Summary
- Engagement and outreach efforts are a focus of the At-Large Community.
- At-Large has been collaborating closely with ICANN Staff on the development and implementation of a variety of programs and events, which aim to get end users involved in ICANN.
- Promoting diversity and inclusion, At-Large leads initiatives that target underserved communities (e.g. the Applicant Support Program for New gTLDs applications, Captioning Pilot, Tribal Ambassador Fellowship, etc.).
- Outreach and engagement efforts are critical for maintaining a sustainable source of end user volunteers from diverse regions, ensuring that they are versed in ICANN policy issues and can effectively engage with other stakeholder groups.
What is Engagement?
Engagement is the process by which an organization involves people who may be affected by the decisions it makes or can influence the implementation of its decisions. They may support or oppose the decisions, be influential in the organization or within the community in which it operates, hold relevant official positions or be affected in the long term.
Companies engage their stakeholders in dialogue to find out what social and environmental issues matter most to them about their performance in order to improve decision-making and accountability.
What is Engagement at ICANN?
ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) functions to demonstrate ICANN's commitment to international participation and the efficacy of its multi-stakeholder environment. The GSE team works with the community and organization's staff to achieve the strategic goal of better representing the regions in ICANN and facilitating ICANN's engagement with and responsiveness to the regions. Regional strategic plans for Africa, Asia, Australasia / Pacific Islands, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East and North America serve as guidelines in achieving better engagement objectives.
ICANN's global hub strategy has allowed it to better engage stakeholders globally. The staff on the ground has the local language capability and cultural understanding to share developments with, and collect feedback from, local stakeholders within the geography and time zones of the community. Thanks to its Language Services Department, ICANN tries to reach as many community members as possible by providing them access to information in the 6 UN languages. The Department is currently running a focus group to determine how it can better serve the linguistically diverse community through content translation for the new ICANN.org
Furthermore ICANN has a Development and Public Responsibility Department (DPRD) to better serve and broaden the community, and facilitate participation through specific and measurable tracks. DPRD currently focuses on the following engagement areas:
- Supporting Education and Academic Outreach: This focus aims to build a global public audience that is knowledgeable of the greater Internet ecosystem through training, panel discussions, internships, archiving, and online services.
- ICANN Learn: ICANN Learn is an online learning platform designed to help the global community better understand how ICANN and the Internet work. Courses are built for various skill levels, nationalities, and languages. For more information please click here.
- Academic Outreach: In an effort to help members of the next generation of Internet users and leaders, ICANN regularly organizes in-person and online meetings for the academic community.
- Supporting the Next Generation: As part of its public responsibility, ICANN has established programs to raise awareness and encourage the participation of those not currently involved in ICANNand the Internet governance ecosystem.
- Newcomer Program: The Newcomers Program provides a starting point for Newcomers to understand what ICANN is and where it fits in the Internet Governance ecosystem. For more information please click here.
- The NextGen@ICANNprogram: goal is to help unlock new opportunities and understanding for members of the next generation of Internet users. For more information please click here.
- Fellowship Program: The Fellowship program seeks to create a broader and more regionally diverse base of knowledgeable constituents by reaching out to the less developed regions of the world to build capacity within the ICANN Multistakeholder Model. For more information please click here.
Why Engagement matters to you?
End users are encouraged to utilize the Engagement tools ICANN made available to them. All ICANN Engagement programs and efforts aim to smoothen the engagement process of end users who would like to get engaged with ICANN work.
In order to come up to speed of veteran community members gradually, end users may take advantage of Newcomer Program and gain and understanding of ICANN`s mission, the multi-stakeholder bottom-up model and all the pieces and the parts that make up the ICANN community.
In order to learn more end users may wish to take free online courses on ICANN through ICANN Learn.
End users from less developed regions of the world may engage with ICANN work by applying to the Fellowship program. If selected end users will have the opportunity to be provided a grant of support that covers the cost of economy class airfare, hotel and a stipend for the relevant ICANN meeting. Similarly other end users who are between the ages of 18 and 30 and willing to present a project relevant to ICANN work at the ICANN meeting may apply to NextGen program and get lodging and transportation support.