Olivier Crepin Leblond So I think maybe we can start the call. I know that we're not that many people at the moment but well, I guess, part of it is maybe my fault for not having reaffirmed how many people are still on the committee or not. I was expecting that all of the current member or the previous members would still remain on it especially since we had said that it was not going to be just an ALAC committee, but it was going to include lead members from the regions but it appears that it hasn't quite come out this way. So good morning, good afternoon and good evening everyone.
This is the ALAC Finance and Budget Subcommittee Working Group on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 and the time is 21:10 UTC. The objective of the meeting here is actually going to first reacquaint ourselves to the finance and budget requests. We have a small agenda really. The first thing I wanted to do is to just bring you up to date with a last minute item or last month item should I say that has come up in the finance side of things -- that's the financial year 12 budget request.
Still an extraordinary request from [inaudible 0:01:30] who will speak shortly about this and then afterwards we will be looking at the financial year 13 budget request. I'll provide you with a brief update and we can start discussing the process and procedure that we will be using. First, can we have a roll call please.
Gisella Gruber: Yes. Sure. On today's call we have Tijani Ben Jemaa, Cintra Sooknanan, Olivier Crepin-Leblond, Ganesh Kumar. On staff we have Silvia Vivanco, Heidi Ullrich, Matt Ashtiani, and myself, Gisella Gruber. If I can please remind everyone just to state your names when speaking for transcript purpose. Thank you, [inaudible 0:02:18].
Olivier Crepin Leblond Thank you very much, Gisella. Have we missed someone?
Olivier Crepin-Leblond: Yes Dev [inaudible 0:02:28].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes. This is Dev. Actually, I don't think I said my name there. I could be wrong.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you very much, Dev. Now we have heard your name. Great. So now what do we have -- if I can show this is a small number of people at the moment and, in fact, the overall committee was a lot larger to start with. The web page actually shows a number of, at least, two members per region which not all of them are actual members of the [inaudible 0:03:05]. I refer all of you to the ALAC subcommittee of finance and budget, front page. Can we have that on the -- we have this. Thank you, Heidi.
With Cheryl and Charles -- Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Charles Monk and [inaudible 0:03:24]. Abe [inaudible 0:03:25] and [inaudible 0:03:26] who can just be AFRALO and not AFRALO and ALAC. Tijani, Fatimata, Rudy, Silvia, Cintra, Gisella, Gareth and Darlene. We appear to have lost many of those members and I'm not quite sure why because they were all actually asked to join.
So perhaps the first thing that we would have to do or maybe a first action item that probably for me to do is to get in touch with each one of these people and ask them separately whether they would still like to be on the committee. I know that it's a case of do you want to be on the committee but I think and the fact that without any money we're not going to be able to do anything. It's the case of it really needing to be on the committee rather than just people wishing to be on it.
I just wonder whether there are anyone else wishes to speak about this. Do we have quorum Ganesh you asked on the chat. There is no such thing as quorum because there is no such thing as [inaudible 0:04:37] and definitely on this committee we're not going to make any decisions or take any decisions today. So we don't require any quorum. Only for decisions, Tijani.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes. Thank you, Olivier. I was surprised by this [inaudible 0:04:59] today. And yet, the [inaudible 0:05:06] huge number. Because we [inaudible 0:05:09] so now we are [inaudible 0:05:21] lot of what to do in a very short time. So we need absolutely to know about those people and perhaps to ensure [inaudible 0:05:33].
Olivier Crepin Leblond Thank you, Tijani. I totally agree with you. The problem with Work Team C and having been the coach there aboard team C along with you is that we have received very little feedback recently from anyone on Work Team C. There appears to have been some kind of movement away from at large involvement for many of the members who were on the work team itself.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I remember that, for example, [inaudible 0:06:12] in our work, in our [inaudible 0:06:14]. The [inaudible 0:06:19] was done by two or three people. Again was more people.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Well, that's right and, you know, on the [inaudible 0:06:27] page we have a list of members of which many of them are active. But then I also note that in the [inaudible 0:06:34] you're a [inaudible 0:06:36] of the people who are lifted there were not actually on the call either. It could be due to the time now which is particularly busy for many people because it is just before the holiday period. Always a little tough. That and I'm [inaudible 0:06:58].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thanks, Olivier. This is Dev Anand . Just wondering, I mean, this was -- I didn't see an email notification going out to the announce list or anything like that. I just knew about this meeting because of the calendar and that I subscribe to the calendar. So I don't know if that's possibly the reason.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you. Let me just ask staff. Wasn't an invite sent to over to the finance and budget subcommittee working group mailing list.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I [inaudible 0:07:35]. I received [inaudible 0:07:36] invitation [inaudible 0:07:40].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Then Tijani, you have you received it here ?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yeah.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay. And I can see that those on the finance and budget subcommittee [inaudible 0:07:50] there are quite a few people on there including Darlene and [inaudible 0:07:56] and Alan Greenberg, Charles Monk, Rudy, etc. So it is a little, yeah, and even well Ganesh also mentions that he has received one. So okay. Well, let's not spend so much time on this. Yes, we have a lot of work.
