Of course – you can reach out to me any time and all the time Vanda.

I have been waiting for support from the ICANN Communications team to craft a Community Message but that just hasn’t happened, I guess due to work ongoing with Accountability and other hot issues..so here is the message from me and yes, please share.

Since Fellowship’s inception in 2007, the Program eligibility requirements include adherence to a globally recognised economic indicator…in our case, the decision was the World Economic Bank, specifically for eligible countries listed in the World Bank classification as low, lower-middle, and upper-middle economies. Additionally in 2011, ICANN added those nations listed in one of the three (3) UN groupings of developing and least developed nations: the AIMS, Pacific and Caribbean which are all Members of SIDN and eligible for consideration in the Program. The UN Listing of SIDN is based on distinctly different criteria that stretch beyond the World Bank's economically deterministic view.

ICANN cannot be the entity to determine which countries can be on or off the list; that just can’t work, we have to have verified outside entities to do that for us.

ICANN will continue to evaluate the Program criteria on a regular basis as it has in the 8 years since it began, including eligibility and the lists used to determine that.

Would be great to hear any ideas that you have Vanda…

Thanks so much for reaching out and biggest Hug