Hi everyone,

Please find below my candidate statement,


   - *Name, declared region of residence, gender and employment;*

Rafik Dammak
Asia(Tunisian citizen)
Male
Computer engineer

   - *Any conflicts of interest:*

none

   - *Reasons for willingness to take on the tasks of the particular
   position:    *

I am willing to volunteer for NCSG again and serve in policy position this
time representing non-commercial interests:

   1. To advocate for NCSG positions within GNSO council regarding policy
   development. For that purpose, I will liaise with the wider NCSG membership
   to keep them informed about GNSO council activities, decisions, updates,
    regularly consult with them and explaining rationale behind any vote. I
   want also to emphasize about working and cooperating with other NCSG
   councillors to make us more  effective, coordinated.
   2. For years, I worked on engaging NCSG members and doing regular
   outreach. As councillor, I will focus on helping newcomers and those
   interested by policy to grasp more about ICANN and in particular GNSO
   functioning with regard to working group and policy development processes.
   I will also continue the work on the membership engagement from another
   level: currently, we have our monthly policy confcall but more need to be
   done to make it more accessible and understandable.   I will be glad to
   work on preparing new leadership to volunteers in next year's' positions,
   via mentorship, advices with help of other veterans
   3. Liaise with other groups in  GNSO and cooperate with them for common
   positions, to increase NCSG influence and make us more vocal and visible.

 •  *Qualifications for the position:*
I served NCSG interests in several roles and became aware about  our
members needs, expectations, the challenges facing us and our own limits. I
chose such position because I do believe we have to strengthen our policy
work  and prepare for next levels set by the context of IANA stewardship
transition, ICANN reform and forthcoming GNSO changes. I do think that I
bring different experiences:


   1. I participated in several working groups within ICANN on behalf of
   NCSG. I was co-chair of  new applicant support working group , a cross
   working group between GNSO and ALAC aimed to give support for new gTLD
   applicants from developing countries, and I am also the co-chair  the
   cross-community working group on Internet Governance.
   2. I was GNSO councilor in 2009 for 3 years representing NCSG and
   non-commercial interests. I am pretty familiar with GNSO policies,
   processes and procedures, kept updated of latest changes happening there
    in addition to the awareness about the dynamic of the groups we have to
   work with.
   3. I was NCSG and NCUC chair for 3 years now, doing the admin and
   organizational work at stakeholder group and constituency level, liaising
   with ICANN staff and leadership,  with other groups officers. I also kept
   following policy development and supported councillors work, acknowledging
   the challenges and difficulties

 • *Statement of availability for the time the position requires:*
Yes, I am available and committing as GNSO councillor

 • *The nominee’s statement may also include any other information that the
candidate believes is relevant: *
I learned a lot with my involvement within NCSG in last years and saw
different aspect of our challenges as group and as structure. We are a
volunteer-based structure and we get to prepare for the future, while I can
help for policy as I did for the organizational side, I would like to spend
also the time to prepare for those will lead in coming years. nobody lasts
forever and everyone should be easily replaced to keep NCSG sustainable.