AFRALO Secretariat Monthly Reports

AFRALO Activity Report (December 2011)

The AFRALO main activities during the month of December 2011 are the following:

Individual Membership and Vote system inside AFRALO:

Following on the November monthly conference call, an online discussion among the AFRALO ALSes took place regarding the Individual membership and the vote system. The teleconference of 18 January 2012 will take the final decision on those 2 subjects.

Treatment of the inactive ALSes

AFRALO launched a deep reflection on the problem of inactive ALSes and decided to coordinate with the other RALOs before defining rules for this issue.

ALS Application from ISOC Cameroon,

AFRALO received on 16 December 2011 the application of the ISOC Cameroonian chapter, its bylaws and the Due Diligence of the ICANN regional officer. All those documents have been transmitted to the ALSes to give their opinions on this application.

Additional requests for the fiscal year FY13

AFRALO submitted two projects to be financed in the fiscal year FY13. At-Large FY13 Budget Development Workspace – 2012 :

• A Capacity Building program for the African ALS representatives. This program which will follow-up on the Dakar face to face training, consists of Virtual sessions to complete the already received information and improve the comprehension of the ICANN policies and their development process. The main objective is to make the AFRALO ALSes better involved in the subjects addressed by ICANN and thus increase the African participation efficiency through the end users.
• A Workshop at the 2012 Internet Governance Forum.

AFRALO Activity Report (November 2011)

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The main activities of AFRALO for the month of November 2011 were the following:

Inactive ALSes

AFRALO launched a reflection on the issue of inactive ALSes and decided to coordinate with the other RALOs before deciding on rules to be implemented.

Individual Membership

Three proposals were put forward: Deny individual membership, group all the individual members in a single ALS specific to individual members, or integrate the applicant individual into an existing ALS of his/her country.

Therefore, it was decided to deepen the discussion on the list so that all ALSes get the opportunity to give their opinions 

Voting criteria within AFRALO

Currently, the vote within AFRALO is done by ALS (one ALS = one vote). The problem arises when several ALSes come from the same country. The question raised was: should we vote by country (1 vote per country) or by ALS (1 vote per ALS)?

Here also, it was decided to continue the discussion on the list to reach the necessary consensus. 

Capacity building program

The capacity building program report has been prepared and circulated to all the ALSes. The report provides an overview of the program with its objectives, the methodology used, the expected results, the preliminary evaluation and the conclusions. 

Statement on the Internet end-users security and best practices

After review and integration of the members’ comments, the statement of the ICANN African community attending the joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting in Dakar on the end-users security and best practices has been finalized and sent to all participants so that they transmit it to governments, CERTs, and other security and regulation instances of their respective countries.

Application for membership

The application for membership of ISOC Cameroon, its bylaws, and the due diligence form well filled in by the ICANN Regional Relations Manager for Africa were sent to AFRALO on 19 October 2011. The AFRALO regional advice to ALAC is to be decided on at the monthly conference call of January 2012.

AFRALO Activity Report (October 2011)

The AFRALO activity during the month of October was mainly focused on the preparation and implementation of the events that AFRALO organized in Dakar.

 Held on an African soil from 23 to 28 October 2011, those events that are detailed below were very successful:

1.  Capacity Building Program

Six sessions of 2 hours each had been provided to the representatives of 19 AFRALO ALSes who made it to Dakar and attended the whole activities of the 42^nd ICANN International Public meeting.      

The program included presentations about:

• ICANN’s role in the infrastructure of the Internet 
• ICANN Mission, Structure and Constituencies
• ICANN Policies
• ICANN policy development process
• ICANN Public Participation and Communication

The last sessions had been dedicated to case study exercises and a general discussion.

The objective of this program was to give the African ALS representatives the required information and knowledge for an active participation in the various ICANN activities, and more specifically in its policy development process to make the voice of the African end-users heard and impact the decision making.

2.  Show-Case

This Show-Case, held on Sunday 23 October 2011 from 18:00 to 19:00, was again a great success by the important number of participants (around 200), the effective presence of the Senegalese Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Information & communication Technologies Moustapha Guirassy, the CEO and president of ICANN Rod Backstrom, the ALAC and RALOs leaders, as well as the African personalities who strove for the Internet development in the continent. 

It was an occasion for showing AFRALO activities into the ICANN community, as well as the African identity and its participation in the Internet development. A document was distributed during this exhibition describing the objectives and the mission of each of the 24 AFRALO ALSes. 

