A copy of the 2012-2015 Stategic Plan Draft Statement (November 2011) can be downloaded here.

ALAC Statement on the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan - November 2011 - Workspace


Request for Community Input on Formulation of 2012-2015 Strategic Plan

As part of the strategic planning process each year and per the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan Draft Development Timeline, ICANN is currently (Oct 3rd  to Nov 17th) seeking public comment on this years amendments  to last year's plan:-

There are many elements that have contributed to this year's draft of the Strategic Plan, including; consultations at the ICANN meeting in Singapore, feedback from the recent public comment forum, ongoing review and input from Staff and Board, ATRT Recommendations report, and phone consultations with the various SO/ACs. Here are the Clean [PDF, 865 KB] and Redline [PDF, 934 KB] versions of the Draft 2012-2015 Strategic Plan, also attached.

Next Steps:

ICANN will undertake the following steps in developing the Draft 2012-2015 Strategic Plan:

  1. Conduct SO/AC consultations in Dakar
  2. Continue to review and incorporate Community feedback
  3. Update the Draft Strategic Plan
  4. Post 2012-2015 Strategic Plan for Board consideration and approvalSee 2012-2015 Strategic Plan Draft Development Timeline

At-Large Statement on the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan


Strategic Plan 2012 -2015 key areas for our comments in the Amendment Review:

(Please see the current redline version below (taken from Page 3 of the report) and the ICANN Open Public Comments page.)

Particular attention should be addressed to the amendments made to:

1) considerable amendments to the Four Strategic Focus Areas p2 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015

2) the opportunity for our Community  to work with ICANN to improve strategic metric reporting; Building on the  initial list of strategic metrics related to each focus area published in 2010.  "The community is invited to participate in the development of the measurement and reporting methods for the metrics since the range of ICANN’s influence versus control varies for each metric." p5 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015 

3) the plans  to 'Enhance International DNS Cooperation' => "ICANN will work with the community to explore cost  effective approaches to SSR solutions. Also, community work needs to develop registration data in  the Whois database to accommodate internationalized registration data and related privacy policies.  ICANN also seeks continued engagement with the Internet community and law enforcement agencies to deter  malicious conduct.    ICANN staff will work to cooperatively to build  unique identifier SSR capability in developing countries. " p7 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015 

4) the plans to 'Enhance risk management and resiliency of the three unique identifiers' => "Improve responses to DNS security incidents. Security threats to the Internet continue to increase and with this increase comes the need for improvements in the processes and systems organizations use to respond to security incidents.  ICANN will continue the program for annual DNS risk assessment and systemic contingency planning and work with the community to develop effective and efficient methods of response to DNS security incidents.  ICANN will support the formation and planning efforts of a new working group on DNS risk management.  ICANN will also help initiate a DNS risk management  study with community and outside experts." p7 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015 

5) amendments to the strategic objectives in the Competition and Consumer Trust focus area including => "Maintain single authoritative root.  ICANN is chartered with  operating through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets.  ICANN pursues introducing competition while also maintaining the integrity of a single authoritative root  for the Internet.  Root zone scaling studies and other analyses have been and will continue to be performed to evaluate the impact of new gTLD, IDNs and other market opening programs on the technical integrity of the single authoritative root.  ICANN will continue to collaboratively work with the multi-stakeholder community to maintain a single authoritative root."

"Increased TLD Operations in more Languages"    and  " Rollout new gTLDs including IDNs. Increase regional participation in the industry After several years of policy development, the ICANN Board approved and launched the new gTLD program in June 2011.  ICANN is now focused on the execution phase of the new gTLD (and IDN) program.  ICANN is building the necessary capacity to process between several hundred to a few thousand new gTLD applications.  This will require expanded capacity in almost all functional areas of ICANN.   One important element of the new gTLD program will be benchmarking the effect of new gTLDs on competition, consumer choice, malicious conduct, rights protection and other considerations.  Also expanding the global DNS skillset for technology and operations is a key. The IDN and New gTLD Programs will result in more registries and registrars across all international regions. ICANN will build capacity to serve contracted parties and the interests of registrants and users across all regions. The new gTLD program brings the opportunity to increase the underrepresented regions of the world within the multistakeholder model.  Specific strategic projects include conducting education and training programs in partnership with ISOC, local TLD operators, and the local Internet communities" as well as  "Lower registration abuse. ICANN’s goal is to reduce the incidence and impact of  registration abuse and malicious conduct by supporting projects  that have the potential to affect the behaviors of global Internet participants. Related projects are to improve the contractual compliance regime for  gTLD  registrars and registries;  develop options to address internationalized registrant data in Whois and related Whois policies; and secure predictable environments for users by encouraging the development of best practices for registries and registrars to address the abusive registration of domain names and incorporation of Registrar Accreditation Agreement amendments. Staff and community will continue to work with WIPO and other authoritative bodies to design and implement rights protection policies that protect and enforce intellectual property rights on the Internet." pp9-10 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015

6) aspects of the 'Continuous Improvement Operational Excellence' program in general but not limited to the specific additional initiatives amendments " Facilitate Government Advisory Council (GAC) early and effective involvement in the policy development process."  and "...continue to improve enterprise-wide system and controls  to realize: increased capacity and scalability of operational workload, increased operational efficiencies,  accompanied by relative  reduction in operating costs, improved data integrity and availability, faster generation and publication of reports, better accessibility to financial information, improved customer service (both internal and external), greater sustainability of the base  technology.  ICANN is realizing the benefits of the new financial system that will improve the interrelationship between the Strategic and Operating plans and also assist in identification of the operating budgets allocated to support each of the four Strategic Focus Areas and the rationale for the levels of expenditures." p15 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015

7) Affirmation Review requirements and the focus to 'Strive to be an exemplary international multi-stakeholder organization' => " ICANN will

also actively participate in a wide range of constructive Internet governance-related debates in 
partnership with other organizations."  and " Increase stakeholder diversity and cross-stakeholder work. Over the past year, the community has increasingly used “cross” SO/AC working groups.  ICANN commits to maintain and improve robust mechanisms for public input, accountability and transparency so as to ensure that the outcomes of its decision-making will reflect the public interest and be accountable to all stakeholders. Strategic projects include continued refinement of the inclusive multi-stakeholder model that encourages and manages the active collection of views from the global community.  ICANN will continue efforts to increase community participation utilizing more remote participation technologies. Importantly, ICANN will work to retain and support existing community members and build upon recent efforts to formalize a cross-stakeholder model (i.e., across the GAC, Supporting Organizations and other Advisory Committees). The multi-stakeholder model recognizes the influence of governments, corporations, not-for-profits and how they fit into the naming and addressing system. The multi-stakeholder community continues to evolve with shifting priorities.  ICANN will work to generate more cross-stakeholder interaction to better enable community understandings and streamline policy development." as well as " World-class accountability  and transparency. ICANN is charged with fact-based policy development and decision-making.  The community and ICANN have completed the ATRT review resulting in 27 recommendations.  ICANN will continue to work with the community to implement the ATRT  recommendations.  ICANN will continue to evolve Board of Director policies  to reflect best practices in multi-stakeholder model governance. " and " Ease of global participation. As IDNs are deployed in greater numbers, more areas of the world will be able to have a voice to contribute their priorities on Internet governance. This includes outreach and programs to search for more input from the edges of the multi-stakeholder model. ICANN is committed to an integrated approach to outreach and improving our multi-lingual strategy to improve ease of participation in the ICANN multi-stakeholder model.  Ease of participation impacts systems, processes, documentation, meetings, communications and many aspects of ICANN.  ICANN’s goal is to continue to seek methods, technologies, languages and tools that will increase the ease for all people to participate in the multi-stakeholder Internet governance eco-system." pp 15-17 of the Draft Strategic Plan 2012-2015

8) In addition to any other matters regarding the 2012-2015 DRAFT Strategic Plan amendments as published as raised by RALO and At-Large discussions:


 ICANN will
also actively participate in a wide range of constructive Internet governance-related debates in 
partnership with other organizations.