We're going to have to go on a recruitment drive. So the first thing I would ask is for each one of you in your region to -- because you know your region better than I might do is to actually check with your regional leadership for people that are going to be able to contribute well to this working group. Perhaps people that were involved last year or busy last year in leading the charge in your region.
I know that some people who are not on our list were particularly active in the regions to bring forward some proposals. And for you to do that as soon as possible so as for us to be able to recruit members within the next two or three weeks. In fact, I should say within the next two weeks because we need to actually have something -- some proper work done in January. Tijani.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes. Thank you. I think that the first thing we have to do is [inaudible 0:09:25]. You just read the name of two people that are not involved in the subcommittee [inaudible 0:09:33] for me I am there one year ago, and for example, I [inaudible 0:09:41] the time is not okay for him. So he never participated. Alan Greenberg. I [inaudible 0:09:50] remember that he had [inaudible 0:09:50] so we need to update the [inaudible 0:09:53] with the names of people who were [inaudible 0:09:56] last year.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay. Thank you, Tijani. Well, can you draw a list of the people in your region who were involved, and I'll draw one in the [inaudible 0:10:09] region. And I guess...
Unknown: [Inaudible 0:10:14].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Because I think this is the real important thing to be able to actually bring those members in and to make sure that we have a confirmation of who is a member and who is not a member. There is a member's list that is on the Wiki. There is also a mailing list. The mailing list has more members or more people on it that the actual members list which is on the Wiki.
But even the members list on the Wiki has names whom I haven't seen recently put it this way being active. And certainly each region should have at least one ALAC member and one [inaudible 0:10:59] or [inaudible 0:11:01] leadership depending on whether or, yeah, well [inaudible 0:11:05] member I should say. So for APRALO, at the moment neither Cheryl Langdon-Orr nor is Charles Monk are ALAC members so we would have to actually recruit someone who is an ALAC member from [inaudible 0:11:21] out of the three ALAC members that are there.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: And Rinalia.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: So Rinalia Salunyeta or Edmund. I heard the name Rinalia being mentioned. I can send an email to Rinalia. I know that she is away at the moment and this is one concern she might be away for a little while. Again, we're right in the middle of the holiday period. So that's one region. And then the next region is -- [inaudible 0:12:05] find it.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: LACRALO.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: LACRALO región. Yes. Finance and budget subcommittees. Where is this? There we go. So LACRALO has a listing of Silvia, Cintra, and Jessel. Well, I note with happiness that Cintra is here. I also note that Dev is here, so that's great. We will need someone from ALAC as well. So that would either have to be Carlton or Natalia or Hosea.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: This is Dev. I can contact all three of those persons and ask one of them to be on this committee. Be it Natalia or Sergio.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes. Either. Okay. Okay. So then we can look at AFRALO . Well AFRALO, Tijani, that's great. Would you be able to because looking at AFRALO, we have [inaudible 0:13:31] on the list. I'm not sure if [inaudible 0:13:31] will be able to join as well.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I didn't ask him. I [inaudible 0:13:38].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay. Thank you because Dev has the knowledge also of having been through the process last year.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Exactly. Exactly. .
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: So and with regards to the other regions, well, EURALO , I can see myself and Rudi Vansnick . I don't see anyone else on there. Rudy did tell me that he was going to join us but he hasn't been able to do so it appears. Note to myself, I guess, I will look for someone else in Europe to be able to be involved but again people are busy and it's hard to find volunteers for this specific purpose. I will look at who was most active last year in producing the EURALO work.
Perhaps [inaudible 0:14:38]. I don't know. And then for NARALO, we -- Gareth Sherman was the ALAC member and of course Gareth is not the ALAC member anymore. Gareth has emailed -- Gisella, could you remind us, was Gareth just asking whether he was still a member or [inaudible 0:15:06] that he is no longer a member? Because I think he was very much involved last year with producing many of the inputs -- much of the input for the NARALO region. But it would be helpful for him to be there as well.
Heidi Ullrich: Olivier, this is Heidi.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes, Heidi.
Heidi Ullrich: Yes, Gareth asked whether -- since he was no longer an ALAC member whether he should be part of this group and/or on this call. That was the question.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Well, then that certainly confusion on his behalf and well actually confusion maybe for many of the people not really knowing whether they should be on the call or not. But since the invitation went out to everyone. I would have imagined that they would have turned up -- we might have to do this again.
Heidi Ullrich: [Inaudible 0:15:57]. What -- if you'd like to -- if this is going to be to get new members on the list. What I've [inaudible 0:16:06] to you as a [inaudible 0:16:08] were the people who were on the committee and then also those on the Wiki page and [inaudible 0:16:17] confusion was because he's no longer ALAC member. So there might be [inaudible 0:16:20] send out an email to the list and if you invited new members to join then they may be able to do that as [inaudible 0:16:29] get the new members and then offer to update the members list. And then we can do the mailing list accordingly.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay. So let's do that then. Let's [inaudible 0:16:40] an interaction item. I will send an email to the list to invite whoever is on the list as a member or reaffirm that those who are receiving the message and who are noted on the Wiki as a member that they still are members unless they wish not to be members anymore. Does that fly? Tijani, your hand is up.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: [Inaudible 0:17:15] and I remember that [inaudible 0:17:21] had both [inaudible 0:17:22] on the subcommittee. So [inaudible 0:17:26].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yeah. And believe that both are still or should still be there because Darlene was there as a Regional Leader and she still is the Regional Lead so anyway, Heidi, you have your hand up.
