Talk:Wikipedians of Goa User Group

Shifting

Shifting the update for 2020 to the Content Page....

Proposals

If any important points, issues or names have been excluded from the main proposal page, pls add your comments here. Thanks! Fredericknoronha (talk) 10:12, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

Feedback over name

• After posting to the India Wikipedia network [Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>] on 27 Apr 2019, got this feedback:
  • Dear Frederick, Great to see such an initiative. I would like to suggest something important in my volunteer capacity. I would like to be anonymous about this suggestion. You can use this as you wish without attributing it to my name or user name.
  • Idea: Please keep some edits cap to vote and to participate in board elections. Membership can be open for all. But not board positions and voting. For example at least 300 edits to vote for and 3000-4000 edits or 300 uploads to commons for board elections (figures are just for example).
  • This helps the User group to a great deal. I am suggesting this based on West Bengal Wikimedians UG bylaws, which is helping them to get the right people on board. Please tweak this idea according to your needs if at all you like it. Even if you used it or not, no need to get back to me.

Suggestion on name

@Fredericknoronha: Hi Frederick, thanks for initiating this, much needed to grow the community in Goa. I would be happy to be involved more, but I have a quick suggestion for now regarding the name. I suggest renaming it to Wikimedians of Goa User Group. It is obvious that there will be people from various Wikimedia projects, but not just Wikipedia. For the name to be more inclusive, I suggest this. KCVelaga (talk) 11:44, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

• • That's a good suggestion, Krishna! --Fredericknoronha (talk) 20:18, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

• • • The suggestion was a bit late, and we were already deep into the process. So we got recognition as the Wikipedians of Goa User Group. Anyway, in spirit we agree with the idea that it includes WIkimedians (not just pedians!) Thanks, Krishna. Fredericknoronha (talk) 21:03, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

2019 Affiliations Committee call for candidates

The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of fourteen members, selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms. Those joining the committee during the current process will serve a two-year term ending in December 2021.

AffCom continues to closely monitor the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy process that was initiated in 2016. While the affiliation models continue to be discussed as part of the broader strategy discussion, as no decisions have been made to change the current affiliation models yet, AffCom will continue to work in the same manner with regard to affiliate recognitions and intervention support for affiliates with issues of non-compliance in 2020. Specifically, AffCom will continue to process applications for user group and chapter/thematic organization creation, while we await the strategy next steps and begin to prepare for a smooth transition of the committee and affiliates ecosystem to any changing movement structures and systems in 2021.

Being a part of the Affiliations Committee requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members.

Required and Recommended Skills for Affiliations Committee Members

Across all committee members there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required Skills

• Fluency in English
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
• Strong track record of effective collaboration
• International orientation

Relevant Skills

• Skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
• Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Documentation practices
• Interviewing experience
• Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus

• Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.

• Teamwork
  • Focusing on shared goals instead of disagreements
  • Focusing on the conflict at hand and not past ones
  • Ensuring each member of the team has a clearly defined role, which can help reduce disagreements over areas of responsibility
  • Project and people management to coordinate different parties on a shared plan and seeing it through to completion.

• Problem-Solving
  • Ability to evaluate various solutions
  • Ability to consider multiple interests and points of view
  • Willingness to revisit unresolved issues
  • The capacity to recognize and respond to important matters
  • The ability to seek compromise and avoid punishing
• Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining course in 2020 and preparing for potential 2021 transitions, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Affiliate Recognitions Relevant Skills

• Administration
  • Willingness to process applications through a set, perhaps bureaucratic process.
  • Attention to detail

• Monitoring & Strategic Development
  • Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.

• Organizational Awareness
  • Understanding of and community building and organizational development
  • Understanding of group dynamics
  • Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models

Conflict Prevention & Intervention Relevant Skills

• Communication
  • Active listening
  • Reading nonverbal cues
  • Knowing when to interrupt and when to stay quiet
  • Being culturally sensitive at the same time remaining clear and concise when explaining a concept or opinion

• Stress Management
  • Patience
  • Positivity
  • Ability to inject a dose of humor to dilute anger and frustration when needed
  • Taking well-timed breaks that can bring calm in the midst of flared tempers
  • Ability to manage stress while remaining alert and calm

• Emotional Intelligence
  • Being emotionally aware,
  • Ability to control emotions and behaviors,
  • Ability to practice empathy,
  • Impartiality,
  • Don’t take anything personally,
  • Being aware of and respectful of differences.

• Facilitation skills
  • Meeting facilitation experience
  • Peer or community mediation training
  • Peer or community mediation experience

Do you have any of these skill sets and an interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2019 member selection process will include a public review and comment period. We invite you to share with us you applications, specifying your focus area you’re interested in. All applications received by the committee will be posted on Meta, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

At the end of the public comment period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee who are not seeking re-election, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2020, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please post your application on the nomination page and send an email announcing your application to AffComlists.wikimedia.org by 10 January 2020. Your application must include the following information:

• Your full name and Wikimedia username
• A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.
• Answers to the following questions:

1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
3. What do you feel you will bring to the committee that makes you uniquely qualified?
4. Which subcommittee are you most interested in serving on: Recognitions OR Conflict Prevention & Intervention?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

Camelia Boban, AffCom member

Wikimedia Movement Strategy: 2020 Community Conversations

Dear Wikimedians,

Greetings! Wishing you a very happy new year!