Strategic Plan key areas for comment on Framework Review. (completed)

  • Policy development process (including Whois and IDNs)
  • Multi-stakeholder model  (including new stakeholders, balancing of input)
  • Globalization/Internationalization of ICANN (including the role of governments)
  • Underdeveloped nation participation (including how to increase participation)
  • DNS stability, security and resiliency (including DNNSEC adoption and RPKI deployment)
  • Introducing more competition, building consumer trust and choice (including a stable launch of a timely, predictable, reliable new gTLD process)
  • Strategic metrics (to measure performance and ensure project goals are aligned with strategic objectives)

Request for Comments

ALAC Statement on Draft Strategic Plan 2010-15

Meetings


Regional Strategic Planning Workspaces


Additional Information

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3 Comments

  1. We would welcome the opinion of the At-Large Community on how ICANN should consider (for within these 4 pillar areas), what strategies and issues raised in this version as Comments here and specifically within the Regional wiki pages ( see above) and they will be collated later...

    Note Also: you are welcome to place your written comments in your preferred or 1st choice language a machine translation to EN will be then created and added to your text...

    Further we will arrange to have the recordings and presentations used in Dakar #42 meeting on this topic linked to here...

  2. Periodically, ICANN indulges itself in a re-evaluation of its Strategic Plan. There are presentations from senior staff, workshops, and a significant chunk of At-Large policy-making time on the Tuesday allocated to this endeavour.

    We submit that that this exercise is a massive waste of time and energy, not just on the part of At-Large but of all of ICANN. In fact, at this critical time (i.e., US Government contracts up for renewal, changes at both CEO and Board Chair, and increasing pressure from governments to scrap the whole experiment), such an energy consuming exercise in "navel-gazing" simply calls public attention to the extent of which ICANN is out of touch with the community it is supposed to serve. We submit that the abandonment of this charade of creating laminated "motherhood statements" and diversion of energies to matters more pressing is urgently called upon.

    ICANN's role is well defined and its scope should be fairly focused. It strategic plan should needs fine tuning at best -- and certainly not an overhaul of the kind being requested on a frequent and ongoing basis. That any broad changes are contemplated indicates either mission creep or capture -- or both. ICANN has never lived up to its aspirational "strategic" plans of the past, allowing staff rather than the community to really determine the priorities regardless of what the words say. Compounding the farce is the charging of this same staff with evaluating its own success. As a result, the community spends more time in endless reviews of the plan than in actually holding ICANN accountable for its execution.

    We request that ICANN focus its resources on genuinely implementing the strategies it has already defined before repeatedly coming back to the community to engage in further rounds of self-absorbed distraction.

  3. In as much as i tend to agree with Evan's points on navel gazing, self evaluation and scope creep/capture, I do so with some caution that its important - but too much of it is certainly bad.

    I would like to see more community oritented evaluation ebing done - at the mid-point and end of each strategy - a score card literally given by the wider community to ICANN and not staff evaluatiing.

    There has been slightly more of an attempt to indicate when community comments are addressed - but this should have a 'louder voice' in this strategy. The How as well as what the process/procedure will be for where ICANN falls short is also crucial to have. 

    A detailed strategy on how ICANN will also be addressing the ongoing issues re: its legitimacy/role in the Internet ecosystem also needs to be addressed - from continuing growing partnerships to addressing even more concretely its future role in IG.

    A development agenda for ICANN is somewhat addressed - but should be beyond engaging nations and governments to specifics of utilizing other technologies to get ICANN word out. Right now we serve an elite and that needs to change.

    TT