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.
Media Contacts:
Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@icann.org
International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com