It's great to see that elections time create such activity in our list. I look forward to the day where we can collectively turn this energy into constant contributions from NPOC in ICANN's habitat.
I am grateful that am been considered for Policy Chair and I accept the nomination.
I certainly look forward to contribute to the best of my abilities should it materialize. We have much to do and the work done in the past months is a good start.
@Arsene: I share some of your concerns + some extra aspects may need to be considered (both can be true at the same time).
Yes, we have failed to properly engage NPOC members (I take a good share of responsibility on this) and we definitely need to improve on this area.
Personally, I wish we could have 10 candidates per position @ ExCom and that people would have difficulties choosing for having highly competitive profiles.
The reality is, as others have pointed out, that these are volunteering positions and it takes a long time to be acquainted with all ICANN intricacies.
When it comes to get things done, not everyone is willing or has actual time + motivations vary.
Handovers have also historically been a challenge (something that we hope we are fixing moving forward as clear steps have been taken in this direction).
Do also keep in mind that positions only last for one year (for good or for bad) and that also affects how effective a given committee can be. ICANN works on way longer timeframes and in order to get something done we need some sort of continuity to avoid back & forth changes of approach/leadership. Not only our external Comms need much more work (I take full responsibility for this during my tenure), our tools for internal work are virtually non-existent.
A lot of work has been done in this regard that is yet to yield any visible results because of the practical hours we can invest. We have plenty of things in the making that require, you guessed it, even more hours to polish, deploy, train and use.
Also, I personally consider that someone who will end up as ExCom Chair can benefit greatly from rotating across different committees as one gains way more insight on how our internal processes function (which, by way, are in dire need of documentation).
Do we want cronyism and the like? Certainly not.
Do we have enough "fresh blood" to ensure we have a steady supply of active members? Just as not.
Personally, I think positions should be held for 2 years to give the ExCom a change to get stuff done.
There is also something to be said about the need to clearly set objectives, monitor accomplishment of assigned tasks and KPIs. In this area we have a lot to improve and I wish to seek the support of our members to accomplish these.
Add to all of this a lack of legal structure (we are not a registered organization and thus we can't avail of certain products that are free for NGOs) as well as operating without budget (which translates into some of us pitching personal funds to run certain things).
It is not an easy situation, that's for sure.
Maybe a solution would be to identify people ready and willing to support each of the ExCom committees so that not all the work load falls into the respective Chairs. I think this is something we can explore though it requires action beyond words. A worthy conversation to be had, maybe in Istanbul?