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This 38th ICANN International public meeting marked the 3rd year and 10th round of the ICANN Fellowship Program, which was noted in the President’s report during the Welcome ceremony on Monday to start off the week. Chosen from a field of 159 applicants, there were 24 fellows from 21 countries representing various sectors of the ICANN community including ccTLD, Government, civil society, private sector and academia.

The fellows are required to attend and participate in 6 daily meetings, Sunday through Friday, set up by the Fellowship office. These sessions cover the basics of ICANN, the hot topics being debated within the community, and introduce participants to key community members and leaders. Such individuals as Chris Disspain, Janis Karklins, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, Katim Touray, and staff members Kurt Pritz, David Olive, Kim Davies and Yurie Ito took time to present and speak to the members of the program to further educate and engage them in ICANN and the community.

The fellows stay busy the entire week, attending sessions for the GAC, ccNSO, ALAC and gNSO as well as various focused sessions on topics related to their interests or the priorities of their work or region. Of particular interest were vertical integration, new gTLDs in developing countries, DNS vulnerabilities and other security concerns. Mandatory attendance at the Welcome Ceremony, Public Forum and the Board meeting are also a mainstay of the program, along with a follow up report that must be provided to the Fellowship Office within 2 weeks of the ICANN meeting, in order to receive written certification of participation and the allotted stipend.

The feedback from these individuals is important to share with the community, as it lets our constituents be aware of what impact the meeting, sessions, and individuals who were met and socialized with during the week had on the Fellowship participants, and how they will take this experience and apply it in the future. Included below are excerpts from several of the Brussels program participants.

Sorina Telenau of Romania: “Prior to attending ICANN’s meeting in Brussels, I had basic knowledge about the organisation, its functions and its structure. Being a non-technical person, I was a bit afraid that following the discussions during the meeting might be somehow difficult, as there will be some things I will not understand from the very beginning. But after the first day I realized that the knowledge I previously had, together with the huge amount of new knowledge I was acquiring even by simply listening to those taking part in various discussions, helped me gain a better understanding of all the processes taking place inside ICANN and become familiar with those notions I was afraid I will not understand.”

From Mohammed Al-Dhaifi , Yemen: “Beside the great meeting and information I gained through the week, the face to face meeting was very important and included the opportunity to have a meeting with the technical experts who answered many of my confusing issues relating to how to configure and run ccTLD. There are two operators belonging to the ministry that manage the ccTLD .ye. They have two master DNS servers which are technically incorrect and make the registry more complicated. So, after many reports to GM of Yemen Telecomm and Minister where I reported the ICANN recommendation and rise the domain name awareness, the Minister formed a committee (where I am one of them) to resolve the conflict between the two operators, apply the best practice and apply for Yemen IDN ccTLD.

Another of the benefits I gained by attending the ICANN meeting is getting to know many persons from my region (Arab region) who have already applied and established their own IDN. They answered my inquires about IDN and provided me with a technical steps and information on how to run our local IDN ( .اليمن ) and what are the difficulties they faced. I also had the opportunity to sit with companies and organizations which offer solutions, consultation or training.”

First time attendee Rodrigo Saucedo of Bolivia left the meeting with the motivation to build on his relationships and previous professional experience and shared the following with me:

I got in touch with a representative of CoCCA and now we are starting to work together implement their EPP in our system; had a meeting with LACNIC’s CEO and we will do a IPV6 Tour in Bolivia, also told him that this year we will do Bolivian IGF and we will like to have LACNIC support and he agreed; met with Alejandro Pisanty to ask for his participation in the Bolivian IGF as well.  In addition, I had a meeting with the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina where we discussed the possibility to go forward with a project that helps Bolivian SMEs.

Following the opportunity to listen to Janis Karklins, Chair of the GAC, at a Brussels Fellowship meeting, I was able to explain to the Executive Director of my institution about the GAC and how it works and we will start the procedure to put him on the list as a member of the GAC representing Bolivia.

On a personal note, I met with the Regional Bureau Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean of Internet Society, to discuss a Bolivian Chapter of Internet Society.

“As you can see ICANN meetings a very important because you are able to meet and speak with the right people in the right place in order to get thing done and also learn new things and go back to your country and spread the word; the Fellowship Program is giving a chance to capable people that have the knowledge and the energy to do things in their countries and region.”

Jennifer Anson of Palau related this message in her follow report to ICANN: “My first ICANN meeting was a memorable and productive experience. One of my main goals for the ICANN meeting was to meet the appropriate individuals who could provide information on how to approach the .pw situation. Currently .pw is the ccTLD for Palau, but it has not been developed with the people of Palau in mind. The Regional Manager for the Asia Pacific Region, Mr. Save Vocea, was a tremendous help in getting me acquainted with the right people. He was very encouraging and gave me a better idea of how much work needs to be done to get .pw where we want it to be. He introduced me to folks from .tk, the ccTLD for Tokelau. They gave me some valuable advice as they had gone through the redelegation process themselves. I was able to meet privately with Chris Disspain, CEO for .au Domain Administration, Ltd. He shared helpful information and walked me through the steps I should take to approach the .pw situation. Chris really broadened my perspective and gave me details that I was unaware of. Kim Davies from IANA gave an excellent presentation on Thursday during the Fellowship meeting. I picked up a lot of useful tips and also got clarification on some things I had heard about but wasn’t sure of from the other meetings. I was able to meet with the president of EnCirca, technical contact for .pw registry. I discovered some inconsistencies in what is being discussed back home and what is really going on. I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Bhavin Turakhia of Directi and saw for the first time the launch of a .pw social networking platform. This was a bit discouraging because no one back home is aware of this.

From the private meetings and from just talking to folks in general, I learned what needs to be done to ensure that the people in my community will benefit from having our own ccTLD. I am now prepared to make a presentation to the Palau National Communications Corporation Board and to the Palau National Government offering options to approach the situation. I have a better understanding and more knowledge about ccTLDs and what it takes to successfully operate one. I believe I now possess the tools to take the first step in creating positive change.

The morning Fellowship meetings were so beneficial. Having different speakers each day running through pertinent ICANN topics really made the experience worthwhile. After each morning meeting, I left the room having a better sense of what ICANN is all about. By the end of the week, I felt as if I had completed a three-month course on ICANN.

The option for remote participation was very beneficial in that it allowed the freedom to choose which sessions to attend or to arrange for private meetings while not missing out on any of the ongoing sessions. I am not sure if anyone back home participated, but they did appreciate the option when I presented it before I left. I would normally say that the meeting was too short to satisfactorily meet the necessary participants and attend sessions, but that would be the case if the meeting was held only once a year. Having three meetings a year really does allow the opportunity for participants to keep the networking going, to refresh the mind of all the issues on a regular basis, and to experience how different regions of the world are impacted by the internet.

The fellowship program really has made me more aware of the current issues affecting the local as well as global community. I am now motivated and well equipped to take a more active role in the future of the internet in order to benefit the people of my country.”

We look forward to seeing many of these names and faces at future ICANN meetings, contributing to the many decision-making processes in ICANN such as public forums, supporting organizations and advisory committees, and perhaps even as potential members of the ICANN board.

To learn more about the Fellowships Program, please visit http://www.icann.org/en/fellowships/