Heidi Ullrich: Yes. It's a point of clarification. My understanding is that this committee must -- should have at least one ALAC member -- at least one regional representative from each region. So if Gareth now wanted to be part of this committee as a regional person, he's more than welcome to as others are within their, you know, former members, for example, Cheryl, from the APRALO region.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: That's correct and I'm glad to say and actually welcome Ganesh Kumar who is the ALAC member from NARALO taking part in this group.
Unknown: If Ganesh is still here.
Ganesh Kumar: Sorry. I'm here. [Inaudible 0:18:41].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: You were [inaudible 0:18:43]. I couldn't see you, Ganesh. So yeah. So Ganesh serves as the ALAC member and we can still, of course, all members or people who used to be members are still very welcome there. It's not a case of having too many members. It's actually case of not having enough because sometimes due to exact moments like now, for example, when everyone is busy and for various reasons on traveling or on holiday already you end up with not having enough people on the call.
So I think maybe we've really gone around number three rather than just continuing on this I suggest that we move on to number four. So just to make sure -- summarizing number three I ask each of us in our region to get in touch with our regional leadership and with our ALAC members if we note that there is no ALAC member from the region on the list so far and to ask them to volunteer to come onto this committee.
Reminding them of goals that if they don't send someone onto the committee their voice will not be heard or is less likely to be heard when it comes down to actually funding projects in the region which is particularly important. So number four, FY12 budget requests. The extraordinary requests from [inaudible 0:20:20]. I thought that we would include this in the call just as a bit of a information -- just to bring you up to date effectively.
If you look at the agenda, there is a link to the [inaudible 0:20:35] request for [inaudible 0:20:37] Costa Rica events. December 2011. What basically happened is that the success of the LACRALO events has gotten LACRALO to think again with regards to what they would be doing in Costa Rica and to actually come up with a set of events -- a set of ideas and, of course, sending all of the [inaudible 0:21:08] structure representatives from the region over to Costa Rica.
I know that, Dev, you've been a key person in putting this request together. Do you have - could you summarize quickly for us please.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you, Olivier. This is Dev Anand. Yes. We were inspired by the very successful [inaudible 0:21:30] events in Dakar . And we wanted to have a similar type of events to educate [inaudible 0:21:36] representatives. So to have like a series of capacity screening exercises and [inaudible 0:21:47] showcase and our general assembly. But our main focus would be the capacity building program which will be, I think, structured similar to how [inaudible 0:21:57] did it. Daily session from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. over the five days of the ICANN conference in Costa Rica. And the request was to ask ICANN for financial support to have all of our ALAC representatives which are 38 [inaudible 0:22:15] representatives to be able to participate at the ICANN meeting and take part in the screening sessions [inaudible 0:22:23]. And the document officials a spreadsheet where we put together the estimate with the times with the assistance of [inaudible 0:22:33] to help with [inaudible 0:22:34] cost of hotel and the cost of air travel.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you very much, Dev. And I note in the chat a question from Ganesh with regards to the use of the word extraordinary. It's not extraordinary in its magnitude. It actually is extraordinary in that it doesn't fit within the FY12 budget timing framework. The period for making request for the FY12 budget is already past and closed and so the amount that is asked by this request is actually one that would have to come on top of whatever budget has already been allocated.
That's what makes it more complex and more challenging both on the part of the requesters but also on the part of ICANN themselves if they are able to allocate this. In the emails that I have sent to Xavier Calvez, the Chief Financial Officer of ICANN, I have asked for a swift response to be provided due to the fact that it takes a while for all of the events and all of the preparations to take place.
Ideally, the region, if it gets the budget to actually operate if different events should start work or should have already started work and should actually really seriously start work in January and know by first of January whether they will be able to go for the full set of events or whether they will not. I'm sure Tijani can vouch for the fact that every day counts because there's just so much to do in a very short length of time.
The reply that I have had from Xavier Calvez is that he is very actively looking at this. He, unfortunately, was not able to speak to me today or yesterday because, of course, it's, you know, we only send the request I think it was on Thursday or Friday, probably -- probably Friday. Last week. So it is very short notice but they hope to be able to come back to us by the end of the week and I understand that there is intense activity and discussion taking place between him, his colleagues and also the Chair of the Finance Committee of the -- the Board Finance Committee as well who was carbon copied on the email.
So that's the actual current status. And maybe we can now then move on to the next part of the agenda except if someone has more questions. Ganesh, you have any other questions on this or anyone else?
Ganesh Kumar: The question that I had -- second part of the question, Olivier, was the amount -- is that compatible to the other [inaudible 0:25:47] that were provided for the similar purposes in the past?
