With the theme "Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation", the sixth Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2011) is held this year in United Nations premises at Nairobi, Kenya, during the period of 27th - 30th September 2011.
The huge annual event, run by the United Nations, gathers global governments, business and civil society to discuss pressing Internet governance issues.
The IGF comprises a number of main sessions covering emerging issues, such as, internet governance for development (IG4D), security, openness and privacy, access and diversity.
It also encloses a large number of workshops that are intended to feed into the main sessions.
The mandate of the IGF Forum is to help its stakeholders, especially those from developing countries, to find the adequate means accelerating the availability of internet at affordable prices, and to strengthen their engagement in existing and future internet governance mechanisms.
Moreover, the forum is a real discussion panel giving the opportunity to all stakeholders to talk about public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance, in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the internet.
The IGF Forum is not just a forum. It identifies emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general public, and, where appropriate, make recommendations.
Besides, it contributes with stakeholders to provide capacity building for internet governance in developing countries, drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise.
About IGF
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. The establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the UN secretary-general in July 2006 as one of the outputs of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The first IGF meeting was held in Athens, Greece, in 2006, the second in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007 and the third in Heidar Abad, India end of 2007.
