The ICANN organization (org) has made significant progress addressing Work Stream 2 (WS2) implementation since our last blog on this subject.
WS2 of the Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-ACCT) comprises nearly 100 accountability and transparency-related recommendations, directed at ICANN org, the ICANN Board, and the ICANN community, which serve to ensure ICANN remains accountable to the multistakeholder community.
WS2 is a fiscal year 2022 (FY22) priority and will remain a top priority in fiscal year 2023. ICANN org is committed to addressing WS2 implementation in an effective and timely manner and providing appropriate support to the community in its implementation work.
At the end of the first calendar quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022), 13 recommendations directed at ICANN org were complete (up from to eight at the end of Q4 2021) while implementation was in progress for 39 (up from 30 in Q4 2021). The end of FY22 is the targeted completion date for many recommendations, including addressing the remaining implementation guidance on the transparency of ICANN's Board deliberations (Recommendation 8.3), enhancing existing staff accountability mechanisms and publishing service level targets (Recommendations 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.2.1, 7.2.3 and 7.3), and developing of a web page containing information relating to ICANN and the ICANN community's work on human rights (Recommendation 3.1).
I invite you to read the Q1 2022 WS2 implementation quarterly report to find out more about the implementation progress. Some highlights of the latest work:
- Completed: Recommendation 4.1.1 (ICANN Terms and Conditions for Registrar Accreditation Application Relating to Office of Foreign Access Control (OFAC) Licenses) was completed through an update made to the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Application Form in February 2022.
- Work in progress:
- During January 2022, ICANN org solicited proposals to identify a provider of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) services to support community discussions in the development of uniform definitions of diversity elements (Recommendation 1.1) and a process for diversity-related complaints and issues for community groups (Recommendation 1.7). The selected vendor will also assist ICANN org in drafting a practical diversity toolkit (Recommendation 1.6) to help community groups in their assessment, elaboration of diversity strategies/objectives and associated reviews.
- Implementation of Recommendation 6.3.6, which requires the development of a process for a potential expansion of language support, was kicked off with an update to ICANN org's Language Services Policy and Procedures.
- All transparency related recommendations are either complete or in progress.
Furthermore, the WS2 Community Coordination Group (CCG) was formed to serve as a forum for exchanging information on each individual group's implementation progress and for coordinating community work on a set of recommendations that warrant a uniform community-wide approach. Its first meeting took place on 5 April 2022.
ICANN org continues to deliver updates to the WS2-Implementation (WS2-IT) on a quarterly basis. The WS2-IT consists of former CCWG-ACCT members who are available for providing clarification upon request.
To enhance communications regarding the status of WS2 implementation, ICANN org has created a central WS2 implementation page, under the former CCWG-ACCT's workspace, that houses links to ICANN org implementation, community implementation, and also to CCG activities and exchanges with the WS2-IT. The new pages feature charts and tables to better visualize implementation progress.
ICANN org's Implementation Operations team invites you to review the new pages and looks forward to sharing additional WS2 implementation updates with you.
