At NCSG, we have several challenges : participating in ongoing policy process in working groups , getting members engaged and informed, making public comments and statements . All these are basically done by volunteers on their free time, dedicated and commiting it for NCSG.

I acknowledge that the learning curve takes time , by following discussion in mailing list , reading the documents and blog posts shared, but also asking other members who are actively involved.

As newcomer toolkit, there are the pages in our wiki and shared in welcoming message. Are they enough?no. Do they need more work? Yes. But this means in many times, the same volunteers to work on them. I made that task in my to-do list for some time now and I have to find spare time to complete it. That is my personal commitment.

We are trying several way to get people involved like having one-topic webinars to introduce specific policy, explain it and responding to questions. Still it is not enough. There is homework to be done by members like reading the shared material etc . We will see if there are other approaches we may follow.

David and Daniell can explain how they made their report as part of the organization they belong too. We don't have unfortunately the same resources and as I said we are doing work based on volunteers.

The current discussions are quite recent because the iana stewardship transition and we all are learning in the process.

I am taking notes of your comments and we will do our best more that we did before.

On May 14, 2015 6:26 PM, "Arthur Gwagwa" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear Rafik

As a new member, I have been finding some of the discussions quite bewildering and technical. It looks like I jumped into a discussion that has been going on for years, and therefore I am still trying to get the head and the tail of it. The paper written by David and Danielle has helped me grasp a few basics of what is happening and may be able to participate meaningfully in future. Perhaps in future, new members need more support, especially provision of a basic online resource kit.

Best.

On 7 May 2015 at 14:08, Rafik Dammak <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi everyone,

please suggest 2 or 3 topics we should discuss with ICANN board during our joint-session in ICANN meeting.

Best,

Rafik

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rafik Dammak <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 2015-04-27 20:10 GMT+09:00
Subject: [Poll] topics of interest for the ICANN Board-NCSG session in Buenos Aires
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>

Hi everyone,

earlier that usual, we should find out the topics we would like to discuss with ICANN board in Buenos Aires meeting. we will try first to get several suggestions, then later we can narrow them to 3 topics for example. we have deadline for 15th May.

this will allow more time for us and the board itself to prepare for the session. The ICANN board chair sent also a letter with suggestion for new format for that session, but also for a Board - Stakeholders Groups plenary session with agreed topics. please find more details in the attached document. I do think that is good step to improve the dialogue between the community and the board

so feel free to propose topics and please add 1 or 2 lines to explain what you think we should discuss on those issues.

Best Regards,

Rafik

--
Arthur Ernest Gwagwa
Legal Counsel, The Chambers
11th Floor Old Mutual Centre
Harare, Zimbabwe