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Given the significant success of the RALO Discretionary Funding granted in FY18 and FY19, for FY20 the ALAC requests that each of the five RALO’s be given access up to $6,000 each for targeted discretionary funds to permit the support of policy-related activities as catering, meeting room rental for such activities as At-Large Structure read out sessions, registration fees, displays, graphics and travel within their region – as well as one cross-regional activity.

As shown by the number of useful activities requested and approved to date in the implementation of the similar FY19 ABR and the FY18 ABR, it is clear that an increase from $20k in FY19 to $30k in FY20 will allow continued opportunities for At-Large members to participate in local, regional and even international policy-related engagement and outreach activities.

This is particularly the case given that many activities as outlined in the At-Large Review Implementation Plan will include the high priority Issue 2 which focuses on the development of more ‘Individuals’ from throughout At-Large as contributors to Policy work and Leadership roles, would benefit significantly from the ability of At-Large members to have access to funds for outreach and engagement.

Giving the RALOs the ability to identify policy-related engagement and outreach activities which they can self-organize provides ICANN and the At-Large Structures with an efficient local team that is knowledgeable on ICANN policies. This results in grass-roots awareness-raising of ICANN in communities that are key for At-Large and ICANN.

All RALO Discretionary Funding requests are developed and reviewed according to criteria agreed to by the RALO leadership.

Funding has allowed for catering, printing costs and other activities associated with holding policy-related activities such as ALS readouts. The funding allows for regional travel which has been used for such activities as participation in regional Internet-related conferences and strengthening relations with regional Internet/DNS associations. The request for one international travel is meant to include recognized global events at which the requestor is presenting on an ICANN-related policy event on a topic that can’t be covered by an At-Large member in the region.  

This project saw year on year significant increase in the number of requests and successfully implemented local events. An additional year of ABR funding would allow this program to build on its success in allowing RALOs and At-Large Structures to reach out to and engage with local, regional and even international communities.

This request is being made to ensure At-Large Structures may continue to engage in outreach and engagement activities, including travel. Due to the rejection of ABRs related to IGF attendance in FY19, the FBSC made a controversial call to reject all ABRs for FY20 that requested funds to attend an IGF event (both international and regional), It was explained that the request for an increase in Discretionary Funds, should it be accepted with the additional condition that an international travel opportunity would be possible, would allow them to offer some of these funds for someone from the RALO to attend an IGF. Although the FBSC has the discretion to forward their proposals directly, the ALAC was this time asked to formally vote on the final list of requests (without the IGF applications). This was accepted by all ALAC members.

Submit to Controller.

Remove sentence on CROP reduction. DONE

Since FY17, At-Large has been provided with two extra travel slots to encourage active participants, particularly in the area of ICANN Policy or the development of Outreach and Engagement (including Capacity Building) strategies, to carry out more discussion and workshops that will encourage greater involvement by At-Large members in their respective workstream activities. At the moment we do not provide any incentives for people to become actively involved in policy or outreach and engagement activities. What we are encouraging in At-Large (and this is also a goal within our Review Implementation Plan), is more engagement at grassroots level in policy activities. This will require a more collaborative effort with regards to communication of information across At-Large as well. There is also a further focus on encouraging and developing more individuals for leadership in policy across At-Large which is the principal purpose of ATLASIII. But it is not strategically relevant to push people towards leadership potential if we don’t provide some incentives that are going to encourage them to strive towards higher goals within At-Large and perhaps in other areas of the ICANN ecosystem – depending on their backgrounds and interests.  These travel slots provide an incentive to work hard within At-Large and make the most of opportunities such as leadership roles within RALOs and the ALAC as well as working groups that they can become actively engaged in.

ALAC discussions in the debrief in Barcelona focused on how these sessions needed to move from the traditional format of being “talked at”, to that in which meeting participants were actively involved and visitors address the information needs of At-Large rather than our team politely listening to what is sometimes “too much information”.  Under the new At-Large Organisational Structure, for Kobe, the leaders of the key organizational structures – Policy and Outreach and Engagement – have been prioritised to take these slots so that we develop more inclusive, relevant, meaningful and interactive At-Large Leaders working sessions at ICANN Meetings. Some of these may be in workshop formats, others in question and answer format, etc. Also chairmanship of these meetings can be shared among other leaders within the ALAC.

These are all new ways of encouraging a shared leadership model within At-Large at both the ALAC and at regional level. In that way we are continually building leaders within the system who will promote and demonstrate appropriate active engagement in policy activities that support At-Large's involvement in ICANN>

Support being requested:

2 additional slots for every ICANN meeting.

As part of the ATLASIII Leadership Development Programme to develop Leadership and Chairing Skills among our At-Large community and encourage greater participation and potential for leadership within At-Large, to support the creation of an interactive online course as part of ICANN Learn.

The content of the course could be based on that which is already in place in current Leadership and Chairing Skills programmes that are currently being taken in face-to-face sessions with specifically appointed representatives from the regions. This would be an introductory course that would open the skills programme up to a wider audience across At-Large specifically, but other constituencies as well.

This programme would not only be an important component of the ATLASIII program but would also complement the objectives of the At-Large Review Implementation Plan as well as those of the Outreach and Engagement and Capacity Building Strategic Plans. It would also target current or aspiring co-Chairs of the Outreach and Organisational Work streams and would be a pre-requisite for their taking up such a role within the At-Large leadership structure.

The programme would be developed by a team of At-Large Course Developers in collaboration with the ICANN Learn Team, and the Leadership and Chairing Skills programmers in order to produce a course that can be implemented during FY20.  The At-Large team could work on the development of their programme before the FY20 budget year, but have the course content ready for implementation during the FY20 year, so that hopefully the course could be accessed by ATLASIII participants before the Montreal meeting.

