[Chapter-delegates] LoA for good or bad?

Wed Mar 28 00:09:31 PDT 2012

+1 here , too.
When we were proposed to start a Romanian chapter long time ago, i've asked  a friend , chair at that time of another chapter , what do we need to run a chapter, the answer was "energy and a mailing list" .
We still have the energy , but wee needed more than the mailing list to function , it was an investment so far : office space  (people like also to have physical meetings ) , internet , electricity. Having all that + energy was still not enoug  , for years Isoc Romania was more a club of  Internet enthusiasts running Internet -related projects than a well-known and respected local NGO.
The boost in terms of awareness was the Inet Bucharest and our bold position and initiative on ACTA issue.
Now we are well known,it's a fact.
To become respected, we need (at least ) : synchronization with other chapters and HQ , especially on policies issues, and yes, some funding to run the chapter (especially the legal part of our actions is very costly , we cannot be efficient on policies without a local lawyer support ).
Regads,
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: "Veni Markovski" <veni at veni.com>
To: president at isoc-kh.org
Cc: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:37:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] LoA for good or bad?

Norbert, +1. 
Isoc Bulgaria started being active, when we got some funding. Before that it was mainly thanks to the efforts of the board members, who were spending their own money and time to keep the chapter moving. If I wasn't a CEO of an ISP, and co-founder, AND my business partner wouldn't have agreed to let me allocate the time for that... I wouldn't be even on this list now. 
Paid staff brought the chapter in another dimension. Our committed, humble and totally workohollic people are known to many of you. Julia and Dessi have made wonderful things at Isoc BG and continue doing them. 
But I've argued many years ago that Isoc HQ could afford pay staff at chapters, which would have.made the chapters stronger. HQ chose a different path, and so far they've used only one person from the chapters world - Jacek, who is now working for Isoc. The regional directors are a good idea, but they need more support - from the chapters to do their job. And that's a problem, as you properly point out, chapters don't have staff to work for free. So, a suggestion might be for HQ to create a pool for supporting not just projects, but chapters personnel hiring. My bet is that on average $ 10,000 per chapter will be enough. Average, because some don't need it, and some need only $ 1,000 per year. 

V. 

On Wednesday, March 28, 2012, President ISOC-KH wrote: 

On 03/27/2012 05:33 PM, Victor Ndonnang wrote: 

Dear Norbert, 

Thank you very much for your message. Talking about building up a Chapter, supporting its growth and making it sustainable, many Chapters are in the same situation that you are describing. It is easy to recruit volunteers members for the Chapter but very few of those members are prepared to do mandatory work of the Chapter for nothing (unpaid). From developing world perspective, It is also very difficult to recruit members and ask them to pay (membership fees) for doing unpaid work for the Chapter. 

I hope all this will be taken into consideration in the LoA introduction process. Globally from my personal view, the LoA is not a bad thing. 

Thanks one again. 

Best regards, 
Victor 

Dear Victor, 

thanks for your response, sharing information about similar problems when developing a new chapter in a difficult economic environment. You understand our situation, as I understand yours. 

We all just got a reminder mail about the deadline for submitting applications for Community Grants. 

We will not submit a request – we had made preparations last year, but had to move towards applications in 2012, as our Secretary found it too difficult to line up the precise detailed data much ahead of time; we hoped to be able to assemble them on the way towards two mayor events. But our Secretary resigned, and it seems to be extremely difficult to find an – unpaid – replacement. 

I am not arguing against a program for well designed grants with elaborate reporting structures etc. But as far as I can see, there are no Chapter Support grants, only for “projects.” 

This is true also for the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) aiming at stimulating creative solutions to ICT development needs in the Asia Pacific region. 

The ISIF objectives list, among others: “Successful and sustainable models for the provision of Internet services.” 

But how could a young Chapter work on such objectives without a basis in the form of a small secretariat with at least one paid staff, working on the maintenance and development of the Chapter? 

