Childnet’s Youth IGF Project is now in its third year of bringing the voice of youth to the Internet Governance Forum.
This September, eight young people from the UK travelled to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nairobi to bring their unique perspective to the discussions.
The IGF is a UN mandated conference and it convenes annually to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss a common vision for the future of the internet. Childnet initiated the Youth IGF Project in 2009 in response to the criticism that while young people and their use of the internet were discussed at the IGF, they were not present at it.
Since then the Youth IGF Project has aimed to speak to children and young people throughout the UK about their online experiences, their online rights and their wishes for the future of the Internet, taking them and their voice to the IGF, and helping young people engage in this important policy forum.
This year, the Youth IGF Project delegates took part in panel discussions and presented their own ideas about internet governance. In preparation for the IGF the young people came to stay in London for a residential youth camp, where they discussed the issues of access and diversity and heard from a wide range of civil society groups and key players in the internet industry. The camp encouraged the young people to think about the challenges they face online and to develop their own ideas about internet governance. They all responded by producing their own personal statement of beliefs, which you can find on the Youth IGF Project website. This statement of beliefs was recorded in film and each young person handed out personalised postcards with their statement of beliefs at the IGF. The 2011 Poster captures all of their thoughts and ideas and will provide a building block for the Youth IGF Project next year.
www.youthigfproject.com
www.facebook.com/youthigfproject
