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Community Resources/Grants Strategy Relaunch 2020-2021/Regional Committees

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Regional Committees

This is a call for Wikimedians and Free Knowledge advocates to be part of Regional Committees that the Community Resources team is setting up as part of the Grants Strategy Relaunch. The primary role of these committees will be to be strategic thought partners to help understand the complexities of any region and make funding decisions for grant applications in the region providing knowledge and expertise to applicants to support successful movement activities.

Regional Committees will be established for the following regions:

If you are interested in shaping funding decisions in your region, bringing new ideas and programs into life, or have knowledge and expertise to share with movement organizers and leaders, please review all the information below and consider applying to join. We are hoping to create committees that will have a healthy balance of  experienced and new Wikimedians along with experts from other knowledge domains that will be important to achieve the mission of the Wikimedia movement.


Apply for a Regional Committee!


What is this all about?

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The Community Resources Team (CR Team) has relaunched its Grants Strategy in alignment with the 2030 strategic direction and the movement strategy recommendations. These efforts will help build a thriving movement focused on equity and support for Wikimedia communities.

We have received valuable feedback during our consultations in creating more accessible grant programs. One of the major points of feedback was around the importance of enabling local communities to take more responsibility and ownership for setting priorities in their regions, allocating funds for specific types of initiatives, and ensuring the involvement of allied partner organisations. Each of these processes benefits greatly from existing expertise, new ideas, and awareness of required skills for local communities.

Who can participate?

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  • Members of the Wikimedia community (both newcomers and experienced contributors welcome)
  • Members of mission-aligned organisations
  • Individuals working or having expertise in regions of interest

Who is not eligible?

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  • Anyone receiving compensation through a Wikimedia affiliate or current grant project.
  • Anyone receiving compensation for a paid role with the Wikimedia Foundation.


Why is this important?

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The CR Team hopes that the Regional Committees will emerge as structures that thrive on the principles of participatory decision-making and subsidiarity.

Regional Committees will have to work towards establishing an environment that supports  participation, representation, and resource allocation. Our goal is to support the development of Regional Committees that represent and serve the needs of many communities in the movement, including those based on gender, ethnicity, age, and geography, amongst other characteristics.

How will the CR team do this?

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  • Call for interest of committee members
    • Regional Committees
      • Middle East and Africa
      • SAARC region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
      • East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific (ESEAP) region
      • Latin America (LATAM) and The Caribbean
      • United States and Canada
      • Northern and Western Europe
      • Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
  • Following initial nominations, there will be a review process to confirm the members of the committees.
  • Work with the committee members to identify who is missing and add new members by invitation (based on experience, expertise and representation of different voices).

What will be the status of the existing committees that are set up? Eg: Project Grants, Simple APG, FDC-APG committees?

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All the current grant committees (both active and inactive) will cease to function with the implementation of the new grants strategy of the Community Resources Team effective from 1 July 2021. We strongly encourage current and former committee members to apply to be part of the regional committees.

What are the roles and responsibilities for committee members?

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  • To build the foundation for sustained committee work, including:
    • developing and defining committee operations, roles, and principles for major processes such as proposal review and decision making
    • supporting communications with new, important movement bodies such as the Global Council and regional hubs,
    • sharing expertise and context within and between committees to build needed capacities
  • To routinely support the CR Team, applicants, and grantees by:
    • sharing knowledge, expertise, and regional context throughout the grants process,
    • identifying opportunities to address community needs around resourcing, representation, and power sharing.
    • making decisions on proposals supporting the region.
  • Committee members must understand and value diversity, including cultural, linguistic, and gender differences.


When do we want to do this?

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We expect the process to develop committees to begin in May and last through July 2021. The main steps involved in this work will include:

  • May-June
    • Call for applications
  • June
    • Community Resources and Trust & Safety Review team review
    • Announcement - Round 1 of committee members
  • July
    • Addition of missing members
    • Training and orientation of committee members

What other things should I know about Regional Committees?

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  • Size of committee: As a starting point we would like to have 8-10 members and add representatives as suggested by the committee.
  • Training: Training will be provided to the committee members to support review, discussion, and decisionmaking.
  • Expectations: Committee members will be expected to commit to the following policies and principles to support constructive dialogue with applicants and grantees:
  • Financial support: Committee members will have all costs related to participation covered, including data costs, transportation, caregiving / childcare, and meals.  Additional stipends are to be determined.
  • Frequency of meetings: The work of the committee will vary from month to month. At the beginning, time for training will be required as well as during application review in the two rounds per year. Other moments would require less time focused on communication and mentorship.
  • Working language: Working language will vary by committee. We are working to ensure we have translation services available for some communication needs.
  • Term lengths: We would like initial committee members to commit to a two-year period of service. A rolling membership system will be implemented to always have some experienced people on the committee.
  • Selection criteria: Some desired, but not essential qualities we are looking for in committee members include:
    • sufficient facility with multiple languages spoken in the specific region to support reviewing and discussing grant proposals.
    • experience with Wikimedia programs, in addition to contributions to the online projects.
    • a demonstrated commitment to sharing skills and experience, and helping others grow.
    • experience with increasing geographic, gender, or age diversity, or experience with different Wikimedia projects not yet represented.

How to apply

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Apply for a Regional Committee!

The deadline to apply for Regional Committees is July 12, 2021.

To apply for a regional committee, please provide a statement on the candidates page with the following information:

  • What country or region are you working in?
  • What regional committee do you want to participate in?
    • Middle East and Africa
    • SAARC region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
    • East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific (ESEAP) region
    • Latin America (LATAM) and The Caribbean
    • United States and Canada
    • Northern and Western Europe
    • Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
  • Tell us about yourself and why you want to join a Regional Committee. Please consider responding to some of the questions below, but it is not necessary to respond to all of them in your application. Please keep your statement under 500 words.
    • Current participation in the Wikimedia movement or the Free Knowledge Ecosystem
    • How do you think you could contribute towards building the committees’ role and ways of working.
    • What would you do to make decision making more participatory?
    • What would you do so grantmaking can have a greater impact?
    • Why do you think the committee needs someone like you?

Applications may be provided in the language of your preference, and English is not required. Please note that after receiving you application over email, we will publish your username/full name and the region(s) you want to participate in on Meta. This is done to ensure a more transparent application process.

News and updates

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