Download the AFRALO Outreach Program for the Nairobi Outreach Event as .PDF
AFRALO
Outreach program
Nairobi, 7-12 March 2010
Within ICANN’s global At-Large community, the African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) represents over 20 African civil society organizations working on Internet-related activities. AFRALO provides news, key resources and interactive information sharing tools for individuals and end-user groups in the African region who are interested in ICANN and in shaping the future of the Internet.
The bottom up, multi-stakeholder ICANN system is based on the participation of all stakeholders (governments, private sector and end-users) in the decision-making process. Therefore, African end users, represented in ICANN’s At-Large Community by the African representatives of At-Large Structures (ALSes), must be able to contribute effectively to ICANN’s policy development process. This requires a sound knowledge of ICANN’s structure, policies and policy development process. At the same time, African ALS representatives should be aware of the broader challenges and opportunities related to global governance of the Internet.
An informal survey of AFRALO ALSes taken in 2009 showed that many representatives faced challenges in gaining the necessary level of comprehension of the significant volume of policy-related publications and activities generated by ICANN needed to contribute to ICANN’s policy development process in an informed manner. The survey also indicated that a lack of understanding of ICANN’s organizational structure was an additional barrier to effective participation in ICANN activities.
Following the publication of this survey, an AFRALO working group produced a document outlining the capacity building needs of AFRALO. This document was adopted by the full membership of AFRALO in July 2009. According to this document, in order to provide the members of AFRALO with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to effectively contribute to ICANN policies, capacity building requirements include:
- To inform and educate AFRALO representatives on ICANN activities
- To increase the understanding of ICANN policies
- To establish a communications policy that reflects the realities of the African region.
Thus, it is clear that until AFRALO representatives gain greater knowledge regarding ICANN’s organizational structure, policy-development process and current policies and develop a regional communications policy, they will continue to remain inactive and marginalized.
The AFRALO meeting held during the ICANN meeting which took place in Seoul in October 2001, resulted in AFRALO representatives agreeing to organize an outreach event during the next ICANN international public meeting that will be held on African soil in Nairobi, Kenya 7-12 March 2010. This meeting was seen to be a very good opportunity to maximize the participation of AFRALO representatives in a series of capacity-building sessions which would inform and train them on ICANN and its processes of policy development while at the same time provide a means for the current members of AFRALO to showcase their region.
This proposal provides an outline of the proposed capacity building event composed of two primary components:
- Capacity building training sessions
- AFRALO Showcase
A - Capacity building
1. Objective
The main objective of this project is to build capacity and raise awareness of ICANN policies, organization and activities to increase the effectiveness of the participation of the African end-users representatives in ICANN’s policy development process.
Over 5 days of the ICANN meeting in Nairobi, the project aims at providing representatives of AFRALO ALSes with briefings on the key policies, issues, activities and structure of ICANN. These briefings will be conducted by relevant ICANN officers and staff, and allow for open discussion.
2. Methodology
To achieve this objective, a series of sessions on the policy development process at ICANN will be held during the Nairobi meeting. Participants will include representatives of African ALSes.
For the best efficiency, the sessions will be organized from Monday to Thursday early in the morning (From 7 to 9 a.m.) to allow the AFRALO ALS representatives to participate in ICANN meetings in order to apply what they learned during the morning sessions. A session of half a day (Sunday morning) will be dedicated to the overall presentation of ICANN structure and mission. The morning sessions of the 4 remaining days will be used to detail ICANN policies, policy development processes, participation and communication, including the development of an AFRALO regional communication strategy.
3. Attendees
11 ALSes showed their interest in attending this event. They will be represented by 22 delegates.
4. Expected results
Today, over 20 organizations of African civil society are accredited to participate in the activities of ICANN. Many of them are currently inactive and thus don’t have a significant degree of influence on the decision-making within ICANN.
After this training:
- The participation of each supported ALS in AFRALO monthly teleconferences, in the public comments issued by ICANN on various topics under discussion, in the working groups and all consultations should be improved to defend the interests of the African end users.
- Each sponsored ALS should also work with at least one other organization of African civil society, active in the field of Internet-related issues, to seek accreditation as an AFRALO ALS.
Sunday 7 March 2010
08:00 - 08:30 Program introduction: Aims and objectives
08:30 – 10:30 ICANN’s role in the infrastructure of the Internet
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 13:00 ICANN Mission, Structure and Constituencies
Monday 8 March 2010
07:00 – 08:00 ICANN Policies: Introduction (Briefings)
08:00 – 09:00 ICANN Policies: Case Study and Group Exercise
Tuesday 9 March 2010
07:00 – 08:00 ICANN policy development process: Introduction (Briefings)
08:00 – 09:00 ICANN policy development process: Case study and Group Exercise
Wednesday 10 March 2010
07:00 – 08:00 ICANN Public Participation and Communication: Introduction
08:00 – 09:00 Development of an AFRALO regional communication strategy
Thursday 11 March 2010
07:00 – 07:40 Presentations of policy group exercises
07:40 – 08:20 Presentations of policy development exercises
08:20 – 09:00 Conclusions and Next Steps
6. Evaluation criteria
- Increase in number of AFRALO ALSes involved in the ICANN process (working groups, consultations, public comments, teleconferences, etc.).
- Increase in number of AFRALO contributions to At-Large and ICANN policy consultations.
- Increase in African ALS accreditations during the next period.
7. Logistical aspects
- Travel support for each participant including airfare, accommodation and per diem.
- A room for 27 persons, equipped with the simultaneous interpretation infrastructure.
- Two translators (English and French).
8. Coordination
This operation needs the contribution of the At-Large secretariat and Global Partnerships staff.
It also requires a dedicated coordinator who will work with the ICANN Meetings staff to coordinate all the logistical aspects, including arranging the various trainers. It is suggested that Gisella Gruber-White, who has African roots, and who is perfectly bilingual would be a good choice.
9. Budget
The estimation is 3,000 US$ per participant, based on 1,500 US$ for the air fare, and 6 days of accommodation (160 US$ per night) and per diem (90 US$ per day).
11 ALSes confirmed their participation represented by 22 delegates. 5 among them are already funded. The remaining number of participants that need the travel support is 17. The global cost of the travel support would be 51,000 US$
B - Showcase
The ICANN meeting in Nairobi will be an excellent opportunity for present AFRALO members to showcase genuine African materials reflecting each country identity (and/or achievements in fields related to internet) and to share their economic and socio-cultural values with the other regions. All African ALS will be invited to bring exhibition materials to present during the Showcase.
The Kenyan organizers will support this activity by providing a permanent resource in charge of the management and the animation of the showcase activities, under the supervision of ALAC and AFRALO members.