[council] Regarding working group membership

[Ross Rader]

On 19-Feb-07, at 10:57 PM, Bruce Tonkin wrote:

> I have heard of instances
> where interested parties that wish to join the IDN working group have
> been unable to join a constituency in order to participate.

Bruce -

Thanks for the recap and proposal.

The framework you've outlined only goes part of the way towards  
solving the problem. As long as the GNSO is populated with  
constituencies that have very narrow membership criteria we will  
continue to encounter parties that are unable to participate in  
working groups. I do not believe that it is the role of the Council  
to act as the general manager of the constituencies, but the council  
has a strong interest in ensuring the proper function of its working  
groups as we strive to ensure the integrity of our policy development  
process.

In this situation, the interests of the constituencies (preserve a  
very narrow membership criteria so as not to dilute the lobbying  
position of the original stakeholder groups) and the interests of the  
Council (ensure a diversity of voices to underpin a broad consensus  
around key policies) are at odds.

Until such time that the constituencies can provide the diversity of  
input that our processes require, we should seriously consider  
implementing a temporary framework that would allow for greater  
participation in the working groups and task forces without the high  
bar that qualifying as an expert (or creating a new constituency)  
requires in situations where a stakeholder has applied for membership  
in a constituency, but does not qualify due to the narrow  
qualification criteria employed by a constituency.

Regards,

Ross Rader
Director, Retail Services
t. 416.538.5492
c. 416.828.8783
http://www.domaindirect.com

"To solve the problems of today, we must focus on tomorrow."
- Erik Nupponen