February and March report
1) APRALO worked with the ALS'es and got a response regarding the WHOIS review. The report was generated and sent over to the ALAC.
2) A special teleconference entitled Work smarter and harder was set up and it was confirmed that: An inventory/current state of affairs of all the WGs and other groups that 'need to be populated'. There needed to be some centralized input.
3) Reach out has started for the Middle East region with Charles working hard with Olivier to get the current ALS'es to participate more and try to get more ALS'es to join the APRALO structure too.
4) APRALO got together during the Costa Rica ICANN meeting too.
5) Database to collect all events coming up in the coming months in different region is established on the Wiki. Easier for people to talk about events which are near their region and write about them.
6) Translation work in Chinese and Arabic is going to be finalized soon and will be sent out for further outreach for APRALO.
January Report
- Review of Current ALS Applications - We were asked about the Application from the Internet Society of the Armenian Chapter. I advised the ALAC via chat that the matter was still subject to due diligence and that the Application was received by APRALO on January 19, 2012. I also advised ALAC that the APRALO call would follow the ALAC call. EURALO through Oksana has also expressed their support of this application. [APRALO Chair has advised that Save is conducting the due diligence which will be then sent to us.
- Policy Forums and Developments- Status of the development of the Policies are available on the wiki and you can access each from the links provided for in the Agenda item and bookmark it. [Please feel free to interact on the wiki and paste your comments and questions on the wikis. If you feel that you would like something translated, clarified or explained we can work towards getting people who have expertise on the matter to clarify. I know Holly has organised a Whois briefing for APRALO which I strongly urge APRALO members to attend.If you would like to get involved in any of the Working Groups and are currently not actively engaged in any WGs please let us know how we can facilitate introductions in the area of interest to you.] Aside from these there are Statements which have been drafted that are also up on the Wiki and open for comments etc.
- Budget Requests- Hurrah! Fingers crossed we may get to convene APRALO General Assembly subject to approval by ICANN Finance. This will be no doubt an important first step. Gratitude goes to Charles for putting together our Budget Proposal for this and to the Finance/Budgetary Team who were on the call and advocated and pushed this through. We were informed that the budgetary requests would be categorised into either "High, Medium or Low" Priority and that the General Assembly Proposals were on the "High Priority". There were substantial discussions on resource and financial constraints and challenges with getting requests granted. there was also discussions on the General Assembly cycle etc. I expressed support for the General Assembly as we had actively submitted to the Budget Sub Committee. The issue of Road maps and strategies were brought up which is up on the wiki. I siezed the opportunity to remind the ALAC that we should also consider parallel sustainable options for outreach etc.
- At Large Outreach Working Group - The support to establish this Group was unanimous and enthusiastically received by the ALAC. I raised the issue of the Web based learning and remote learning platforms and highlighted the enormous transportation costs that are barriers and the need to maximise the use of the internet to increase outreach to compliment current Face to Face enagements such as ICANN Meetings, NOG and IGF meetings. I emphasised the RALO penetration rate in terms of the number of accredited ALS structures within the RALO and that penetration rate was below 30%. I had made submissions in the wiki as well, see: https://community.icann.org/display/Improve/Recommendation+4
- ICANN Academy - We have had good meetings to discuss this and for now it is limited to 20 hours face to face learnings. This is important Face to Face Training and the WG has been heavily involved pre-Christmas in discussions involving the training and this includes curriculum development which has been taking place on the etherpad. The Budget proposal has been submitted and factors in real costs. Cheryl advised that the ccNSO may have resource material which can be used in the development of the curriculum. I also requested ALAC Chair Olivier to clarify which specific forum within At Large would look after the web based learning and remote learning so that as a RALO we could make submissions. This is yet to be determined whether it is the At Large Outreach Working Group or ICANN Academy. Olivier has advised to initiate discussions via the mailing list to gather feedback and interactions on the matter. [I also note from the last APRALO call that there were requests made by Hong to have the curriculum placed on the wiki. We are due to have an ICANN Academy call soon and either Hong or I will raise this as Hong has joined the Group