The local music and dance embellished the ambiance and brought the African colors and environment, cheerful and pleasant.

3.  General Assembly 

The general assembly was one of the very rare opportunities for the AFRALO members to meet face to face, and debate issues related to AFRALO, its working methods, its relationship with the other constituencies and its participation in the ICANN activities.

The 24 members attending the general assembly addressed the following points of the agenda:

• AFRALO activity report from Mexico to Dakar,
• Report on the JAS working group activities,
• Report on the implementation of the At-Large improvement recommendations,
• Treatment of the inactive ALSes,
• Individual Affiliation,
• Voting process at AFRALO. 

It was decided to deepen the reflection concerning the treatment of the inactive ALSes, the individual affiliation and the voting process, taking into consideration the experience of the other RALOs and the ongoing discussions at ALAC and the whole regions. 

4.  Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting  

Since Brussels’ meeting, AFRALO took the initiative of gathering the whole ICANN African community during each ICANN meeting to address current issues. 

The theme chosen for the Dakar meeting was the Internet users security and the dangers incurred by the African end-users due to the cyber-criminality. 

Therefore, AFRALO prepared a statement that was discussed by the participants in the joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting, and will be shortly validated after modification. 

5.  ICANN Summit on Developing Countries  

A meeting was held in Dakar to debate the progress of the summit preparation. The participants decided to accompany the project with a document describing the objectives and the expected outcomes of the summit. 

For the record, AFRALO expressed, since the beginning, its full support to this initiative through a statement adopted by the Singapore meeting and sent to the ICANN Board of Directors.

AFRALO Activity Report (September 2011)

AFRALO undertook during September 2011 the following main activities:

• AFRALO events in Dakar

AFRALO will organize during the 42^nd ICANN meeting in Dakar, 23-28 October 2011, several events. To this end, an organizing committee composed of members from AFRALO, ALAC and At-Large staff has been formed to prepare for these events  http://community.icann.org/display/AFRALO/AFRALO+Dakar+Events

This committee has worked hard and met virtually through a weekly teleconference to debate programs, technical preparation and logistics. The main AFRALO activities planned for the week of this 42^nd ICANN meeting that will be held on African soil are:

1. A show-case
2. A capacity building program for the African ALS representatives
3. An AFRALO general assembly
4. An AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting that gathers the whole ICANN African community.

• At-Large Improvement

AFRALO members have contributed to the elaboration of the milestone report on the implementation of At-Large improvement recommendations by their active participation in the works of the four work teams in charge of the so called implementation. 

AFRALO Activity Report (August 2011)

AFRALO undertook during August 2011 the following main activities:

• Participation of AFRALO members in the Working Groups

To encourage the participation of AFRALO members in the various Working Groups, it was proposed to those who wish to participate to provide them with simultaneous interpretation during the teleconferences of the so-called Working Groups

• ALAC and ExCom meetings (face to face and virtual) are open to all

Representatives of AFRALO ALSes have been invited to participate as observers in the face to face and virtual meetings of the ALAC and the ExCom, which would help them better understand the functioning of these structures, be familiar with the content of the discussed items.

• Open Public Consultations

AFRALO continues to track the open public consultations for which ALAC prepares statements (new gTLD program, dispute resolution, Whois policy review, JAS Working Group report, GAC-Board working group, etc.)

• New ALS application

AFRALO gave a positive opinion on the accreditation of the Association for Linux and open source software in Burkina Faso (A3LBF) after it has provided the additional details that were requested. AFRALO gave the advice to accredit A3LBF to ALAC which in turn accepted it.

• Participation of the African ALSes in the Dakar meeting (23-28 October 2011)

Thanks to the AFRALO initiative launched since 2009, and the spirit of solidarity that prevails in the At-Large community, AFRALO managed to invite all its ALSes to participate in the Dakar ICANN meeting. 15 African country will be represented (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, DRC, Senegal, Sudan, and Tunisia). A letter of thanks was sent to the leaders of the 2 RALOS (LACRALO and EURALO) who generously agreed to offer to AFRALO the travel support slots that were originally allocated to them, as well as to the Chair and Vice-chairs of ALAC who greatly contributed in the achievement of this project.