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: That's a good question, Ganesh. Thank you for asking this. Actually, if one looks at financial year 11, you will find out that absolutely nothing was allocated. Financial year 10 -- nothing was allocated. Financial year '09, I think, was the last time a large sum was allocated and that was for the Mexico General Assembly and Mexico Summit that took place. Am I correct, Heidi, because that was before I was part of the finance and budget subcommittee. So it was on FY09, wasn't it? You might be muted, Heidi.
Heidi Ullrich: Indeed I am. Sorry. Yes. That was March 2009 was the At Large Summit so I believe that was fiscal year 10.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Fiscal year ‘10. Okay FY’10, so Fiscal Year ‘10, a large sum was allocated for the Summit that brought all of the then at large structures over to Mexico City for a full week of events. Fiscal year 11, we were not afforded anything and fiscal year 12, three regional at large organizations pooled their resources together and that included the LACRALO in order to be able to bring together around $75,000 that was then used on the AFRALO events and the sum that is requested or that is asked for by LACRALO on this occasion is similar in magnitude to the sum that was allocated to the AFRALO events.
Now, the complication comes from the fact that LACRALO had actually pooled its sum with, I think it was EURALO and AFRALO, to run the events. And the additional sum now is out of budget basically, out of the budget cycle.
Ganesh Kumar: Considering the exception, you know, we have taken the step of forwarding that to [inaudible 0:28:24.0] and I'm not sure what I can [inaudible 0:28:26] their state of budget and knowing the way that we manage budgets in our organization, if it is an exception and if it's not provided then they have to put it in the by plan and evaluate the priorities. And I'm not sure where we are going to be.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: That's correct, Ganesh. And I believe that's probably what they are doing. One of the things that runs in our favor -- our favor as being the ALAC's favor or At Large's favor is that through discussions that I have had with the Chief Financial Officer with the Chief Operating Officer with various members of the ICANN board and the board finance committee, is that in general it is very hard to go big in one go.
In other words, if you come up with a huge project, you really have to prove that it actually flies for it to be given some funding. However, going through a test, pioneering stage -- so you test it out once. If it works, there is more likelihood that further funding will be available for it. At least, that's what I've been told verbally and certainly the fact that the AFRALO events went so well has, I think, probably helped a little bit for the LACRALO requests.
Even though the LACRALO requests has the fact that it is out of the financial year going against it. So now it really is a case of ICANN having to weigh those two sides and obviously being able to see if they are able to bring that funding together bearing in mind it’s outside the financial year.
Ganesh Kumar: Okay, I think we’ve discussed this enough so we can now move to item number five, the financial year 13 budget request. And so I wanted to first update you on the process. And linked to the actual – now unfortunately, there is no link on the confluence, on the Adobe Connect Page, but there is a link that is on our actual agenda, dropped agenda. So I invite you to go to At Large FY13 Budget Development work space which is going to be our home for the next few weeks, if not month or so, where we will be actually developing material on this.
And for reference we actually have the At Large Financial Year 12 budget proposal master document that is linked to this. There is a process which has changed and so I invite you all to open the letter from Xavier Calvez that details the new process. I’m not going to read through it in detail, but I think what’s important to note is that the original deadline that they have suggested for budget requests to be December the 9th.
But because – well, as in anything, things are sometimes very – well, people are busy with other things and the process took a little bit of delay, it looks as though now the requests – so here we’re talking about the extraordinary request, requests which come in addition to the usual budget requests, would have to be prepared by January the 17th. No, sorry, not the 17th, the – January the 20th.
And so the process would be for the different SO’s and AC’s to complete a request template for each individual resource or activity that our community is requesting then we would send those to the, in a request form, send a request form to controller at ICANN.org by January the 20th and then past that they will – well, the process in house will be reviewed by the finance within 48 hours of receipt and then we will probably be able to be asked to provide further information, that kind of fits with what’s happened last year already.
One additional point that they’ve made in here is the fact that they’ve put a tag as to the total number of requests in the framework to be half a million for all of the requests. And I’m not quite sure what that is supposed to mean, whether it’s supposed to mean that they just do not have that much funding available this year or whether they think that there’s a lot of funding.
My own personal feeling is if it is the funding for all of the requests from all SO’s and AC’s that is not a very large sum and I was hoping that they were going to have a larger sum than this. One difference from this year as compared to last year is that he has asked for us to provide – to provide three priorities so to prioritize our requests and to prioritize the top three that we would like to see funded. So that is something which we’re going to have to do.
Before, Tijani, before I pass the floor over to you I just wanted to ask – to add one more thing for Ganesh, I think, specifically who wasn’t there in the previous cycle, last year what we did was to ask the [inaudible 00:34:30] to produce the requests themselves and the finance and budget subcommittee did the minimum amount of work in actually bringing the requests together and sending them.
So what we ended up with were similar requests from region to region and we actually sent them all and we didn’t batch them or filter them or anything like that. It introduced some amount of confusion in ICANN Finance because we weren’t quite sure which one of the regions we wanted to favor. And, in fact, we didn’t really want to favor one region over – over another, which is what we actually said when we were asked for further precision.