We have an update for the next steps of the Movement Strategy! We're preparing for a final round of community conversations with Wikimedia affiliates and online communities around a synthesized set of draft recommendations to start around late/mid January. In the meantime, recommendations’ writers and strategy team has been working on integrating community ideas and feedback into these recommendations. Thank you, for all of your contributions!

What's New?

The recommendations writers have been working to consolidate the 89 recommendations produced by the working groups. They met in Berlin a few weeks back for an in-person session to produce a synthesized recommendations document which will be shared for public comment around late/mid January. A number of common areas for change were reflected in the recommendations, and the writers assessed and clustered them around these areas. The goal was to outline the overall direction of the change and present one set that is clearly understood, implementable and demonstrates the reasoning behind each.

What's Next?

We will be reaching out to you to help engage your affiliate in discussing this new synthesized version. Your input in helping us refine and advance key ideas will be invaluable, and we are looking forward to engaging with you for a period of thirty days from late/mid January. Our final consultation round is to give communities a chance to "review and discuss" the draft recommendations, highlighting areas of support and concern as well as indicating how your community would be affected.

Please share ideas on how you would like to meet and discuss the final draft recommendations when they are released near Mid January whether through your strategy salons, joining us at global and regional events, joining online conversations, or sending in notes from affiliate discussions. We couldn't do this without you, and hope that you will enjoy seeing your input reflected in the next draft and final recommendations. This will be an opportunity for the movement to review and respond to the recommendations before they are finalized.

If possible, we'd love if you could feature a discussion of the draft recommendations at the next in-person meeting of your affiliate, ideally between the last week of January and the first week of February. If not, please let us know how we can help support you with online conversations and discussing how the draft recommendations fit with the ideas shared at your strategy salon (when applicable).

The input communities have shared so far has been carefully documented, analyzed, and folded into the synthesized draft recommendations. Communities will be able to see footnotes referencing community ideas. What they share again in January/February will be given the same care, seriousness, and transparency.

This final round of community feedback will be presented to the Board of Trustees alongside the final recommendations that will be shared at the Wikimedia Summit.

Warmly -- User:RSharma (WMF) 15:58, 4 January 2020 (UTC)

Wikimedia 2030: Movement Strategy Community conversations are here!

Dear Affiliate Representatives and community members,

The launch of our final round of community conversation is finally here! We are excited to have the opportunity to invite you to take part. 
The recommendations have been published! Please take time over the next five weeks to review and help us understand how your organization and community would be impacted.

What Does This Mean?

The core recommendations document has now been published on Meta in Arabic, English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish. This is the result of more than a year of dedicated work by our working groups, and we are pleased to share the evolution of their work for your final consideration. 
In addition to the recommendations text, you can read through key documents such as Principles, Process, and the Writer’s Reflections, which lend important context to this work and highlight the ways that the recommendations are conceptually interlinked.
We also have a brief Narrative of Change [5] which offers a summary introduction to the recommendations material. 

How Is My Input Reflected In This Work?

Community input played an important role in the drafting of these recommendations. The core recommendations document reflects this and cites community input throughout in footnotes. I also encourage you to take a look at our community input summaries. These texts show a further analysis of how all of the ideas you shared last year through online conversations, affiliate meetings, and strategy salons connect to recommendations. Many of the community notes and reports not footnoted in the core recommendations document are referenced here as evidence of the incredible convergence of ideas that have brought us this far.  

What Happens Now?

Affiliates, online communities, and other stakeholders have the next five weeks to discuss and share feedback on these recommendations. In particular, we’re hoping to better understand how you think they would impact our movement - what benefits and opportunities do you foresee for your affiliate, and why? What challenges or barriers would they pose for you? Your input at this stage is vital, and we’d like to warmly invite you to participate in this final discussion period.

We encourage volunteer discussion co-ordinators for facilitating these discussions in your local language community on-wiki, on social media, informal or formal meet ups, on-hangouts, IRC or the village pump of your project. Please collect a report from these channels or conversations and connect with me directly so that I can be sure your input is collected and used. Alternatively, you can also post the feedback on the meta talk pages of the respective recommendations.

After this five week period, the Core Team will publish a summary report of input from across affiliates, online communities, and other stakeholders for public review before the recommendations are finalized. You can view our updated timeline here as well as an updated FAQ section that addresses topics like the goal of this current period, the various components of the draft recommendations, and what’s next in more detail. 
Thank you again for taking the time to join us in community conversations, and we look forward to receiving your input. (Please help us by translating this message into your local language). Happy reading! RSharma (WMF) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:31, 20 January 2020 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos

Dear Wikimedia Affiliate Community,

We are inviting you to participate in Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP), a new global contest scheduled to run from July through August 2020:

Participants will choose among Wikipedia pages without photo images, then add a suitable file from among the many thousands of photos in the Wikimedia Commons, especially those uploaded from thematic contests (Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, etc.) over the years.

