[chapter-delegates] Re: ISOC Annual Report 2003

[Patrick Vande Walle]

Franck Martin said the following  on 05/06/2005 01:33:

> However, these are some actions which could be useful for now and the
> future (because WSIS is just a wake up call)
>
> -Go to New York, go to the see the various representations of all the
> countries and ask apointments with the various country
> representatives, brief them on what is ISOC its positions, highlights
> the chapters which are in these countries, give point of contacts.
> -Ask the New York chapter to be active with the UN body, ask the New
> York chapter who they know, how can ISOC Central and the New York
> chapter work together to make the above happen.
> -Do exactly the same with the Geneva Chapter with WTO, Red Cross, ITU
> -Do exactly the same with the Paris/France Chapter with UNESCO and OCDE

Franck,

I totally agree with you on this and the other ideas you suggested.

I have been trying to push the idea that chapters are an added value to
the ISOC model and could help ISOC reach its goals.  However, I am not
sure ISOC is ready yet for such an U-turn. ISOC is a centralized
organization and does not want to delegate some if its tasks to the
chapters. As an example, the European chapters council has been trying
to do just that at the European level, only to be considered a threat to
ISOC.

> -Make ISOC become member or or accredited with several organisations:
> IEEE, ITU, WTO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, ICANN, UN, UNESCO,...

Thanks to the work of  Christine Maxwell and Jonathan Robin, ISOC is an
accredited NGO with Unesco. How exactly ISOC has build on this potential
is not clear. I suggested last year that ISOC should use this as a basis
to apply for UN ECOSOC accreditation. I have not yet heard anything
about this.

Best regards,

Patrick Vande Walle