[NCUC-DISCUSS] Announcement: New NCUC Travel Support Policy

Fri Sep 26 11:23:31 CEST 2014

This I totally agree with William, it is important that through the connection with the group people understand enough to be effective and they should be committed to using the meeting to support NCUC/NCSG. We need to avoid tourism and worse...

best regards

Dorothy K. Gordon
Director-General
Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT
Mobile: 233 265005712
Direct Line: 233 302 683579
Website: www.aiti-kace.com.gh
Encrypt Everything - https://gpgtools.org https://silentcircle.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Drake" <wjdrake at gmail.com>
To: "Seun Ojedeji" <seun.ojedeji at gmail.com>
Cc: "NCUC-discuss" <ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org>
Sent: Friday, 26 September, 2014 7:31:28 AM GMT +00:00 Casablanca / Monrovia
Subject: Re: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Announcement: New NCUC Travel Support Policy

Hi 

Just to clarify: “Are actively and verifiably engaged in NCUC's work, for example constituency governance, NCUC/NCSG policy discussions, or GNSO Working Groups” does not mean only “participate in GNSO Working Groups.” It means actively and verifiably engaged in NCUC. While it’s really important that we get people involved in WGs, the EC will assess applications globally, rather than on a single criteria. 

Over the years there have been unsolicited requests for travel support from folks who are not involved in any identifiable manner, as well as cases of people traveling in ICANN-provided slots who didn’t participate much or at all in NCUC/NCSG activities at meetings. So the few opportunities we can provide, particularly via funds raised by volunteers, should go to people who are willing to be involved and contribute. 

Best, 

Bill 

On Sep 26, 2014, at 4:13 AM, Seun Ojedeji < seun.ojedeji at gmail.com > wrote: 

Hello Amr, 

Now you have listed 3 options and the last option in your list IMO is one of the best ways to evaluate contributions/contributors; better than joining the meetings. 

Nevertheless it's okay to encourage people to participate in virtual meetings as well but not necessarily using it as a major criteria. 

Thanks. 

Cheers! 

sent from Google nexus 4 
kindly excuse brevity and typos. 
On 25 Sep 2014 21:22, "Amr Elsadr" < aelsadr at egyptig.org > wrote: 

Hi Seun and Dorothy, 

I take your points, and don’t mean to sound insensitive to regional problems such as connectivity. However, I would still favour this as a priority criteria if for no other reason than that noncommercial representation in GNSO policy development is markedly under-represented when compared to other stakeholders. Any measure taken to improve this is worthwhile IMHO. With the limited resources we have at our disposal, I wouldn’t blame our leadership for making hard choices when prioritising how these resources are allocated. 

For what it’s worth, there are three methods of participation in a working group. Joining calls is one of them, and this can be done by dialling into conference calls, requesting dial outs (although I appreciate that even telephone connectivity might pose a challenge), using the Adobe Connect Rooms (which can also substitute for joining a conference bridge if Internet connectivity is available and adequate) and communicating on the working groups’ email lists. 

Time zone difficulties associated with scheduling conference calls are commonly more challenging for those in Asia and the Americas, but usually more convenient for participants in Europe and Africa. Most calls are scheduled between UTC 13:00 and UTC 19:00. 

I would personally be interested in hearing if there are members out there who are interested and willing to join working groups, but are having trouble doing so. I’d be happy to at least try to help to overcome the difficulties being faced. 

Thanks. 

Amr 

On Sep 25, 2014, at 8:58 PM, Seun Ojedeji < seun.ojedeji at gmail.com > wrote: 

It's good I am not the first person to say this. Dorothy has properly captured what I had in mind. [1]. I am sure it will not be difficult to know if a member participate in PDP or not without making attention virtual meeting compulsory. 

Cheers! 
1. @Amr connectivity is still a challenge back home, please come back home ;) 
sent from Google nexus 4 
kindly excuse brevity and typos. 
On 25 Sep 2014 18:54, "Dorothy K. Gordon" < director-general at aiti-kace.com.gh > wrote: 

I am happy with the philosophy behind the travel policy but please note that it is easier for some nationals to participate in the conference call than for others. That is simply to do with the platform under which participation is managed as well as time zone issues. This would be a factor in African participation. 

best regards 

Dorothy K. Gordon 
Director-General 
Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT 
Mobile: 233 265005712 
Direct Line: 233 302 683579 
Website: www.aiti-kace.com.gh 
Encrypt Everything - https://gpgtools.org https://silentcircle.com 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stefania Milan" < Stefania.Milan at EUI.eu > 
To: "Amr Elsadr" < aelsadr at egyptig.org >, "NCUC-discuss" < ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org > 
Sent: Thursday, 25 September, 2014 5:49:32 PM GMT +00:00 Casablanca / Monrovia 
Subject: Re: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Announcement: New NCUC Travel Support Policy 

Hi Amr 
I am happy to see there is support to the new travel support policy. Your suggestion re: attendance to conference calls is good, and we will take it into account in evaluation the proposals. 

Everyone, for future reference, please note that the travel support policy is now online, under a dedicated tab of the "governance" section of the NCUC website: http://www.ncuc.org/governance/travel-policy/ 

Thanks for the support, it is important to know we are going in the right direction. I, too, believe that this will increase active participation and inclusiveness. 

Best, Stefania 

________________________________________ 
Da: ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org < ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org > per conto di Amr Elsadr < aelsadr at egyptig.org > 
Inviato: giovedì 25 settembre 2014 15.11 
A: NCUC-discuss 
Oggetto: Re: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Announcement: New NCUC Travel Support Policy 

Hey Bill, 

This is truly awesome. A hearty “well-done” to you and the rest of the NCUC EC. This is certainly a wonderful initiative that will help NCUC members involved in policy work get support from the constituency enabling their participation to be more effective. 

I was wondering if it is possible to suggest some additions to the criteria: 

On Sep 25, 2014, at 11:26 AM, William Drake < wjdrake at gmail.com > wrote: 

[SNIP] 

> At least two months prior to each ICANN meeting, the NCUC Executive Committee (EC) will send a call for proposals to the ncuc-discuss list inviting applications. 
> 
> To receive NCUC travel support, applicants must be NCUC members in good standing who: 
> 
> 1. Voted in the previous year’s NCUC election, if eligible at the time; 
> 
> 2. Are actively and verifiably engaged in NCUC's work, for example constituency governance, NCUC/NCSG policy discussions, or GNSO Working Groups; 

Perhaps some sort of criteria to be added here regarding the level of participation in working groups, like the applicant's attendance record in working group calls? 

> 3. Need to be at a given meeting because the above mentioned work will be advanced there; 
> 
> 4. Agree to participate in the NCUC, NCSG and GNSO meetings to be held during the meeting; 
> 
> 5. Agree to write a brief post-trip report for the NCUC website reflecting on the meeting’s main developments of relevance to NCUC; 
> 
> 6. Did not receive NCUC funding to attend the immediately previous ICANN meeting, unless exceptional circumstances require their presence at two consecutive meetings. 

Or a lack of other applications meeting the other requirements? My thoughts here are if there is a good application for someone who has attended an immediately previous meeting, with no other applications that meet the other criteria. Although this might fall under the provision of exceptional circumstances, so may not be necessary. 

Thanks. 

Amr 
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*********************************************** 
William J. Drake 
International Fellow & Lecturer 
Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ 
University of Zurich, Switzerland 
Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency, 
ICANN, www.ncuc.org 
william.drake at uzh.ch (direct), wjdrake at gmail.com (lists), 
www.williamdrake.org 
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