DiploNews – Issue 81 – 10 January 2006
Registrations Open – International Conference on Internet Governance: The Way Forward
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis resulted in the decision to establish an Internet Governance Forum. The decision taken by parties at the WSIS indicates WHAT the Forum should do and WHO should be involved (multistakeholder approach). However, it remains to be seen HOW the Forum will be organised. This conference, to be held from February 10 – 12 in Malta, aims to provide an initial mapping, through addressing questions such as:
- How can the structure of the Forum appropriately involve various stakeholders covering a wide range of issues?
- How can the Forum promote a bottom-up and inclusive nature, while maintaining an efficient and operational organisation?
- How can complementarity between all stakeholders be increased?
- What solutions from other international organisations/initiatives could be adapted for the Forum?
- How can meaningful participation of institutions and individuals from developing countries in the Forum be facilitated?
Prominent players in the Internet Governance debate will also address the following topics:
- Internet Governance Capacity Building
- Implementation of the WSIS Conclusions on Internet Governance
- Multistakeholder Approach to Internet Governance
- International Cooperation and Internet Security
- Legal Challenges of Internet Governance
For more information or to register, visit the conference website or e-mail conference@diplomacy.edu.
International Workshop: Online Learning for Diplomacy
Prior to the international conference “Challenges for Foreign Ministries”, DiploFoundation will run a workshop on online learning for diplomacy (Geneva, May 29 – 30, 2006). Given the geographically distributed nature of diplomatic services, online learning is a natural answer to the training needs of diplomats. It bridges space and time boundaries and connects people over great geographical distances.
Decision makers must address a number of practical questions in order to introduce meaningful online training programmes in their ministries. In the process, they need to resolve institutional issues, solve technical problems, and manage cultural changes. This workshop provides a practical overview and guidance for introducing effective, learner-centred and relevant online learning programmes for diplomats. Topics will offer a range of perspectives and will include:
- The role of online learning today
- Effective learning frameworks
- Management perspectives
- Pedagogy and approach to learning
- The labyrinth of technologies
- Evaluation and quality control
- Case studies
Active diplomats who have attended Diplo online courses will also share their experience and present a learners’ point of view. Participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to bring up the practical questions they feel are important.
Package registrations including both events are available. For further information and to register, please visit the Workshop website.
International Conference – Challenges for Foreign Ministries: Managing Diplomatic Networks and Optimising Value
Foreign ministries the world over face a complex environment. Abroad they encounter unpredictable volatility in world affairs; the need to build extensive-intensive bilateral and regional networks; complex multilateral agendas crowded by new subjects; the need to build plural constituencies in foreign states, many nonofficial; the task of managing their own external image; new forms of public and soft diplomacy; and economic diplomacy covering trade and investment mobilization and free trade accords at bilateral, regional, multilateral and global levels.
At home they deal with plural partners, official and non-state, participants in the external policy process and stakeholders in the foreign ministry’s actions. The foreign ministry must act as a coordinator and a catalyst in such networks, covering the expanding foreign agenda. It must carry conviction with them, in an environment that often questions the foreign ministry’s functions. Domestic and external issues merge and influence each other in ways that no one anticipated even a decade ago.
The conference, to be held in Geneva from May 31 – June 1, 2006, will address several linked themes:
- The Action Canvas for MFAs: Progressive adaptation, or Reform?
- The Home Role: Partners and Publics; Public Diplomacy
- Embassy networks; MFA-Embassy integration
- Consular Work: A Cinderella in the Limelight
- Multilateral Diplomacy; e-diplomacy
- Value from Training: Mid-career and advanced training, e-learning
- Managing Performance
- Knowledge Management
The conference particularly focuses on the foreign ministries of countries with limited financial and/or human resources. It will facilitate experience sharing, with academics contributing to the wider objective of producing optimal value from foreign ministry systems, winning support from their stakeholders and publics.
For more information, to submit an abstract, or to register, please visit the conference website.
Subscribe to Diplo's News
