[NA-Discuss] Bottom Up Action Procedure

[Evan Leibovitch]

> The regional people, the grassroots, the ALSs, have got to see and believe
> that their policy concerns are being listened to and addressed or they will
> not bother to participate.
>

I couldn't agree more.

All I'm asking, as one of the intermediaries involved with advancing those
concerns, is for a little help in doing it beyond what now exists. There's
no rule that says that only ALAC reps can advance issues within ALAC; the
only thing that separates an ALAC memger from anyone else in the meetings is
the ability to vote on the result. I would be more than happy to support,
facilitate and mentor the process for anyone who needs it (though many
NARALO members have been around long enough to hardly need mentoring from
me).

To me it's important to demonstrate that you DON'T have to be an ALAC rep,
regional chair or even ALS rep to get your voice heard as far up the food
chain as possible. And that means going as far as addressing the ALAC itself
and authoring statements that get submitted as bylaw-mandated advice to the
ICANN Board. Encouraging champions of causes to be their advocates (beyond
NARALO) gets more people engaged, and doesn't leave issues to be debated by
the "usual suspects" -- the same core handful of active participants who do
most of ALAC's heavy lifting.

Of course, the ALAC itself is not the top of the ICANN policy food chain, it
too is just a midpoint. Many in ALAC itself "have got to see and believe
that their policy concerns are being listened to and addressed or they will
not bother to participate".

- Evan