document 2 bcec - dotafrica proposal by afrinic

8/8/2019 Document 2 BCEC - DotAfrica Proposal by AfriNic

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Dot Africa proposal v.2.0

The proposal herein is the framework for developing a dotAfrica domain namespace. The proposal enjoys wide support from a large segment of the Internetcommunity in Africa and a list of those who have consulted on the document is

also included. Additionally, the team seeks expressions of interest from proposedparticipating organizations.

Organization InformationCompany Name: DotAfrica Organization Limited (to be incorporated)Company Website: www.dotafrica.org Company Contact Name: Pierre OuedraogoCompany Logo: There will be a contest, but an Africa map and a dot is default

Namestrings:The Dotafrrica sTLD registry will accept registrations in the second level (e.g.domain-name.africa) and the names will conform to standard DNS namingconventions

Some names will be reserved in consultation with sponsoring ccTLDs andrelevant parties.

The Dotafrica sTLD registry will resolve .afrique as equivalent to .africa. Dotafricawill coordinate with ICANN to introduce multilingual TLDs in to .afrca.

Registrants:Only the following are permitted to register names in .africa:

a) Organization’s who provide an undertaking that their registered office orprincipal place of business is located in the African Union region.

b) Natural persons registered in AUc) Organizations established by the African Union

Governance:The governance structure of the DotAfrica Organization is determined to addressthe varied needs of Africa and that includes consideration for geographicdiversity, inclusion of public policy concerns and business development. The

resulting structure separates names service operation from policy advisory. Theorganization will be constituted based on two types of membershiporganizations:

1. Sponsoring MembersSponsoring Members shall be organizations in the Pan Africa regionas defined by ICANN Africa Region (based on the ICANN

http://www.dotafrica.org/






Region definitions) that manage and operate any of the country code TopLevel Domain (ccTLD) registries in the region. Other sponsoring Membersshall be Pan-Africa Internet, Information Technology, Telecommunications,non-profit, NGO or other relevant community organizations in the Africanregion.

2. Members African organizations with strong interest in the development of name spacefor Africa but do not have Pan-Africa scope in their operations. Theseorganizations may be sub-regional or country focused.

The governance of the DotAfrica Organization will be the responsibility of aBoard of Directors and will be advised by an Advisory Council. There willbe eleven (9) persons in the proposed Board of Directors, which will beelected based on the following structure:

- 6 seats nominated and elected by Sponsoring Members- 2 seats nominated and elected by Other Members- 1 seat for the CEO of the DotAfrica registry

The geographic diversity requirement necessary for the multicultural and diverse African community will be satisfied with a requirement of one person be electedfrom one of the six sub-regions of AfriNIC/AfNOG i.e. north, south, east, west,central and Indian Ocean.

Members of the Board are expected to act on behalf of the Dotafrica organization

An Advisory Council will advise the Board on policy matters. The AdvisoryCouncil’ s membership will be based on the following criteria:- Chairman is nominated by the Chairperson of the African Union conference of Ministers in consultation with the eAfrica Commission- 12 members, sponsoring or ordinary members elected by all members.- nominee(s) shall also not be a member of the Board of Directors.

In addition to the Board of Directors and the Advisory Council, the AfNOGsteering committee will oversee the allocation of surplus proceeds fromregistry operations. The AfNOG steering committee will solicit, evaluate andrecommend grants to relevant social and/or technical initiatives and activities

from the surplus proceeds. The Board will ultimately authorize the grants.

A Registrant Constituency made up of registrants will be introduced by the Boardand will be consulted on policy issues. Liaisons to the Board of Directors wouldbe established.



Board of Directors Advisory Council

AfNOG AfTLD,

African ccTLD,

AfriNIC,eAfricaCommission,

Afrispa,Pan-AfricaInternet,

InformationTechnology,

Telecommunications, non-

profit, NGO orother relevant

communityorganizations in

the Africanregion.

Organizations,Businesses withregistered office

or principalplace of business

located in the African Union

region

Organizations,Businesses withregistered office

or principalplace of business

located in the African Union

region andindividuals with

addresseslocated in the African Union

SponsoringMembers

Members Domain NameHolders

Elects

Consulations

Policy Advise

CEO/ President

dotAfricaStaff

dotAfrica Governance Structure

Expressions of interest have been received from prospective sponsors. Theseinclude AfTLD, AfriNIC, AfNOG, Afrispa, Association of African Universities (AAU),

African Union and UN ECA. Other ccTLDs have been approached and have shownpositive response. We are awaiting expressions of interest from individualccTLDs.



Notice for policy changes will be communicated through the website.

Initial OfficersInitial Board of directors will be nominated by the sponsoring members and each

is appointed for a period of one or two years. At the end of the first year anelection is held to replace the board from the entire membership.

The Advisory Council members will be elected by all members, except theChairman who is nominated by the African Union Chairman of Ministerial ICTcommittee.

Other officers are being sought and discussions are ongoing on recruitment of key officer for the DotAfrica Organization. The staff is expected to be lean andnot exceed 6 professionals during the three year plan.

Fiscal InformationWe are in negotiations with potential Registry Operators with a plan of 150,000domains in year 1, 200,000 domain name registrations in year 2 and 300,000domain registration in the third year. The business plan will be based on theserevenue forecast from registrations and costs of registry operation and servicecosts. Its planned to pay RO $4.00 per name and wholesale to registrars at $8per name.

Public Policy Considerations

The Board of DotAfrica appreciates the importance of inclusion of nation states indecision making around public policy and proposes that an African UnionChairman of Ministerial ICT committee nominate the chairman of the AdvisoryCouncil thereby ensuring direct input from the policy makers in the region. Thisis private sector led initiative and the structures enable all Africans to participatein the initiative.

DotAfrica proposes to adapt where necessary the UDRP process of ICANN toresolve disputes.

Organisational governance policies will be formulated and maintained by the

DotAsia Organisation. These would include for example:

- Membership Policies- Election Policies- Governance Structure Policies- Surplus Proceeds Allocation Policies



Membership Policies would include items such as:

- Classes of Membership- Membership Requirements- Member Rights and Obligations

Election Policies would include items such as:

- Nomination Procedures- Candidate Requirements- Voting Procedures

Governance Structure Policies would include items such as:

- Board Structure and Makeup- Board Decision Making Process- Advisory Council Structure

Surplus Proceeds Allocation Policies would include items such as:

- Process for the Solicitation of Proceeds Allocation / Grants- Areas for which surplus proceeds should be directed towards- Frequency of Surplus Proceeds Allocation events

Communication Policies

- procedures for announcements of policies- policy processes- partnerships

Registry OperationDotAfrica proposes to work with an African Registry operator and would interest

African ICANN accredited registrars to resolve to become a technical RegistryOperators for the dotAfrica name service. On the other hand an experiencedRegistry Operator or Registrar with experience in Africa to provide leading edgeregistry services would be an acceptable operator for dotAfrica should they agree

to transfer operation to dotAfrica or its designate in an agreed period notexceeding 5 years.

Internet Solutions of South Africa is considered as first choice operator fordotAfrica.



The following persons have to date given their consent and contributed to thisproposal.

Pierre Ouedraogo, Boukina Faso (coordinator)Pierre Dandjinou, Benin

Muhamet Diop, SenegalBrian Longwe, Kenya

Alain Aina, TogoMichuki Mwangi, KenyaEbou Jobe, GambiaBadru Entege, UgandaMohamed Bashir, SudanNii Quaynor, Ghana

document 2 bcec - dotafrica proposal by afrinic

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