The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 review process, which concluded in December 2025, reaffirmed the multistakeholder model, made the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) permanent, and set a forward-looking agenda for digital development that resonates strongly with our 2030 strategy. But what has been agreed to on paper is only the beginning. What happens next, in terms of roadmaps, measurements, and institutional reforms, will determine whether or not those commitments will transform into practical results.
The Internet Society is committed to ensuring an open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet. We strongly believe that addressing global inequalities must focus on connecting the 2.6 billion people who lack Internet access and on rebuilding people’s trust in the online environment.
Drawing on these strategic priorities, this blog post outlines where we will focus our efforts in supporting the implementation of the WSIS+20 commitments.
1. Getting Roadmaps and Measurement Right
The Internet Society strives to expand affordable, reliable, and resilient Internet access and to strengthen online safety and security for Internet users worldwide. These goals are also part of the WSIS vision, and we want to see the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines making tangible, practical progress toward those goals.
Action Line facilitators are responsible for developing implementation roadmaps that include indicators and metrics by 2027. Simultaneously, the inter-agency collaborative body known as the Partnership on Measuring ICTs will review methodologies. These combined efforts will establish the practical agenda, determining what constitutes progress and what does not.
With such high stakes, an inclusive process is imperative—because what gets measured shapes what gets prioritized. Poorly designed indicators or roadmaps risk limiting ambitions or overlooking meaningful impact, whereas good ones can drive real accountability and progress. Furthermore, the opportunities we have to monitor and support the implementation of Action Lines, such as the WSIS Forum, require greater focus. They must be used more strategically to ensure progress, which will require a shift in mindset from primarily convening ideas to treating them as mechanisms of accountability.
The Internet Society is committed to contributing its expertise and experience to ensure that WSIS delivers on its commitments. However, translating these global goals into practical reality will require a collective effort from stakeholders across the entire Internet ecosystem. We invite others to join us in this endeavor.
2. Build on What Makes the IGF Work
The multistakeholder model is not just “nice to have.” It is inseparable from what makes the Internet work. The Internet’s open and decentralized design and multitude of uses emerged from collaboration across sectors and borders, not from top-down control. That is why strengthening the multistakeholder model is essential.
The IGF’s new permanent status is a significant achievement and a welcome recognition of the multistakeholder model, but it still requires practical sustainability and more effective stakeholder engagement. Funding needs to be secured and sustainable, and reforms are in order. Yet evolving the IGF must also be approached with great care. Novel additions, such as the governmental dialogue, should be carefully implemented to align with the IGF’s successful way of working. We must ensure that, as new structures are created, this does not develop into a two-tier system that undermines the multistakeholder approach, which is fundamental to the IGF’s value.
The Internet Society will play an active role in these matters and will work with the IGF community to help inform these much-needed improvements. As a first step, we are launching a consultation to build on the energy, expertise, and interest the community brought to these discussions last year.
While it will take all of us to get there, our goal is clear: strengthen the IGF while not compromising what makes it unique.
3. Getting Financing Right
Amid a global $1.6 trillion dollar digital infrastructure gap, our work to connect the unconnected and empower communities to address their own needs has taught us the importance of sustainable financing. It is also where the gap between global ambitions and local impact is most visible, which is why we are encouraged to see the WSIS community recognize it as a priority.
While the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been tasked with advancing this discussion, the implications go beyond the work of a single institution. For many countries, access to sustainable funding is of central concern, and a key component of WSIS’s legitimacy. Whether commitments, agreements, and decisions are supported by resources will determine if aspirations can be translated into impact.
A first step is to move beyond abstract ideas and toward practical, scalable solutions. This includes the use of blended financing models that combine public and private investments, as well as targeted, pooled funding for high-impact initiatives that strengthen the Internet as a global resource.
While there is no single stakeholder or solution to address these challenges, we will continue to do our part and share our experiences, including through initiatives led by the Internet Society Foundation. Programs such as the Foundation’s NRI funding program (which supports the organization of national and regional initiatives (NRIs) recognized by the United Nations IGF secretariat, as well as national and regional schools on Internet governance), the Common Good Cyber Fund, and the Connectivity Co-funding Initiative demonstrate that targeted investments are important pieces to the puzzle. These models both can and should be scaled.
4. Keeping WSIS at the Center of the Institutional Landscape
The Internet Society is committed to building and defending the open Internet for everyone so that people everywhere have opportunities to create, innovate, and build communities online. That commitment means we care deeply about achieving the WSIS vision, which, in part, depends on its role in the broader institutional landscape.
For instance, one of the key outcomes of WSIS+20 is the creation of new responsibilities for the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS), which is responsible for coordinating the implementation of WSIS outcomes. This includes calls for stronger coordination, enhanced multistakholder engagement, and the development of a joint WSIS-Global Digital Compact (GDC) implementation roadmap. At the same time, the GDC review in 2027 is expected to draw on inputs from the WSIS process.
From our view, this creates both an opportunity and a risk.
The opportunity is for greater coherence across digital development and governance processes. The risk, however, is that WSIS is reduced to a procedural input to discussions around the GDC, rather than having its commitments serve as the driving framework for digital development.
To this end, the Internet Society will advocate for a strengthened UNGIS to be genuinely inclusive of all stakeholders, with concrete mechanisms for multistakeholder participation. We will also advocate for a clear and shared understanding of what coherence means in practice, and for WSIS priorities and commitments to meaningfully shape the GDC review.
In short, we believe WSIS and its multistakeholder approach must remain at the center of the UN’s institutional landscape, not be pushed to the margins.
A Call to the Community
The WSIS+20 review is complete, but the real work starts now. The next months present a crucial opportunity to shape the future of digital development across these four areas.
The Internet Society is ready to drive this progress, and we need your voice and expertise alongside us to make it happen. Submit your input.
Inage © Daniel Woldu for ITU