What is the aim?
To build the capacity of the strategy preparation team by sharing knowledge and experience from people who have drafted national cyber strategies previously.
Why do it?
This gives the team drafting the strategy direct access to the experience of people who have been in their position before. It can also create an international network of cyber policy influencers that they can draw on after the project.
What are typical outputs?
The strategy team gains a network of contacts they can get advice from and exchange experience with.
How is it delivered?
The project implementers can introduce the strategy preparation team to people who have drafted strategies in other countries. They can then stay part of the conversation or leave the drafting team to take forward the conversation.
How easily can a country do it themselves?
Very easily. The GFCE is able to provide some introductions.
What good practice guidance is available?
None specific to this activity.
- Reach out to the GFCE and its community. As many members have already drafted their own strategies or helped countries to draft strategies, they can share their experiences. As the GFCE has regular physical meetings, there are also opportunities to have those conversations in person.
- Acknowledge that every country is different and so is the drafting process and the NCS itself. Therefore, if you have conversations with several stakeholders, you can develop an understanding of what works and what doesn’t in your country.
Cost
Minimal.
Duration
The conversations may take up to a month to arrange and then hold.
At the 2019 GFCE Annual Meeting in Addis Ababa, the GFCE’s Task Force Strategy & Policy held a workshop for countries in Africa, at the end of which government delegates could sign up for a follow-on conversation with someone who had drafted a national strategy before. To prepare for the event, the task force asked for volunteers from its membership who had national cyber strategy drafting experience. It had already identified some volunteers from its earlier work to publish a booklet containing interviews with such officials from Norway, Mexico and Senegal.
During the NCS ITU workshops (see activity 10), representatives from the government of North Macedonia shared experiences with participants from countries in the region.
One of the lessons from this experience was that people who have drafted a national strategy will often know others with the same experience, because they consulted internationally themselves while drafting. An informal network of strategy drafters is already forming. This is something that the GFCE and capacity building could make use of and support. However, it should remain sensitive to the fact that these policy officials will likely remain busy people and may not be available for more than a phone call.