Toolkit on Internet Public Policy Dialogue

The document argues that Internet policy must move beyond technical management to include broad societal impacts on rights, security, and sustainable development. It advocates for a multistakeholder model involving government, the private sector, civil society, and academia to ensure legitimacy and effectiveness. The toolkit details eight specific tools—ranging from expert roundtables and policy mapping to online surveys and public forums—designed to generate evidence and foster public consent. It emphasizes 'adaptive policy making' and the principle of subsidiarity, suggesting that policy action should occur at the lowest jurisdictional level consistent with effectiveness.

• Internet public policy is often developed in isolation by technical communities, leading to a gap where ICTs are mainstreamed into sectoral policies as afterthoughts rather than integral factors for achieving development objectives.
• Effective multistakeholder collaboration must manage four critical risks: legitimacy (ensuring diverse voices are recognized), capture (preventing powerful stakeholders from biasing the process), vested interests (overcoming resistance from privileged lobbyists), and effectiveness (ensuring dialogue leads to tangible outcomes).
• The toolkit promotes the principle of subsidiarity, which dictates that policy action should be prioritized at the lowest jurisdictional level (local or regional) that remains effective, with international policies adopted only when more effective than national ones.
• The document identifies a core set of global technical governance institutions, including the ITU, ICANN, W3C, ISOC, and IETF, noting that while some are open, others have high membership costs that can act as barriers to participation.
• Policy practitioners are advised to use 'adaptive policy making,' a process of continuous learning where policies are dynamic and subject to constant re-evaluation to respond to uncertainties and change.
• The toolkit categorizes its tools into those that generate evidence (Mapping the ICT landscape, Online surveys, Experts roundtables) and those that generate consent (Background papers, Public multistakeholder events, Focus groups, Scenarios/Backcasting, and Online discussion boards).
• Online surveys are highlighted as a cost-effective way to create a baseline of stakeholder opinion, but they carry a risk of discriminatory evidence gathering in areas with low Internet penetration.
• Scenario building and backcasting are presented as tools to help stakeholders imagine possible futures and identify the necessary policy steps to achieve a desired 'best case' outcome while avoiding 'worst case' scenarios.
• The document provides a case study of the Canadian Internet Forum, where a national survey and six city-based focus groups (Winnipeg, Iqaluit, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, and Montreal) were used to identify key policy tracks in digital literacy and economic development.
• The KICTAnet experience in Kenya demonstrates that online mailing lists can serve as a catalyst for national policy, provided there is strong leadership and a focus on specific thematic areas.

APA

Akoh, B., Egede-Nissen, B., & Creech, H. (2012). Toolkit on Internet Public Policy Dialogue. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/iisd_toolkit_internet_public_policy_bw.pdf

Chicago

Akoh, Ben, Bjørnar Egede-Nissen, and Heather Creech. Toolkit on Internet Public Policy Dialogue. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2012. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/iisd_toolkit_internet_public_policy_bw.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Akoh |first1=Ben |last2=Egede-Nissen |first2=Bjørnar |last3=Creech |first3=Heather |title=Toolkit on Internet Public Policy Dialogue |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=September 2012 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/iisd_toolkit_internet_public_policy_bw.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{akoh2012toolkit, author = {Akoh, Ben and Egede-Nissen, Bjørnar and Creech, Heather}, title = {{Toolkit on Internet Public Policy Dialogue}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2012}, month = sep, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/iisd_toolkit_internet_public_policy_bw.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }