[Chapter-delegates] Day-to-day funding

[Elver Loho]

Hi all,

Regarding government's role in infopolicy -- at least in Estonia, then
we've noticed that they actually somewhat like having a civil society
partner to discuss policy with. It tends to save them work in the long
run (we do some of the analysis on our own and bring a unique
perspective to the table), working with a civil society partner looks
good in the media (always important to politicians), and it stops
disastrous things early on (helps avoid the next ACTA).

We actually work with both the coalition and opposition, depending on
the issue at hand. Working with the coalition means you can get access
to upcoming legislation and you can give your input. This is largely
behind-the-scenes work, but many good things have come of it.

Working with the opposition means you can help them draft very smart
questions to ask in the parliament. It's just a shortcut for writing
to a ministry yourself, but with the advantage that you get a reply
faster, the reply has a higher profile and the media is more likely to
pick it up, and you build continuous goodwill among the opposition.

A long time ago I was once even in a position where I helped the
opposition draft questions on a particular topic and then helped the
coalition draft talking points for the reply. I doubt this will happen
again any time soon, but it was incredibly fun.

Anyway, this kind of approach has helped us gain a foothold in both
the legislative and the executive branches of the government. It might
also work for others.

But all of this work requires a lot of time and effort, which is hard
to allocate when you're doing this for free.

Best,
Elver


elver.loho at gmail.com
+372 5661 6933
skype: elver.loho


On 14 March 2013 10:39, Grigori Saghyan <gregor at arminco.com> wrote:
> Dear Veni, All,
> For our Chapter I see following very important following points:
>
>>allow it to organize tutorials, workshop, seminars to educate national
>>parliaments, governments, etc. on Internet-related issues;
>
>>provide the means for hiring good legal experts to help telecom
>> ministry formulate proper policies in the field of ICT;
>
> Today governments are  very   powerful participants in the
> multistakeholder model.   And as all normal people,  governmental
> officials  also do not want to have strong   limitations in the
> Internet. But because it is very hard to understand Internet related
> matters - strange, but it is reality - they need to be trained.
> Grigori Saghyan
> ISOC.AM
>
>
> On 12.03.2013 0:44, Veni Markovski wrote:
>> The best sustainable way would be for ISOC to go back to the origins of
>> its bid for getting the .org domain.
>> Back then the broad public was told that no money from .org would go to
>> cover expenses of ISOC. Currently the situation is quite different.
>> If there are 100 chapters, I would strongly argue that ISOC could
>> allocate 20 % of its budget to fund them - through grants, projects, etc.
>> No matter how we look at that - as investment, or as grant, or as
>> sponsorship, it will have a tremendous impact on the Internet, and the
>> way it is being developed around the globe.
>> Just think for a moment what a chapter in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe,
>> or Latin America can do with about $ 100,000 / year.
>> It will:
>> - empower its active membership;
>> - allow it to organize tutorials, workshop, seminars to educate national
>> parliaments, governments, etc. on Internet-related issues;
>> - keep a whole office operational;
>> - allow chapter to provide small travel and educational grants to active
>> community/chapter members;
>> - provide the means for hiring good legal experts to help telecom
>> ministry formulate proper policies in the field of ICT;
>> - organize local awards for web creativity;
>> - support localization of Creative Commons licenses;
>> - allow young engineers to go to IETF meetings;
>> - ensure Internet connectivity for the chapter and its members;
>> - etc., etc., etc....
>>
>>
>> On 03/11/2013 16:35, Edwin A. Opare wrote:
>>>
>>> Elver,
>>>
>>> Well said.
>>>
>>> Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions on chapter sustainability
>>> especially when membership dues are not coming through and a chapter
>>> does not have any corporate members and their relating support on board?
>>>
>>> Edwin Opare
>>>
>>> Ghana Chapter
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Best,
>> Veni Markovski
>> http://www.veni.com
>> https://www.facebook.com/venimarkovski
>> https://twitter.com/veni
>>
>> The opinions expressed above are those of the
>> author, not of any organizations, associated
>> with or related to him in any given way.
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>>
>
>
> --
> Grigori Saghyan
> PGP Key ID: 0x48E4D5DC
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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