Let's Connect Newsletter/Archive/2023/Issue 2

Let’s Connect Newsletter Issue 2

What is happening in Let’s Connect this month

Welcome to the January Issue of the Let’s Connect Newsletter, our second one since we started in December. As we continue our plan for phase 2, we will be undertaking several activities that require your cooperation.

Also, we would be starting from February 10th, what we are calling a connectathon! Where We will be doing an online game so participants can learn how to use the skills directory to connect with others. This will be a monthly online call on the first Friday of every month after our maiden one on Friday, February 10th, at 15:00 - 16:00 UTC.

Did you miss Learning Clincis - no worries!

Where are the recordings; if you missed the Let’s Connect Learning Clinics in December, or would you like to go through them again?

Thinking about diversity, equity & inclusion in affiliate governance and leadership with Lucy Crompton-Reid Wikimedia UK. English recording of this session here & deck here.
Reflections on Boards, Teams & Volunteer Ecosystem with Revital Poleg Wikimedia Israel. English recording of this session here & deck here.

Managing Wikimedia Projects through Wikidata: Geert Van Pamel- Wikimedia Belgium. English recording of this session here & deck here.

You can check out the calendar page if you want to view other past learning clinic material or recordings in other languages (available for some sessions).

What Learning Clinics can you start getting excited about?

The team is working on a packed agenda of Learning Clinics in the next months. Keep a look out for our calendar page and emails.

Here are some topics that are coming up and tentative dates (to be confirmed when registration links are sent out).

February 17th: Natacha Rault, the Executive Director of les sans pagEs, will be taking about out to identify and support teams and volunteers when there are potential cases of burnout and people are facing difficulties because of harassment.

March: Wikimedia Ireland will be talking about lessons learned from developing as a small affiliate.

April: Wiki in Africa will be sharing helpful tools for managing events and internal team management.

And there will be more to come!

Other learning opportunities in the Movement

The Community Development team at the Wikimedia Foundation is hosting its first community call of the year on Tuesday, January 31st, 2023, from 18:00-19:30 UTC on Zoom. It is a space for Wikimedians across the movement to hear and speak about projects related to capacity building &/or leadership development. In this call, you can listen to WikiAcción Perú and the Leadership Development Working Group (LDWG). It will be in English and Spanish with interpretation.

The Leadership Development Working Group is drafting a Leadership Development Plan, and to do so, they need to hear from you! They have created three surveys, so you can respond to the one that most fits your current role.

Survey 1: For people who have roles in governance, coordination and organization

[For example, Wikipedia admin, campaign organizer, user group director or coordinator]

Survey 2: For people who have roles as mentors, facilitators or trainers of leadership skills

[You can refer to the leadership definition for guidance on “leadership skills”]

Survey 3: For active and engaged volunteers interested in developing leadership skills

🏃 The survey closes this Thursday, February 3, 2023.

News from Movement Strategy

The voting period for the revised Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines is now open! Voting has been open for the past two weeks and closes at 23.59 UTC on January 31, 2023. Please visit the voter information page on Meta-wiki for voter eligibility information and details on how to vote. Link here.

Story from Let’s Connect

The Let's Connect Peer Learning Program in Kwara is the first implementation of the Let’s connect 2nd program phase that is led by Barakat Adegboye and coordinated by Bukola James, Rhoda James, Linason Blessing, and Miracle Abayomi James, who are the Let’s Connect participants in Kwara, Nigeria helping to organise learning spaces in their region around topics of interest and provide access to financial and logistical support through the Wikimedia foundation rapid grant fund with support from the Let’s Connect Working Group.

Learning Clinics: Let's Connect Kwara held two learning clinics in November and December 2022, with 20 participants in virtual attendance. The clinics focused on the learning needs of their participants using case studies to share and learn from. For instance: the first (1s)learning clinic focused on Basic Wikidata use and how it can support other projects, and the second (2nd) learning clinic focused on event organising which lasted for 2 hours via zoom.

Hear from one of their participants…

Mubarak Akanni: It has been a great ride with everyone here, and the efforts put in place by everyone, especially the organizing team, cannot go unacknowledged. Well, it has been an awesome experience; the sessions with the speakers, the games with the moderators, the active participation of the team members, the efforts of the team leads, the resources shared (scholarships and reading materials), the training and practices we all had indulged in.

Resource to check out:

Check out the Neutral Point of View Tutorial created by Asaf Bartov (Community Development, WMF).

Happy 22nd Birthday Wikipedia In the spirit of Wikipedia's 22nd birthday celebrations, Open Foundation West Africa reflected on its journey with Wikipedia on Friday, 20th January 2023. Here's a link to watch how they celebrated Wikipedia at 22. Link.

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