Dear all,

On behalf of all of us on the APRALO Leadership Team, I'd like to wish everyone in the APRALO community a very productive New Year! I'd like to use this occasion to share with you a short update on APRALO for 2017.

1. At-Large Review
As you would be aware, the ICANN At-Large Community is going through a scheduled review process, and at present the Review Party is discussing the initial findings of the review team. Once we have a consensus on the draft recommendations, there will be a wider consultative process where the Community will have an opportunity to comment, and I hope you will make your voices heard. This review is particularly important as it may result in modifications to the current At-Large structures and functions.

2. 2017 Focus areas
As discussed in the December call, our priority areas for 2017 are:

• Taking up Capacity Building activities
• Enhancing participation in ICANN Policy Processes
• Enhancing Community Engagement within APRALO
• Contributing to regional community initiatives with our partners and ICANN
• Continuing the Mentoring Programme

As we go forward, we will be refining the first four areas into action plans (the Mentoring Programme is already under way). In the meantime, if you have any suggestions on any of the above, kindly pass them on to us.

3. APRALO General Assembly (October 2017)
We are presently planning for our General Assembly during ICANN60, which is scheduled for Abu Dhabi, UAE. We will be inviting active member ALSes to participate. The earlier practice has been to provide travel support to one person per invited ALS, and we may follow the same pattern this time as well.

As announced in earlier calls, we would be inviting only active ALSes to the 2017 GA. The following metrics will define 'active' ALSes:

• At least one ALS representative participates in the monthly APRALO calls
• The ALS participates in any activity where ALS participation is requested (such as periodic surveys, feedback or short presentation on ALSes during the monthly calls)
• The web page of ALS on the APRALO Wiki is updated with reasonable frequency (with leadership team data, 2017 activity/work plan etc)

These metrics will be collected starting from Jan 2017.

4. APRALO Newsletter
APRALO has been considering launching a Newsletter. We invite volunteers for the Editorial Panel, each of whom would serve as the Guest Editor for the Newsletter for a month on a rotating basis. If you have the skills for this task, kindly contact me. We will launch the newsletter if there is sufficient response.

Once again, I wish you a very fruitful year ahead, and also hope that we can work together to accomplish our mandate.

Thanks and regards,








satish