WPWP offers a focused task for guiding new editors through the steps of adding content to existing pages. It can be used to organize editing workshops and edit-a-thons.

The organizing team is looking for a contact person at the Chapter, Thematic group & Wikimedia User Group level (geographically or thematically), or for a language WP, to coordinate the project locally. We’d be glad for you to sign up directly at WPWP Participating Communities

Thank you,

Deborah Schwartz Jacobs

On behalf of Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos Organizing Team - 21:19, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

Call for candidates - June 2020

Hi everyone,

The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms. As the committee must hold mid-year elections to replenish its members at this time, those joining the committee during the current process will serve a slightly extended term from July 2020 through December 2022.

AffCom continues to closely monitor the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy process initiated in 2016. While the affiliation models continue to be discussed as part of the broader strategy discussion, as no decisions have been made to change the current affiliation models yet, AffCom continues to work in the same manner with regard to affiliate recognitions and intervention support for affiliates with issues of non-compliance in 2020. AffCom continues to process applications for user group and chapter/thematic organization creation, while we await the strategy next steps and begin to prepare for a smooth transition of the committee and affiliates ecosystem to any changing movement structures and systems in 2021.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Click here for further details.

James Heilman on behalf of AffCom

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:18, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee elections announcement June 2020

Hi everyone,

This is a friendly reminder that the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members! The deadline to post your application on the nomination page is 30 June 2020.

• Application process: Considering the anticipated changes following the Strategy recommendations, we had a limited scope to introduce changes in the process. We have made a small but impactful addition to the application process by introducing the Self Assessment survey form which will help the committee know more about your engagement as endorsements are not consistently shared, may not be representative, and often do not speak to the specific skills needed.
• Selection process: No change; see: Membership.

If you have any questions, please contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to answer questions about our work if this helps people decide to apply. Please distribute this announcement among your networks. Good luck to all the candidates!

On behalf of the committee,

--Rosiestep (talk) 00:49, 19 June 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

June 21 All-Affiliates Brand Meeting

All Wikimedia affiliates are invited to join an urgent All-Affiliates Brand Meeting in two sessions on Sunday June 21, regarding the most recent developments.--Pharos (talk) 20:05, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Feedback on movement names

There are a lot of conversations happening about the future of our movement names. We hope that you are part of these discussions and that your community is represented.

Since 16 June, the Foundation Brand Team has been running a survey in 7 languages about 3 naming options. There are also community members sharing concerns about renaming in a Community Open Letter.

You should have received a separate affiliate survey via email. If you have not, feel free to email brandprojectwikimedia.org.

Our goal in this call for feedback is to hear from across the community, so we encourage you to participate in the survey, the open letter, or both. The survey will go through 7 July in all timezones. Input from the survey and discussions will be analyzed and published on Meta-Wiki.

Thanks for thinking about the future of the movement --The Brand Project team, 13:37, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Note: The survey is conducted via a third-party service, which may subject it to additional terms. For more information on privacy and data-handling, see the survey privacy statement.

Announcing a new wiki project! Welcome, Abstract Wikipedia

Hello everyone. I am posting the announcement below, which you may have missed elsewhere, and in the hope that you can share it with your local communities. Please note that it may be available in your language at m:Special:MyLanguage/Abstract Wikipedia/July 2020 announcement. Thanks for your attention! m:User:Elitre (WMF)

Hi all,

It is my honor to introduce Abstract Wikipedia, a new project that has been unanimously approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Abstract Wikipedia proposes a new way to generate baseline encyclopedic content in a multilingual fashion, allowing more contributors and more readers to share more knowledge in more languages. It is an approach that aims to make cross-lingual cooperation easier on our projects, increase the sustainability of our movement through expanding access to participation, improve the user experience for readers of all languages, and innovate in free knowledge by connecting some of the strengths of our movement to create something new.

This is our first new project in over seven years. Abstract Wikipedia was submitted as a project proposal by Denny Vrandečić in May 2020 after years of preparation and research, leading to a detailed plan and lively discussions in the Wikimedia communities. We know that the energy and the creativity of the community often runs up against language barriers, and information that is available in one language may not make it to other language Wikipedias. Abstract Wikipedia intends to look and feel like a Wikipedia, but build on the powerful, language-independent conceptual models of Wikidata, with the goal of letting volunteers create and maintain Wikipedia articles across our polyglot Wikimedia world.

The project will allow volunteers to assemble the fundamentals of an article using words and entities from Wikidata. Because Wikidata uses conceptual models that are meant to be universal across languages, it should be possible to use and extend these building blocks of knowledge to create models for articles that also have universal value. Using code, volunteers will be able to translate these abstract “articles” into their own languages. If successful, this could eventually allow everyone to read about any topic in Wikidata in their own language.

