The Next Byte – Shaping Human-Centred Internet Governance
IGF Secretariat/UNDESA
Session 282
UN General Assembly Resolution 80/173, adopted in December 2025, reviewed the progress made in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) over the past 20 years. It reaffirmed the WSIS framework's relevance and established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a permanent forum of the United Nations.
The Resolution highlights the urgent need to address digital divides and advance meaningful digital inclusion, ensuring that all countries and stakeholders benefit from existing and emerging digital technologies. In this context, the session will assess the current state of the digital ecosystem, focusing on the social, economic, and political implications of emerging technologies. It will explore what actions are needed to ensure that the Internet and digital technologies serve the public interest and contribute to inclusive development.
The interactive roundtable discussion will bring together experts from the IGF’s intersessional work and broader multistakeholder community to examine key technological trends, emerging risks, and opportunities. By leveraging the IGF’s continuous, bottom-up processes and its ability to connect local experiences with global policy discussions — and drawing on its diverse, interdisciplinary community of experts spanning regions, sectors and areas of practice — the session aims to translate broad principles of human-centred digital governance into practical, actionable approaches.
The discussion will be guided by the following policy questions:
- How can global digital governance frameworks better address persistent digital divides, further exacerbated by emerging technologies, and ensure meaningful inclusion across all regions and stakeholder groups?
- What are the key social, economic, and political implications of emerging digital technologies, and how can policy responses ensure they support equitable and sustainable development?
- To what extent are existing multistakeholder mechanisms effective in responding to rapid technological change, and what gaps need to be addressed?
- How can multistakeholder cooperation be strengthened, particularly through more interdisciplinary approaches, to enable more inclusive and future-oriented digital governance?
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Chengetai Masango serves as the Head of the United Nations Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), created following the World Summit on the Information Society to encourage global public policy dialogue on key Internet governance issues. The IGF’s mission is to support the sustainability, security, stability, and development of the Internet through inclusive and open discussions.
Mr. Masango holds a master’s degree in International Relations with a concentration in Global Information Policy, as well as degrees in Information Management and Computer Programming. His PhD research focused on transnational collective action and effective practices for globally distributed, multicultural teams.
Jennifer Chung is the Vice President, Policy for DotAsia Organisation. She served as the co-convenor of the Informal Multistakeholder Sounding Board for the WSIS+20 review. She was appointed to the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG Chair: 2026, Member: 2025, 2018-2020), and the Expert Working Groups (2022, 2026) that developed recommendations on strengthening the IGF. She serves as the Secretary and heads the IGF Support Association Secretariat which provides support to the IGFand grants to National, Sub-regional, Regional and Youth Initiatives. She serves in the APrIGF Secretariat and amplifies Asia Pacific contributions on Internet governance.
Ms. Chung represents .Asia Registry at ICANN and is the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Vice Chair and topic lead on DNS Abuse mitigation policy development, and part of the Standing Committee on Continuous Improvement. Previously, she headed the ICG Secretariat that oversaw the IANA stewardship transfer from the US to the global multistakeholder community.
A strong proponent of youth capacity building and leadership training, Ms. Chung represents one of the founding partner organisations (DotAsia), and part of the faculty of the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum (APIGA) since 2016. Ms. Chung is a mentor and lecturer (since 2014) at one of the earliest youth Internet governance programs, Netmission.asia (established in 2009). The youth-led Internet governance and policy advocacy network started with an Academy program and the alumni cohort has since produced two UN IGF MAG members, created 8 Youth IGFs in the APAC region, and established the Asia Pacific Policy Observatory.
Ms. Chung is on the ISIF.asia Committee that awards grants supporting Internet and digital development in APAC. She is in the core Secretariat of Technical Community Coalition for Multistakeholderism (TCCM), a group of critical Internet infrastructure technical operators dedicated to strengthening the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance. She works on Internationalized Domain Names policies and supports Universal Acceptance, a foundation for a multilingual Internet.
• Economist
• Expert in sustainable development, environmental issues, finance, and technology
• Founder and Program Director of the Vostok Club — a community of international and Russian experts in sustainable development, global environmental agenda, innovation technologies, science, education, and workforce development for the national economy
• Member of the Expert Council of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI)
• Co-Chair of the “Just Development Goals” Working Group at the BRICS Summit 2024 and Co-Head of the Environmental Working Group of the BRICS Expert Council 2025, Co-Chair of the Environmental Working Group of the BRICS Expert Council 2026
• Co-Chair Dynamic Coalition on Environment, UN Internet Governance Forum
H.E. Ambassador Philip Thigo, MBS, is an award-winning technology and public policy leader serving as the Republic of Kenya’s Special Envoy on Technology, the first role of its kind in Africa.
He has been recognized by Apolitical as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in digital government in 2018 and as a world-leading figure in AI in Government in 2025 and 2026. He is also a Mozilla RISE25 honoree, an AfricaCom top 100 Technology and Telecommunications leader, and a recipient of Kenya’s Presidential Commendation, Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear.
Amb. Thigo serves on the Executive Steering Group of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development, is a founding steering committee member of the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES), serves as a Board Member of NASA’s Earth Observations for Sustainable Development Goals, chairs the Board of iamtheCODE, and was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.
He has authored and co-authored foresight, policy, and research publications with institutions such as the Brookings Institution and the World Economic Forum.
He has held senior roles across international organizations, non-profits, and social ventures in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, including as founding Director for Africa at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University.
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C1. The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
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C11. International and regional cooperation
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Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
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Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
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Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
- Objective 1: Close all digital divides and accelerate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals
- Objective 2: Expand inclusion in and benefits from the digital economy for all
- Objective 3: Foster an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space that respects, protects and promotes human rights
- Objective 4: Advance responsible, equitable and interoperable data governance approaches
- Objective 5: Enhance international governance of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity