Proposal

APrIGF 2022 Session Proposal Submission Form
Part 1 - Lead Organizer
Contact Person
Ms. Sapana Sanjeevani
Email
Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) *
Body & Data
Designation
Program Coordinator
Gender
Female
Economy of Residence
Nepal
Primary Stakeholder Group
Civil Society
Part 2 - Session Proposal
Session Title
‘Upsurge in fascination towards digitization and Digital IDs: Oblivious to digital divide and exclusion of marginalized population’
Session Format
Panel Discussion
Where do you plan to organize your session?
Onsite at the venue (with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants)
Specific Issues for Discussion
We want to create a space for discussion and exchange of knowledge between speakers and participants around their experience with rising digitization in the forms of various biometric digital IDs. Though they are introduced as systems that are promoted as legal identity and mandatory for government benefits, especially for marginalized populations how it is resulting in rising of the digital divide and is less inclusive because of the exclusionary design of these programs. We are going to create a conversation around a fascination with the digital ID card programs and their impact on marginalized communities and to find out the ways in which such programs can be made more inclusive. The insights shared by the speakers will help us to understand the impacts of digital ID programs in different parts of the world in terms of exclusion and the digital divide created by the digital ID programs and try to find out about the means of making it more meaningful in terms of design and implantation of digital ID programs. We would be discussing how in the name of digitizing services and making public services more accessible the factor of gaps in accessibility, affordability and the socio-economic division seem to be ignored and create dialogue around the collaborative decision-making required for meaningful inclusion in digital ID programs. The focus of the discussion would be on the role of civil society groups and how they can contribute to creating awareness about the required infrastructure, documents, and multi-stakeholder consultations to make the digital ID programs more inclusive and accessible to all without exclusion based on gender, sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, and nationality. The motive of the discussion is on how civil society can be crucial in ensuring inclusivity in such programs which are basically targeted at the rights of marginal communities and to create more discussions among different stakeholder groups to have inclusive design and policies.
Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF
The ongoing fascination with digital IDs in order to ease all the services provided by the government seems to be more exclusive if we see the look at the countries like Tunisia, India, Jamaica, Pakistan, Kenya and more countries around the Asia-Pacific region. Government around the globe is trying to introduce different digitization programs including the digital ID rapidly. Recent studies and articles from the countries mentioned above suggest that one of the reasons for the exclusion of marginalized communities was the lack of proper consultation with the multi-stakeholder groups before the implementation of these programs. There need to be a series of discussion around how digital ID programs can be made more inclusive without creating huge gaps for the marginal communities. The speakers participating in this session would share their insights on how this surge in digital IDs and mandate verification for service access can create further exclusion and they will explore how civil society actors can seek ways to find more about the risks and harms of the digital ID system and how it affects especially the marginalized population. The insights shared by speakers from diverse backgrounds will help to understand how digital identity data can be used by government and private organizations for surveillance, often resulting in mass exclusions, and why we need to create more awareness around it to make it more inclusive. This space holds more meaning as it will provide the opportunity of bringing in participants from various countries and diverse backgrounds; civil society, policy makers, academia, private sectors, media, and other fields to come up together for sharing their lived experiences and knowledge of digital ID system. The speakers will not only share their insights but also participants will be given equal space for discussions around digital rights and inclusion from intersectional perspectives in such an inclusive space.
Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right)
Time frame (e.g. 5 minutes, 20 minutes, should add up to 60 minutes) Description
5 minutes- Introduction and setting by moderator 25-30 minutes insight sahring on set question by the speakers (6 minutes each speaker))
10-15 minutes- Interaction with audience, follow-up questions 10 minutes- follow-ups with speakers, summation, next steps
Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

  • Moderator (Primary)

    • Name: Sapana Sanjeevani
    • Organization: Body & Data
    • Designation: Program Coordinator
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Nepal
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://bodyanddata.org/team-members/

  • Moderator (Back-up)

    • Name: Rita Baramu
    • Organization: Body & Data
    • Designation: Program Manager
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Nepal
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://bodyanddata.org/team-members/

  • Speaker 1

    • Name: Yesha Tsering Paul
    • Organization: The Center for Internet & Society
    • Designation: Program Officer
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: India
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://cis-india.org/about/people/cis-team-members#Yesha

  • Speaker 2

    • Name: Veronica Arroyo
    • Organization: Acess Now
    • Designation: Policy Analyst
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Latin America
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Invited
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.accessnow.org/profile/veronica-arroyo/

  • Speaker 3

    • Name: Teresa Perosa
    • Organization: The Engine Room
    • Designation: Research Manager
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Brazil
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Invited
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.theengineroom.org/people/teresa-perosa/

  • Speaker 4

    • Name: Shubha Kayastha
    • Organization: Body & Data
    • Designation: Executive Director
    • Gender: female
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Nepal
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://bodyanddata.org/team-members/
Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.
Yesha Tsering Paul is working with the Center for Internet and Society (CIS), India as a program officer in the area of digital identity programs implemented in India. She believes that the role of civil society is more important to create advocacy around the digital ID programs. She has been working to analyze the Indian digital ID Aadhaar card, and her insights would be more helpful for us to understand the issues around the Indian digital ID Aaadhar card and how did the civil society in India play a crucial role to point out the issue of exclusion and make the program more inclusive. Likewise, speaker Veronica Arroyo is working as a policy analyst for Latin America and the Digital ID Policy Lead with Access Now. Her main aim is to increase awareness of privacy, digital security, and the right to be free from discrimination. She previously worked at Access Now as a Policy Intern. She is a member of the Women in Identity Group and of the Trustworthy Digital Identity Interest Group, The Alan Turing Institute. Her advocacy around the risks of biometric identification systems and the role of better policies for digital ID programs would help us to have a discussion of the ways of making digital ID programs more inclusive.
Similarly, Teresa Perosa is working with The Engine Room as a researcher and she was also involved in research around digital ID and justice which advocates for the role of civil society as a must to implement inclusive digital ID programs. Her insights and experiences would give us a broader understanding of civil society participation in such programs and how it can be useful in having a digital ID program that would focus more on eliminating the exclusion of the marginalized communities. Shubha Kayastha is working at Body & Data and is a feminist activist who works at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and technology. She is passionate about bringing a feminist lens to the workaround freedom of expression and sexual expression, data privacy, and digital security. She has been promoting a feminist perspective on freedom of expression and data justice. Recently, she is involved with the digital ID research in Nepal and her experiences and insights would be more helpful to understand the digital ID programs being introduced in Nepal and the scenarios around the programs themselves. Her insights on the different digital programs being introduced in Nepal would help us to understand the notion of those programs in the south Asian country like Nepal and how similar or different it is from other digital IDs around Asia-Pacific.
Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2022.
No
Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2022?
Yes
Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers)

    • Female: 6
Consent
I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2022.