The ALAC Statement on the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan is available below.
A copy of the 2012-2015 Stategic Plan Draft Statement can be downloaded here.
This statement was drafted from discussions at the ICANN Dakar Meeting Sessions.
Comments are sought from the community until 17 November 2011, 12:00 UTC
Draft Statement - 14 November 2011:
On the whole, the ALAC has seen a significant improvement in the formulation of the plan itself, and is pleased about the early involvement of all of ICANN’s communities including our At-Large Structures and Regional At-Large Organizations in the overall planning process. It is therefore supportive in general of the new timetable and the new format. That said, it also believes that some improvements are still possible, especially in regards to a few specifics related to the At-Large Community.
Whilst the ALAC supports the “Business Continuity Planning” and “Business interruption simulation exercises” Projects for registries and registrars, as well as the facilitation of IPV6 adoption, it believes that it can help in the effort of advocacy for IPv6 adoption by ISPs, business entities and consumers thanks to its extensive geographic diversity and reach.
Also, ALAC may contribute in the global DNS security outreach, training for TLD operators and unique identifier SSR capacity building in developing countries using its large network worldwide.
ALAC is supportive of the initiation of a DNS risk management study with community and outside experts.
ALAC thinks that it is necessary for ICANN to work with the IETF to introduce IDN email standards, IDN blogs, IDN application forums, etc., which will assist in expanding the deployment and success of IDNs globally and consolidate the presence of more languages and scripts on the Internet for more linguistic and cultural diversity.
The At-Large community will be happy to assist ICANN in conducting education and training programs about the new gTLDs in the under-represented regions in partnership with other parties including local TLD operators, and the local ICANN communities.
Improving the contractual compliance regime and encouraging the development of best practices for gTLD registrars and registries is of highest importance for ALAC to lower the risk of registration abuse.
ALAC Also supports that ICANN develop and implement more open and transparent policies and processes to enable real competition
The participation of ICANN in Internet governance foras, including the United Nations-organized (and other intergovernmental) Internet Governance Forums is absolutely necessary to show that it is an exemplary model for multi-stakeholder bottom-up global governance. But ALAC believes that this participation should reflect the so called multi-stakeholder bottom-up model by a substantive contribution made by its various constituencies in those foras, demonstrating that ICANN is not an organization where the policies are discussed and decided on by its management, out of the community involvement. Such kind of contribution is much more beneficial for ICANN than the nice communication speeches and shows.
To improve the global participation in the policy development process, ALAC has always advocated for capacity building for its At-Large structures members to give them the necessary information and knowledge that make them able to effectively participate in the process. The successful experience of Dakar makes it important to include in the strategic projects at least one capacity building program per fiscal year for one of the various Regional At-Large Organizations (RALO), and one At-Large Summit each 3 Fiscal Years for the whole At-Large community.
Finally, ALAC is concerned by what it perceives as incoherence between the Strategic Plan and the Operational one based upon it. It has noted that previous versions of ICANN's Strategic Plan have been poorly implemented, especially in fields related to public participation, outreach and protection.
Whilst the ALAC understands that ICANN is developing metrics with regards to globalization, outreach, specifically in developing economies, inclusiveness, diversity etc., it points out that a significant effort will need to be made to track the identified shortfalls and that corrective action should be taken.
In conclusion, ALAC believes that the community input regarding the strategic priorities should be effectively taken into consideration for the final plan establishment and adoption..
