Improving diversity and inclusion helps to improve:
What Diversity and Inclusion mean in the ICANN context
ICANN is entrusted with ensuring the stability, resiliency, and interoperability of the Internet's unique identifier systems in an open Internet and was founded on the belief that it should reflect the diversity of the Internet community. To live up to this responsibility, ICANN is committed to promoting greater diversity and supporting broad, inclusive participation in its processes.
ICANN’s commitment to diversity is enshrined in its Bylaws, which define ICANN’s Core Value (b)(ii) as “Seeking and supporting broad, informed participation reflecting the functional, geographic, and cultural diversity of the Internet at all levels of policy development and decision making to ensure that the bottom-up, multistakeholder policy development process is used to ascertain the global public interest and that those processes are accountable and transparent.”
The WS2 Diversity subgroup has identified seven key elements by which diversity at ICANN may be characterized, measured, and reported.
The 7 key elements of diversity
In order to improve diversity and inclusion across ICANN, you need to:
Understand your group:
Evaluate the range of diverse voices and identities and how they are impacted by efforts to improve diversity and inclusion.
Educate your group:
Provide guidance and training for people at all levels, and inform your group at regular intervals about diversity and inclusion progress.
Expand your group:
Develop a more diverse pipeline of new members and improve outreach with underserved communities.
Engage your group:
Hold regular reviews and ongoing discussions, and create a feedback loop to enhance representation and participation.
Empower your group:
Give everyone an equal voice and break down barriers to participation so that groups are more diverse and more inclusive.
For each of these aspects, we have responsibilities both collectively and individually. This toolkit will outline some practical strategies to consider at every level.