Additional Budget Requests: What activities do we want ICANN to fund

[Wisdom Donkor]

Agree with Pascal. Look within before going out.

On Saturday, December 16, 2017, Pascal Bekono <pbekono at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Ayden,
>
> I agree with you in some points. Indeed, our common purpose is outcome.
>
> Yes, we all have different backgrounds, in that way, if your idea is
> adopted, I will suggest that before going for external experts, we shall
> look at experts amongst us through selection criterias.
>
> Cheers,
>
> ~pascal
>
> 2017-12-16 10:25 GMT+01:00 Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com>:
>
>> I do not see the NCUC as a school; we need to as professional - and as
>> coordinated (if not more so) - as our colleagues in the private sector if
>> we want to effect real change. Remember what our values are and what we are
>> here to protect and support: non-commercial communication and activity on
>> the Internet, be that personal or political speech, academic research, or
>> even expression about hobbies, interests, and ideas. This is too important
>> to leave to experimentation.
>>
>> We all have different backgrounds, and ICANN has generously provided us
>> with the support to upskill and to develop our own capabilities through
>> initiatives like the policy writing course. But none of this is a
>> substitute for actually reading the source documents and analysing how they
>> relate to the issues inside and outside of the ICANN ecosystem that we
>> track. Or, rather, should be tracking.
>>
>> I am more focused on the outcome — making sure the principles of free
>> expression, privacy and data protection, fair use, freedom of association,
>> and due process are evident in ICANN activities — than I am on the measures
>> employed to deliver that outcome. If we need external help to instil these
>> things, we need external help.
>>
>> Best wishes, Ayden
>>
>>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: Re: Additional Budget Requests: What activities do we want ICANN
>> to fund
>> Local Time: 12 December 2017 3:05 PM
>> UTC Time: 12 December 2017 15:05
>> From: arsenebaguma at GMAIL.COM
>> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>>
>> I kind of agree that we may need to explore that idea of hiring a
>> consultancy firm.
>>
>> A quick question would be: for how long are we gonna use the services of
>> such a firm? I believe a good reasoning (in our application for additional
>> budget) would be to request it for a certain period of time (to be
>> determined) and then as part of the package, ask the same firm to provide
>> targetted/specialized capacity building program for those of our members
>> who are already involved in public comment drafting so that they can take
>> the lead afterwards. But i believe we have this aspect already coverd by
>> the policy course?
>>
>> Unless we want to totaly rely on such a firm to forever provide this kind
>> of support, which i am worried might not be approved by ICANN and probably
>> would not be valuable for us in terms of sustainability and on long term
>> run. I see the NCSG as a sort of school, giving its members the unique
>> opportunity that we are not receiving anywhere else to be involved in
>> public comments, which is real policy work that we do here at ICANN.
>> I also used to believe that one of the things that make the NCSG
>> different from other groups within ICANN is our ability (so far) to produce
>> our own policy materials and not rely on staff support or such an
>> independent firm to do the work for us. But, I now do agree that we need
>> help in order to be effective and timely in comments drafting.
>> We might need to find the right balance here. Just been thinking outloud
>> :)
>>
>> ------------------------
>> **Arsène Tungali* <http://about.me/ArseneTungali>*
>> Co-Founder & Executive Director, *Rudi international
>> <http://www.rudiinternational.org>*,
>> CEO,* Smart Services Sarl <http://www.smart-serv.info>*, *Mabingwa Forum
>> <http://www.mabingwa-forum.com>*
>> Tel: +243 993810967 <+243%20993%20810%20967>
>> GPG: 523644A0
>> *Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo*
>> 2015 Mandela Washington Felllow
>> <http://tungali.blogspot.com/2015/06/selected-for-2015-mandela-washington.html>
>> (YALI) - ISOC Ambassador (IGF Brazil
>> <http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/igf-ambassadors-programme/Past-Ambassadors>
>> & Mexico
>> <http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/Current-Ambassadors>)
>> - AFRISIG 2016 <http://afrisig.org/afrisig-2016/class-of-2016/> - Blogger
>> <http://tungali.blogspot.com> - ICANN's GNSO Council
>> <https://gnso.icann.org/en/about/gnso-council.htm> Member. AFRINIC Fellow
>> (Mauritius
>> <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1907-afrinic-25-fellowship-winners>
>> )* - *IGFSA Member <http://www.igfsa.org/> - Internet Governance -
>> Internet Freedom.
>>
>> Check the *2016 State of Internet Freedom in DRC* report (English
>> <http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=234>) and (French
>> <http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=242>)
>>
>> 2017-12-09 3:44 GMT+02:00 Stephanie Perrin <stephanie.perrin at mail.utoront
>> o.ca>:
>>
>>> I agree with Ayden, and in particular I would identify research and
>>> preparing briefing papers in order to bring our new people up to speed, as
>>> key activities we could use help on.  Some of us are happy to mentor, but
>>> the folks who want mentoring need materials to read, questions and answers,
>>> prior to discussing issues with potential mentors.  We can't just throw
