Dear SO/AC Chairs,

In response to the action taken by the Board to initiate the Pilot Holistic Review on 29 April, we would like to bring to your attention the upcoming Call for Volunteers for the Pilot Holistic Review (PHR) Team, scheduled for 23 May  – 19 June 2024. The Call for Volunteers launches the application phase, followed by the nomination and selection phase. 

Through its action, the Board requested “that the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees shall assemble a Pilot Holistic Review Team following the process stipulated at Article 4.6, Section (a) of the ICANN Bylaws and follow the Operating Standards for Specific Reviews...”

As Chairs of your respective SOs and ACs, you play an important role in the review team nomination and selection process. ICANN Bylaws stipulate that “The chairs of the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees participating in the applicable review shall select a group of up to 21 review team members from among the prospective members nominated by the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees, balanced for diversity and skill.” Further details on the nomination process will be shared via Policy support staff.

We developed the timeline below to commence the PHR Team’s work in September 2024, considering the upcoming ICANN meeting and the August holiday impacting some of you. Please let us know if you have any concerns with the timeline or identified skills and expertise outlined below by 17 MAY 2024.  

Please share this upcoming opportunity amongst your community and encourage qualified candidates to apply when the Call for Volunteers is announced, and the application period opens. For more information about the Pilot Holistic Review, including its Board approved Terms of Reference, visit the pilot’s wiki page here.

Thank you for your support of this important work. Please feel free to contact me directly or my team at reviews@icann.org if you have any questions.

Larisa Gurnick

VP, Reviews Support & Accountability

Global Domains and Strategy

Steps and Timeline

We developed an estimated timeline for the nomination and selection of volunteers to serve on the Pilot Holistic Review. This timeline is designed to provide sufficient time for each SO/AC to follow its internal nomination process and for the Chairs of all the participating SO/ACs to complete the selection process to start the review process in September 2024. Please find the steps, estimated dates and durations below: 

Skills and Expertise 

For this important review, ICANN is seeking volunteers that represent different parts of the ICANN community and are geographically and experientially diverse. These volunteers will participate in the development of methodologies and guidelines for future Holistic Reviews. The following skills and expertise needed were identified based on the community-supported and Board-approved Terms of Reference:

• Performance assessment and audits of organizational effectiveness and governance

• Development of methodologies and guidelines for process improvement and measurement
• Data analysis informing fact-based findings and recommendations
• Familiarity with ICANN Reviews, and ICANN structures
• Knowledge of recognized frameworks for organizational excellence
• Principles of accountability applicable to organizations broadly similar to ICANN

In addition to the above skills and expertise, all selected review team members are expected to actively participate for the duration of the review, anticipated to start in September 2024 and last for up to 14 months.