Consultancy on Policy Network on Artificial Intelligence

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

• Level of cooperation with the MAG issue coordinator(s) and other PNAI participants;‎ • Timely submission of outputs; ‎ • Quality of synthesis and summarizing of the community discussions, outputs ‎demonstrating high-level knowledge of the subject matter; ‎ • Readability of the outputs; ‎ • Positive feedback from experts. ‎

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

18 Mar - 31 Dec 2024

Duties and Responsibilities

The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis on ‎‎16-18 November 2005, requested the Secretary-General, amongst other, to convene “a ‎new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue – the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). ‎The Internet Governance Forum Secretariat is based in the United Nations Office at ‎Geneva (UNOG). The mandate of the IGF, set out in Paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda for ‎the Information Society is to discuss the main public policy issues related to Internet ‎governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and ‎development of the Internet. ‎

A report produced by the UN General Assembly Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ‎Working Group on Improvements to the IGF called for the development of more tangible ‎outputs to ‘enhance the impact of the IGF on global Internet governance and policy’. To ‎enrich the potential for IGF outputs, the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) ‎developed an intersessional programme intended to complement other IGF activities. The ‎outputs from IGF intersessional activities are intended to become robust resources, to serve ‎as inputs into other pertinent forums, and to evolve and grow over time. ‎ ‎ ‎ The intersessional work streams offer substantive ways for the IGF ‎community to produce more concrete outcomes and inform policy discussions. They take forms of Best Practice Forums (BPFs) and Policy Networks (PNs), among others. While the BPFs focus on gathering good practices of a particular Internet governance issue, the PNs look more in depth into the nature of the issue, status quo, good and not so good practices, and help navigate the ways forward. Both forms of intersessional work produce substantive outputs through an open, inclusive and multistakeholder methodology. These outputs have ‎already been useful in informing policy debates, and they are also viewed as iterative materials ‎that are not only flexible but also ‘living’ in the sense that they can be updated at any time ‎to accommodate the pace of technological change faced by internet policymakers.

Under the supervision of the IGF Programme and Technology Manager of the IGF ‎Secretariat, the consultant will be responsible for facilitating and documenting the work related to convening one of the IGF intersessional workstreams, called the Policy Network on Artificial Intelligence (PNAI). The Consultant will be responsible for carrying out tasks related to hosting ‎and reporting on IGF PNAI meetings, synthesis and drafting of outputs, ‎presenting and discussing them during dedicated sessions at the 19th Annual Meeting of the ‎Internet Governance Forum. Specifically, the consultant's responsibilities include:

1.‎ Work closely with the MAG-appointed facilitators for the multistakeholder working group for the Policy Network on Artificial Intelligence (PNAI) to develop the implementation strategy and workplan, as well as to ensure that the convening work and preparation of ‎outputs are consistent with the work done by the IGF multistakeholder intersessional ‎teams, including the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) work and PNAI multistakeholder working group.

2. Suggest and advise the PNAI on modalities and concrete actions to effectively respond ‎to:‎ a) The recommendations of the UN Secretary-General (in his statement at ‎IGF 2018/19) to extend from multistakeholder to multidisciplinary; ‎create share language and references; ‎and include and amplify the weak and the missing voices‎. b) The Secretary-General priorities “to strengthen the Internet Governance Forum to ‎serve as a central gathering point to discuss and propose effective digital policies” ‎(remarks to UN GA 22 January 2020). c) The United Nations Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation that envisages a strengthened IGF including better integrating programme and intersessional work policy development work in other priority areas of the roadmap (Roadmap, para 93). d) The Secretary-General’s call for the IGF to ‘’adapt, innovate and reform to support effective governance of the digital commons and keep pace with rapid, real-world developments’’ (Our Common Agenda report, para 93).

‎3. Monitor and manage the discussion mailing lists and carry out meetings using Zoom or other ‎methods setup for the assigned PNAI and document the process by compiling ‎meeting summaries, feeding into the output documents and the related substantive sessions ‎at the 19th IGF.‎

‎4. Gather information on the subject of the PNAI, in consultation with the MAG-appointed ‎facilitators, the PNAI multistakeholder working group and the IGF Secretariat, in line with the discussed methodologies. It ‎is recommended to use the list of questions defined in the proposal for PNAI. ‎

‎5. Prepare the substantive output report for the PNAI (minimum 20 pages, maximum of 40 pages, ‎‎(annexes not included) in 12 points single space, using preferably the font, “Times New ‎Roman”), based on the inputs and the work produced by the PNAI ‎community participants, other identified stakeholder groups, complemented with ‎independent research. ‎

‎6.‎ Invite and engage the wider community, including members of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), members of the PNAI multistakeholder working group and their affiliated networks, networks of National, Regional and Youth IGFs (NRIs) as well as the network of Dynamic Coalitions (DCs), to comment on the draft output reports and incorporate comments into a ‎revised paper. ‎ ‎7.‎ Prepare summaries, introductions and background materials that can be used to brief the ‎press and experts on subject matter and conduct outreach toward the wider community ahead of the ‎PNAI sessions at the annual IGF meeting, as well as summaries of achievements for subject ‎experts after the meeting. This also includes populating the dedicated PNAI section on ‎the IGF website, advising on social media outreach, and providing input for the online meeting schedule. ‎‎

‎8.‎ Act as rapporteur and summarize all inputs provided to the PNAI work over the course of ‎the contract, update and adjust the draft outcome document, and compile the final draft ‎that will be presented at the annual meeting, as per the requirements referenced above. ‎

‎9. Support the PNAI facilitators in coordinating the organization of the PNAI sessions at the 19th annual IGF meeting and for each session, summarize discussions, taking into account the ‎proceedings, and adjust the outputs if necessary. ‎

10. Together with the full IGF Secretariat team, under the guidance of the supervisor, taking into account the reports from the session organizers, contribute to the drafting of the IGF 2024 Messages ‎‎(minimum 4 pages in 12-point font single-spaced). ‎

‎11.‎ For publication of the outputs on the IGF website and their distribution, produce publishable summaries of PNAI, including executive summaries, that could be ‎used as stand-alone documents or compiled with the executive summaries of the other ‎intersessional work-streams in one document and annexed to the final IGF 2024 report. On these, coordinate with the Secretariat on ‎the layout and structure of the final document (minimum 3 pages each in 12 points single ‎space, using preferably the font, “Times New Roman”).‎ ‎

12.‎ Over the course of the contract, contribute to the IGF Secretariat’s capacity development activities, by contributing inputs from the PNAI into the capacity development workshops and other materials and initiatives.‎

Qualifications/special skills

Master’s degree in information communication technologies, social sciences, ‎development studies, management or other relevant disciplines or equivalent fields. A first-level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted. • A minimum of 5 years of professional experience including analytical work related ‎to ICTs, Internet governance, digital public policy-making, development management, ‎participatory governance, capacity building, etc. is required. • Considerable related experience ‎drafting high-level reports, meeting summaries, and synthesizing complex ‎information and inputs i required. • Evidence of high-level level knowledge, particularly in ‎the discourse of AI, new and emerging tech, human rights online, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, gender policy, participatory policy ‎development or other related area is required.

Languages

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.