Proposed new NCSG structure

[Milton L Mueller]

Hello, all

Important news about the GNSO Improvements. First, we have no official
notice yet but the Board has voted to delay the full implementation of
the Improvements by 3-4 months. This is supposed to have happened at the
Sept 30 meeting, but we have no description of what they decided yet so
cannot provide details. 

 

This has implications for our GNSO Council seat elections. It would mean
that there would be 2 open Council positions instead of 5, although one
ICANN staff has suggested that we go ahead and elect all 5 and keep them
"in reserve" (don't shoot the messenger, I am just relaying what I
know). 

 

More important, we need to start thinking about the new structure for
the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG). Below is a sketch of what I
think would work. Please let us know what you think.

 

 

NCSG structure sketch

 

Membership

Eligibility criteria same as before, except we allow individuals
according to current provisional regime

Individuals and representatives of organizations join NCSG directly 

            Social networking site for interactions and records

            NCUC discuss list retained (but renamed) as NCSG discuss
list

3 categories of membership: 

            Large organization - 4 votes

            Small organization - 2 votes

            Individuals - 1 vote

No membership dues, but renewal required bi-annually

Chair and GNSO Council reps elected by NCSG members

 

Officers

Chair - same duties as NCUC chair

6 GNSO Council representatives elected by NCSG

Executive Committee (EC)

Consists of Chair, 1 delegate from each constituency, Council
representatives

            Constituencies represented by their own chair/delegate

 

Constituencies

Constituencies are self-defined groups organized around some distinctive
policy perspective (e.g. consumer protection, privacy); shared identity
(e.g., region or country of origin, gender, language group); a type of
organization (e.g., research networks, philanthropic foundations) or any
other grouping principle that might affect its stance on gtld policy.

Each constituency sets its own eligibility criteria

Constituencies have a right to:

*    Place one rep on the executive committee

*    Delegate members to working groups

*    Issue statements on PDPs which are included in the official NCSG
response, but marked as constituency positions, not necessarily the
position of NCSG as a whole

 

To be recognized as a constituency a group must be supported by at least
5 people who are already NCSG members, appoint an organizer (chair) and
submit a charter. Steps: 

1)      A prospective constituency organizer issues a notification of
intent to form a constituency to the entire NCSG via its email list

2)      When 5 or more NCSG members volunteer to join the NCSG on the
public list it becomes eligible to schedule a meeting (which can be
either in person or online)

3)      The eligible constituency holds a meeting(s) to draft a charter.
The charter defines its grouping principle, eligibility criteria, and
procedures. The meetings also designate a constituency chair, and other
officers if so desired.

4)      The charter is submitted to the NCSG EC for ratification.
Ratification is based exclusively on due diligence whether there are
really at least 5 members, whether the constituency's eligibility rules
or procedures contravene NCSG charter in some way

 

Current members of NCUC are automatically made members of NCSG, but NCUC
dissolves as a constituency once this proposal is adopted. 

 

NCSG members can join any constituency, provided that they meet the
constituency's own eligibility criteria. 

Should we allow constituencies to exclude based on criteria? I propose
yes - otherwise constituencies are meaningless 

Should we allow members to join more than one constituency? I propose
yes, as long as voting for council seats and chair is NCSG-wide.

 

Constituencies keep track of their own membership, but members should
reflect their status on the official NCSG social network site. Status is
reviewed by the EC bi-annually to see if they still exceed the 5-member
threshold. 

 

 

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