Skip to main content

Sessions' briefer for participants

Day 1, 29 June 2021: 

Session 1: Welcome & check-in

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 UTC

Objective: This session will introduce participants to the workshop and to each other. The aim of the session is to enable participants to get ready and dive into the workshop and help them understand the process or spaces where they will find the information they are looking for.

Session plan:

  • Welcome from APC
  • Introduction to the event - what the workshop will cover and what it won’t 
  • Introduction to fellow participants 
  • Spaces and materials where we can find information
  • Logistics for the week
  • Rules of engagement 
  • Opportunities to collaborate in the future 

Facilitators: Pavitra Ramanujam & Gayatri Khandhadai

Session 2: Introduction to international advocacy 

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 UTC

Objective: This session will introduce discussions for understanding policy advocacy. The aim is to enable participants to understand what international advocacy is and what its limits are. By the end of the session participants will have a better understanding of why policy advocacy is undertaken, where it has succeeded and when it has failed. 

Session plan:

  • Introduction to international advocacy - what is it?
  • Who is it targeted toward?
  • The relationship between national and international advocacy 
  • What have been some examples of successes? (case studies)
  • How has the digital era impacted international advocacy spaces?
  • What are the challenges one can expect to encounter when engaging in advocacy, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic? 
  • What are some limitations of international advocacy? 
  • Case studies of when it has not worked and why.

Resource person: Paula Martins

Session 3: Stakeholder mapping & understanding the landscape 

Time: 9:00 - 10:30 UTC

Objective: This session will help participants understand the importance of multistakeholderism and to identify the different stakeholders involved in policy advocacy. By studying the stakeholders and their interests, participants will also be able to understand the actors in the landscape in which they will engage. 

Session plan:

  • What is multistakeholderism?
  • Examples of multi stakeholder processes and progress achieved through them 
  • Multi Stakeholder vs. Multilateral spaces
  • Who are the key stakeholders?
  • What are their interests and pressure points?
  • How do we engage with the different stakeholders?

Resource person: Verengai Mabika

Day 2, 30 June 2021:

Session 4: Treaties, instruments and standards: A baseline for international advocacy

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 UTC

Objective: This session will introduce participants to key documents that help lay out the standards for digital rights. They form the basis of all forms of international advocacy. Through this session, participants will be equipped with knowledge on the types of instruments and standards they set out as the basis for advocating for change. 

Session plan:

  • Kinds of instruments that set out the standards for digital rights:
    • Instruments and their enforceability (treaties, declarations, resolutions and general comments)
    • Other documents (ex. Universal Periodic Review (UPR) reports, UN Special Rapporteur reports and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports)
  • Instruments to use:
    • Digital rights - Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant for Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Rabat Plan of Action
    • Gender rights - Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimmination Against Women (CEDAW)
    • Infrastructure - International Telecommunications Union (ITU) documentation, ICESCR (right to scientific development)
  • Soft standards for specific issues

Resource person: Sheetal Kumar

Session 5: The UN ecosystem: An overview

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 UTC

Objective: This session will provide an overview of the different spaces available in the UN ecosystem. Understanding these spaces will help the participants identify spaces where they want to advocate on digital rights. Through looking at examples of important standards these spaces have created or instances of success, participants will be aided in modelling their advocacy. Limitations or failures of these spaces will help us understand areas that need more work. 

Session plan:

  • UN ecosystem 
    • General Assembly (GA) 
    • Internet Governance Forum (IGF )
    • International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
    • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
    • Gender - Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
    • World Trade Organisation (WTO)
  • Which spaces can you be at? 
  • UN interaction with regional bodies and other institutions (like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) - upcoming sessions
  • Successes for the digital rights movement at the UN 
  • Challenges in engaging with these spaces

Resource person: Deborah Brown

Session 6: Engaging with Human Rights mechanisms at the UN

Time: 9:00 - 10:30 UTC

Objective: In continuation of the previous session, this session will focus on human rights spaces in the UN ecosystem. By enabling participants to understand the human rights spaces in the UN, the session will help them gear up for targeted advocacy. Discussion on effective engagement in each of these unique processes will be undertaken through looking at specific examples of cases and the array of types of interventions possible. 

Session plan:

  • Treaty bodies 
    • What are the relevant treaty bodies and what can they do?
      Submissions and advocacy with treaty bodies
  • Human Rights Council (HRC)
    • Sessions at the HRC and what can we do?
    • UPR and how to engage?
    • Special Procedures
  • OHCHR 
    • Their engagement with digital rights
  • What kind of interventions can you make?
    • Participation in negotiation of norms (resolutions)
    • Statements - written and oral 
    • Bilateral meetings 
    • Side-events 
    • Submissions and shadow reports to UNSR, UPR, TBs

Resource person: Sarah Brooks

Day 3, 1 July 2021:

Session 7: Internet governance & digital cooperation

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 UTC

Objective: This session will build on the discussions around multistakeholderism and look at how internet governance spaces can be used for advocacy. Specific emphasis will be given to the Roadmap For Digital Cooperation process and the Internet Governance Forum. Effective ways to engage in these processes will help participants identify where they can place themselves to advocate.

