Papers

By Chris Buckridge.

This post probably won’t age well.

That’s the risk in commenting on a document so unambiguously labelled a “Zero Draft” – the push and pull of multilateral negotiations will significantly alter the document before any final agreement is reached, relegating this draft (and this blog post!) to the status of historical artefact.

But for those who’ve been swept along in the process to develop a United Nations Global Digital Compact (GDC), the recent publication of a Zero Draft feels like a major milestone, and a first sense of what such a compact might look like. Moreover, it provides important insight into how that process has gone thus far – what impact can we see from the stakeholder consultations and Member State inputs? – and where we might expect it to go from here. For the incurable optimists among us, it’s a moment to hope that we might help steer the coming negotiations in a positive direction and fulfil the ambition laid out by the Secretary-General in his original vision.

Continue reading “Baby Steps Towards a Global Digital Compact: Reflections on the Zero Draft”

By Konstantinos Komaitis.

The long-awaited Global Digital Compact (GDC) zero draft dropped on April 1, and there is a lot in it. It requires time to absorb it all; with discussions already in progress since Friday, April 5, time is an issue. Also, it is important to remember that this is the “zero draft” and, by the time this process ends at the end of May, the text will look very different. This means that there is no need to panic; at least, not yet.

The zero draft gives a good snapshot of where the mind of the United Nations–and those of its member states–is.

Here is my high-level take.

Continue reading “The GDC zero draft: the good, the bad, and the ugly”

By Jorge Cancio.

Principles of open and inclusive multistakeholder collaboration in digital governance are scattered in various foundational documents and declarations, but nowadays we lack an agreed set of principles that would guide multistakeholder collaboration and decision-making. This means that communities wishing to establish multistakeholder collaboration lack clear reference when doing so. It also means that some processes that lack fundamental multistakeholder features may be presented as “multistakeholder” in a sort of “white-washing” exercise.

Continue reading “Towards a protocol of protocols for multistakeholder collaboration and decision-making”

By Avri Doria.

As more and more institutions begin to claim that they adhere to multistakeholder models, it becomes possible to either reject the claims of those with processes that do not promote the active participation of relevant communities or to develop a set of criteria that can be used to rate maturity levels and growth as a multistakeholder organization. As I chose not to reject an institution’s claims of its character and intentions, I have opted for trying to delineate some maturity levels that I have experienced in organizations that make a claim to being multistakeholder organizations.

Continue reading “Multistakeholder models: Maturity Levels”

By Amrita Choudhury.

This article does not reflect the views of all Indians or civil society organisations of global South. It reflects the views of the author and the submissions made into the Global Digital Compact (GDC) process by Indian and global South entities.

We are living in a world that is fragmented by geopolitics, between the haves and have nots, developing and developed nations, etc.

Application of technology has brought about a digital transformation and empowered the lives of millions across the world and digital technologies today have a far reaching impact in all our lives. Understanding the power of technology, most developing countries are aspiring to leapfrog and take advantage of this digital revolution. Even in India we are witnessing a digital transformation under the Digital India program¹ that aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

Continue reading “Framing the GDC Right”