DIDP #32 On ICANN's Fellowship Program
In furtherance of its capacity building functions, ICANN selects Fellows for every public meeting. These are individuals from underserved and underrepresented communities who are trained to become active participants in the ICANN community.
These fellows are assigned a mentor and receive training on ICANN's various areas of engagement. They are also given travel assistance to attend the meeting. While the process and selection criteria is detailed on their website, CIS had some questions as to the execution of these.
Our DIDP questioned the following aspects:
- Has any individual received the ICANN Fellowship more than the stated maximum limit of 3 times?
- If so, whose decision and what was the justification given for awarding it the 4th time and any other times after that?
- What countries did any such individuals belong to?
- How many times has the limit of 3 been breached while giving fellowships?
- What recording mechanisms are being used to ensure that awarding of these fellowships is kept track of, stored and updated? Are these public or privately made available anywhere?
Author
Akriti Bopanna
Akriti is a Policy Officer at CIS and works on progressing human rights, accountability and transparency in ICANN's various processes. She also focuses on issues of freedom of speech in the digital domain, being a lawyer by training. She does not tweet but can be reached at [email protected]
