and key issues in V2 of Caribbean IG Policy Framework (Source: CTU)
At the Forum and in the report that follows, we may get a sense of the progress, if any, that has been made in the strategic areas and with regard to the priority recommendations made. However, to a considerable degree, it may only be possible to identify the progress qualitatively, as very few quantitative or measurable goals were identified in the current version (V2) of the Policy Framework. Hence, in the next iteration of the document, consideration could be given to either incorporating more quantitative measures or outcomes, which can be used to betteer measure our success.
Image credit: Blaise Alleyne (flickr)
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