Session plan:

  • Road map for digital cooperation 
    • What is the Roadmap and what are the key areas it covers?
    • How and why was it created?
    • How is it being implemented?
  • Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
    • What is the IGF?
    • How to engage in the IGF and how can we shape the agenda?  
    • Inter-sessional work at the IGF through Best Practice Forums (BPF) and Dynamic Coalitions (DC) 
    • Asia Pacific Regional IGF (APrIGF), sub-regional IGFs and national IGFs - their relationship
    • Reflection about the IGF, future and how to strengthen it?

Resource person: Anriette Esterhuysen

Session 8: Telecom & internet infrastructure advocacy

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 UTC

Objective:This session will help us understand global technical and telecommunication spaces. These spaces are critical for standard setting and cooperation, by understanding how they function participants will be able to develop skills around engaging them. Looking at the limitations these spaces have and the challenges that civil society has faced in working with them will help us identify areas that need more attention. 

Session plan:

  • What technical and telecommunication spaces are available for advocacy and what do they focus on?
    • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 
    • Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
    • Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)  
    • Internet Telecommunications Union (ITU) 
    • World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
    • Global Symposium for Regulators 
    • Global Network Initiative (GNI)
  • What is possible in these spaces?
  • Who can engage in these spaces?
  • How to engage with the technical community?
  • Technical skills - is it a must? 
  • What are the limitations or challenges faced in engaging these spaces?

Resource person: Avri Doria

Session 9: Policy advocacy to policy change: LocNet’s experience on what works

Time: 9:00 - 10:30 UTC

Objective: This session is tailored to understand practical developments seen through consistent policy advocacy in telecommunication spaces. This is done by looking at how the LocNet initiative worked on regulatory frameworks on community networks in international spaces. Participants will be engaged in discussions around elements behind a long-term policy advocacy strategy that is starting to create tangible policy change for community networks.

Session plan:

  • What is LocNet and what are community networks?
  • How and why did LocNet start and are progressing on policy work especially on technical regulatory work
  • Working with telecommunication regulators 
  • What are the different areas of work for Policy Advocacy in LocNet?
    • Rationale behind them 
    • Objectives
    • Results obtained thus far
    • Lessons learned
  • What are the advocacy spaces at the international level for telecom policy?
  • What have been the most successful changes and what are the challenges?
  • Next steps and feedback to make it work in Asia

Resource person: Carlos Rey Moreno

Day 4, 2 July 2021:

Session 10: Integrating gender into the global digital rights agenda

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 UTC

Objective: This session will work towards helping participants understand and develop gender perspectives to policy advocacy. While the session will address gender specific advocacy spaces, it will also introduce ways to incorporate gender perspectives and experiences in other advocacy initiatives. The successes, especially what it took to get there and challenges or limitations will help the participants shape and influence their initiatives in the future. 

Session plan:

  • Why does gender matter in digital rights policy advocacy?
  • Importance of  linking women’s rights advocacy to digital rights advocacy (language, issues, intersectionality and allyship) 
  • Thematic issues (eg surveillance, access, sexuality, online gender based violence (GBV), expression and association) 
  • Challenges and opportunities of ‘doing gender’ in digital rights advocacy 
  • Actors / allies / networks  for engaging in advocacy 
  • Spaces (eg CEDAW and others)
  • Example of successful advocacy - Case study on online gender based violence and the 10 years of advocacy (and multi-pronged strategy) it took to get the resolution on violence against women and girls in a digital age
  • How can we incorporate gender perspectives in all policy advocacy initiatives? 

Resource person: Pooja Badrinath

Session 11: Hacking international advocacy: Strategies for effective engagement

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 UTC

Objective: This session will tie up all the discussions in the previous days and move towards developing key strategies to engage in advocacy. In this practice based session, the participants will be looking at elements involved in developing responsive strategies for engaging in effective international advocacy. Moving from strategy, the session will also discuss building networks and identifying key components of different documents to be prepared for advocacy.

Session plan:

  • Why is it necessary to develop a strategy for international advocacy?
  • What are the key elements that a strategy must hold?
  • What kinds of documentation would be necessary to engage in international advocacy?
  • Elements for written submissions, policy briefers and statements
  • Who are the actors that we can reach out to for support and networking? 
  • Communication and campaigning in international advocacy

Resource person: Gayatri Khandhadai

No Comments
Back to top