As you can imagine, this work will require a lot of software development, and a lot of cooperation among Wikimedians. In order to make this effort possible, Denny will join the Foundation as a staff member in July and lead this initiative. You may know Denny as the creator of Wikidata, a long-time community member, a former staff member at Wikimedia Deutschland, and a former Trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation . We are very excited that Denny will bring his skills and expertise to work on this project alongside the Foundation’s product, technology, and community liaison teams.

It is important to acknowledge that this is an experimental project, and that every Wikipedia community has different needs. This project may offer some communities great advantages. Other communities may engage less. Every language Wikipedia community will be free to choose and moderate whether or how they would use content from this project.

We are excited that this new wiki-project has the possibility to advance knowledge equity through increased access to knowledge. It also invites us to consider and engage with critical questions about how and by whom knowledge is constructed. We look forward to working in cooperation with the communities to think through these important questions.

There is much to do as we begin designing a plan for Abstract Wikipedia in close collaboration with our communities. I encourage you to get involved by going to the project page and joining the new mailing list . We recognize that Abstract Wikipedia is ambitious, but we also recognize its potential. We invite you all to join us on a new, unexplored path.

Yours,

Katherine Maher (Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation) -16:51, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Sunday August 23: Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Strategic flock of Wikimedians heading in a new direction.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a proposed forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

The idea is to follow up on the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting and other strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 21:45, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Sunday September 20 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Birds of a feather flock together.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August SWAN meeting and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, this month we are meeting on Sunday September 20, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 02:12, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Movement Strategy - What Are Your Choices For Implementation

Hello Wikipedians of Goa User Group,

The time has come to put Strategy into work and everyone's invited to participate.

The Movement Strategy Design Group and Support Team are inviting you to organize virtual meetings with your community and colleagues before the end of October. The aim is for you to decide what ideas from the Movement Strategy recommendations respond to your needs and will have an impact in the movement. The recommendations are available in different formats and in many languages. There are 10 awesome recommendations and close to 50 recommended changes and actions or initiatives. Not everything will be implemented. The aim of prioritization is to create an 18-month implementation plan to take some of the initiatives forward starting in 2021.

Prioritization is at the level of your group, affiliate, and community. Think local and relevant! Regional and thematic platforms are great ways to prepare and share ideas. Afterwards, we will come together in November to co-create the implementation plan. More information about November’s global events will be shared soon. For now and until the end of October, organize locally and share your priorities with us.

You can find guidance for the events, the simple reporting template, and other supporting materials here on Meta. You can share your results directly on Meta, by email, or by filling out this survey. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments, strategy2030wikimedia.org

We will be hosting office hours to answer any questions you might have, Thursday October 1 at 14.00 UTC (Google Meet).

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 16:18, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Notification of User Group Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting

Greetings @Fredericknoronha: & @The Discoverer:,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia User Groups are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2019 annual reporting became past due in July. Please be sure to :

1. Post your 2019 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.
2. Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and
3. Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Best regards,
MKaur (WMF) (talk) 13:02, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

@Fredericknoronha: & @The Discoverer: Please see the notice above. If you do not follow the steps above to report on your group's annual activities, your user group will no longer be recognized as an active Wikimedia affiliate. MKaur (WMF) (talk) 23:20, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

Wikidata Eighth Birthday merchandise

Birthday banner for 4th Wikidata Birthday

Hello affiliate contacts,

As you know, WikiProject India is celebrating the 8th birthday of Wikidata this October and CIS-A2K will be sending Wikidata special merchandise to all Indian affiliates and communities upon request.

• There is no need for community notification for affiliate requests. But, affiliate contacts or board members or executive committee members or people in similar position, who can represent the affiliate, need to do the request.
• Indian language communities having geographical affiliates are requested to discuss any need with their respective affiliates first and ask them to request them on their behalf.
• It is expected that the requests for merchandise and/or infrastructure should be practical enough to be used by community members and within the budget of maximum INR 10,000 for each affiliates. Only one request for each affiliate will be accepted.
• CIS-A2K will not design for the merchandise. If any custom design is preferred, the affiliate or the community should upload it to Wikimedia Commons as svg format and send the link to CIS-A2K, which will be taken care of, while printing it. The design should be Wikidata specific only.
• Sounds interesting? You can request for merchandise here.

Regards,
Bodhisattwa (CIS-A2K)
Sent through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:17, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Sunday October 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Friendship is a movement value.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the September and August SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including the recent proposed changes to the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, this month we are meeting on Sunday October 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 17:24, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

Join the Global Conversations on November 21 and 22

Hola, こんにちは, E kaabo, Ciao, ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ, Hello, سلام, Halo, Salut, 你好, Nnọọ, হ্যালো, Hallo, สวัสดี, Dzień dobry, Gyebale ko, வணக்கம், Mi Kwabo, ନମସ୍କାର, приветствие, שלום, Mholo, नमस्ते, γεια, Ahoj, ഹലോ, 여보세요, مرحبا, Բարեւ Ձեզ, Xin chào, Hallå, ಹಲೋ, Sawubona, નમસ્તે, Здраво, Merhaba, Talofa, హలో, Olá, ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ

Wikipedians of Goa User Group, we would love to see you at the upcoming Movement Strategy Global Conversations. It’s been a while.

