The bottom up, multi-stakeholder ICANN system is based on the participation of all stakeholders (governments, private sector, contracted parties and end-users) in the decision-making process. Therefore, African end users, represented in ICANN’s At-Large Community by the African representatives of At-Large Structures (ALSes), must be able to contribute effectively to ICANN’s policy development process. This requires a sound knowledge of ICANN’s structure, policies and policy development process. At the same time, African ALS representatives should be aware of the broader challenges and opportunities related to global governance of the Internet.
An informal survey of AFRALO ALSes taken in 2009 showed that many representatives faced challenges in gaining the necessary level of comprehension of the significant volume of policy-related publications and activities generated by ICANN while they need to contribute to ICANN’s policy development process in an informed manner. The survey also indicated that a lack of understanding of ICANN’s organizational structure was an additional barrier to effective participation in ICANN activities.
Following the publication of this survey, an AFRALO working group produced a document outlining the capacity building needs of AFRALO. This document was adopted by the full membership of AFRALO in July 2009. According to this document, and in order to provide the members of AFRALO with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to effectively contribute to ICANN policies, capacity building requirements include:
Thus, it is clear that until AFRALO representatives gain greater knowledge regarding ICANN’s organizational structure, policy-development process and current policies, and develop a regional communications policy, they will continue to remain inactive and marginalized.
The AFRALO meeting held during the ICANN meeting which took place in Seoul in October 2009, resulted in AFRALO representatives agreeing to organize an outreach event during the next ICANN international public meeting that will be held on African soil in Nairobi, Kenya 7-12 March 2010. This meeting was seen to be a very good opportunity to maximize the participation of AFRALO representatives in a series of capacity-building sessions which would inform and train them on ICANN and its processes of policy development.
Because it wasn’t planned in the ICANN budget for that fiscal year, the capacity building training sessions couldn’t be implemented in Nairobi.
The upcoming ICANN meeting in Africa was the 42nd that took place from 23 to 28 October 2011 in Dakar. AFRALO planned to implement the capacity building training sessions there.
The main objective was to build capacity and raise awareness of ICANN policies, organization and activities to increase the effectiveness of the participation of the African end-users representatives in ICANN’s policy development process.
Over 5 days of the ICANN meeting in Dakar, the program aimed at providing representatives of AFRALO ALSes with briefings on the key policies, issues, activities and structure of ICANN. These briefings will be conducted by relevant ICANN officers and staff, and allow for open discussion.
To achieve this objective, a series of sessions on the policy development process at ICANN were held during the 42nd ICANN meeting. Participants were made of representatives of African ALSes
For the best efficiency, the sessions were organized from Sunday to Thursday early in the morning (From 7 to 9 a.m.) to allow the AFRALO ALS representatives to participate in ICANN meetings in order to apply what they learned during the morning sessions. An additional session (Monday afternoon) was added to cover the whole program outlined below.
Representatives of AFRALO ALSes
Today, only 24 organizations of African civil society are accredited to participate in the activities of ICANN. Most of them were inactive and thus didn’t have any influence on the decision-making within ICANN.
After this training:
5.1. The participation of each supported ALS in AFRALO monthly teleconferences, in the public comments issued by ICANN on various topics under discussion, in the working groups and all consultations should be improved to defend the interests of the African end users.
5.2. Each sponsored ALS should also incite at least one other organization of African Internet end-users to become interested in ICANN and seek accreditation to become an AFRALO ALS.
(see PDF)
7.1. Travel support for each participant including airfare, accommodation and per diem
7.2. A room for 30 persons, equipped with the simultaneous interpretation infrastructure.
7.3. Interpreters (English and French)
This operation required the contribution of the At-Large secretariat and Global Partnerships staff.
It also required a dedicated coordinator who worked with the ICANN Meetings staff to coordinate all the logistical aspects. Gisella Gruber, who has African roots, and who is perfectly bilingual was the best choice.
Evaluation sheets were distributed to all participants to be filled in, session by session, with their evaluation and comments. We can summarize their impressions and recommendations as follows:
As additional and overall remarks, the ALS representatives think that:
In conclusion, we can say that this first experience was very successful, but needs more refinements.
The presence and punctuality of all participants during the whole program, despite the early start (07:00) can be taken as a sign of great interest.
Their feedback in the evaluation sheets demonstrates that they gained information and knowledge, but they wanted it to be better done for more benefit.
As the aim of the capacity building program is to give the ALS representatives the appetite of participating in the ICANN activities, and more specifically in the policy development process, rather than make them expert of those policies, we would recommend for similar upcoming programs that:
The program should be planned differently so that: