The format of the GAC Comments prepared for this proceeding do not specifically align with the guided submission format template for this comment forum. Consequently, the full text of the GAC's comments are being submitted in this section of the document template. ICANN Staff in support of the GAC will separately transmit a "pdf" version of these comments to the ICANN planning team at [email protected].

Governmental Advisory Committee Comments Regarding Draft ICANN Strategic Plan and Operating Plan Framework for FY26-30

17 September 2024

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Introduction

The ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on the Draft ICANN Strategic Plan and Operating Plan Framework for FY26-30 published on 23 July 2024.[1] GAC members have reviewed ICANN org’s draft planning documents and herein provide general comments regarding the draft proposals that are applicable to planned GAC activities.[2]

General Comments

Strategic planning is important to the ICANN organization. The GAC acknowledges the effort of all ICANN communities to participate in this strategic planning effort. The GAC appreciates the specific opportunity afforded to GAC members and observers to contribute to the development phase of the initial draft strategic plan, including the opportunities provided through previous annual strategic outlook trend discussions in March 2022 and April 2023 tailored specifically to participation by government representatives.

The examples set by this process and the thorough work done by the community in this planning effort helped guide GAC Members in their own recent effort to establish a committee strategic plan framework that looks forward four years and identifies specific expected outcomes on an annual basis (see https://gac.icann.org/activity/gac-strategic-planning).

Active government participation in ICANN’s work is a principle firmly rooted in the ICANN Bylaws and advice from governments is a fundamental aspect of ICANN Policy Development.[3] It is good to see the importance of policy advice development is specifically enunciated in the draft strategic plan – see Strategic Goal 1.2 – Enhance the Agility and Effectiveness of Policy Advice and Development at page 9 of the draft Strategic Plan.

Specific Comments

The GAC acknowledges the framework of the proposed strategic plan that outlines four major strategic objectives, informed by a large number of strategic goals and objectives. Mindful of the commitments to governments in the ICANN Bylaws, GAC Members generally supports the draft Strategic Plan’s first objective to “evolve and promote ICANN’s multistakeholder model to sustain its inclusive Internet governance model (see Strategic Objective 1 of the draft plan at page 9). It is noted that this new objective reflects a “merger” of two previous goals set forth in the current ICANN Strategic plan.

Given its direct relationship to the work and role of the GAC in ICANN, the following comments focus specifically on this second of the four strategic objectives.

·     Strategic Goal 1.1

The GAC encourages efforts by the organization to “increase and broaden participation, particularly from underrepresented communities (see Strategy 1.1.5; draft Strategic Plan at page 10). This objective closely reflects the GAC’s own strategic goal to increase active and meaningful participation of Members in its deliberation and operations. Community participants need to be informed and supported by work tools and processes that can help them operate effectively and efficiently. Volunteers and participants should be supported and motivated to stay involved in the community as long as their professional roles permit.

·     Strategic Goal 1.2

The goal to enhance the agility and effectiveness of policy and advice development (see draft Strategic Plan at page 12) inhabits an area of constant evolution and change as business work tools, methods and processes continue to evolve. ICANN should be expected to keep up on technology and process developments, realizing process efficiencies as new technologies, tools and methodologies are envisioned and developed. As part of their own strategic planning, GAC Members are paying attention to developments in a number of technical areas and the ICANN plan should acknowledge these developments and encourage future community participants to consider and experiment with them.

In this context, the GAC supports the draft progress indicators that anticipate the delivery of new mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of both policy development processes and subsequent policy implementation. (see draft Strategic Plan at page 13).

One notable absence in the strategic planning documentation is any reference to the “global public interest” (GPI). The global public interest is enshrined in ICANN’s Core Values (see ICANN Bylaws section 1.2(b)(ii)), and the strategic plan should reinforce that obligation. One potential area for GPI inclusion would be the addition of another progress indicator associated with this strategic goal that establishes the expectation of a regular assessment of how frequently the various ICANN communities make use of the Global Public Interest Framework (GPIF) in their various policy development and other operational activities. Much community work and contributions were devoted to development of the GPIF, including a thorough “piloting” effort that was just concluded around this time last year (see https://community.icann.org/display/prjxplrpublicint/GPI+Toolkit?preview=/58724547/273453717/GPI%20report.pdf) and such work should be leveraged in the operations of the various communities over the next 6 years.

Closing

The GAC appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the ICANN organization’s strategic planning process and looks forward to further community collaboration to consider and discuss, finalize and ultimately implement this important initiative to assure the effectiveness of ICANN for the next six years.

Footnotes/

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[1] https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/draft-icann-strategic-plan-and-operating-plan-framework-for-fy26-30-23-07-2024

[2] This comment was prepared by the Committee’s leadership and is made on behalf of the entire GAC. It has been subjected to review of the GAC membership and is intended to complement, but not replace, any other input that may be provided regarding the on the Draft ICANN Strategic Plan and Operating Plan Framework for FY26-30 by individual GAC members.

[3] The ICANN Bylaws commit the organization to “employ open, transparent and bottom-up multistakeholder policy development processes that are led by the private sector “… while duly taking into account the public policy advice of governments and public authorities” (see ICANN Bylaws section 1.2(a)(iv)). Moreover, ICANN’s core values obligate the organization to “… recogniz[e] that governments and public authorities are responsible for public policy and duly tak[e] into account the public policy advice of governments and public authorities.” (see ICANN Bylaws section 1.2 (b)(vi)).