ICANN Travel Policy and Fellowship Program

["Olga Cavalli" <olgac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

*Comments for the ICANN Travel Policy and Fellowship Program:*


Volunteer work done for any of the ICANN´s supporting organizations or
committees is a very time demanding and challenging activity, which involves
a lot of effort and professionalism.



 From this point of view, I would like to make comments in relation with the
ICANN Travel Support Policy:



- All volunteers that serve ICANN should be treated the same way and should
get the same travel benefits.



- Taking in consideration the huge amount of effort and work involved,
volunteers deserve traveling business class, especially for flights of more
than 4 hours long. Traveling coach makes it impossible to working during the
flight and also to getting some rest and being able to work the day after.



- Many companies or associations accept that flights of more than 4 hours
should be business class and ICANN should consider a similar approach, if a
balanced representation from different regions of the world is desired.



- Noncom appointees must get travel financing for attending all necessary
meetings, as they are already offering their time and experience.





In relation with the Fellowship Program I would like to make the following
comments:



-          The Fellowship program is an excellent opportunity to allow
participants from developing countries to get involved in the ICANN meetings
and processes.



-          A regional balanced representation should be a major objective of
this program; this is not happening since the program only privileges those
fellows that live near the meeting venue.



-          As far as I know, there were no fellows selected from South
America in the last two ICANN meetings (Los Angeles and New Delhi). Please
correct me if this information is wrong.



-          For the sake of transparency, it should be desirable to know the
names of the Fellowship Program Selecting Committee, as it is not included
in the corresponding section of the ICANN web page.



Regards,



Olga Cavalli

olgacavalli@xxxxxxxxx

Buenos Aires

Argentina