The Movement Strategy Global Conversations will take place on Saturday November 21, 11:00 to 15:00 UTC, and Sunday November 22, 17:00 to 21:00 UTC, and you are warmly invited.

The focus will be to look at priorities identified by communities and affiliates, and to begin to create a movement-wide implementation plan for 2021. The main sessions will be in English. Any group interested to support live interpretation in another language may be able to receive a rapid grant. Let us know as soon as possible.

Please register by Nov. 20 so we can share the Zoom login information with you. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Support Team via Telegram, Wikimedia Chat or by email at strategy2030wikimedia.org.

Looking forward to seeing you on November 21 or 22.

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 16:05, 16 November 2020 (UTC)

Call for insights on ways to better communicate the work of the movement

The Movement Strategy recommendations published this year made clear the importance of establishing stronger communications within our movement. To this end, the Foundation wants to gather insights from communities, including affiliates, on ways we all might more consistently communicate about our collective work, and better highlight community contributions from across the movement. Over the coming months, we will be running focus groups and online discussions to collect these insights. We hope your affiliate will decide to share your thoughts by participating in a focus group or joining the discussion on Meta-Wiki.

ELappen (WMF) (talk) 18:54, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Sunday November 29 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Take flight with us.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, and October SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including the recent proposed changes to the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, this month we are meeting on Sunday November 29, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of 03:00 UTC and 19:00 UTC are the same as before, although a number of places have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 18:47, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Global Conversations continue on December 5 and 6

Hola, こんにちは, Ciao, Hello, سلام, Halo, Salut, 你好, Nnọọ, হ্যালো, Hallo, สวัสดี, Dzień dobry, வணக்கம், приветствие, שלום, Mholo, हैलो, γεια, Ahoj, ഹലോ, 여보세요, مرحبا, Բարեւ Ձեզ, Olá, Xin chào, Hallå, ಹಲೋ, Sawubona, Здраво, Merhaba, Talofa, హలో

Global Conversations Dec. 5 & 6

Hi Wikipedians of Goa User Group. 250 people participated in virtual Global Conversations that took place on November 21 and 22. The conversation continues on December 5 and 6 and we warmly invite you to take part. Registration is open until December 4. Looking forward to seeing you.

Since September, many groups have shared their local, regional, and thematic priorities for implementing the Movement Strategy recommendations. During the first set of Global Conversations on Nov. 21 and 22, we focused on initiatives that should be globally prioritized and coordinated. We invite you to read the selected global priorities. What do you like about them? What is missing? And what would make you want to play an active role in implementation? Share your thoughts in advance and continue the conversation on December 5 and 6.

Looking forward to seeing you again, or for the first time, on December 5 and 6.

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 20:58, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia 20th celebration "the way I & my family feels"

Greetings,

A very Happy New Year 2021. As you all know this year we are going to celebrate Wikipedia's 20th birthday on 15th January 2021, to start the celebration, I like to invite all of you to participate in the event titled "Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

The event will be conducted from 1st January 2021 till 14th February 2021 in two segments, details on the event page.

Please have a look at the event page: '"Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

Let's all be creative and celebrate Wikipedia20 birthday, "the way I and my family feels".

If you are interested to contribute please participate. Do feel free to share the news and ask others to participate.

Namaste,

Rajeeb (talk) 13:57, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Sunday January 10 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Into the blue.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, and November SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including SWAN input on Interim Global Council and Movement Charter, this month we are meeting on Sunday January 10, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

To start the exchange of ideas on the IGC early, and to help prepare before the SWAN calls, we have set up and invite everyone to participate at this etherpad. If you like a more interactive way of discussing, we have also made a jamboard. Check here for more details.

--Pharos (talk) 18:38, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Gentle Reminder: Wikipedia 20th celebration "the way I & my family feels"

Greetings,

As you all know this year we are going to celebrate Wikipedia's 20th birthday on 15th January 2021, and it's another 5 days to go.

I like to invite all of you to participate in the event titled "Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

We have received a good number of creative works already and looking for more. To know about already submitted creative work, kindly visit here

For more information, kindly have a look at the event page: '"Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

Let's all be creative and celebrate Wikipedia20 birthday, "the way I and my family feels".

If you are interested to contribute please participate. Do feel free to share the news and ask others to participate.

Namaste,

Rajeeb (talk) 04:24, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Kind Update: Wikipedia 20th celebration "the way I & my family feels"

Greetings,

We write to thank you for your immense contribution so far to our event titled "Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

To give more time to participate we have decided to extend the contest for four additional weeks and continue the celebration.