The African ALSes will therefore be able to participate in the specific activities that have been prepared for them (Capacity building sessions, show-case, joint AFRALO – AfrICANN meeting, AFRALO General Assembly, and ICANN Summit on developing countries), as well as the other events of the week. Details of the 5 specific activities can be found at:  https://community.icann.org/display/AFRALO/AFRALO+Dakar+Events|../../../../../../../../../../display/AFRALO/AFRALO+Dakar+Events|||\

An organizing committee was formed for the preparation of these events that includes members from AFRALO, ALAC, and ICANN staff. The list of the organizing committee member can be found at: https://community.icann.org/display/AFRALO/AFRALO+Dakar+Events+WG+Members|../../../../../../../../../../display/AFRALO/AFRALO+Dakar+Events+WG+Members|||\    

• AFRALO events program in Dakar  

  a.    Capacity Building sessions

The program has been developed and sent to the ALSes. It can be accessed at: https://community.icann.org/display/AFRALO/Capacity+Building|../../../../../../../../../../display/AFRALO/Capacity+Building|||\

The aim is to inform and train the ALS representatives regarding the mission, the structures, and the activities of ICANN for a better participation in the ICANN policy development process through their direct involvement.

  b.    Showcase

Organized under the theme “Development of Internet and African participation”, this exhibition after the Nairobi one, will be a now opportunity for the ALSes to present their projects, programs, activities and know-how. It will also be an opportunity to exhibit the achievements related to Internet development in Africa, to exchange experiences and best practices in the use of Internet and all other development sectors. The Show-case will be co-chaired by the Senegalese and Nigerian Ministers in charge of the Information technology. 

https://community.icann.org/display/AFRALO/Showcase|../../../../../../../../../../display/AFRALO/Showcase|||\

c.    General Assembly

Making use of the presence of the all these ALS representatives, this face to face general assembly, the second in its kind after the one of Mexico, will discuss an agenda composed of the activities and achievements of the few last years, as well as organizational and functioning issues  

d.    Joint AFRALO – AfrICANN meeting

Continuing on the tradition that AFRALO established since Brussels, consisting of organizing a meeting for the entire ICANN African community present at the ICANN meetings, AFRALO will hold also in Dakar a new edition of those gatherings. The meeting will be held on Wednesday 26 October 2011, and the theme selected (after a wide consultation) will be “Internet users security: best practices”

e.    Preparation of the ICANN summit on developing countries

After the transmission to the ICANN Board of the statement adopted by the joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting held in Singapore, inciting its members to efficiently support the Summit initiative, AFRALO is preparing to actively contribute to the success of the preparatory meeting of the ICANN Summit on Developing Countries in Dakar. The contact is well established with Katim Toure, the promoter of the Summit initiative who said he was very pleased with the contribution of AFRALO.

AFRALO also sent a different statement, adopted by the AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting in Singapore too, to the African Ministers’ round table due to take place in Dakar, on the fringe of the 42^nd ICANN meeting, to supply the summit by specific recommendations from the African countries.

AFRALO Activity Report (July 2011)

The main AFRALO activities for the month of July were related to the following issues:

• ALS Participation in the activities of the RALO, ALAC and ICANN

A proposed procedure on the participation of ALSes in the activities of RALOs, At-Large, and more generally in ICANN activities was sent by AFRALO. This draft concerns the treatment of the inactivity of several ALSes.

• Nomination for the position of AFRALO representative within NomCom

Mohamed El-Bashir was proposed to ALAC to be nominated as representative of AFRALO in NomCom. This proposal was supported by a large number of the AFRALO members.

• Participation of the African ALSes in the Dakar meeting (23-28 October 2011):

Following the various contacts undertaken by the President and the two Vice-Presidents of the ALAC with the RALOs officers, it was decided to add the 6 additional travel support slots allocated to each of EURALO and LACRALO to those of AFRALO. Thus, AFRALO will have 18 additional travel support slots, which will give the possibility to invite all AFRALO ALSes and to involve them in all important activities that are planned for the Dakar meeting. An email of thanks was sent to the concerned persons.

An email has been sent to each African ALS to designate its representative in this program.

 

AFRALO activities in Dakar (23-28 October 2011):

Five activities are planned for the Dakar meeting, and an organizing committee coordinated by Fatimata, Tijani and Aziz has been formed to well prepare those events.

The list of the activities, as well as the persons in charge of their preparation is the following:

1. Capacity Building Program: training during the week for all the ALSes

Tijani, Yaovi, Fatimata, Mohammed, Wilson, Heidi, Janice.

