Fellow Councillors As I stated on the last Council call, I submit that where ICANN does not provide sufficient reasonable travel support within its budget for the ccNSO compared with the other SO/AC it has a direct impact on diversity and participation. Since the outcome of this discussion will not affect my personal position as regards travel support, I hope you will understand that I feel able to speak my mind directly as a volunteer/Councillor from a small organisation without fear of being perceived as advancing a personal position (conflict of interest) Small ccTLDs have difficulty enough in allowing their people the time to participate. Where, potentially, two out of three of the elected Council Members are not funded to attend Council, and Council's work and smooth running is reliant on the goodwill of large ccTLDs underwriting the work of Council by self-funding, there is a direct effect on participation and a lack of inclusiveness. This can be seen in the drop-off of people putting themselves forward for election, though it would be a stretch to blame this entirely on funding (I submit it is likely to be one of the factors, however). It is also inherently wrong of ICANN or an ICANN SO to provide for two classes of Council Members in its Rules. The two classes of Councillors are (a) those that more able to participate because ICANN funds their every meeting as opposed to (b) those people who could attend only one in three (if not funded by a third party, such as their employer). We should not forget that ccNSO Councillors serve in an individual capacity as volunteers to the ccNSO and to ICANN, and not as representatives of their employers, or the ccTLDs with which they are associated. I therefore propose that we amend our Rules on ccNSO funding and abolish the distinction between "premier class" and "second-class" Councillors (in support/funding terms) and, as a minimum in future (a) allocate all seats to a common pool where Councillors have equal opportunity to receive funding, and (b) continue to argue for sufficient resources to carry out the work of Council. (Please note I am not arguing for parity with the SO/ACs that I consider need to tighten their belts - just that as a professional organisation ICANN recognises the contribution of Council by providing the sufficient necessary resources to obviate the inherent bias towards Councillors from the larger, commercially weighty ccTLDs. I do not support re-adopting Rules that provide for a two-class entitlement to apply for support. If ICANN truly cannot find the funds to provide travel support for the whole of an SO's Council (when I note it provides considerably more support to other SO/ACs) then we (the ccNSO) should consider in the longer term reducing the number of Councillors by a third. On 20/02/18 16:08, Katrina Sataki wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
Here is the guideline on Travel funding. If you have any comments, please let me know by the end of the week. If there are no comments from you, next week I will post it to the ccNSO members list for public comments.
Kind regards,
]{atrina
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