Distribution

PublicDate

13 February 2023

Governmental Advisory Committee Comments
Regarding Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Planand Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget___________________________________________________
Introduction
The ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) welcomes the opportunity to provide
comments on the Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plans and Draft FY24 Operating Plan &Budget published on 14 December 2022 (see - https://www.icann.org/en/publiccomment/proceeding/draft-fy2428-operating-financial-plan-and-draft-fy24-operating-planbudget-14-12-2022). GAC members have reviewed ICANN org’s draft planning documents andherein provide comments regarding aspects of the draft proposals that are applicable toongoing and future GAC activities.1

General Comments
The GAC thanks the ICANN org Finance Team for continuing to evolve and improve the detailand scope of information provided to the community in the draft operating plan and budgetmaterials. Over the past few years, the GAC Leadership has continued to observe
improvements to the format and detail of the extensive materials made available forcommunity review as well as the information provided during direct opportunities forcommunity information sharing with the ICANN org Finance Team. It has also been noted that

1 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 input that may
be provided on the Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget by individual
GAC members.
GAC Comments Regarding Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget – 13 February 2023

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this year’s public comment opportunity has again been moved up to occur slightly earlier in thecalendar year, continuing the trend of productively extending the time available fororganizational and community planning.

Specific GAC Comments
The GAC acknowledges the apparent careful coordination within and between both the Draft
Operating and Financial Plans for FY24-28 and FY24 (hereinafter Draft FY24-28 O&FP https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/draft-op-financial-plan-fy24-28-draft-opplan-fy242022-en.pdf) and the Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget (hereinafter Draft FY24 Budget
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/draft-budget-fy24-2022-en.pdf). The
documentation allows readers to see how the organization’s strategic and operating initiatives
are being addressed over the course of both one-year and five-year operating plan periods. This
coordination is important in providing assurances to governments that particular areas of GAC
interest are preserved as important organizational operational priorities that will be adequately
resourced over the next five years.
Additional Budget Request Process
The GAC appreciates that the ICANN org has once again chosen to offer the Additional Budget
Request (ABR) Process to recognized community groups this year. The ABR is a critical tool that
permits various communities to experiment with and test innovative new processes or service
offerings that can improve the work of the ICANN multistakeholder community.
Although the GAC does not make use of the ABR every year, for FY24 the committee hasdeveloped and submitted an ABR proposal seeking support from the organization to conduct apilot effort to test the ability of the organization to offer sign language interpretation at future
ICANN public meetings and events (seehttps://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=215287619.
The proposal is consistent with ICANN’s strategic objective to “Improve the effectiveness ofICANN’s multistakeholder model of governance” and encompasses the intersection of ICANNStrategic Goal #6, “[s]upport and grow active, informed, and effective stakeholder
participation” and Operating Initiative #3, to [e]volve and strengthen the Multistakeholder

GAC Comments Regarding Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget – 13 February 20232Model to facilitate diverse and inclusive participation on policymaking” (see Draft FY24-28
O&FP at page 236).
The proposed pilot effort will create opportunities to provide, test, and evaluate this capability
and the GAC hopes the proposal will be viewed favorably by the ABR evaluators.
Community Engagement and Service
In describing functional activities involving community engagement and service, the Draft FY2428 O&FP recognizes the need for increased resources to address “[s]takeholder demand forengagement and capacity development through the GAC’s Underserved Regions Working
Group and Public Safety Working Group” (see Draft FY24-28 O&FP at page 74).
The GAC appreciates that ICANN org staff have also recognized the GAC’s intention to resume
capacity development activities throughout the FY24 year – specifically setting aside a line item
for this type of “Other Community Event” (see Draft FY24 Budget at page 18). Proactive
capacity development activities throughout FY24 will help the GAC address the challenges andopportunities presented by a dynamic committee membership roster and will enable the GAC
to onboard new participants while regularly informing all committee participants about topics
of high interest to governments around the world.
Constituency Travel
The GAC endorses the commitment in the Draft FY24 Budget to maintain constituency travel
support at the current FY23 budget levels. While it is possible that in future budget years it may
be needed to temporarily increase community travel support to encourage attendance as
ICANN public events continue to evolve in the hybrid-in-person formats, it is also reasonable toexpect in FY24 that many potential attendees may still be either personally leery of or
professionally not permitted to engage in international travel for much of the budget year. Infact, improvements to remote meeting access developed up to and through the ICANN75 public
meeting may impact future demand for in-person attendance at public ICANN events.
The GAC also appreciates that ICANN org staff have not only recognized the GAC’s intention toproceed with planning the committee’s next High Level Governmental Meeting (HLGM) but also
have made allowances for providing travel support resources for such an eventuality in FY24(see Draft FY24 Budget at page 18). The Draft FY24-28 O&FP further reinforces that delivery ofGAC Comments Regarding Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget – 13 February 2023

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GAC HLGM meetings are a key progress milestone needed to increase the engagement andparticipation of governments and intergovernmental organizations in the work of ICANN (seeDraft FY24-28 O&FP at page 29). The GAC Leadership is currently collaborating with the ICANN
Governmental Engagement Team to review and consider the best options available for thecommittee’s next HLGM in FY24 or beyond.

Closing
The GAC appreciates this opportunity to share the committee’s perspective on the Draft FY2428 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget. The committee looks
forward to contributing to future comment opportunities as they relate to ICANN’s financesand other operations-related proceedings.
# # #GAC Comments Regarding Draft FY24-28 Operating & Financial Plan and Draft FY24 Operating Plan & Budget – 13 February 2023

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