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18 July 201903 August 2020

Dear community leaders,

I am We are pleased to announce that the FY20 FY21 Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP) space workspace is now ready for your use. The CROP team thanks all community leaders and groups for collaboratively working with our regional Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) colleagues to develop the various Outreach Strategic Plans for this fiscal year.

In response to feedback about the FY19 program, staff has re-drafted and re-formatted the Guidelines and Procedures, and we have also added a “What Has Changed” section at the top of the home page for your easy reference.

What has not changed from FY19: The submission and concurrence process, templates and forms remain the same as for FY19. The fundamental concept that CROP trips should be closely linked to current ICANN policy or technical work is also unchanged.

Of course, this launch comes at an uncertain time for global travel. Please note that the launch of the FY21 CROP and workspace does not reverse the existing travel guidance from ICANN org in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. ICANN org will update its travel guidance as global public health conditions permit. However, we hope this provides helpful reminders about the processes and procedures for safe and successful CROP trips, should the opportunities exist. 

The ICANN org Community Travel Support Guidelines apply to all CROP trips. Please review the guidelines carefully, especially the responsibilities of supported travelers for visa support. We also encourage you to stay informed about the most current global travel limitations. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted access and transit. 

As a reminder, the guidelines below (revised in FY20) continue to apply for FY21. What is changing for FY20: The following aspects of CROP are new for FY20.

• Applicable geographic regions and countries within regions – ICANN Org org believes that it will allow for greater clarity as well as community flexibility in many cases to use the GSE list of countries and regions, rather than the less detailed listing of official ICANN meeting regionsregions for ICANN Public Meetings. The FY20 FY21 CROP space workspace, therefore, contains a link hyperlink to the current GSE list for your reference.
• Reimbursement for conference registration fees – while While the general rule remains that conference registration fees are not part of CROP funding, for FY20 FY21 ICANN Org org has created a limited exception for cases where senior staff approval has been sought and obtained.
• Using 1 one out of 3 three trip allocations to an ICANN Public Meeting or ICANN-organized event – for FY20For FY21, community groups will no longer be required to FIRST first use 1 one trip allocation for this purpose. In other words, any 1 one out of the 3 three trip allocations can be used to for an ICANN Public Meeting or ICANN-organized event (if one is taking place in the applicable region). ICANN Org org hopes this will provide the community with greater flexibility in planning their FY20 FY21 strategic outreach activities.
• Clarifying 7the seven-week deadline for trip requests – we understand that the FY19 requirement of “5 calendar days plus 6 weeks” may have been confusing for some groups. As such, for Continuing from FY20, we will count the period between the last possible day for submitting a trip request and the commencement date of the trip as seven (7) weeks. This will not substantially alter the actual duration in question (as between FY19 and FY20), but we hope the clarification will provide greater clarity. Please note that this will not alter the requirement that concurrence from the relevant GSE regional VP’s concurrence vice president must still be obtained a minimum of 6 six weeks before travel commences.
• CROP staff lead administrator – for Continuing from FY20, the staff ICANN org lead for this program will be administrator for CROP is Maryam Bakoshi. She will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the applicable deadlines, following up on trip proposals and assessment reports, and to generally assist assisting you with the program. However, please Please continue to send your queries and reports to the usual email address (crop-staff@icann.org).

On behalf of the CROP staff team, our the GSE regional GSE colleagues and ICANN’s Constituency ICANN Travel departmentSupport, I we hope that your groups will find the FY20 FY21 CROP helpful in conducting your regional strategic outreach activities.

The FY20 CROP space can be found here: https://community.icann.org/display/soacabout/CROP-FY20. Please note that we are launching this space now in the interests of time, and will be continuing will continue to update and correct any errors that we may findon the workspace. Thank you for your understanding!. 

Best regards,

MaryCarlos, Maryam, and the CROP staff team