So the new date is now 14th February 2021.

To know about already submitted creative work, kindly visit here

For more information, kindly have a look at the event page: "Wikipedia 20th celebration the way I & my family feels"

Let's all be creative and celebrate Wikipedia20 birthday, "the way I and my family feels".

If you are interested to contribute please participate. Do feel free to share the news and ask others to participate.

Namaste,

Rajeeb (talk) 18:30, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

WMF bylaws amendments and upcoming call for feedback

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has discussed and approved some governance improvements in two recent meetings, on December 9 and January 8. As the governing body for the Wikimedia Foundation, the board wants to improve its capacity, performance, and representation of the movement’s diversity. The board has amended the Bylaws in support of that goal. Please check the details in the announcement published on Meta-Wiki. There will soon be a call for feedback regarding selection of new trustees. Let me know if you have any questions related to this. KCVelaga (WMF) (talk) 11:44, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Project Grant Open Call

This is the announcement for the Project Grants program open call that started on January 11, with the submission deadline of February 10, 2021.
This first open call will be focussed on Community Organizing proposals. A second open call focused on research and software proposals is scheduled from February 15 with a submission deadline of March 16, 2021.

For the Round 1 open call, we invite you to propose grant applications that fall under community development and organizing (offline and online) categories. Project Grant funds are available to support individuals, groups, and organizations to implement new experiments and proven ideas, from organizing a better process on your wiki, coordinating a campaign or editathon series to providing other support for community building. We offer the following resources to help you plan your project and complete a grant proposal:

Weekly proposals clinics via Zoom during the Open Call. Join us for #Upcoming_Proposal_Clinics|real-time discussions with Program Officers and select thematic experts and get live feedback about your Project Grants proposal. We’ll answer questions and help you make your proposal better.

• Video tutorials for writing a strong application
  
• General planning page for Project Grants
  
• Program guidelines and criteria
  

Program officers are also available to offer individualized proposal support upon request. Contact us at projectgrants@wikimedia.org if you would like feedback or more information.

We are excited to see your grant ideas that will support our community and make an impact on the future of Wikimedia projects. Put your idea into motion, and submit your proposal by February 10, 2021!

Please feel free to get in touch with questions about getting started with your grant application, or about serving on the Project Grants Committee. Contact us at projectgrantswikimedia.org.
RSharma (WMF)MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:56, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Call for feedback: WMF Community Board seats & Office hours tomorrow

(sorry for posting in English)

Dear Wikimedians,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is organizing a call for feedback about community selection processes between February 1 and March 14. Below you will find the problem statement and various ideas from the Board to address it. We are offering multiple channels for questions and feedback. With the help of a team of community facilitators, we are organizing multiple conversations with multiple groups in multiple languages.

During this call for feedback we publish weekly reports and we draft the final report that will be delivered to the Board. With the help of this report, the Board will approve the next steps to organize the selection of six community seats in the upcoming months. Three of these seats are due for renewal and three are new, recently approved.

Participate in this call for feedback and help us form a more diverse and better performing Board of Trustees!

Problems: While the Wikimedia Foundation and the movement have grown about five times in the past ten years, the Board’s structure and processes have remained basically the same. As the Board is designed today, we have a problem of capacity, performance, and lack of representation of the movement’s diversity. This problem was identified in the Board’s 2019 governance review, along with recommendations for how to address it.

To solve the problem of capacity, we have agreed to increase the Board size to a maximum of 16 trustees (it was 10). Regarding performance and diversity, we have approved criteria to evaluate new Board candidates. What is missing is a process to promote community candidates that represent the diversity of our movement and have the skills and experience to perform well on the Board of a complex global organization.

Our current processes to select individual volunteer and affiliate seats have some limitations. Direct elections tend to favor candidates from the leading language communities, regardless of how relevant their skills and experience might be in serving as a Board member, or contributing to the ability of the Board to perform its specific responsibilities. It is also a fact that the current processes have favored volunteers from North America and Western Europe. Meanwhile, our movement has grown larger and more complex, our technical and strategic needs have increased, and we have new and more difficult policy challenges around the globe. As well, our Movement Strategy recommendations urge us to increase our diversity and promote perspectives from other regions and other social backgrounds.

In the upcoming months, we need to renew three community seats and appoint three more community members in the new seats. What process can we all design to promote and choose candidates that represent our movement and are prepared with the experience, skills, and insight to perform as trustees?

