Louise Marie Hurel
I am grateful to be a part of the Community Onboarding Program. Over the past few months, I have been able to experience one of the most welcoming cross-constituency working space; full of energy, dedication and people who, despite their different backgrounds, have found a place where they can learn, share and develop ways of: (i) critically assessing in-reach and (ii) enhancing outreach with a particular structure that is suited to communicating with their respective members (and potential members).
During our last meeting in Johannesburg, Janice talked about the "newcomer journey” and the importance of understanding that each person has a unique path of engagement. I would like to take part of this testimonial to share my personal experience in this program.
I myself am trailing this not-yet-drawn path, and as a newcomer that has started understanding ICANN through the onboarding Program I have to highlight its relevance to the effective engagement of individuals in their respective constituencies. Prior to the program, my vision was restricted to what I could follow on the mailing lists or through my successive attempts to understand the topics being discussed in monthly policy calls. Working with, and learning from, the Onboarding Program resulted in two main lessons. Firstly, it broadened my understanding of ICANN. The “bite-sized pieces” approach spearheaded by Kathy Kleiman and Ayden Férdeline places NCUC “in perspective”, helping newcomers to rapidly connect with the main policy processes and how interconstituency dynamics work. Secondly, as soon as I joined the team, I saw that I was also able to contribute with my reactions and perspectives to the material being developed. On the other hand, I was positively challenged to “walk the talk” and put this experience into practice as I became more involved in GNSO Working Groups.
These lessons do not come uncoupled from the fact that I am thrilled and privileged to take part in such a qualified team as the one that I’m in. Both Kathy Kleiman and Ayden Férdeline have been mentors down this road, helping me find my way of meaningfully contributing to the NCUC and the broader ICANN community. Navigating ICANN can sometimes feel like "peeling off an onion"; one goes through layers and layers of knowledge, skill-building, time, dedication and processes. The program has taught me to value my experience and to be more confident, knowing that it takes one step at a time to find my own voice within this ecosystem.
My Testimony: Esteban Lescano, August 2017
I have taken part in the Community Onboarding Pilot Program since ICANN56 in Helsinki, continuing the work and participating in both ICANN58 in Copenhagen and ICANN59 in Johannesburg.
The program was very useful for me because it has forced me to get a better understanding of ISPCP constituency, its members, its leadership and the main topics under discussion.
Moreover, the program was a wonderful opportunity to collaborate and to build bridges with people from other constituencies inside ICANN’s ecosystem through our worksessions held before each of the ICANN Meetings that I was able to attend.
In some way, I felt that the Program was a “neutral” arena for people coming from different constituencies and in same cases with opposite agendas to work together for the ICANN community common benefit.
During the program, I worked with Osama Tamimi, from Palestine and an ICANN fellow alumni like me. We drafted the Onboarding document together, summarizing all the relevant information about ISPCP for newcomers and following the guidelines developed in each Onboarding work session.
I believe that the Program is trying to fill the “information gap” that exists when a newcomer starts to participate in the ISPCP constituency and is a good tool to provide the materials needed to allow a “soft landing” into everyday ISPC’s activity inside ICANN, because is not easy to understand ISPCP and its role inside ICANN when you are a newcomer. I remember my first approach to ICANN in Buenos Aires ICANN48, before my first fellowship and how hard was to understand the topic under discussion in ISPCP public meeting.
The dialect, the issues and the way in which they are treated need a better explanation when is your first or second ICANN meeting.
From that point of view the Onboarding Program is a great idea as a “think tank” for each community to develop new tools to lead the onboarding process when a newcomer arrives.
ICANN’s complexity needs a better explanation and more effective tools to promote engagement, beginning with each constituency, Supporting Organization and Advisory Committee.
It is important to mention that during the process, Osama and I worked in connection with ISPCP Leadership, Wolf Ulrich Knoben and Tony Holmes, who read and reviewed the document as it was being drafted.
I hope to continue working on the Program during 2018 and finally, I want to thank Janice Douma Lange and her team for the opportunity of continuing learning about ISPs inside ICANN ecosystem, in collaboration with colleagues from other constituencies and taking part in the process of helping newcomers to engage with ICANN.