1. Show Case: It should be innovative and different,

Aziz, Fatimata, Baudouin, Peters, Gisella

1. AFRALO General Assembly: A face to face meeting of all African ALSes that will be the second after Mexico. The results of this meeting will be at the highest importance and the recommendations have to be prepared.

Aziz, Tijani, Yaovi, Baudouin, Dave, Mohammed

1. Preparation of the ICANN Summit on Developing Countries: AFRALO already gave its full support to this initiative expressed by the statement adopted in Singapore during the AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting. This statement has been sent to the ICANN Board. A preparatory committee of the summit including representatives from several developing countries and some developed ones has been formed in Singapore. AFRALO will actively participate in the preparatory process due to take place in Dakar to make the summit a successful one.

Hawa, Dave, Baudouin, Peters, Wilson.

1. Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN Meeting: The preparation of this meeting consists essentially in finding the right theme that should be interesting and actual. 

AFRALO Activity Report (June 2011)

The main AFRALO activities from San Francisco to Singapore were related to the following issues: 

• Application of FORCES (Forum for Senior Scientist in Kinshasa, DRC) for joining AFRALO

After several months of discussions and exchanges of messages with representatives of FORCAS, the decision of AFRALO was to advise ALAC to reject this request. This decision was taken following a vote of ALS. Five ALS’s voted against membership (Fatima, Tijani, Mohammed, Aziz and Yaovi), against two who voted for (Baldwin and Didier).

• AFRALO Activities for the fiscal year 2011- 2012 

The budget requested for the organization of a workshop at the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi and the capacity building program for the meeting in Dakar were not accepted by the staff of ICANN. AFRALO continues to Works to ensure that these two activities are budgeted for fiscal year FY12 before its approval by the Board of Directors on June 24 in Singapore.

• Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN in Singapore

Themes proposals were put forward: Promotion of ccTLDs in Africa (vs dot com, dot net, etc.), the new gTLD program for the development and DNSSEC. It was finally decided to address the topics that the African community wishes to put on the agenda of the summit on developing countries in ICANN due to be held at the 42nd ICANN meeting in Dakar.

• Summit on ICANN development countries in Dakar

AFRALO is a member of the working group that was formed to organize the summit.

• AFRALO Showcase in Dakar

With the help of various ALS’s, Afralo is studying various scenarios with the goal of successful event in Dakar.

• AFRALO Participation in the various Working Groups (WG) 

AFRALO members continue to participate actively in the various working groups:

-      Joint Working Group on the support to applicants for new gTLDs (JAS)

ccNSO study Group on the use of names of countries and territories

AFRALO Activity Report (May 2011)

The main AFRALO activities for the month of May 2011 were related to the following issues:

• FORCAS (Forum for Senior Scientist in Kinshasa, DRC) application to join AFRALO

A final decision should be taken at the conference call of May on the advice for ALAC. As the number of participants was small, it was decided to give the accredited ALSes an extra week to express their final opinion by mail. Three ALSes voted for a positive advice (Baudouin, Didier and Yaovi) and four voted against (Fatima, Tijani Mohammed and Aziz). The AFRALO decision is then to advise ALAC to reject the FORCAS application

• AFRALO Up-coming Activities for the fiscal year 2011- 2012 

The budget requested for the organization of a workshop at the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi and the capacity building program for the meeting in Dakar were not accepted by the staff of ICANN. AFRALO continues to work to ensure that these two activities are budgeted for fiscal year FY12 before its approval by the Board of Directors on June 24 in Singapore.

• Joint AFRALO-AfrICANN in Singapore

Themes proposals were put forward: Promotion of ccTLDs in Africa (vs dot com, dot net, etc.), the new gTLD program for the development and DNSSEC. It was finally decided to address the topics that the African community wishes to put on the agenda of the summit on developing countries in ICANN due to be held at the 42nd ICANN meeting in Dakar.

• Summit on ICANN development countries in Dakar

AFRALO is a member of the working group that was formed to organize the summit.

• AFRALO Showcase in Dakar

The AFRALO ALSes were requested to think about what AFRALO could present for a specially successful showcase in Dakar. Concrete proposals are expected.

