[Chapter-delegates] My comment to the the board re:supporting chapters

[Dave Burstein]

Folks

Later today, following up on a discussion at the North American chapters,
I'm going to suggest this to the board. Improvements welcome but I'm moving
quickly. If you have opinions, I suggest you write board members directly
or ask a question in the open, web streamed meeting. I'm happy to share the
emails of board members who make them publicly available, which is most.

My suggestion on how to move forward:

First, that ISOC start immediately on a program to allow chapters to decide
how to spend, say, 3% of the ISOC budget.

I suggest the first step should be modest, perhaps a $2,000-$10,000
allocation to each *active* chapter. The guideline would be to spend the
money as ISOC is currently spending on chapter support: events, expenses to
F2F events, web sites, necessary fees for non-profit status, ...

It should be accompanied by serious but easy to follow rules on
accountabilty.  For example, any amount spent above petty cash must be
reported on a simple web form within 30 days and posted so others can see
where the money is going, Someone independent should check the accuracy of
the bank account fairly regularly.

Sure there will be some wastage, but there's some waste in everYthing we
do. Modest supervision should keep it under control.

Second, that staff discuss in depth with the relevant chapters any major
policy move, *before the policy is decided.* (Unless it's urgent.) This is
the right way to run the organization. It also will lead to better policy
choices.

Our staff is skilled but not expert in everything. For example, a top
staffer made a forceful policy recommendation that would have resulted in
30-50% less wireless capacity in Kenya. (LTE Carrier Aggregation efficiency
takes some study to understand,) We particularly lack detailed knowledge of
the networks in other countries. In an ITU filing, we insisted on
competition as the solution. The cintext was mostly about bringing
broadband to rural regions that have difficulty attracting even a single
provider. Competition can be great but doesn't work everywhere.

----------------------

Kathy has done an excellent job getting members to speak up. If we are to
be a bottom-up, multi-stakeholder, however, we need to get the stakeholders
involved in decisionmaking as well.

Everyone, including the board, has been in general agreement on deepening
the chapter role. A former board member tells me this has been an issue for
over a decade.

TIme to make it so.

Dave Burstein


-- 
Editor, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime
Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
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