# [IGF 2026 WS #442 Building Stakeholder Expertise into the UN Global Mechanism](https://intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2026-ws-442-building-stakeholder-expertise-into-the-un-global-mechanism) ## Description Following two decades of ad hoc formats, the establishment of the UN Global Mechanism on ICT security provides to Cyber Diplomacy a permanent institutional home, and shifts its purpose from negotiating norms on the safety and security of the cyber domain to implementing them. The Mechanism also comes with a new structure that carries a significant recognition. The establishment of Dedicated Thematic Groups, complementary to the plenary agenda, integrates stakeholders' expertise into delegations' deliberative responsibilities on specific issues. With this shift, Cyber Diplomacy has formalised the acknowledgement that effective cyber governance cannot be sustained without the technical and scientific knowledge that expert communities provide across different regional contexts, and without the diverse sectoral perspectives that different stakeholder communities bring. Yet questions remain on how this novel structure will function, and on how to ensure its effective support to the plenary. Questions remain too on how to build a common language, shared priorities, and a constructive exchange between delegates and expert stakeholders, where knowledge flows in both directions and regional perspectives from across the globe are treated as indispensable inputs rather than optional additions. These are critical conditions for the effective implementation of the UN Global Mechanism, and questions the broader IGF community is well equipped to address. Building on the first plenary session held in July 2026, on the Cyber Diplomacy Compass consultations convened alongside it by EU Cyber Direct, and on the first Dedicated Thematic Groups meeting from 7 to 11 December 2026, this session brings together delegations, the technical community, civil society and industry to work through these questions. With the ambition of producing concrete recommendations to be shared with the UN Secretariat and Global Mechanism delegations, the session works towards the further integration of expertise in the consolidation of the Global Mechanism on ICT security. ## Policy Question(s) **A:** At what points in the Global Mechanism's cycle is stakeholder expertise most useful to delegations, and what would make its contribution visible in the outcomes of the Dedicated Thematic Groups? **B:** What conditions would allow expertise from all regions to reach the process on equal terms, and where should responsibility for creating those conditions sit between states, stakeholders, and capacity building efforts? **C:** How can engagement between delegations and expert communities be sustained between sessions, and what forms of continuity would strengthen the implementation of the Mechanism without adding to the burden on smaller delegations? ## Expected Outcomes The session will produce a short set of practical recommendations on stakeholder support in the Global Mechanism, drafted from the discussion and shared with delegations and stakeholder communities ahead of the 2027 cycle. A session report will be published by EU Cyber Direct and shared with UNODA, the Chair of the UN Global Mechanism, and delegations, feeding into EU Cyber Direct's regular preparatory work on multistakeholder contribution to the Global Mechanism and the broader Cyber Diplomacy domain. Participants will leave with a clearer picture of how the Mechanism's new structure works in practice, drawn from delegations and expert communities involved in its first sessions. Delegates will gain perspectives from technical, academic, and civil society communities across regions on what expertise can realistically be supplied and what it requires, and the exchange is intended to establish contacts sustained between sessions rather than reassembled at each meeting. ## Reference Document Reference Document ## Format Classroom **Duration (minutes):** 90 **Format description:** The classroom layout accommodates a wider group than a roundtable while keeping participants at a working surface, which suits a session where delegations and expert stakeholders are expected to draft and refine recommendations rather than only listen, working from policy questions circulated in advance. Ninety minutes is the minimum this requires. Short framing interventions take thirty minutes, leaving a full hour of open exchange, which is what a multistakeholder discussion needs once a regionally balanced speaking queue is accounted for. A shorter slot would compress the exchange into a sequence of statements rather than a conversation. ## Hybrid Format **Hybrid Format:** Speakers will be split across both modalities, with at least one framing intervention delivered remotely. An online moderator will hold an equal role throughout, sharing a single alternating speaking queue with the onsite moderator and taking the floor at fixed announced intervals rather than at the end. Chat questions will be read aloud and attributed. The roundtable format, with policy questions circulated in advance, suits hybrid exchange better than sequential presentations. A collaborative document will carry a live summary and written interventions, with a pre-session form collecting input from regions poorly served by the time slot. ## Organizers **Organizer 1:** Andrea Calderaro, CyberDirect/European Institute for Security Studies ## Speakers **Speaker 1:** Raman Jit Singh Chima, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group **Speaker 2:** Moliehi Makumane, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization **Speaker 3:** Maria Paz Canales, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) **Speaker 4:** Madeline Carr, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) ## Moderator Andrea Calderaro, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) ## Online Moderator Adolfo Moreira, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) ## Rapporteur Houwen Marius, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) ## Participant Benefits What will participants gain from attending this session? ## SDGs 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure 10. Reduced Inequalities 16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions 17. Partnerships for the Goals