The WSIS is all set for its first phase in December.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are severely disappointed with draft documents produced during the past preparatory conferences and have doubted whether the Summit will have any real impact. Nonetheless, many CSOs, like the member organisations of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), still believe that CSOs' involvement in the WSIS process is vital.

APC believes the WSIS provides a good opportunity to open spaces for debate and discussion on key information and communication policy issues, not only at the global level, but also at national levels. For this reason, APC has produced a step-by-step guide to running a national WSIS consultation.

"From the outset of our involvement in WSIS," explains APC executive director Anriette Esterhuysen, "APC has emphasised that an important outcome of the process would be if it can kick-start national level ICT policy discussion and debate. This guide is a response to the many organisations that had asked us: 'But how do we start working nationally?' "

According to APC, if more CSOs get the experience and confidence to begin to lobby and advocate on ICT policy issues at the national level, involvement in the WSIS process will have been worth the effort.

Adopting a frequently asked questions format (FAQ), the guide aptly titled "FAQ about Conducting a National WSIS Process" homes in on some of the key questions APC has heard people ask.

Questions are conveniently grouped under seven broad categories: Questions About the Guide, General Questions About WSIS, Convening a National WSIS Consultation, Planning a National Consultation, Implementing a National Consultation, Connecting with Different Stake-holders; and Developing a National Position and Building Consensus.

The guide's primary target audience are people active in using or promoting the use of ICTs in their work, but who have not necessarily been involved in national level policy processes previously. Keeping this in mind, the guide features tips, checklists, how-to and other devises that gently guide the users on the ways and means of ICT advocacy.

For example, in Category #3- Convening a National WSIS Consultation, contains:

Question: Why is it necessary to have a national WSIS consultation?
Answer: A national WSIS consultation can be an important mechanism for broadening social participation, assuring national interests are being represented in global processes, and building consensus or basic agreement between all social actors on the most important information society issues.

The national consultation process is also important because it creates a general awareness of the WSIS and can begin to generate expectations of action and implementation after the Summit. Demand for action from civil society, the private sector, and the media as well as from those within the government sector is an essential part of the policy-implementation dynamic. Without demand from below and demand from within, government is unlikely to deliver on promises made at the WSIS.

APC is optimistic that the WSIS process, including the preparation before and the follow up after the Summit in December, is a great learning opportunity for CSOs who are new to the ICT policy process. By engaging in the issues outlined at the WSIS, CSOs can begin to articulate positions and gain valuable experience in lobbying that can be taken back to their home countries. They can also develop positions, lobby and develop the understanding necessary to participate in other international fora related to ICT policies, such as the World Trade Organisation and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that manages Internet names and numbers.

The "FAQ about Conducting a National WSIS Process" can be accessed through this link: http://rights.apc.org/nationalfaq_wsis_v1.pdf

Source: "But How Do We Start Working At National Level?:" APC Launches Guide to Running a National ICT Policy Consultation for the World Summit on the Information Society as posted on the APC website last 07 September 2003 at http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=12828