Page History

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Action: 

• 16 Sep 2015: 
  • In ICANN 54 Dublin, the ALAC to speak to Nora with Nora Abusitta on the Mentoring program in Dublin, specifically about mentoring program and discuss this recommendation 
  • Gunela Astbrink is encouraged to participate in that the ALAC meeting with Nora Abusitta and speak about her experience experience in the ATLAS II Mentoring Program 

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Notes: 

• 16 Sep 2015: 
  • The At-Large Capacity Building Working Group has organized a series of webinars; there will be an upcoming webinar on policy making in GNSO and At-Large working groups. Some of the webinar materials will be incorporated to ICANN Learn courses. At-Large Beginner's Guides also have information about policy making. 
  • B Meeting will have a significant engagement component. Hence, it will be a good opportunity to target end users and help them understand and get involved in the ICANN policy activities. 
  • End-users' participation in policy development is a complicated issue. Certain ALSes have no idea how to participate at all. Some ALSes don't even know what ICANN does. There needs to be some basic requirements and standards for certifying ALSes. ALS Criteria and Expectations Taskforce has discussed this issue, but ultimately RALOs need to work with the ALAC to address this issue. As RALOs have the closest contacts with ALSes, they need to play a big part in ALS engagement, for recruiting new members and finding new talents in the ALSes that have the interest and time to take part in policy development. 
  • The usual suspects have been doing all the policy work, and once they move on, At-Large will loose policy experts in those topics. Hence, mentoring & buddy system would be conducive to train newbies and sustain the knowledge and talents. 
  • There seem seems to be two types of mentoring program that took place in At-Large: 1) intensive (e.g. Gunela Astbrink has been involved in that; it was specifically designed for ATLAS II, but it is unlikely to continue), 2) general. There also seem to be mentoring programs in other places in ICANN. The purpose and subject of mentoring needs to be clarified (e.g. mentoring for engagement and mentoring for leadership would be very different). Mentoring program also needs to be an ongoing effort. 
  • Within the At-Large ALS Criteria and Expectations Taskforce, DT-A has been working on on-boarding programs to help newly joined ALSes and individual members participate in policy development activities using appropriate tools. Part of the DT-A work is to figure out ways to engage those members early on and formalize the mentoring efforts. 
  • An ICANN wide mentoring program would be a better way to go, and there is progress on that. Nora Abusitta would be able to speak about it. The need for ongoing mentoring efforts is really necessary, otherwise we will loose new blood. It is also necessary to have recognition of the mentors, as it requires tremendous time commitments. If a mentoring program is to take place, it needs to be followed through. Mentees also need to be supported somehow to continue engaging with ICANN (even after the completion of the mentoring program).