The result was that when three regions asked for an amount, X, they each got a third of that amount that they were asking for in the best case scenario and that’s why we then had to pull the resources back together. I think I mentioned it a little bit earlier in this call. This time around what I suggested that we actually perform more work in selecting or in concatenating the requests together, batching them together.
If two or three regions are asking for the same sort of funding either – well, I guess I will leave it to this group to decide on how they wish to do this, but I would say that sending all three separately without putting them in any priority or finding some common work that could be shared between the three is something that might be frowned upon by ICANN Finance. Tijani, you have the floor.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Thank you Olivier. I wanted it noted that we are a little bit late in the process because we have the holidays now and we have already asked the regions to express their needs. You are right, we have to provide and it is not because we love this region and we don’t love the others. It is because, in the next [inaudible 0:36:42] of the year we will have [inaudible 0:36:43] in Europe and then in North America and then in Asia. So [inaudible 0:36:51] cannot come from Africa or North Persia or from [inaudible 0:37:00]. So the [inaudible 0:37:02] that would be given to the regions where it is possible for organized [inaudible 0:37:09].
But in general, we have to [inaudible 0:37:13] to the region to express their needs with the remark that [inaudible 0:37:19] don’t forget that [inaudible 0:37:22] of the year the regions in which there would be little of this and this only. I think that we ought to hurry up with this process because [inaudible 0:37:33] tomorrow.
We will have two weeks of holidays for most of the people in [inaudible 0:37:41] ICAN. Then, you know the process of the regions is not very easy. Generally, it takes time [inaudible 0:37:52] to have the inputs from the regions. Thank you.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you very much Tijani. I totally agree with you and with your suggestions. I’m trying to see somehow what was the deadline last year? The date of the deadline for submitting requests last year? Would anyone know this by chance?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I am too old to remember.
Heidi Ullrich: Olivier this is Heidi, let me try to find out for you.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you very much Heidi. I just have a feeling that we are being asked this slightly earlier, whilst last year, what we had actually said was that the time that they were asking for these requests to be prepared was probably one of the busiest times of the year for volunteers. We’re speaking about the holiday period on December; Christmas, Hanukah and then we have, in the early part of the year, January all the way up to early February, Asia Pacific has a number of events like the Chinese New Year and a number of festivities and religious festivals that also make it very hard for them to take part in calls and be actively involved. So we had asked for different timing I think in the framework because this doesn’t seem to have happened this year.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: But at the same time, I do think that the earlier we get our requests the best case.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Absolutely, I totally agree with you Tijani. Unfortunately, it is only recently that I had received the email from Xavier Chavez on the actual timings and deadlines. So, it surprised me as well and this is why I called for this call to take place now rather than waiting until January. I think January would be too late.
Ganesh Kumar: Olivier, in my opinion, in this budgeting process depending on what experience we have had in terms of work [inaudible 0:40:25] get approved you know after awhile it becomes a moot point asking everybody to work on it and if it’s not going to get approved. So I think there is a you know the bottom up process really means that a lot of volunteers are going to put in their effort and expectations are going to be coordinated and eventually, when I can, depending on what the money gets allocated, those expectations will be met or not met. So I think it kind of you know takes the enthusiasm out of the process, number one. Number two is we can add value either in the subcommittee or in the ALAC itself. If we can understand to our own magnitude what they are considering as an allocation, because even ICANN would not start from the zero dollars. They already know a certain percentage of their expense budget is going to be allocated for such and such effort and out of that, what ALAC could get. So we can work on that and also understand what the strategic priorities and marry them with our strategic priorities and probably rank our proposals while collating and submitting. I think that would make the process at least more collaborative and open and constructive rather than blindly forwarding that either in a [inaudible 0:41:44] form or individual one by one and just waiting for them to say yes or not.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes Ganesh, you are absolutely correct on this. The total amount, which Xavier Chavez has earmarked, as I said, was half a million. However, how much of that would be allocated to the ALAC or to At Large and how much of that would be allocated to other supporting organizations and advisory committee, is totally unknown and I’m not quite sure that they would be ready to say this in advance. And on what projects are being proposed.
Ganesh Kumar: Right, but from a prospective transparency we should be able to figure out what it has been, historically, for ALAC right? And for other supportive organizations and ACs.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: The problem Ganesh is that it has changed year on year and it has been very different every year due to the fact that the chief financial officer has changed on some occasions. The process has changed. The leadership of ICANN has changed. So, there were years when we got nothing, there were years when we got a lot more. Financial year 10, when the Mexico Summit was done cost about half a million that the Mexico Summit came up to Heidi?
