[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] ICANN 61: PLEASE RESTORE THE ICANN FELLOWSHIP BUDGET CUT

[Wisdom Donkor]

 *My name is Wisdom Donkor. I am submitting bellow comment with regard to
the ICANN fellowship budget cut.*

High-quality ICANN Fellowship Program is a prerequisite for societal change
and progress. Societies without strong capacity faces difficulties in
producing and utilizing reliable evidence for development planning and
action, generating new ideas to drive economic growth and social wellbeing,
deciding on trade-offs in the choice of interventions, and gauging the
impact and performance of policies, programs and investments. Robust ICANN
Fellowship program will advances the production and utilization of sound
evidence for internet development across board, most especially in the
developing world that is yet to see total development.

In one of the most recent and trenchant affirmations of the importance of
building capacities within the internet governance space to help build
sustainable human resource capacities to supporting the implementation of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across nations.

The ICANN fellowship program largely has strengthen ICANN and the IG
communities in this regard. The UN and it stakeholders, DIPLO Foundation,
IGF etc, keeps referencing to the ICANN fellowship program as one key
program that is helping bridge the digital gaps most especially in the low
income countries. The module of the ICANN Fellowship program has been
emulated in several ICT and other IG related programs.

There is still huge deficit both in human capacities and awareness creation
within the low income countries and Efforts must be doubled in capacity
development and extending the program to the unreached.

The sustainable developments goals (SDG’s) particularly recognizes the need
for internet governance capacity building as key to:
1. the generation of new and locally relevant knowledge
2. the full and safe operationalization and transfer of existing
technologies
3. the promotion and acceleration of human, institutional and
infrastructural development
4. and the alignment of social and healthy systems to deliver efficient,
accessible, and affordable services.

With this in mind, I dont think the ICANN Fellowship program has ever let
ICANN down on its mandate to building capacities and reaching out to the
unreached specially from within the ldeveloping countries that seems to be
lagging behind or marking-time on development. Huge amount of work has been
done and more work needs to be done to realizing the dreams we all want to
see. The evidence is there for all to see. When you look at Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Gambia, DR Congo, Egypt,
Rwanda, Togo, Senegal, Cameron, Armenia, Pakistan, India etc. and even
Madagascar that seems to be blank on the map is now seeing the light
through the ICANN fellowship empowerment. ICANN is almost present in every
Conner of the world through the fellowship program. Fellows are really
working using their little resources to reach out to others in their local
communities just to make sure ICANN message gets to everyone.

I am very happy that ICANN over the years through the fellowship program
have produce great leaders, many of which are taken position within ICANN
and IG communities. eg. At-Large, NCUC, NCSG, GNSO, GAC, ccNSO, NomCom,
SSAC, RSSAC, IGF MAG, Diplo and even the ICANN board working and promoting
ICANN values across nations.

There have been a call from the public to restore the ICANN Fellowship
budget CUT, 279 petitioners across the ICANN Communities signed the
petition asking for ICANN to restore the fellowship budget CUT in full.

The simple question ????? i will ask ICANN Board is, what else can ICANN do
apart from improving the fellowship program instead of CUTTING its Budget.

In view of all this, I do not think CUTTING the fellowship budget by half
(50%) is the way to go. ICANN should be seen as growing and strengthening
it support base (The fellowship program) and not the other way round
(slowing down the Fellowship program by pulling down its success over the
years) with the intention of frustrating the program.

There is public call to restoring the fellowship budget in full and

My humble plead to ICANN CEO, the Board and all that is concern with the
budget CUT to please reconsider their decision to restore the fellowship
budget in full and if possible increase it.




*WISDOM DONKOR (S/N Eng.)*
*Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation*
E-government, Internet Governance & Open Government Data and platforms
Specialist
ICANN Fellow / UN IGF MAG Member, ISOC Member,
Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Member, Diplo Foundation Member,
OGP Open Data WG Member, GODAN Member.
National SDG's data Roadmaps Advisory Board Member, Ghana
Ghana Energy Data Task-force Member
Ghana OGP Advisory Committee Member
Email: wisdom.dk at gmail.com
Skype: wisdom_dk
facebook: Kwasi Wisdom
Linkdin: Kwasi Wisdom
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