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Global Council

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For a sub-chapter regarding the Global Council in final Movement Charter text that is up for ratification by the Wikimedia Movement globally in June-July 2024, see Movement Charter#Global Council.

The Global Council is a planned body that is intended to serve as "a global structure that responds to the needs of our Movement as a whole and represents communities in an equitable way", and would be "representative of the Movement in its role and composition". It was proposed as part of one of the 2018-20 Strategy recommendations, titled "Ensure Equity in Decision-making", which was then, together with the rest of the recommendations, approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.

The recommendation states that "Any decision affecting our communities has to involve those communities to prevent imbalanced outcomes", and describes the Council as "providing representation of communities" and "ensur[ing] shared responsibility and accountability". The Council will be composed of both elected and selected members, "in a way designed to reflect the breadth and diversity of participation not only in the Movement at present but also in communities we wish to serve".

The Council's precise responsibilities will be outlined by a Movement Charter. The development of the Charter will be overseen by the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (a role that was previously assigned to the Interim Global Council).

Roles and responsibilities

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From the strategy recommendations:

This body will have authorities and responsibilities outlined in the Charter, and these should include, but not be limited to:

  • Overseeing the implementation of Movement Strategy, with community input wherever possible, and its alignment across established structures of the Movement;
  • Overseeing further development and endorsement of the Movement Charter;
  • Enforcing accountability of all Movement organizations around:
    • Use of Movement funds;
    • Alignment with the Wikimedia mission, vision, and Strategic Direction;
    • Compliance with the Movement Charter;
    • Appropriate use of movement branding and marks;
  • Setting frameworks on resource allocation and revenue generation for the Movement.
  • Any responsibility that the Interim Global Council has identified as needing to be delegated by the Board.

The Global Council should oversee the implementation of the guidance given by the Movement as described in the Movement Charter, including recommendations for funds allocation to regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations while recognizing the involved organizations’ legal and fiduciary obligations.

Board good practices accountability

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The Global Council will be responsible for holding boards accountable for following good practices, and will create mechanisms to review and provide support for boards that do not follow good practices. Good practice guidelines for how boards function (such as term limits, election and selection processes, and approaches to other governance questions where applicable and relevant for a community) will be established.

History

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Several proposals for global bodies representing the community were made previously, including the Wikicouncil (also called "Wikimedia Global Council") proposal in 2005, and the Wikimedia Federation proposal in 2008.

The Global Council proposal was initiated by the Roles and Responsibilities Working Group during the 2018-20 Strategy Process. The proposal went through three iterations (1, 2, 3), before arriving at the final version in May 2020. The proposal, together with the rest of the strategy recommendations, was then approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.

Transition and Interim Global Council

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It was initially proposed that, during the Strategy Transition process, an Interim Global Council will be established. The Interim Global Council was assumed to oversee the creation of a Movement Charter, a responsibility that was later transferred to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee.

Specific proposals

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