Ganesh Kumar: Before Heidi answers, all I’m trying to say Olivier is that this process seems to be less efficient, at least in my opinion looking at my experience in my organization. It needs to be kind of by directional. Bottom up or up down, either way it’s not going to be so optimal in producing. So we need to have some guidance. I think ahead of the cycle we need to have some guidance. If they say, “You’re going to get $250,000,” we’re not going to hold them to it but they need to kind of give us an indication and there has to be some level of give and take you know your conversation along the process and trust so that we can plan accordingly. Otherwise, what happens is we are going through the motion of collecting all these – I saw the template. We are going through the motion of all these things and then the impressions are to what extent aligns to the strategic priority and then again, we know the ICANN strategic planning itself is not complete. So I don’t know what we can answer. You know what I mean? So I think there is process where we compile all the data and we are not adding any value to get this thing approved. So that’s why my concern is this seems to be a one way up and one way down kind of flow rather than a collaborative approach.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: And I agree with you Ganesh and in fact, what you’ve just said has been echoed by people, by our [inaudible 0:45:01] participants last year. When they made all of their requests, they worked very hard to make proposals and the majority of the proposals was actually not given to them. I certainly sensed that there was a sense of disappointment from many people and many participants in the region and it might actually be one of the reasons why we don’t have such a great turnout today. I don’t know. But, that could be one of the reasons. So, I agree with you. I just had a message from Heidi suggesting that perhaps we could have a call in the early part of next year, in early January maybe? With Xavier and Akram? Akram being the chief operating officer. So, we would basically come up with our first – I wouldn’t say draft I mean obviously we would have already received some requests from some of the regions and kind of we could pass those by … I’m sorry Juan. I always make a mistake. Juan Odette, who is the controller. We could actually pass those by Xavier and by Juan and gain some feedback and then gauge the dialogue. Is that what you would be looking for?
Ganesh Kumar: Yes, exactly and give you very specific example. Let’s say LACRALO asks for this $75,000 and they have some plans and you know they planned it at that level. Let’s assume they come back and so the answer being like let’s say we’re going to give $20,000. Then, they have to plan again so what they can accomplish with that $20,000. You know what I’m saying? So, it’s not a question of just you know let’s plan for it, when the money comes let’s plan again because again, it’s a volunteer time and I would like to kind of see it used effectively rather than going through the same motion again and again. That’s why I think they need to tell us, there has to be some level of transparency that goes along with the principles that we are trying to shoot for to say, “Okay, here’s what we are giving for outreach. Okay, ALAC, you as part of the outreach program might get this one. These are our priorities.” Then, we can plan for it effectively and execute the outreach properly rather than just submitting all this paper and then coming back and it looks like very inefficient and pointless exercise for me.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you Ganesh. You’re actually echoing, I think, some of the points that we have made in the past. I see people nodding and in fact, I can’t see them visibly but I can feel them nodding on the line at the moment thinking, “Here, here!” Tijani, you’re next.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes Olivier, thank you. I am not caring about the amount that should be allocated to the [inaudible 0:48:22] because I think it is the wrong way to address the issue. We are asking for actions to be done not certain amounts of money. The best way to address the issue is to prepare a very valuable project and I think you have to be reasonable and you have to understand that you will not have every piece of your strings have something organized. It would be an imbalance between the [inaudible 0:49:02]. We have to agree on the pact that each region has one general assembly each five years. That means that one to three years two general assemblies just like the next two general assemblies and the next one general assembly. So, the five regions will have their general assemblies in five years. Second point, we don’t run after an amount. We have to put that very well project and we have to be very clear in our message to the regions. We have to explain them that it is not possible to have each high committee general assembly. It will be unreasonable and it will not be satisfied. So, it is not good to be [inaudible 0:49:59] by some things, which will not be found, which will not be given. Thank you.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Thank you very much Tijani. Actually, this ties in with the At Large improvements process where the actual recommendations were that a region would be afforded a general assembly every three years and there would be a summit on the fourth or the fifth year, I’m not quite sure what the total was. So, the schedule would be two general assemblies per year plus one. So, two in the first year, two in the second year, one in the third year and then the year after that would be a summit and then we start again the cycle two, two, one and a summit. That was the idea. This year, we’ve managed to have one so we do things the other way around. So, it would be one next year if we needed to keep to the schedule it would be two. But of course, this year, we managed to have a second one, a second general assembly, which is the LACRALO request we would have two this year, we could have two next year and one the year afterwards. It really depends on how finance will be able to play this.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: My point is to be reasonable, not to ask for the maximum. If you ask for the maximum you will not have it.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Well Tijani, what I suggest is that this committee, the Finance and Budget Subcommittee make sure that the requests made by the regions are going to fit within the plans that are laid out by the At Large improvements. You know, that is entirely fine.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: You have to explain to the region this goal plan so that we will not [inaudible 0:52:03] projects and [inaudible 0:52:04].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, thank you. Point taken and I think that on top of that, Ganesh’s point of the regions becoming disappointed and not motivated is something which I have felt, as I’ve said earlier, we have to make sure this year that if we are going to ask them to produce projects, they don’t get unmotivated. So, the suggestion was to have a call with Juan and with Xavier Chavez. May I ask staff to inquire with Juan and Xavier if a call in early January would be possible? Maybe the first or the second week of January?
