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Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/2019 Community Conversations/Strategy Salons/Reports/Wikimedia Côte d'Ivoire EN

< Strategy‎ | Wikimedia movement‎ | 2018-20‎ | 2019 Community Conversations‎ | Strategy Salons

Ce rapport est disponible en français (version d'origine) ici.

This report is available in French (original version) here.

Date and Location edit

  • Saturday 27th of July 2019
  • Geothe Institute in Abidjan

Participants List edit

  1. BILE Armel Pierre-Cédric
  2. Placide KONAN
  3. LAO Lionel Alex
  4. Aimé KOFFI
  5. BOIDOU Rita
  6. Kod B
  7. BOUAFFOU Paul
  8. ELIDJE Nick Jefferson
  9. TOURE Lamagnigui
  10. Koffi.noel
  11. Stéphane AGNINI
  12. Attreman
  13. Mouahé
  14. Mognissan
  15. Modjou
  16. Petrus yh
  17. Kahoutoure
  18. Aman ADO
  19. AMANI N’Guessan Serge
  20. Olivier Yao
  21. Aristidek5maya
  22. Samuel (WMF)
  23. Papischou
  24. Kctzch
  25. Nikki Zeuner

What happened ? edit

This meeting was held in order to share and collect ideas from the Côte d'Ivoire User Group about the « Capacity Building » thematic area in the context of the new Strategic Direction for the Wikimedia Movement. This meet-up was organized on the occasion of the visit of Nikki Zuner, coordinator of the « Capacity Building » working group, with Donatien Kangah, President of the Côte d'Ivoire User Group, and also member of the same working group.

Discussion points edit

Two main questions have guided reflexions :

  • Q1 – In order to make Wikimedia the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, what are the capacities we, as Wikimedians, need to develop?
  • Q2 – What (new or modified) structures and resources of the movement do Wikimedians need in order to mutually reinforce their capacities ?

The discussion lasted about half an hour, after which the two groups gave the following answers to the questions.

For the first question, it appears that, in order to make Wikimedia the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, Wikimedians should develop the following capacities: edit

  • Information retrieval (reliable, true information) and quote more sources;
  • Be sensible to contexts;
  • Develop partnerships with authorities;
  • Mobilize people to encourage engagement in local communities;
  • Professional communication about the movement's activities to increase visibility and credibility;
  • Contribute to Wikimedia projects;
  • Proactivity and availability;
  • Knowledge and experience sharing with others.

For the second question, about the structures and resources which are necessary for capacity building, the ideas were: edit

  • create regional and local branches of the Wikimedia Foundation in order to bring it closer to communities and improve support to affiliates;
  • create more Wiki Clubs at the local level (groups related to a national organization) who will grow awareness among the local populations who don't have direct access to Wikimedia ressources through ICT and the Internet;
  • create national conventions (large events) to which all national, regional and local entities would participate;
  • create a Moodle online space in order to centralize and facilitate the management of wiki resources;
  • have people from the Foundation visit every year to better supervise local communities;
  • have online platforms for communication which would be regularly updated and animated;
  • have a minimum of paid staff in local communities.

Reflexions from members and partners edit

Some of the ideas mentioned above were debated. In particular the “availability” issue. Donation Kangah was preoccupied by “how to create this availability among Wikimedians?”. According to Placide Konan, we should discuss with people who get involved in the movement in order to understand what their personnal motivations are, so we can orientate them more efficiently towards the role they can play. For Serge Amani N'Guessan, an individual's availability depends on their willpower. About this, Aman Ado suggested we should create enthusiasm inside the movement in order to arise Wikimedians' willpower. As for Colette Guebo, she thinks availability can only be motivated by offering resources (including financial resources) to volunteers. Nikki Zeuner pointed out that the question of availability is crucial for the movement, as an Non-Profit. For her, if we want the movement to thrive, each chapter should have, in addition to volunteers, professional staff. Also, one of the challenges is to find the good balance between volunteer activities and staff activities.

The second suggestion that was thoroughly discussed is the “creation of regional and local branches of the Wikimedia Foundation”. Donatien Kanagh asked what would be the role of these hypothetical branches, and how they would collaborate or share roles with existing national affiliates. For Aman Ado, the point would be to bring Foundation support and supervision closer to the affiliates and help them in their development. According to him, this could improve the impact. Also, the members of these regional branches would be better in touch with the realities of national affiliates; thus they would better understand their needs and take them into account in an optimized way. As for Colette Guebo, she opposed the idea of local branches because she thinks the collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation is already going pretty well, so there is no need to create new entities.

For Donatien Kanagh, the form of this suggestion for the creation of regional branches should be “discussed further” and “refined”. Also, he thinks that the idea of bringing the Wikimedia Foundation closer to local realities should be “analyzed further” because it might create leadership conflicts with local chapters.

Pictures edit

Financial Report edit

None. (Informal meeting.)

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