The present Cambodia model for Internet service providing is to have 10 or 12 (changing frequently) ISPs competing in a tiny market (but the authorities prevent real market-based solutions by administrative interventions, protecting some turfs, not allowing price based competition). - Some of our members are discussing this; but the volatile situation, with frequently changing challenges which would call for quick responses, can hardly be met without a flexibly organized secretariat. - Our March ISOC Monthly Newsletter gives an example how we are till able to act strategically, having established a bit of a reputation, in a way which never could have been part of “project” planning. 

Norbert 

-----Message d'origine----- 

De : chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org [mailto: chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org ] De la part de President ISOC-KH 
Envoyé : vendredi 23 mars 2012 14:39 
À : chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org 
Objet : Re: [Chapter-delegates] LoA for good or bad? 

Thanks a lot, Klaus and Veni, Borka and Ed, for your analysis and proposals. 

When I started to plan for a Cambodia Chapter of ISOC, I still had the 
image of ISOC as I knew it from the support we had received from the 
Internet Society, provided through the Montreal INET in 1996 for persons 
from “countries in the early stages of internetworking” – and it was 
only during the last years that I became aware that ISOC had changed in 
its setup. 

Your wording, Klaus - “Chapters are subgroups of members. They are not 
an unpaid extension of the staff” - and that is paid ISOC staff. This 
points to a fundamental problem with which we struggle in our Cambodian 
environment since the beginning. There is support for projects, but not 
for building up a chapter and support its growth. We started with 25 
members in September 2010, we steadily grew to 98 at present. But we 
have not yet any solution for the future in view of my intended 
resignation after two years in leadership – to replace a foreigner by a 
national - as I do also most of the ongoing secretarial and relationship 
building work. – Nobody is around yet who is in a position and prepared 
to do what I did unpaid (while I - not any company or organization - 
provide office equipment and pay for operations, Internet access costs, 
local travel – plus my time). And I cannot blame anybody for not jumping 
in to do the same. Membership fees? In a distant future they may cover 
such costs. 

This is just to point out some implications of the present model. 

Norbert Klein 
President 
ISOC Cambodia Chapter 

http://www.isoc-kh.org 
______________________________ _________________ 
Chapter-delegates mailing list 
Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org 
https://elists.isoc.org/ mailman/listinfo/chapter- delegates 

______________________________ _________________ 
Chapter-delegates mailing list 
Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org 
https://elists.isoc.org/ mailman/listinfo/chapter- delegates 

-- 
Best, 
Veni 

== Sent from my phone, so any spelling mistakes are caused by the touchscreen keyboard. That's a nice excuse, isn't it;-) 

_______________________________________________
Chapter-delegates mailing list
Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/chapter-delegates

--

-- 

Eduard Tric ,CEO, Axetel 
I encrypt therefore I am.
http://www.axetel.com
eduard at axetel.com
tel: +40740300740

                               DD;;          
                              DDD;;;         
        We know,             DD  :;;        
    We compute,             fD    tt        
       We decode.           DD  fDf        
                             DDDDDD         
                              DDDD          
                               DD           
    ,    DD  DD DDDDDD DDDDDD DDDDDD DD     
    D    DD DDD DDDDDD DDDDDD DDDDDD DD     
   DDi   :DDDD   DD      DD    DD    DD     
   DDD    DDDD  DDDDDD   DD   DDDDDD DD     
  DDDDi   DDDD  DDDDDD   DD   DDDDDD DD     
  DD DD  tDGDD   DD      DD    DD    DD     
 DDi DD  DD fDD DDDDDD   DD   DDDDDD DDDDDD 
 DD   DD DD  DD DDDDDD   DD   DDDDDD DDDDDG 
                 DD                         
                DDDD                     
               DDDDDD                      
              GD:   DD                      
              ;;    DD                      
              :;;  GDf     We know                
               ;;;DDD   all the codes,                        
                ,;DG   including yours.

6839f52116af1166f4a01e64ad209459f17ecc995c1456a68c7040072a9a58d6