Movement Charter/Supplementary Document/Principles of Decision-Making

These supplementary documents are provided by the Movement Charter Drafting Committee for information purposes, and to provide further context on the Wikimedia Movement Charter’s content. They are not part of the Charter, and therefore are not included in the ratification vote, but they have been developed during the course of the MCDC’s research and consultation process. They include several types of documents:

Information on topics related to the Charter.
Suggestions for policy or process development or consideration by the Global Council after the Charter is ratified.
Processes related to the Charter ratification vote.

Decision-making is needed within the Wikimedia Movement for a variety of reasons, and is facilitated at the most appropriate relevant level. This is necessary so that there can be a balance between local governance policies aligned with the global movement values, and the implementation of accountable processes for execution of those policies at the most local level.

It is important that decisions are in alignment with the values. Decisions have to be fair by intention, understandable, and accountable. In order to be so, the process to make a decision needs to be as transparent as possible. This document provides a guide for how and under what circumstances decisions-making processes and decisions as such can meet community expectations.

The decision-making processes of Wikimedia Movement bodies are expected to meet all of the decision-making principles listed and explained in the chart below.

Principle	Explanation
Transparency	The decision-making body can establish its own guidelines for transparency and communication of decisions, while following any global guidelines that apply to all movement bodies. The parties (decision-makers, advisors) involved in a decision have to be documented for reference.
Subsidiarity	Decisions should be made at the most affected level, where actual stakeholders contribute their expertise.
Self-governance	Each decision-making body can have its own methodology to evaluate the subject for which it has to make a decision.
Legitimacy and Equity	Movement bodies represent particular groups and interests. Their decision-making bodies are formed and operate according to global and specific guidelines.
Fairness	Conflict-of-interest policies should be implemented. Adequate decision-makers and decision criteria should be in place, and steps to mitigate bias should be taken.
Ownership and Accountability	Decisions need to be owned by the decision-makers, including appropriate consequences.