[NCUC-EC] travel support policy for policy work - my draft

[Milan, Stefania]

Dear Bill and ECers

as promised, I have drafted a travel support policy to support policy work of dedicated members for meetings that take place away from ICANN general meetings (thanks to Ed for going through it):

[policy starts here]
Policy advocacy funding
(or 'Travel Support Policy to enable policy work')

Starting with March 2015, the NCUC will make available from its own  funds ad-hoc grants to support the participation in policy meetings of heavily engaged NCUC members. Only ICANN-related meetings will be considered, e.g. working groups gathering away from general ICANN meetings  for which no dedicated funding has been made available.

To receive NCUC travel support, applicants must be NCUC members in good standing who are actively and verifiably engaged in the working groups whose meeting they seek funding to attend. Applicants must demonstrate that they need to be at a given meeting in order to further the work they are doing in the group and that no additional sources of funding are available. Expenses eligible for reimbursement are limited to those related to transportation and accommodation as well as visa fees. No per diems will be reimbursed via this scheme.

Applications should address each of the above points and should be submitted via email to the NCUC Chair. The EC will review the applications and will strive to announce its decisions within a week from its receipt of the application.
[/end]

Feedback welcome!
Two further points:

  *   I suggest no per diems are paid through this policy. This is not designed to punish our volunteer members who sacrifice for a working group, but it is intended to maximum the number of people we can fund per year. We are eroding NCUC budget after all, and we should avoid being too lush at the beginning, only to have to cancel the funding scheme right after...
  *   If we wish, we could also suggest this funding scheme is a try-out for a year. This is somehow a special year, with the IANA transition, the GNSO review, the WHOIS review, ect. -- so we can take it as a pilot here, try this out for 12 months and then see how much money is left, and whether we can afford to continue the program. (The same could apply to the travel support policy for ICANN meetings)
  *   I wanted to add something about rotation of grantees but not sure it makes sense: policy work in working group is in one's own personal capacity, so people cannot be 'easily replaced'. Therefore I suggest we don't include this 'rule' but strive to create or encourage diversity
  *   What about postponing reimbursement only after the receipt of the blog post? Too though on people who already volunteer much of their time and energies?

In addition, I propose to restructure the Travel Support Policy Page (http://www.ncuc.org/governance/travel-policy/), currently under 'Governance', as follows:

- move the section under 'Participate'

- have a generic page with the following intro text:


[start]

NCUC provides support to its members to participate to ICANN and ICANN-related meetings.

Two such policies are currently in place:

  *   Travel Support Policy to attend ICANN meetings: It is designed to enable selected members to take part in an ICANN meeting. Up to two members are supported per each ICANN meeting. Read the terms and conditions here (link1).

  *   Policy Advocacy Funding (or 'Travel Support Policy to enable policy work'): Occasionally, NCUC might be able to provide ad-hoc financial support for NCUC members who are heavily engaged in ICANN-related working groups gathering away from general ICANN meetings. Read the terms and conditions here (link2).

[/end]


By clicking on link1, one gets access to the Travel Support Policy we already have in place.

By clicking on link2, one is directed to the new policy advocacy scheme.


What do you think?

Comments, suggestions, and general help are very much welcome.

Best, Stefania








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