[NCUC-DISCUSS] Candidate Statement (Farell FOLLY)

Wed Oct 18 11:28:14 CEST 2017

Farell,

Very powerful statement in here and I agree with your passion for the newcomer program which I find to be very strategic for engaging with the newcomers and getting them introduced to the work of the NCUC within ICANN.

Bram Fudzulani 

Skype: bram.fudzulani 

 <https://www.facebook.com/angledimensionmw/>    <https://twitter.com/AngleDimension>   

From: Ncuc-discuss [mailto:ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org] On Behalf Of Farell Folly
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 4:00 PM
To: NCUC-discuss <ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org>
Subject: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Candidate Statement (Farell FOLLY)

Dear All, 

please find my statement below. I am sorry to be long but it demonstrates the complexity level our constituency has reached. For a better lisibility, you can read the document on google drive  <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JsGJyL1GRhmL83GZaLzFfTNGDVUwZkwtWaJQ3r9UZmQ/edit?usp=sharing> here (read-only).

* Name, declared region of residence, gender, employment, other volunteering experience

Farell FOLLY, Africa, Male, IT Security Expert – Network Engineer; Technology Champion of Africa 2.0 Foundation ( <http://www.africa2point0.org/> www.africa2point0.org) 

* Any conflicts of interest : None.

1.     Why?

The NCUC is an important actor within the ICANN ecosystem. As you know, we are the voice of all “potential” domain name registrants and non-commercial Internet users. We advocate for the rights of consumers, non-commercial entities, and individual users of the Domain Name System. Today, the NCUC is bigger than ever and dealing with more and more consequential issues. From a recent report on  <https://www.afnic.fr/medias/documents/Dossiers_pour_actualites/2016_Icann_Diversity_Data.pdf> ICANN diversity data, ICANN must acknowledge this evolution, and if the NCUC handles this diversity issue in an elegant and appropriate way, we can become a model for others to follow. Becoming more diverse will also help make more democratic decisions, foster richer debate, create more efficient policy, and build greater institutional legitimacy and vitality. I want to serve on the Executive Committee as your Chair to promote diversity across our membership, discussions and leadership positions -- and show the rest of the ICANN community what we are doing right.

2.     About me

I have a Master of Sciences in Telecommunications and Computer Networks from the Royal Military Academy of Brussels, Belgium, where I lived for seven years from 2001 – 2008. I had a field grade of Capt when I worked for the United States Africa Command stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. I was working group chairman and technical director of the Africa Endeavour program which aims at improving communication interoperability among armed forces from Africa, US, and NATO countries. When I left the army as an active officer, I worked in the telecommunications regulatory area, ICT promotion and Internet governance; and have many times chaired workings groups and organized conferences/workshops.

My journey into the ICANN community began in 2013 when I met the former CEO, Fadi Chehadé, at IGF 2013 and discussed diversity issues. However, as a network engineer, I started working with IANA a long time ago to implement IPv4 networks with its supporting protocols. I began contributing in ICANN ASO through my membership in the Africa Internet Registry (AFRINIC) in 2012. Subsequently, I entered the DNS area with discussions on ccTLDs and realized that still much more work needed to be done in this field compare to IP domain which was mostly concerned about the migration from IPv4 to IPv6. Consequently, I responded to the GNSO call in 2015 for volunteers to contribute to the next-Gen RDS PDP.

Last year, while working for the United Nations in Mali, I decided to pursue a PhD in Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, many recent reports proved once more that DNS implementation are very (if not the most) concerned with cyberattacks within the Internet ecosystem, while IoT tends to complexify the situation.

3.    Time commitment

As a researcher I have a flexible timetable and can devote as much time as is needed to accomplish NCUC tasks, such as preparing for meetings, conferences, and outreach events. In general, I will make myself  available for at least 10 hours per week, and up to 20 hours if needed, to grow the NCUC.

4.    Communication

My communication strategy will adapt to the three types of audiences that the NCUC encompasses: newcomers, (engaged) members, and the global community/others stakeholders.

When I joined the NCUC, I found it very difficult as a newcomer to understand the ecosystem. I did not want my hand held, however, without an intrinsic motivation, I firmly believe that no newcomer can reach an acceptable level of engagement. I recognize the efforts of the current leadership team to implement the onboarding program,the FAQ, and focal points to coach newcomers, but I think there is still room for improvement. Therefore I will use monthly webinars targeted at newcomers so that EC and focal points can discuss the NCUC’s mission and objectives with them, and they can also express their own views and positions, so that an efficient coaching mechanism can be launched at an earlier stage of their membership.

