As of 12 December 2023, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) community and leadership have appointed their representatives to the Continuous Improvement Program Community Coordination Group (CIP-CCG). The group is being convened to help evolve ICANN Organizational Reviews into a CIP to implement Recommendation 3.6 of the Third Accountability and Transparency Review (ATRT3). The development of a CIP is part of a larger effort to enhance the effectiveness of the ICANN multistakeholder model, and is also in furtherance of the ICANN Interim President and CEO Goal 11 related to the management and refinement of Reviews. The CIP-CCG will:

Develop a shared understanding of the meaning of continuous improvement in the context of ATRT3 Recommendation 3.6,
Consider a range of methodologies for effective CIPs,
Agree on the methodology that is fit for ICANN purpose, and
Formulate a CIP Framework, to be used by each of the Supporting Organizations (SOs), Advisory Committees (ACs), and the Nominating Committee (NomCom).

The ICANN community has demonstrated great interest in contributing to the evolution of Organizational Reviews into a CIP, with 21 out of 22 of the groups across the ICANN community represented in the CIP-CCG, including:

For Asian, Australasian, and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO): Amrita Choudhury (representative), Justine Chew (alternate).

APRALO's CIP Submission

On 18 April 2024, the APRALO Leadership Team called for the establishment of an APRALO CIP Small Team to work on APRALO's CIP Submission to the CIP-CCG.

After a call for volunteers was made for this small team, it worked from 29 April to 15 July 2024 to generate an output.
A Call for Comments was issued to APRALO on the work of output of the Small Team APRALO CIP-CCG Reporting Copy from 15 July - 22 July 2024.
On 18 July 2024, the Small Team presented on the APRALO CIP-CCG Reporting Copy to APRALO at the APRALO July 2024 Monthly Meeting.
Following the close of the Call for Comments on 22 July 2024, the APRALO CIP-CCG Reporting Copy was finalised and an APRALO Leadership Team consensus call was made on 23 July 2024 to endorse the same.
Following a full consensus by the APRALO Leadership Team, the APRALO CIP-CCG Reporting Copy was submitted to the CIP-CCG on 24 July 2024.

Overview of APRALO’s Continuous Improvement Program Submission

5 PRINCIPLES

—> 20 CRITERIA ——>

61 SMART INDICATORS

PRINCIPLE 1

Fulfilling purpose

Criterion 1

Fulfilling purpose, contributing to ICANN mission

Criterion 2

Contributing to global public interest

Criterion 3

Contributes to ICANN Strategic Plan (FY21-25) especially MSM governance

PRINCIPLE 2

Effective structure

Criterion 1

Has WG, processes to address annual goals, priorities

Criterion 2

Process(es) in place is (are) accessible and clearly communicated.

Criterion 5

Processes for assessing, measuring output

PRINCIPLE 3

Efficient operations

Criterion 1

Processes promote planning, setting priorities, identify emerging issues

Criterion 2

Assesses input to scope of responsibility

Criterion 3

Develops and recommends internal and external outputs for its purpose

Criterion 5

Workload managed

Criterion 6

Nurtures consensus within membership

Criterion 9

Appropriate level of funding support

PRINCIPLE 4

Accountable internally & externally

Criterion 3

Accountable to membership in recruiting, development, maintenance

Criterion 4

Support and resources for recruiting and onboarding newcomers

Criterion 5

Maintaining skill sets, technical expertise needed through capacity building

Criterion 6

Maintaining levels of active participation

Criterion 7

Maintain sufficient levels of utility and transparency

Criterion 9

Implemented prior review recommendations

Criterion 10

Processes to assess, prioritize and implement CIP outputs

PRINCIPLE 5

Collaborates to further ICANN mission & MSM

Criterion 1

Processes for communicating & coordinating within ICANN

Note: The criteria identified above may not be numbered consecutively because the APRALO CIP Small Team recommends either consolidation or dropping of some criteria from an original list of 33 criteria to avoid repetition and which can be addressed using common indicators.

The APRALO CIP Small Team

Terms of Reference

To provide input to the APRALO Membership on continuous improvement for APRALO under the ICANN CIP-CCG Framework of Principles, Criteria & SMART Indicators. In particular:

Re: Principles, to assess if the 5 identified Principles (stemming from Article 4.4 of the ICANN Bylaws) are amenable to APRALO as a common base between all SOs, ACs (RALOs also), and the NomCom;
Re: Criteria, to assess and modify where necessary, the conditions that need to be met in order to comply with a principle. Criteria define how a principle will be achieved, without themselves being a measure of performance; and
Re: SMART Indicators, to define what the APRALO CIP will measure and develop indicators to assess whether or not its criteria are being met. Indicators can include metrics, assessments, and or new processes put in place to meet criteria; where SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound; as they apply to Indicators;
Use as basis, the already-identified APRALO initiatives of (1) Review of the APRALO RoP (2) APRALO Policy Forum, and (3) APRALO GA 2023

Members

Amrita Choudhury (AC)
Justine Chew (JC)
Cheryl Langdon-Or (CLO)
Phyo Thiri Lwin (PTL)
Shita Laksmi (SL)
Adarsh BU (AB)
Ali Al-Meshal (AAM)
Barkha Manral (BM)
Faheem Soomro (FS)
Jasmine Ko (JK)
Pranav Bhaskar Tiwari (PBT)
Priyatosh Jana (PJ)
Ashirwad Tripathy (AT)

Workplan

In context of the CIP-CCG high-level work plan, we are at Stage 3 which runs over Q2 and Q3 of 2024. Stage 3 is for discussions within our (own) groups to assess agreement on the identified 5 Principles, provide input on the suggested Criteria for each Principle and to develop corresponding SMART Indicators for each Criteria we select/form. Stage 4 involves drawing up some baseline amalgamation of available input (from all groups) to go out for public comment.

Previous Calls

15 July 2024

This Small Team stems from the APRALO Monthly call on 18 April 2024.

CIP-CCG WG

Staff to work with Amrita Choudhury to send out call for members to join APRALO CIP-CCG Small Team and then work with Amrita Choudhury and Justine Chew on the assigned work