[Chapter-delegates] Recent Correspondence from the Cambodian Chapter

[John More]

Winthrop

Thank you for your insightful email.

Grigori's dichotomy is a false one.  Chapters are not and have never been branches.  And, even if they were, there is no requirement that they be paid for by the central organization, ISOC. Many non-profit organizations have branches that are self-financed. Further, Chapters are not, and have not been asked to be, completely self-financed, since ISOC provides a great deal of support, including all the work that allows ISOC AND the Chapters to take positions and support programs that ate intended to fulfill the mission and policies of ISOC which are shared by the Chapters, scholarships, international meetings, the new Chapter kits, etc.

Winthrop's point is central and crucial.  For Chapters to be effective they have to have a local base and not be seen as a mere arm of ISOC. To do so they have to be locally accountable -- and one important way to do so is to have local volunteers and develop local sources of funding, not be dependent for their existence on receiving their funding from outside the country.

That is not to say that improvements cannot be made in the ways in which ISOC can provide support to Chapters and their leaders.

I felt compelled to submit this because I have become involved in the effort to strengthen the Chapter structure and have many years experience in grassroots community organizing and formation of effective local NGOs.

John More
Treasurer
Greater Washington, DC Chapter


On Sep 29, 2013, at 6:57 PM, Winthrop Yu <w.yu at gmx.net> wrote:

> On 9/30/2013 5:49 AM, Grigori Saghyan wrote:
>> ...
>> If Chapters are branches, ISOC have to pay to keep this branches,
>> because there is no any organization with branches, where branches
>> are self-financed. In case, if this branches are self-financed,
>> they do not need any HQ.
>> 
>  Yes, this is an important point, but we view it somewhat differently.
> The voting record of the Philippines is likewise clear.  Much effort went into that, ISOC-PH is currently heavily engaged in renewed national debates that will build-up in the months to come.
> 
>  The point is this -- if we engaged with government and other local stakeholders simply as a branch or satellite office of a foreign-based organization, the likely response would be -- "Thank you for your (international) organization's opinion, send us a position paper and we will take it into consideration."  Then the dialogue and engagement ends there. Instead, when ISOC-PH comes to the (local) table, we say -- "We are Filipinos too, and wish to articulate and convey (some of) the views and concerns of the Philippine Internet community."  The resulting continuing engagement is more effective.
> 
> WYn
> 
> P.S.  Yes, we do have the same administrative and financial issues as many other chapters.  We are also caught in situations where a handful of individual volunteers have to cover too many issues on multiple fronts.  But we are also wary of the convenience (expediency?) of direct financial support and how such funding may affect the perception of ISOC-PH *locally*.
> 
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