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<div>Today the BC filed comment (attached and below) on the ICANN Fellowship Program Application Process Review. <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/fellowship-application-process-review-2016-06-14-en">https://www.icann.org/public-comments/fellowship-application-process-review-2016-06-14-en</a> </div>
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<div>Thanks again to Andrew Mack and Jimson Olufuye for drafting.</div>
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<div>The BC strongly supports proposed revisions to the Fellowship program that would give priority to applicants from underserved and under-represented communities who express financial need to attend ICANN meetings. </div>
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<div>We also support an emphasis on diversity (in terms of gender, sector, region, and experience) as part of Fellows selection criteria.</div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">As part of this push for diversity, the BC would like to strongly encourage the inclusion of more Fellows from global south businesses , including small businesses. The BC stands ready to work with Fellowship program staff
to help these attendees learn about ICANN and to support their active participation.</font></div>
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<span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION">The BC recommends as part of this review the provision of statistics on the performance of the program with respect to different stakeholder groups (government, business, civil society, technical and academic community.) The
result obtained would help focus more on disadvantaged community/ies as part of process of advancing balance in community participation and diversity.</span>
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