• AFRALO Participation in the various Working Groups (WG) 

AFRALO members continue to participate actively in the various working groups:

-      Joint Working Group on the support to applicants for new gTLDs (JAS)

-      ccNSO study Group on the use of names of countries and territories

AFRALO activity Report (April 2011)

The main AFRALO activities during April 2011 were related to the following issues:

* Application of FORCAS (Forum des Cadres Scientifique de Kinshasa, RDC) for an AFRALO ALS:

It was decided to ask the FORCAS officers to clarify the pending issues in their application. The applicant is once more informed that AFRALO will be obliged to advise ALAC to reject the application if no reply is received in due time.

• AFRALO Participation in the various Working Groups (WG):

AFRALO members continue to actively participate in various working groups:

-      Joint Working Group on support to new gTLD applicants who need assistance for applying for and operating a new gTLDs,

-      ccNSO Study Group on the use of countries and territoties names

• Preparation of the AFRALO future Activities:

-      Organization of the IGF Workshop in Nairobi (27-30 september 2011). The theme proposed is: “New gTLD program: an opportunity for development or a mean for more digital divide?”. A list of speakers has been

-      Capacity Building and outreach program for AFRALO ALSes during the the ICANN 42nd meeting due to take place in Dakar (October 2011). the requested budget covers the travel support for 36 participants during 6-7 days, an equiped room with interpretation infrastructure and 2 Interpreters (English / french). 

AFRALO San Francisco Report (March 2011)

Download word doc in French and English

AFRALO activity Report (February 2011)

The main AFRALO activities of February 2011 have concerned the following issues:

• Applications of new ALSes:

The decisions regarding the new ALS applications are as follow:

• Because of the multiple incoherencies found in the FORCAS (Forum des Cadres Scientifiques de Kinshasa, RDC) application, it was decided to postpone the AFRALO decision related to its advice about the accreditation of FORCAS,
• It was decided to wait for the Staff due diligence before giving the regional advice about the application of the Ministry for Information of Benin, but the Ministry withdrew its application, 
• Reject the application of Binary Egypt: it is a commercial entity ant not  an Internet users association.

• Comments on the interim report of the Working Group on the ICANN geographic regions review:

https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/Interim+Report+of+Geographic+Regions+Review+Working+Group+Community+Workspace|../../../../../../../../../display/atlarge/Interim+Report+of+Geographic+Regions+Review+Working+Group+Community+Workspace||||||||\

This contribution is the result of the African ALSes discussion on the interim report of the working group established to review the structure of ICANN's geographic regions.

• Draft FY 2011-2014 strategic plan:

AFRALO submitted its comments on the draft strategic plan for the FY 2011-2014  in which it indicated that in addition to the usual major activities, further actions should be undertaken in each area of work to make the strategy more action oriented.

• Preparation of the Joint AFRALO - AfrICANN meeting in San Francisco :

AFRALO is preparing a joint AFRALO-AfrICANN meeting to be held in San Francisco to discuss the position of the ICANN African community about the interim report of the working group on ICANN geographic regions review

AFRALO activity Report (January 2011)

The main AFRALO activities of January 2011 have concerned the following issues:

• Comments on the interim report of the Working Group on the geographic regions Revision: 

A group of volunteers has been formed to prepare a draft to be submitted to AFRALO ALSes comment and approved. ALAC will draft later its comment taking into consideration the RALOs comments before the end of January.

• Participation in the At-Large Improvement Work Teams (WT) 

Several members of AFRALO participated actively in the various work teams and made recommendations. 

• Action Plan for the calendar year 2011: 

A 2011 action plan for AFRALO was prepared. 

• Budget for Fiscal Year 2011 - 2012:

A budget for Fiscal Year 2011-2012 has been prepared to implement the following activities:

• Training and outreach program for AFRALO ALSes during the next ICANN meeting in Africa
• Workshop at the next Internet Governance forum in Nairobi, 

• Applications of new ALSes:

Consideration of the applications of associations wishing to become ALSes

AFRALO Report from Brussels to Cartagena (June-December 2010)

AFRALO Report (Brussels to Cartagena) 2010.pdf (covering the period from the Brussels meeting in June 2010 until the Cartagena meeting in December 2010)

AFRALO activity Report (September 2010)

The main AFRALO activities of January 2011 have concerned the following issues:

AFRALO activity Report (September 2010)

The main AFRALO activities from Seoul to Nairobi have concerned the following issues:

January 2010

December 2009 (4th Quarter) AfRALO Report