Ideas: The Board has discussed several ideas to overcome the problems mentioned above. Some of these ideas could be taken and combined, and some discarded. Other ideas coming from the call for feedback could be considered as well. The ideas are:

• Ranked voting system. Complete the move to a single transferable vote system, already used to appoint affiliate-selected seats, which is designed to best capture voters’ preferences.
• Quotas. Explore the possibility of introducing quotas to ensure certain types of diversity in the Board (details about these quotas to be discussed in this call for feedback).
• Call for types of skills and experiences. When the Board makes a new call for candidates, they would specify types of skills and experiences especially sought.
• Vetting of candidates. Potential candidates would be assessed using the Trustee Evaluation Form and would be confirmed or not as eligible candidates.
• Board-delegated selection committee. The community would nominate candidates that this committee would assess and rank using the Trustee Evaluation Form. This committee would have community elected members and Board appointed members.
• Community-elected selection committee. The community would directly elect the committee members. The committee would assess and rank candidates using the Trustee Evaluation Form.
• Election of confirmed candidates. The community would vote for community nominated candidates that have been assessed and ranked using the Trustee Evaluation Form. The Board would appoint the most voted candidates.
• Direct appointment of confirmed candidates. After the selection committee produces a ranked list of community nominated candidates, the Board would appoint the top-ranked candidates directly.

Call for feedback: The call for feedback runs from February 1 until the end of March 14. We are looking for a broad representation of opinions. We are interested in the reasoning and the feelings behind your opinions. In a conversation like this one, details are important. We want to support good conversations where everyone can share and learn from others. We want to hear from those who understand Wikimedia governance well and are already active in movement conversations. We also want to hear from people who do not usually contribute to discussions. Especially those who are active in their own roles, topics, languages or regions, but usually not in, say, a call for feedback on Meta.

You can participate by joining the Telegram chat group, and giving feedback on any of the talk pages on Meta-Wiki. We are welcoming the organisation of conversations in any language and in any channel. If you want us to organize a conversation or a meeting for your wiki project or your affiliate, please write to me. I will also reach out to communities and affiliates to soon have focused group discussions.

An office hour is also happening tomorrow at 12 pm (UTC) to discuss this topic. Access link will be available 15 minutes before the scheduled time (please watch the office hour page for the link, and I will also share on mailing lists). In case you are not able to make it, please don't worry, there will be more discussions and meetings in the next few weeks.

Regards, KCVelaga (WMF) 16:32, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

Sunday February 21 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

We are a mosiac.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, and January SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, this month we are meeting on Sunday February 21, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

To help set priorities for the SWAN agenda, and also to help manage which global conversations should be a focus in general, we have set up and invite everyone to participate at this SWAN priorities form. Possible topics include Community Board seats, Interim Global Council, Strategy prioritization follow-up events, Branding, Universal Code of Conduct, Grant strategy, and WMF CEO search. That is a lot of things, which are most important to cover in our upcoming SWAN meeting?

--Pharos (talk) 18:49, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

WMF Community Board seats: Upcoming panel discussions

As a result of the first three weeks of the call for feedback on WMF Community Board seats, three topics turned out to be the focus of the discussion. Additionally, a new idea has been introduced by a community member recently: Candidates resources. We would like to pursue these focus topics and the new idea appropriately, discussing them in depth and collecting new ideas and fresh approaches by running four panels in the next week. Every panel includes four members from the movement covering many regions, backgrounds and experiences, along with a trustee of the Board. Every panel will last 45 minutes, followed by a 45-minute open mic discussion, where everyone’s free to ask questions or to contribute to the further development of the panel's topics.

• Skills for Board work - Friday, March 12, 18:00 UTC
• Support for candidates - Saturday, March 13, 13:30 UTC
• Board - Global Council - Hubs - Saturday, March 13, 16:00 UTC
• Regional diversity - Sunday, March 14, 13:00 UTC

To counter spamming, the meeting link will be updated on the Meta-Wiki pages and also on the Telegram announcements channel, 15 minutes before the official start.

Let me know if you have any questions, KCVelaga (WMF), 08:36, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

CIS-A2K Community Needs Assessment 2021-22

Dear Wikimedians,
CIS-A2K is in a process of writing 2021–2022 work-plan. To design the programs based on the needs of the community and volunteers, we invite your valuable suggestions and thoughts. We would like to improve our working continuously taking into consideration the responses/feedback about the events conducted previously. We request you to go through the various sections in the form and respond.
Google form link - Click here to submit your plan

Please write in detail. We would like to discuss this over the phone/email also if needed. Contact tito+2020@cis-india.org if you have a question(s) or for further details or a detailed comment.
With best wishes,
Jayanta (CIS-A2K) (talk) 07:12, 13 March 2021 (UTC) behalf -
Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge Programme (CIS-A2K)

Sunday March 21 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Community as a hand-carved gem.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, and February SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Grants relaunch and Community Board seats, this month we are meeting on Sunday March 21, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of 03:00 UTC and 19:00 UTC are the same as before, although some places have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 04:13, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

(Sorry for writing this message in English - feel free to help us translating it)

Dear User Group member,

CIS-A2K is in a process of writing the 2021–2022 work-plan. As a core member of the user group, We invite you with your project plan, ideas and thoughts with budgetary details up to INR 50,000. We may work on this plan in the coming year 2021-22 with assured budgetary allocation.

We would like to improve our working continuously taking into consideration the basic needs of your user group and will conduct the event which you proposed. We request you to go through and submit your plan before 30 March 2021 here

We request you to go through the various sections in the form and respond.

