2015-2017 Co-ordinator Rlection Results

ELECTION RESULTS

In this month of January 2015 one co-coordinator seat became vacant and was up for filling. The election process kick started with a call for nominations posted to the IGC list on 18 November 2014. By the end of the nomination period on 19 December, we received the following confirmed nominations:

1) Analia Aspis

2) Arsene Tungali

3) Kawsar Uddin

After setting up the survey in the online system used for IGC elections, we had to prepare the voting list by making sure all members who meet the voting criteria are included in the list, despite potential confusion due to the fact that the IGC website seems to re-initialize the count of membership time span from the last time members’ information (eg, email address) has been updated. This worked rather well since for all the misses that were reported, only one or two were confirmed after verification. The email ballot paper sent to about a dozen voters got probably lost in their spam folder or they simply missed it in their regular mailbox.

After the election started, we were reminded of the need to add an abstention option for those who do want to exercise their right to vote (and be on the record for participating in the election) without the obligation to give their vote to one or another of the candidates standing. After checking, it has appeared that a “No candidate” vote was in option in the last election cycle (2014). However, we first missed that as we were using a template from the latest election where only one coordinator was to be elected, which was in 2013 (in 2014, the two co-coordinators were to be replaced.) Hopefully now we will systematically have an “Abstention” or “No candidate” option (whichever the Caucus finds more appropriate) on the ballot next to the candidates’ names.

The results also show two responses as saved but not submitted. We also note that up to 16 people responded YES to the question as to whether they have already voted in the current election. At least four voters among those did not complete their vote. It appears that this question and its purpose may not be clear to a number of voters.

Report by Dr. Mawaki Chango, outgoing IGC Co-ordinator.

1)    Tungali Baguma Arsène

Country :Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Organisation :Rudi International (a civil society charity)

Short Biography (you may also provide a link to your personal website or your Linkedin page if you have one.)

Arsene is 24, will turn 25 in January 2015. Working in child online protection, he calls himself an online protection activist focusing on child safety and women Internet accessibility.

Over 5 years of blogging in French and English. After attending the Internet Governance Forum in 2011 as a Youth Participant, speaking in a Child Online Protection session led by UNICEF, ITU and ECPAT International, Arsene got interested in the Internet Policy. Being the first youth from his country to attend such ICT high level meeting, he committed on training and engaging young people on IG related topics and he is currently fighting on bringing their voice to those decision-making level meetings.

He then took Diplo Foundation’s Internet Capacity Building Program in 2012, attended the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) in 2013 and now has a leading role in the DRC IGF Working Group as Youth Representative. An ISOC global member, he is working on creating a new ISOC Chapter to serve the Eastern Congo community. Admitted to the ICANN Fellowship Program, he successfully participated in ICANN 51 in Los Angeles.

A youth leader and a success role model with great innovative mind, he loves engaging young people on being the change. After taking several Leadership Development courses, he co-founded Rudi International a youth-led charity which he considers as his own contribution to bringing the change. He joined the international British charity, Peace One Day in 2013 where he now serves as Field Officer based on his knowledge of the DRC and the Great Lakes Region. With POD, he is playing a leading role in raising awareness of Peace Day.

LinkedIn Public profile : www.linkedin.com/pub/arsene-tungali/40/825/344/

Blog : http://tungali.blogspot.com

Why you think you would make a good co-coordinator for the IGC

I am an IGC member for more than 2 years now. I have been following discussions and contributing to some of them. I know how the list is working and i have basic knowledge of IG matters both on local and global levels being involved in national, regional and global Internet Governance events.

Many things make me think I can make a good co-coordinator :

–       I am young, full of energy and have time to commit to this job. I may be the first young mind to take this role and this can make a difference since we need to promote a multistakeholder model even within CS,

–       I am a French and English speaker which gives me the ability to understand everyone and can easily engage with people who have French as their primary language as myself,

–       I am slow to speak, always taking time to think twice before i can jump into a discussion. I know moderators ought to have that as quality,

–       I have basic analytical capacity and in my background have been doing similar work in the real world, which gives me the capability to do it in a virtual world,

–       I have been coordinating various groups and organizations from the civil society world which gives me better understanding of how to bring together different point of view and make a good summary,

–       I am closely following discussions from other CS groups and i am always up-to-date with developments in the IG world and the global Internet ecosystem.

To name just few, these are some of the points that makes me think I can be a good co-coordinator for the IGC and contribute to make it what it ought to be based on our Charter.

My vision for the IGC

I want to help it remain the Civil Society group of reference in the Internet Governance ecosystem, where people will be free to speak and express themselves with no fear to be frightened.

I want the IGC to be a place where new people (members) interested in the IG can be able to learn and to contribute to discussions with no need to have advanced IG background. I will work to be able to create a good atmosphere in the group to make it a safe place for real and constructive conversations.

At this stage, so many members are frightened to contribute because some of us are acting disrespectfully, with no regards to others’ points of view. I want to make the IGC a space where tolerance will prevail and where all members will be working together with respect.

I will work on bringing back all those registered members who are no longer contributing to discussions although their inputs are needed to make informed decisions as a group. I will work on finding the reasons they are not contributing and will make sure we bring them back in.

I will work on verifying all email adresses of members and make sure they are updated because so many have either changed or are no longer using their original email adress. Reaching out to them will help us update the list and have new insights from other members.