[NA-Discuss] ICANN Fellowship eligibility

[Alan Greenberg]

There have been a number of recent comments on who is eligible to 
apply for the ICANN Fellowship Program and specifically that some US 
territories are not eligible. I wanted to make sure that the program 
is understood.

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/fellowships-2012-02-25-en 
describes the Fellowship Program. ICANN does not want to be in a 
position for making value judgements on which communities are 
disadvantaged. Because ICANN found no single external definition that 
it felt addressed the needs of the Fellowship Program, two distinct 
external definitions are used.

1. The 
<http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20421402%7EpagePK:64133150%7EpiPK:64133175%7EtheSitePK:239419,00.html>World 
Bank classification as low, lower-middle, and upper-middle economies.

2. The <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1520>UN 
Listing of SIDS of the three (3) UN groupings of developing and least 
developed nations: the AIMS, Pacific and Caribbean

Someone from a territory listed in ANY of the lists is eligible. Period.

I believe that most of the specific territories identified are in 
either the WB lists or the SIDS lists and therefore their residents 
ARE eligible for the ICANN Fellowship program. As an example, 
American Samoa is a UN Upper-Middle Income territory; and The Marshal 
Marshall Islands are in the SIDS Pacific list and the WB list. Their 
residents are eligible for the Fellowship Program. Some territories 
such as Guam, with a Gross National Per Capita Income greater than 
US$12,736 and not in the SIDS list are not eligible.

There is no doubt that there are inequities in that there are often 
very disadvantaged communities within otherwise prosperous 
territories. And in some cases, the external measurements move 
territories in ways that may result in sudden inequities. ICANN is 
reviewing all of these issues and hopefully, at least some of them 
will be suitably addressed as we move forward.

Alan
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