03 August 2020
Dear community leaders,
We are pleased to announce that the FY21 Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP) workspace is now ready for your use. The CROP team thanks all community leaders and groups for working with our regional Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) colleagues to develop the various Outreach Strategic Plans for this fiscal year.
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.
- Applicable geographic regions and countries within regions – ICANN 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 regions for ICANN Public Meetings. The FY21 CROP workspace, therefore, contains a hyperlink to the current GSE list for your reference.
- Reimbursement for conference registration fees – While the general rule remains that conference registration fees are not part of CROP funding, for FY21 ICANN org has created a limited exception for cases where approval has been sought and obtained.
- Using one out of three trip allocations to an ICANN Public Meeting or ICANN-organized event – For FY21, community groups will no longer be required to first use one trip allocation for this purpose. In other words, any one out of the three trip allocations can be used for an ICANN Public Meeting or ICANN-organized event (if one is taking place in the applicable region). ICANN org hopes this will provide the community with greater flexibility in planning FY21 strategic outreach activities.
- Clarifying the seven-week deadline for trip requests – 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 weeks. Please note that this will not alter the requirement that concurrence from the relevant GSE regional vice president must still be obtained a minimum of six weeks before travel commences.
- CROP lead administrator – Continuing from FY20, the ICANN org lead 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 generally assisting you with the program. Please continue to send your queries and reports to the usual email address (crop-staff@icann.org).
On behalf of the CROP team, the GSE regional colleagues and ICANN Travel Support, we hope that your groups will find the FY21 CROP helpful in conducting your regional strategic outreach activities.
Please note that we will continue to update and correct any errors on the workspace. Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards,
Carlos, Maryam, and the CROP team
