[AfrICANN-discuss] Global Participation Gets a Boost at ICANN

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

Global Participation Gets a Boost at ICANN

Fellowship program helps get 33 participants to 29th public meeting

26 June 2007

*SAN JUAN**, Puerto Rico*: There are 33 more international voices at the
29th International Public Meeting of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) thanks to its trial global fellowships program.

"ICANN's unique role is global in nature so it's important that we not only
invite the world to participate in our organization -- we also need to find
ways to get involvement from developing nations and regions that might not
otherwise be able to participate," said Theresa Swinehart, ICANN's Vice
President, Global and Strategic Partnerships.

The 33 fellows were chosen from 125 applications received -- and 65 per cent
of the fellows and 68 per cent of applicants have never attended an ICANN
meeting. There were also 10 fellowship participants who were approved but
decided to postpone taking part until the Los Angeles meeting later this
year.

"Fellowship participants have been taking an active part in various
workshops and sessions, and have also been holding their own daily meeting
-- which is open to anyone attending the ICANN meeting," Swinehart added.
"It's been great for ICANN to have them taking part in our process, and
bringing the ideas to the table."

Approved fellows have their hotel rooms and economy airfare to the meeting
paid for, as well as a $300 stipend to cover incidental expenses during the
week. The program emerged from input made during ICANN's public
consultations on its Strategic and Operation planning process. The cost of
the fellowship project for the San Juan meeting is estimated at $95,000.

A video of the fellowship participants at the San Juan meeting is available
online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-avQSCl8eA.

The fellowship participants in San Juan are from Argentina, Benin, Botswana,
Brazil, Colombia, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Malawi, Mauritius,
Mexico, Moldova, Montserrat, Nepal, Solomon Islands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent
and The Grenadines, Tajikistan, Trinidad And Tobago, Tunisia, Tuvalu, and
Venezuela.

*About ICANN: *

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of
unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes
like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that
help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of
these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global
stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's
ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized,
public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit:
www.icann.org.
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