On August 6, the ccNSO Guidelines Review Committee (GRC) held a webinar to present the draft Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) for public comment. The webinar marked a long-awaited shift away from static, multi-year reviews toward a dynamic “plan, act, monitor, and review” cycle. The initiative aims to make the ccNSO’s work more responsive, transparent, and better aligned with the needs of its volunteer community.
Until August 26, anyone interested can review the package of documents and submit comments to ccnsosecretariat@icann.org. The package includes five key materials: the CIP Implementation Plan, Monitoring Protocols, Stakeholder Engagement Plan, and a set of indicators developed in part on the basis of the World Café held at ICANN84 in Dublin. The pilot program will launch this month, focusing initially on efficiency and effectiveness.
During the webinar, Irina Danelia, Deputy Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and Deputy Chair of the ccNSO Strategic and Operational Planning Committee, gave a detailed presentation on the structure of the CIP. She noted that the program is based on five universal principles applicable across the ICANN ecosystem, which are further elaborated through specific criteria and indicators. Irina focused on the implementation of the “humanistic” SPICED indicators, which complement the standard SMART criteria. She explained that their emphasis on empowerment and diversity-sensitive aspects makes it possible to capture the experiences and unique perspectives of representatives of national domains. This data will be collected through surveys and roundtable discussions.
The second important part of Irina’s presentation focused on “closing the loop” and establishing clear standards for sharing results. She emphasized that data collection should not be an end in itself: the proposed standard requires summaries to be published for participants within 90 days of a survey’s closing, as well as specific findings to be communicated back to the relevant regions. The ccNSO Board will play an active role in implementing the proposals. If a proposal is rejected for any reason, the board will be expected to provide the community with a clear explanation.
“Silence is unacceptable, because without tangible results and real improvements, all this work is simply meaningless,” Irina concluded.
Community engagement is critical to the success of the CIP. Feedback will help ensure that the new evaluation mechanisms are practical and genuinely reflect the interests of ccTLD managers. A recording of the webinar and the presentations are already available on the ICANN website.
