Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Transition/Preparation events

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Preparation events will be held as the first part of moveement strategy Transition events. To co-create a collaborative, movement-wide implementation plan for the Movement Strategy recommendations, communities, affiliates, and the Wikimedia Foundation have to select their top priorities for implementation in 2021. There are close to 50 changes and actions or “initiatives,” in the recommendations and not all can be implemented at the same time. The Transition process aims to prepare individuals and organizations to identify changes and actions that matter to them and their communities. The Transition Design Group recommended preparatory events to share information about the process, discuss the recommendations, and begin to identify these local, regional, and global priorities.

Overview

Based on the Design Group discussions, suggested events below will start preparations beginning in September 2020. Preparation events are to be hosted by affiliates and communities with support from the Support Team and Design Group members. The hope is that by leading preparation and onboarding others, individuals and organizations will develop agency to better participate in implementation discussions. The output from this phase of discussions will be a simple list of local and global priorities. For some contexts, it makes sense to select a common language to share information and start conversations. In other contexts, a regional identity is more inclusive. The list of events is open. Affiliates and communities are encouraged to host local or thematic events to discuss priorities for implementing the recommendations.

Regional events suggested: Eastern Africa, Western Africa, ESEAP, Europe, Latin America, South Asia
Language events suggested: Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish

Objectives

To introduce the Transition process (including the series of virtual events and the resulting implementation plan)
To discuss the Movement Strategy recommendations and principles at a level that is relevant for that community
To prepare people and organizations for the thematic and global discussions on implementation
To begin to identify relevant priorities for implementation (local, regional, thematic, global)
To bring people together and create connections across the movement

Approach

The Design Group stressed the importance of preparatory events that are engaging, locally-relevant, and without the need for a deep knowledge of Movement Strategy. The Transition Support Team will provide guidance and templates for interested communities or affiliates to host the events. Space will also be provided on-wiki participation and via asynchronous contributions. Templates, translation, facilitation, and documentation are required for the online events to ensure everyone is heard, people feel safe and welcomed to contribute, and relevant information is captured to feed into thematic and global events. Consolidation of notes and analysis would be done by the Support Team and shared on wiki. The Support Team will also keep communities updated and will regularly check in with the Design Group to monitor progress.

Thematic and global events

In addition to regional and linguistic events, the need for discussions with a thematic focus was raised by communities and the Design Group. Affiliates and communities are encouraged to host thematic discussions as interest emerges. Similar to preparation events, the Support Team will provide guidance and templates for interested individuals and organizations. Thematic events identified so far by communities:

Groups usually underrepresented in movement discussions: women, online and project communities, BIPOC, LGBTQ+

Following preparation and thematic discussions, there will be global events on key topics, such as the interim Global Council, and others that emerge from the discussions. More information will be provided as details are planned. Following global discussions, there will be follow-up or consolidation events to report back to communities and to discuss roles and responsibilities for taking implementation forward.

Resources

In line with the spirit of collaboration, the events can be co-hosted by multiple affiliates and communities. Larger affiliates are encouraged to partner with smaller groups or to support them in hosting their own discussions. The need for translation, facilitation, and documentation has been stressed by the Design Group. This would help make better use of volunteer time, create more fruitful and equitable discussions, and make sure relevant information is captured. It may be possible to reallocate resources from existing budgets for in-person events cancelled due to the global pandemic. Please contact your grants officer. For follow-up and implementation events in 2021, groups and organizations are encouraged to apply for conference and events grants. For all events, please adhere to COVID-19 risk assessment and guidance from the Foundation.

Next steps

The Support Team will work with interested individuals and organizations to host these preparation or thematic events. The Support Team will provide information on resource allocation and recompensation where possible. The Support Team will create:

Guidance based on Design Group discussions and lessons learned in phase 2 of Movement Strategy.
1. This will include ground rules as per Friendly space policy and guidance for diversity and inclusion, particularly for participation from women, underrepresented groups, and online/project communities.
Supporting materials, such as slide decks, analysis, and updates to wiki.
A simple template (document and wiki) to ensure key information is captured to connect across events and to create a unified movement-wide implementation plan.

One page summary in PDF format (English)