[governance] Draft for Feedback - Briefing for MAG Nomcom: Questions about MAG members

Mon Jan 5 14:39:30 EST 2009

Hello everyone,

I find Ian's posts to be very helpful, and se that we need to be concrete
and complete if we are to make our deadlines. I wonder if anyone can answer
these two additional questions for me:

Do nominees for the MAG need to take any time commitment into consideration?
How much time must be dedicated to MAG activities?

Will MAG members be required to travel to meetings? If so, is funding
available, or will they need to find their own funding?

Thanks, Ginger

  _____  

De: Ian Peter [mailto:ian.peter at ianpeter.com] 
Enviado el: Domingo, 04 de Enero de 2009 07:11 p.m.
Para: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Asunto: [governance] Drfat for Feedback - Briefing for MAG Nomcom

Happy New Year Everyone!

Given our very tight time constraints, I am posting a draft briefing note
for this years MAG Nomcom, which will be selected in a couple of days. If
you have additional information or suggestions to guide the Nomcom, please
post here so that they can "hit the ground running"

Briefing Note for 2009 MAG Nomcom 

Dear Nomcom members,

Firstly, thank you for volunteering to participate and congratulations on
being selected for this year's Nomcom. I've prepared this briefing note to
give you background to your task, but essentially the process is up to you
from now on.

Please accept this as just one input for your work. Others might have
comments or suggestions as well, and no doubt as a group you will have
discussions in private that will extend what I have been able to include
here.

Your brief is to select a range of candidates who would ably represent the
Internet Governance Caucus on the Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of
the Internet Governance Forum. Please note that your selections are one
input only - many other bodies will be recommending candidates. The slate of
nominations you propose will be considered by the UN along with other names
put forward by other organizations.

>From what I have read- and others might correct me here - the MAG will
continue to consists of about 40 members. Half of these members will be from
governments and that appears to be non-negotiable. The other half are a
mixture of civil society, private sector, and internet technical community
interests. Up to two thirds of current members are likely to continue on and
not be replaced. So, in terms of possible seats that could possibly be
filled by IGC nominees, we are looking at perhaps up to 8 vacancies from
rotation where our nominees would be considered along with others. We are
also looking at a similar number of seats where our current nominees and
representatives could have their case supported by being re-nominated by
IGC.

An additional factor you need to consider is that the Secretariat will
choose an overall MAG that has geographic and gender balance. So, for
instance, if a government rep of a particular gender and from a particular
region steps down, it could well be that to obtain balance a civil society
nominee with matching gender and regional attributes could be chosen.
Similarly, if one of the government groups nominates a government rep with
particular gender and regional attributes, a civil society nominee of the
same gender and from the same region may be overlooked. And this definitely
might include sub-regions - so you may want to cover both genders if
suitable candidates are available from sub regions including North and South
Asia, Oceania, Arab States etc. Unfortunately we have no knowledge of who is
being rotated out, who is resigning, and who other groups are nominating.

Within that context it is up to you to choose as many names as you think
might be put forward as suitable representatives to cover all likely
eventualities. There is no fixed number. 

Let me draw your attention to a few documents of relevance, but firstly,

Timing is critical. The Secretariat has asked for our nominations by
February 15, and I believe we are at a distinct disadvantage if our
nominations are not completed before the February 23/24 consultations. So I
believe the deadline of February 15 must be adhered to.

A few key documents and references

The IGF call for proposals is at
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/home. Further reference on the
MAG's rotation considerations are at
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/AGD/MAG.Summary.28.02.2008.v3.pdf

Information on the Nomcom process is at http://www.igcaucus.org/node/2.
Please note that, as discussed on this list in December and generally agreed
to, the process may need to be speeded up to allow for the call for
nominations and the selection process to be completed within the allotted
time.

The report of last years MAG Nomcom is at
http://www.igcaucus.org/old/Nomcom2008-report_2.pdf . There are some lessons
to be learnt from problems last year which I believe should be taken on
board. One particular issue is to be sure that the call for candidates
includes a statement that candidate nomination details will be published -
without this, it is inappropriate to publish candidate details.

TIMING

Unfortunately there is little choice but to meet the deadlines imposed on
us. This will mean that the Nomcom will have to proceed as best possible
within the allotted timeframe. 

I would suggest that a timetable similar to the following needs to be
adopted

Call for nominations - on or around January 12. Close of Nominations - no
later than January 24. That allows a minimal three weeks for evaluation and
selection. 

This sort of timetable means that the Nomcom will have to impose tight
deadlines for feedback from Nomcom members. Past experience suggests that
some Nomcom members will be far more active than others - and that some
Nomcom members may not meet feedback deadlines for the work to be completed,
irrespective of the time allotted. It is up to the Nomcom chair to ensure
that every attempt is made to consult every member at all stages, but to
proceed to complete the work so as not to disadvantage IGC nominations in
the overall IGF selection process.

Ian Peter

PO Box 429

Bangalow NSW 2479

Australia

Tel (+614) 1966 7772 or (+612) 6687 0773

www.ianpeter.com

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