Heidi Ullrich: Hi Olivier, this is Heidi. I already asked Juan and he thought that the first week would be fine. But, we would need to ask them formally and we would also do a doodle for the new members of the subcommittee. So, it might be better that it be early on the week of the 9th.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: I think so as well. Especially, bearing in mind the earlier discussions we had in the day that the first week of the year is likely to be still finding people on holiday and unavailable for calls. Okay, so the process that I propose then is that we send the new template because yes, there is a new template – send the new template to the regional leagues. Explain to them that this year we will be taking a more proactive role, we as in the Finance and Budget Subcommittee, will be taking a more proactive role in making a first pass at those or a first filter if you want, at those requests to make sure that they fit within the At Large improvements, that they fit within the strategic direction that both At Large and ICANN wishes to move forward with to provide … what deadline should we ask for these?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: 10th of January.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: 10th of January?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes, because we have to have a call after the 10th too, especially after we receive all of the requests. We have to look at them.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: And then we will have a call to decide what [inaudible 0:55:07].
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, so 10th of January but then what I would also do in the meantime is to … you see Ganesh, I see your point about asking how much would be allocated to ALAC out of this … or to At Large out of the complete sum that would be allocated for SO and AC requests. The problem is that we suggested exactly this in past meetings with finance and we were given the answer that this was impossible.
Ganesh Kumar: But I think we should have that call with the new CFO, as you said the management has changed and the way of their approach hopefully Xavier has a better approach and I think we should pursue that approach or method.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: But, we will only know that, this is Olivier, we will only know that until well, by the 10th if we speak to him by the 10th in that week. So, we will only know that after the regions have sent us their requests.
Ganesh Kumar: Sure. I think this year we need to do that, that’s what I’m kind of saying.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay and then prepare, maybe next year or find a way to prepare next year. Yes, certainly having an advanced notice of the requests and the deadline that comes a lot earlier than the notice that we were given this time around, which appears to have been eleventh hour. Okay, so shall I ask staff then to send the, I guess it’s the same message as last year or very similar message as last year to ask for the regional requests to come in? One thing, which I think that we may allow because that will probably save some time for regions, several regions have made requests last year and were given an answer, which was not that of, “No, we’re not going to fund you,” but it actually had a reason why the funding was not allocated and many of the times the reason was, “Unfortunately, we do not have enough funds to allocate this year on this so this will not be something we will give a green light to this year.” But, it actually showed that it was something that could be asked again in the next year. So perhaps, we can let the regions know that if they have projects that were not funded last year, if they reformat the project and they still wish to ask for this project they can reformat it using the new form and resend it and that will certainly save them some time in formulating the requests. Any comments about this?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes, Olivier. I like the request for additional funding to the regions must be accompanied with some explanation about the content, about what will happen with the money.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, this I guess is noted on the transcript. Are we asking staff to write this or are we going to draft this? Heidi, I need some counseling on this if you can tell me whether you’ve got enough material for this to be collated?
Heidi Ullrich: I’m sorry I was looking at the action items. What was the question Tijani?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I said that the requests from the regions for next year that need additional funding. So, these requests would have to contain an explanation about content and also their objectives if they retain the funding.
Heidi Ullrich: Okay Olivier, I didn’t quite hear all that he said but I’m assuming he was basically saying that we need to send a note that incorporates the strategic plan, etcetera and point out that requests do need to fit into the strategic requests? If that was what he was saying, I would ask that Olivier and staff help prepare this note.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes, that’s fine. That’s correct and not only the strategic request but also, the actual calendar that for example, the regards to the general assembly being held in a region where there will be an ICANN meeting. Obviously, a region where there will not be an ICANN meeting during that financial year should not request a general assembly. And a region that has already had a general assembly, if they have already have a general assembly the previous year, will obviously not be provided with a general assembly the next year as well, two years running.
Heidi Ullrich: Okay, so that would be LACRALO in that case?
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: In this specific case but it’s a general thing for everyone that’s valid for everybody. It has to work with a calendar set out by the At Large improvements. These are all things that need to be noted and I’m not sure who is taking notes. I hope that someone is taking notes of all of this. Otherwise, we’ll have to …
Heidi Ullrich: Matt is. Yes, Matt is now.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, thank you. Okay, so anything else that we need to discuss here from there? I think that we have a plan to move forward from this. Obviously, we have to do this by the end of this week. That’s going to be extraordinarily hard for me and for everyone else I gather as well. Once we have those two processes in parallel. So, the first process in parallel is for all of us to go and reach out to our communities and get them involved with the Finance and Budget Subcommittee. The second one is for the email to go out to the regional leaderships to explain to them that the new process is slightly different and following up on what we have just discussed. Any other things that anyone here can think of that we haven’t spoken about yet?
Heidi Ullrich: Olivier, this is Heidi.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes, Heidi please?
Heidi Ullrich: I’m just thinking through the scheduling – if we would like, if this group would like a call with Xavier and Juan the week of the 9th then could we suggest that the call for new members be completed by, shall we say Wednesday the 8th of January? That would allow a few days for a doodle to be sent out.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes, sure.
Heidi Ullrich: Okay, thank you.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: And the call for new members, by the way, is not only call for new members but reaffirming that the current members are still remaining in the group. That might be the number of current members who might not wish to remain there. But one thing we have to make sure in the call for new members is to point out to each RALO what they are lacking. For example, if a RALO does not have an ALAC member currently on the Finance and Budget Subcommittee they need to appoint one.
