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Google Doc : https://docs.google.com/document/d/114VVRkBq2kQKInfkgGWM3qhcXsUR6Bb17GXDhURYuyc/edit?hl=en_GB&authkey=CMjwrcII

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The Latin American and Caribbean Regional At-Large Organisation (LACRALO), being the representatives of the Internet end-users in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, submits our comments regarding ICANN's Draft FY12 Operating Plan and Budget (http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#op-budget-fy12).

We appreciate the dialogue with and feedback from ICANN Financial Staff on the evaluation of the ALAC/At-Large budget requests that were submitted for inclusion in ICANN's draft Operational Plan and Budget 2012. We wish to see such dialogue continue in future Operational Plans and Budgets.

However, we note with considerable concern that, once again, many of the budget requests (http://forum.icann.org/lists/op-budget-fy2012/pdfUNwycLKGih.pdf) proposed by At-Large to improve participation of user organizations in ICANN (the base of the pyramid on which the "multi-stakeholder model" sits) were not approved or only partially approved.

From our proposals, the budget for a General Assembly (GA) has been cut to an extent where only 6 ALS representatives will be funded to attend. The LAC region has more than 30 ALSs representatives accredited.

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We believe that, given ICANN’s fiscal resources, this budget can easily be adjusted to ensure funds to support the participation of the ALSes in a General Assembly once a year as well as funds to finance activities related to in-reach and out-reach, if these are truly considered important by the Board and Staff of ICANN.

Regarding LACRALO's proposals for outreach that were not approved, we take note of ICANN's Public Participation Committee (PPC; http://www.icann.org/en/committees/participation/) Work Schedule to create a "Comprehensive Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement Strategy" and look forward to consultations with the PPC to create such a strategy so that it can be implemented as soon as possible. This is crucially important as only 15 out of 33 countries in the LAC region have any At-Large representation. 

We look forward to your response and stand ready to discuss the possibilities that could be a solution to this dire situation facing those who by their presence throughout the structure of the Organization, support and legitimise ICANN’s role.