>>> them at the ICANN PDP websites and wikis, it is overwhelming to scan
>>> through the amount of material and resource documents one has to read.
>>> That kind of help from a research firm would be useful, and I agree with
>>> Ayden that we may want to hire a different kind of resource than the one
>>> the RySG is using, which should be permissible.  Although, there are
>>> certainly firms like that who work with NGOS of all kinds.
>>>
>>> Stephanie Perrin
>>>
>>> On 2017-12-08 20:14, Ayden Férdeline wrote:
>>>
>>> Farzaneh, thanks-
>>>
>>> I have two suggestions.
>>>
>>> 1) As the NCSG and its constituencies scale and mature, we may want to
>>> become more independent than we are today from ICANN. Is it possible to
>>> request a budget for professional services so that we can receive advice on
>>> whether becoming our own legal entity is a possibility - and desirable?
>>>
>>> 2) Another suggestion - and one which I appreciate will not have support
>>> from all our members - is to explore the possibility of hiring external
>>> consultants to aid us in our policy work. Other ICANN communities receive
>>> support from WBC Global in writing first drafts of their public comments. I
>>> am aware that the Business Constituency, Intellectual Property
>>> Constituency, Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers
>>> Constituency, and the Registries Stakeholder Group accept this assistance.
>>> They receive support from WBC advisers for up to 20 public comments per
>>> year. We refuse this assistance and I continue to maintain that this is a
>>> mistake. According to a document
>>> <http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/comments-fy18-budget-08mar17/attachments/20170330/8e8238e7/RySGcommentonDocumentDevelopmentandDraftingProgram-0001.pdf>
>>> that I found on the ICANN website from the RySG:
>>>
>>> *"Our Document Development and Drafting Research Assistant, Wim
>>> Degezelle, made a significant contribution in his role of drafting comments
>>> to complex public comments. His ability to research a topic, communicate
>>> with those in the RySG who may have some more in-depth knowledge of the
>>> issues/topics at hand, and then prepare and present salient observations
>>> and suggested comments has been of incredible benefit to the RySG. Wim’s
>>> role facilitated participation by RySG members who don’t use English as
>>> their first language, and better enabled engagement by smaller (or new)
>>> registry operators who have limited bandwidth, resources and/or knowledge
>>> that restrict their participation in issues that may have a direct impact
>>> on their operations. In fact, we saw a notable increase in participation by
>>> volunteers to partner (or even take a lead role) in developing and/or
>>> contributing to critical issues requiring formal comments by the RySG."*
>>>
>>> When communities with more resources than us are accepting assistance in
>>> drafting their comments, and we do not (for a number of very valid
>>> reasons), I worry that we exacerbate our disadvantages.
>>>
>>> I understand that one of the concerns regarding WBC Global was that they
>>> describe themselves as a "Leading international trade government relations
>>> consulting firm serving multinational clients ... offer[ing] public policy,
>>> political and strategic business advice to Fortune 500 and other
>>> companies". There are concerns, rightfully so, that they may not be best
>>> positioned to write comments through a civil society lens. But can we
>>> instead request our own budget, and work with ICANN [I am not entirely
>>> familiar with their procurement processes] to choose our own consulting
>>> firm? We're swamped. We need help.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Ayden Férdeline
>>> linkedin.com/in/ferdeline <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: Additional Budget Requests: What activities do we want ICANN to
>>> fund
>>> Local Time: 7 December 2017 3:52 PM
>>> UTC Time: 7 December 2017 15:52
>>> From: farzaneh.badii at GMAIL.COM
>>> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>>>
>>> We can submit additional budget requests to ICANN to fund certain
>>> activities. This year we got our NCSG policy course approved. What do you
>>> think the need of our stakeholder group is for next year? What should ICANN
>>> fund for us?
>>>
>>> Please send your ideas my way, and remember that there are many
>>> restrictions to the sort of funding we get. For example, we probably won't
>>> be able to get funding to support travelers for ICANN meetings we could try
>>> but it might be turned down.  Here is the link to additional budget request
>>> announcement: https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2017-12-05-en
>>>
>>> Note that we will discuss the ideas with NCSG Executive Committee,
>>> select some, develop them and submit the requests on behalf of NCSG. I
>>> advise against submitting additional funding request on your own.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> Farzaneh
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

-- 
*WISDOM DONKOR (S/N Eng.)*
E-government, Internet Governance & Open Government Data Platforms
Specialist
ICANN Fellow / Member, UN IGF MAG Member, ISOC Member,
Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Member, Diplo Foundation Member,
OGP Open Data WG Member, GODAN Member, ITAG Member
Email: wisdom.dk at gmail.com
Skype: wisdom_dk
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Website: www.data.gov.gh
www.isoc.gh / www.itag.org.gh
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