Inside the framework of the 11th meeting of LACIGF, the Internet Society’s Regional Bureau in Latin America & Caribbean successfully carried out the 2018 edition of the Workshop for Chapter Leaders. In addition to addressing the key issues of the organization, the event included a session focused on personal development. The 34 participants, from 22 Chapters, also had the opportunity to talk with Andrew Sullivan, future Executive Director of the Internet Society.
Volunteering: A Shared Challenge
The Internet Society Chapters are a fundamental component of the Internet Society. Made up of people with diverse backgrounds and interests, the Chapters pursue a common and ambitious goal: the Internet should reach everyone. To achieve this, each member spends a significant part of their time working with their peers on diverse projects.
This is why, the first part of the Chapter Workshop focused on human development components related to leadership. Although the content was shared with the representatives of each Chapter that attended the workshop, the idea was to reinforce the message within the boards of the chapters of the given region, in order to facilitate the promotion of these ideas locally.
A Conversation with Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan will assume the role of the CEO of the Internet Society on September 1st. To strengthen the link of the Chapters with the Internet Society, each participant was given the chance to talk with the future CEO. Andrew Sullivan, who participated remotely, shared his vision about the organization, in addition to answering specific questions from workshop participants.
Four Key Issues
The final part of the workshop focused on the Internet Society’s four key issues: Community Networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), Internet Governance, and MANRS. The participants had completed a 3-month training, which offered them the necessary preparation to get the most of the workshop.
The Chapter leaders addressed the challenges and opportunities of these issues in a collaborative manner and with an accessible language, with the help of questionnaires designed by the team at the Internet Society’s Regional Bureau in Latin America & Caribbean. To make the workshop more dynamic, the discussion concerning the key issues took place in groups. After the productive exchanges, each group produced videos and articles on the topics that they discussed. The materials will be used to enrich the ground with the perspective of the regional Chapters.
When the workshop participants return to their homes, they will be excited to share their acquired knowledge and experiences. They have the opportunity now to successfully develop the projects for which they received the grant, so keep following the news from our 24 LAC Chapters as we update you with their progress.
We are thousands of members who work to build an Internet for everyone, everywhere.