Dear Jordi, many thanks for this acknowledgment and you are exactly in line with my thinking!
In addition to what you have described in your message, I would like to add the following observations/suggestions/comments:
- big corporations, companies, initiatives, etc that aim to be transparent, inclusive, participatory and engaging have to dedicate much more resources these days when it comes to those they need to consult, engage, involve.
- limiting engagement only to the level of one time events, workshops or meeting/s is not sustainable neither for the corporation/organization nor for the people supported to attend/participate. Unfortunately, many of the priorities for the region articulated by ICANN staff today referred mostly to the importance of events, creating content in particular languages, etc.
- constructive engagement of people or organizations on the ground happens only if there is an overlap in terms of personal and professional development related ambitions along with the broader objectives and goals of the organization (in this case of the ALSs). If ICANN wants more engaged ALSs, it has to start providing organizational support - some examples here might include: provision of organizational capacity assessment tools/expertise that might help the ALS understand what are most underdeveloped components of the organization, what is needed to strengthen those, and how the broader vision of the ALS is in line with ICANN, IG and the broader ICT4D related objectives globally or regionally.
In addition to this, the organizational capacity assessment exercise/process, might help ALSs review the kind of services they provide, the kind of activities they need in place in order to be sustainable organizations, fully operational organizations that have the ambition to engage meaningfully in ICANN and other fora of interest to them.
- PLS - Peer learning and Support might be smth of value at this point within EURALO - that would allow ALSs learn from each other and create a community in which things related to organizational development, outreach and others, might be explored in addition to spefic ICANN related issues.
All the above would be taking place in between the meetings, and would make the face-to-face events/activities/fora much more meaningful and valuable.
And finally, ICANN staff needs to put much more efforts into the co-creation processes - co-creating its local/regional/global strategies together with ALSs in other forms/means and ways. But this is a separate topic!
As ever,
Veronica