Email sent 16 June 2015...
Dear At Large RALO and GNSO Constituency Leaders:
Following up on our recent 26 May update letter, we are pleased to report that the FY16 Community Regional Outreach Pilot Program (CROPP) Wiki Space is now open and ready for business.
As was true last year, CROPP provides a framework in which each of the At-Large RALOs and GNSO Non-Contract Constituencies will be allocated 5 regional (3-day) outreach trips. The specific processes and guidelines for how these resources are to be made available are set forth on a redesigned CROPP Program Elements page.
FY16 Changes and Improvements
1. Standard Trip/Event Proposal and Assessment Templates
Wiki DRAFT templates and instructions are available in the CROPP Community Workspace area, which contains a separate folder for At-Large RALO Drafts and GNSO Constituency DRAFTS. Once forms have been authorized by the leadership and confirmed by one of the organization’s designated Pilot Program Coordinator (PPC), they will be transferred by the Program Staff to a separate “Approved Forms” area of the CROPP Wiki for subsequent processing, tracking, and management. As in the previous two years, all proposals and complete approved forms will be available for review by the entire ICANN community.
2. Outreach Strategic Plan Template
For FY16, eligibility for the CROPP program will depend on the ability of each participating ICANN structure (i.e., RALO, GNSO Constituency) to create a brief, but clear, Outreach Strategic Plan explaining its FY16 outreach goals and planned expectations so that any selected CROPP activities can be coordinated with the appropriate ICANN Regional Engagement teams. As explained in our previous email, GNSO Constituencies will have the additional option, on a pilot basis, to select either (a) the five standard CROPP travel authorizations or (b) to host, co-host, or sponsor a targeted community Outreach/Engagement Event at one point during the fiscal year (US $10,000 target support limit).
Although DRAFT Trip/Event Proposals can be created at any time, please note that no further action (e.g., travel booking) can be taken by staff until the Outreach Strategic Plan has been approved by the respective organization’s leadership, delivered to the appropriate Regional Engagement Vice-President, and published in the CROPP-FY16 Wiki Community Workspace.
3. Engagement Event Template
This template is new for GNSO Constituencies that elect to take advantage of this option in lieu of the standard (5) Trip allocations. Blank templates will be created in the GNSO Constituency DRAFTS area once selections have been registered via the Outreach Strategic Plan.
4. Improved Wiki Site Navigation
We have introduced two ways to find material on the Wiki:
Use the left expandable navigation menu which has been simplified from last cycle; or
On the CROPP-FY16 Home Page, there is a new Site Navigation Guide table divided into two sections: (left column) the Templates/Forms to be completed and (right column) various Topics/Keywords and where that material can be found.
5. Expanding our Team
To help improve our CROPP support, Benedetta Rossi and Ozan Sahin have joined Ken Bour on our Staff team to help all of you with maintaining the Wiki space, managing the various CROPP proposals and tracking the progress of travel and meeting activities. We hope this will smooth program operations during our final “pilot” year of this effort.
Your continued feedback now and throughout the course of the pilot program will help us identify further areas of improvement, flag issues we may not have anticipated, and demonstrate that this type of program can meet its goals and objectives.
We invite you to browse through the Wiki space and email us (at robert.hoggarth@icann.org and janice.lange@icann.org) with any of your thoughts, comments or questions on specific aspects of the FY16 program. Provisions have also been made to capture your input on our CROPP Feedback page. Also, we will both be in Buenos Aires for ICANN 53 and happy to talk with you about the FY16 version of the program.
We are looking forward to collaborating with all of you over the next fiscal year!
Warm regards,
Janice Douma-Lange and Rob Hoggarth
