Since its inception in 1998, the ICANN community has never faced a greater rate or scope of change than it faces today – or will continue to face in the coming five years. This makes coalescing our global community around a new overarching vision and long-term strategic plan for ICANN critical. The Board has asked the public for feedback on a Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan (FY 2016 – 2020) and I encourage you to share your input. We have extended the public comment period through 27 June 2014.
As you would expect of an organization that embodies collaborative, multistakeholder, decision-making, our Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan is the result of extensive community brainstorming and input. A key aspect of the strategic planning process has been deliberate attention to the major environmental shifts that ICANN should consider in focusing its resources. The result is a proposed new vision and five strategic focus areas, each with strategic objectives and measurable goals to guide us through FY 2020:
ICANN’s vision is to be an accountable and independent organization coordinating the global Internet’s systems of unique identifiers. ICANN strives to be trusted by all stakeholders for its inclusive, effective and consensus-based operations.
Focus areas for the next five years
- Evolve and further internationalize and regionalize ICANN’s implementation of the multistakeholder approach.
- Continue to support a healthy, stable and resilient unique identifier ecosystem.
- Advance technical and operational excellence.
- Clarify and establish ICANN’s role in the Internet governance ecosystem.
- Develop and implement a global public responsibility framework.
To review the strategic objectives proposed in each focus area, as well as specific goals with outcomes, potential risks, measurements and high-level phasing over the next five years, click here.
In addition to the public comments and community feedback we received over twelve months, the Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan also reflects our collective work on related initiatives, and public comments on the Strategy Panels’ advice and the panels’ final output also will be factored into the final Five-Year Strategic Plan.
Next Steps
Comments on the Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan, as well as on the output of the Strategy Panels, will be carefully considered and incorporated, as appropriate. The final Five-Year Strategic Plan (FY 2016 – 2020) will then be considered for Board action.
The Board looks forward to receiving your comments by 27 June.