With all engaged members, discussions will happen using the traditional discussion lists, webinars, periodic meetings and any other channel that seems appropriate for a particular situation (Adobe, Skype, WhatsApp, etc.). The more a member shows engagement to the NCUC, the more likely he/she is to receive a grant or travel support which he/she applies for. Decision-making processes will always be democratic, transparent, and objective.

Our website, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook will be used to reach out and engage more with the community. Capacity building and outreach events will be conducted periodically and assessed to ensure they are successful. I will encourage engaged members to maintain blogs and talk about their work engagement in order to demonstrate to others what they are doing within our community that reflects NCUC mission.

5.    Plan and goals

I will focus on fostering diversity, membership efficiency, setting up a roadmap for the NCUC, and on fundraising to ensure our long-term sustainability and the enlargement of our endowment so that we can support the participation of more and more members to attend ICANN meetings.

About the roadmap

The most critical thing I will work on after being sworn in as Chair is setting up a clear roadmap for the NCUC. In fact, we have already updated our bylaws and written for the first time our operational procedures, with thanks to the current leadership and their determination to achieve that. What we now need is to have a steady leadership and management capacity. For me, that means that we need to set up at least a five-year agenda (the timescale can be discussed later) associated with our vision and objectives. EC term is a maximum of two consecutive one-year terms, that is quite enough but if we keep letting the Chair decide the mid- and long-term goals for the constituency, we’ll keep changing goals every election, and this will compromise our efficiency. Once we have our roadmap, all newly elected Chairs must reasonably comply with this vision, but they will of course have the autonomy to chart the course to achieve the objectives using their own methods, means, and style. Setting up a longer term agenda for the NCUC will be a collaborative work with all the members, and it can be reviewed periodically to cope with changes in the ecosystem. Policies related to users/data privacy and human rights will have a bigger place in that agenda.

Diversity

Diversity will guide every single decision I take as Chair. Following the recent report of ICANN on diversity <https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/59643308/Diversity%20-%20English%20version.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1468432893000&api=v2> , I would like the NCUC be the model and reference point for diversity within Internet governance ecosystem. We cannot continue talking on behalf of the vast majority of Internet users we claim to defend without increasing their means to engage with us. Those “potential” Internet users are mostly non-native English speakers, living in developing countries with a very weak Internet access and are to be affected by most of our decisions. Language barriers prevent many of our current NCUC members from fully participating in discussions. I am a candidate that intends to represent and promote that diversity. If I am elected as chair I will increase our diversity using the following ICANN and community-recognized  <https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/59643308/Diversity%20-%20English%20version.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1468432893000&api=v2> set of criteria:

·         Geographical origin: to make sure that everybody counts, especially under-represented voices.

·         Language: during my term as chair, I will work on implementing means to facilitate spontaneous discussions in two or more languages (out of the seven  ICANN recognised languages) within the discussions lists.

·         Gender: we will seek gender balance among our membership, leading by example

·         Backgrounds and Ideology: I will seek for balance between all kind of members: technical, legal, lawyers, academic, sociologist, journalists, random users, arts, etc.

·         Last but not least, openness is also a very critical criterion for diversity. It will favor newcomers, women membership and youth innovation.

It is also recognised that there are other forms of diversity (including age, professional experience, sexual orientation, nationality, parents); the above criteria is not set in stone nor should it be seen as fixed.

Membership

Our membership is so critical to our growth because it can offer us the human resources and the skills required to accomplish our mission. Therefore, it won’t be enough to solely rely on the number of members. I will measure my success not by growing our membership, but by making sure we have the right people in our constituency, and that they are ready to work and to deliver the necessary changes. Focal points will have a crucial role in engaging with members in policy discussions and will lead NCUC sub-teams to get involved in their associated area of expertise. Consequently, call for public comments will be directed to sub-teams first, before proceeding in a reasonably hierarchical manner throughout the membership, NCSG Policy Committee, and Executive Committee. In addition, internal mechanisms to recognize the efforts of valuable people will be put in place in order to stimulate and reward active engagement. Furthermore, we will have set metrics to approve outreach events, and equally, metrics to assess their effectiveness and return on investment.

Funding

The organization is getting bigger but our endowment and resources are not growing at the same pace. Consequently, we need to work on a funding plan that will support our agenda. Together with the EC, we’ll work on how we can get more funding. I am sure that several members, myself included, have strong networking connections that we can leverage to raise funds.

-- 

Regards

@__f_f__

https://www.linkedin.com/in/farellf  

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