Not approved for submission.

MH: Withdraw as ICANN Learn courses can be developed without an ABR.

This is a pilot Capacity Building program for regions where ICANN never go. it will be for the Internet end-user communities in 2 locations: A small island and a small country in Africa

• Travel support for 2 trainers
• Logistical cost (room, video-projector, etc.)

Not approved for submission.

MH: Withdraw.

Consider developing an ICANN Learn course.

Real-time Transcription of Adobe Connect Meetings in English - Final

This request is for real-time transcription (RTT) for up to 10 hours per month in EN for At-Large intersessional teleconferences during FY20 as a means to enhance understanding for participants who may have a hearing disability, be a non-native EN speaker or have low bandwidth or poor audio in order to engage in policy advice development activities more effectively.

RTT was initially introduced to At-Large as a Pilot programme providing RALO or ALAC monthly meetings, Working Group meetings or webinars over a 6-month period in FY18. One of the aims of the captioning program was to introduce a transcription service to enhance understanding by a large percentage of our audio meeting attendees who may have a hearing disability and may not fully comprehend what is being said without being supported by lip-reading or signing, Its other greatest use was to enable those who can hear but the technical language and the complex issues that surround much of the policy work within ICANN, as well as other unfavorable factors have caused many attendees to disengage and not return to our meetings.

RTT has the capacity to create better understanding of what might have been a lot harder to understand without being able to read and reread something in a split second in order to get comprehension. In such a technical environment, there is a strong need for understanding about what At-Large work is all about.

A 2017 survey indicated strong support for the program with more than 54% indicating that they got greater understanding of the topics with the support of captioning. RTT therefore offers a chance not only for those who may have a hearing disability but also for those whose primary language may not be English but interpretation is not provided for their first language so that captioning enables them to listen and then to read and re-read what has been said, to get a better understanding of what is being said.

ICANN should not just assume that because they are offering an audio meeting that it will be accessed with the same quality in every individual circumstance. RTT would be useful even when one is not hearing impaired, but who may have difficulty with different accents, low bandwidth and poor audio, speaker speaking too quickly, etc. all contributing to an attendee who is not getting anything out of sitting for 60-90 minutes and not understanding a thing. In some instances, offering captioning to help them understand what is going on, can be the contributing factor for whether they will actually engage with us or not.

Since participation is a major objective for At-Large, with the At-Large Review Implementation Plan and our goals for ATLASIII moving us more towards encouraging greater participation and leadership, it is important that ICANN and At-Large supports any options that will encourage understanding and engagement. Providing RTT that will help At-Large participants better engage in our meetings, and better understand the terminology and contexts and thus become better informed about the various policy topics discussed, would greatly help the ALAC to achieve this goal. 

Whether in a meeting, a working group or a webinar, captioning would help participants to catch up more quickly and enable them to recheck facts or key ideas from earlier parts of the text and generally develop new skills that will help them participate in the work of At-Large more effectively.

Other RTT facts and details were provided in the FY18 community request.

Submit to Controller.

EN only - 10 hours per month.

Support for ALAC Chair Communications & Travel Support for Outreach/Networking

My request is for:

1. Reimbursement of the cost of broadband connectivity and access to be able to participate in At-Large communications and meeting/webinar activities - US$2000 – while I cover any other local telecommunication costs and expenses related to enabling participation as the ALAC Chair
2. An allocation of an ALAC Chair Discretionary Fund (US$3000) to contribute towards regional or global events in order to attend and participate as the ALAC Chair, especially to represent developing and underserved regions.

Update: ICANN org will cover ALAC Chair's Internet expenses.

Withdraw ABR.

Request for Chair Internet support should come from ICANN - not through an ABR.

The proposal is for organizing an effective and coordinated  At-Large  activity during IGF Berlin on November 25-29, 2019  which is a premier global event  targeting global stakeholders in the Internet Ecosystem. 

The aim is an improved coordination of At-Large and other ICANN participants to promote and heighten brand awareness of ICANN-ALAC-At-Large with banners, posters, brochures and giveaways that help to raise general awareness but which also attract attention and invite people to ask questions about ICANN-ALAC-At-Large and their global and regional activities, as well as how they may get involved. .

The request is for two members of At-Large Outreach and Engagement  WG (or their substitutes) who are actively involved with the  IGF community events and specifically  the  IGF Berlin event, committed to time at the  At-Large booth  and confirmed as speakers, moderators or  reporters for various  MAG-accepted IGF workshop/panel sessions. The team of 6 will enhance the ratio outreach to the over 2900 delegates anticipated to be present at the IGF.

Furthermore, with over 2900 participants at the IGF gives an opportunity for a strong outreach team to the IGF in Berlin, with special interest that a session proposal will be submitted and furthermore reach out to potential individual members to join At-Large with expectations that they will be active participants in the ICANN PDPs.

Support being requested:

Capacity Building, Education/Training, Travel Support, Meeting

We request for 2 travel slots for O&E leadership to match reaching out to the over 2900 members or delegates at the IGF Berlin  via  the daily trade show booth, workshops and social events

We also look forward to add value and support to the GSE outreach and engagement programs at the IGF through constant collaboration.

From FY19 ABR Assessment Team Report:

• Granting the available resources to those requests which are directly and demonstrably related to current ICANN policy development, advisory and technical work;
• For travel related requests, a primary consideration was to prioritize events that are intended to take place at an ICANN Public Meeting or other ICANN-organized meeting (e.g. the GDD Summit);