For your consideration. Alan
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:38:31 -0400 To: ALAC Working List <alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org> From: Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca> Subject: Rapporteur position
As the person holding the position of Rapporteur for the last year, I thought I would make some comments regarding the position.
Many of our ALAC/At-Large rules are based on United Nations documents, and the term Rapporteur is part of that. You can find the original usage in the UN General Assembly Rules at https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi/index.cgi?rules_of_procedure.
I could not readily find a formal definition within the UN documents, but the sense with respect to a committee is someone who summarizes and reports on the deliberations of the committee. In the wider UN context, the terms is also used as someone who is sent to investigate some situation and report back - as in a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights who may be sent to some country believed to be violating human rights.
Within the ALAC Rules of Procedure, the definition is "An independent critical friend; a person acting as a monitor to processes, who is responsible on behalf of the committee to ensure correct process have been carried out." The only place I could locate anything close to this definition was in an online English-Turkish dictionary.
Someday, we should probably change the name...
In any case, on thinking what this officer could and should reasonably be responsible for, I looked at what major problems we have had over the last year where adding leadership might help.
I think the one function that was not performed well by any officer or by staff was the overseeing of the policy process within ALAC/At-Large. We were continually in a position where time: - time had passed on known issue deadlines; - we had not yet taken sufficient action; and - we had no choice but to scramble to do something in very short order.
I would suggest that the Rapporteur take charge of this (with staff support). I hesitate to be very prescriptive, since whoever occupies the position should decide for themselves (along with the other officers and the ALAC) exactly what needs to be done. Nevertheless, in my mind, what we need is someone who can analyze what level of effort will be needed, set reasonable time-lines, and monitor performance. All of this in support of ensuring that the ALAC and At-Large deliver, in a timely manner, what the ICANN community and the user community needs.
Alan