Heidi Ullrich: Okay actually, sorry I was looking at the wrong calendar. Could we say the deadline of the 5th that’s already, well if we want to call the week of the 9th late in that week it would be either the 5th Thursday or the 6th on Friday. I would say even the 5th so we can doodle out on the 6th for two days.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes.
Heidi Ullrich: Okay.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Goodness knows how many answers or lack of answers we’re going to get on this one. The timing just appears to be totally wrong.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Just to say I’m very surprised at the timing because usually for last year … well, you know for …
Heidi Ullrich: Actually, I just heard from Juan. Last year’s deadline was the 4th of February. So not too much longer.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Well, I remember that last year was already a struggle and there were very few requests from the APRALO Region due to the problems of having a very busy January festive schedule and now, this has been brought forward by two more weeks? No, it’s three weeks earlier. Now, one thing which we might wish to ask for but we will see that – we’ll cross that bridge in January will be to ask for an extension if that is possible. I think that it might be other communities might also be faced with the same problems as we are, as far as holiday time is concerned. So, we’ll see but for the time being let’s work with the current schedule as it is.
Cintra Sooknanan: Hi Olivier, my hand is raised.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Oh Cintra, I’m really sorry. My eyes are wandering around the screen. Yes please, go ahead.
Cintra Sooknanan: That’s okay, I figured as much. I wanted to ask a question with regards to our request for LACRALO. Perhaps you can give some advice on this too Tijani? The document we have detailed requests flight, food and hotel but we did not include the cost of the interpretation during that time frame before. That would be covered by ICANN as well?
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes, thank you Cintra. Actually, Tijani maybe you might know because of course interpretation also needed to be there in the LACRALO events and I guess you also worked with Matt on putting a budget together?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: Yes, the budget has [inaudible 1:07:33]. For example, [inaudible 1:07:37] a number of costs for Christina.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay.
Cintra Sooknanan: So just to confirm, we do need to include that as a separate cost as part of the general assembly.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: I don’t share [inaudible 1:07:57] with Cintra so I don’t know what she is saying.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Cintra asked if you needed to include this as a separate cost or not?
Tijani Ben Jemaa: No, we didn’t include the cost of the interpretation. The only real cost of event was the travel cost.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, the travel costs.
Cintra Sooknanan: Okay, thank you.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, Heidi? You have your hand up?
Heidi Ullrich: I think Tijani said it correctly. Just to let you know, my understanding of the interpretation at ICANN meetings is that they are paid for by the overall ICANN meeting and not be separate meetings. So, there is no need to incorporate that cost.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Okay, thank you Heidi. Good to know for the future. Right, any other questions or suggestions before we close this call?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Just one quick question, so I mean given this very short timeline we have to issue the regional requests before the end of the year I think. So, is it possible that we can work together to get the draft before Christmas or is that asking too much?
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Yes Dave, that was the plan. The plan is to get the requests to the regions before the end of the week.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Heidi, does this sound possible?
Heidi Ullrich: Yes, we’ll need to try that. I agree with Dev that does sound like a good schedule. I don’t know how many people will actually read it once it gets into their inbox over the holidays.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: This is a major problem. What we’ll have to do is send it and then probably send a repeat of it sometime the week after Christmas when people actually wake up from their hangover or parties and so on. So, there might be a repeat required. It’s going to be very tough and I’m sure we will be faced with criticism as well because what usually happens is these requests are discussed in regional, well RALO calls. So, RALO would have discussed the requests today so as to be able to provide some actual work and information by one month later. Everyone usually does it between two of their calls. This time around it doesn’t seem to have happened. Last year, a couple of regions were nearly unable to table this and so they had a really hard time as well and they were unhappy.
Tijani Ben Jemaa: That was our only choice and we have to send reminders.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: I absolutely agree Tijani but I think we just need to be prepared for receiving criticism on this. Or at least, not criticism but grievances from the regions rather than having immediate requests for funding. The first response is probably going to be, “Are you kidding?” Anyway, I think we spent enough time discussing it. We know what we have to do now all I can say it good luck to everyone. If there are no additional suggestions …
Ganesh Kumar: I was just going to wish Merry Christmas to everyone.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy holidays to everyone!
Tijani Ben Jemaa: If I may, I’d like to say once again that I am ready to help. If you want any confirmation or any help, anything you want, I am ready to do that and I would be very happy to do this.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Tijani I mean I think that will be extremely welcomed. So when we have our next call and probably by then we will have confirmation from ICANN whether we will have the events that we want to have then indeed, your input would be very welcomed. So, thanks.
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond: And with this I thank you all for being on this call. Well, it’s going to be a tough one but I can still wish you all to have a good holiday and speak to you pretty soon. We probably will be speaking on the list before the end of the year. I’m sure we will actually and so I do implore all of you, even if you don’t have very much time to spend on your computer, to actually check your emails from time to time and get the process moving forward when we have so little time. So, thanks very much to all of you and speak soon. Goodbye!