Google form link - CIS-A2K Community Needs Assessment 2021-22

Please write in detail. We would like to discuss this over the phone/email also if needed. Contact tito+2020@cis-india.org if you have a question(s) or for further details or a detailed comment.
With best wishes,
Jayanta (CIS-A2K) (talk) 06:45, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Sunday April 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Swanlings grow up together.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, and March SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Interim Global Council + Movement Charter, WMF Resolution about the upcoming Board elections, Community Resilience and Sustainability role in Movement Strategy coordination, Grants Strategy Relaunch, Wikimedia Enterprise / OKAPI, and WMF Executive Transition

This month we are meeting on Sunday April 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of 03:00 UTC and 19:00 UTC are the same as before, although some places may have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 18:47, 21 April 2021 (UTC)

Invitation for Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021

Hello there,

We are inviting you to participate in Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021, a global contest scheduled to run from July through August 2021.

Participants will choose among Wikipedia pages without photo images, then add a suitable file from among the many thousands of photos in the Wikimedia Commons, especially those uploaded from thematic contests (Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, etc.) over the years.

In its first year (2020), 36 Wikimedia communities in 27 countries joined the campaign. Events relating to the campaign included training organized by at least 18 Wikimedia communities in 14 countries.

The campaign resulted in the addition of media files (photos, audios and videos) to more than 90,000 Wikipedia articles in 272 languages.

Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) offers an ideal task for recruiting and guiding new editors through the steps of adding content to existing pages. Besides individual participation, the WPWP campaign can be used by user groups and chapters to organize editing workshops and edit-a-thons.

The organizing team is looking for a contact person to coordinate WPWP participation at the Wikimedia user group or chapter level (geographically or thematically) or for a language WP. We’d be glad for you to reply to this message, or sign up directly at WPWP Participating Communities.

Please feel free to contact Organizing Team if you have any query.

Kind regards,
Tulsi Bhagat
Communication Manager
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos Campaign
Message delivered by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:48, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

Call for Election Volunteers: 2021 WMF Board elections

Hello all,

Based on an extensive call for feedback earlier this year, the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees announced the plan for the 2021 Board elections. Apart from improving the technicalities of the process, the Board is also keen on improving active participation from communities in the election process. During the last elections, Voter turnout in prior elections was about 10% globally. It was better in communities with volunteer election support. Some of those communities reached over 20% voter turnout. We know we can get more voters to help assess and promote the best candidates, but to do that, we need your help.

We are looking for volunteers to serve as Election Volunteers. Election Volunteers should have a good understanding of their communities. The facilitation team sees Election Volunteers as doing the following:

• Promote the election and related calls to action in community channels.
• With the support from facilitators, organize discussions about the election in their communities.
• Translate “a few” messages for their communities

Check out more details about Election Volunteers and add your name next to the community you will support in this table. We aim to have at least one Election Volunteer, even better if there are two or more sharing the work. If you have any queries, please ping me under this message or email me. Regards, KCVelaga (WMF) 05:22, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee Call for Candidates - June 2021

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Responsibilities

• Availability of up to 5-8 hours per month

• Participate in monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings

• Commitment to carry out assigned tasks in a given time.

• Facilitate and support communications

• Affiliate Support and growth

Required and Recommended Abilities, Skills, Knowledge for Affiliations Committee Members

Strong interpersonal relationship among members of the committee and also with the Wikimedia community members. Across all committee members, there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required

• Fluency in English
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
• Strong track record of effective collaboration
• International orientation

Relevant for all members

• Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
• Skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Documentation practices
• Interviewing experience
• Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.
• Teamwork: Project and people management skills to coordinate and collaborate with different parties on a shared plan and see it through to completion.
• Problem-Solving: Ability to evaluate various solutions, consider multiple interests and points of view, revisit unresolved issues, seek compromise and work and communicate across languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining the course in 2021 and preparing for potential 2021 transitions as part of the Movement Strategy implementation process, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Relevant to Affiliate Recognitions

• Administration & Attention to detail
• Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
• Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models and understanding of community building, organizational development, and group dynamics

Relevant to Conflict Prevention & Intervention

• Communication skills for active listening, clear instruction and turn-taking.
• Stress Management skills for maintaining patience and positivity
• Emotional intelligence to maintain awareness of emotions of oneself and others to practice empathy, impartiality, and mutual respect.
• Facilitation, negotiation, and mediation skills to guide diverse individuals and groups toward cooperation.
• Ability to work within a team

Do you have relevant skills and interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2021 member selection process will include a public review and comment period and a self-assessment survey for candidates to share their skills and experience. This self-assessment information will help the committee to identify the skill sets relevant to our affiliate support processes. We invite you to apply for membership to the committee and join us in supporting the affiliates. The data shared in the self-assessment will only be made available to the committee and the relevant staff support. The nomination, candidate Q&A, and endorsements will be posted on Meta for public review at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Candidates/June_2021. Here the global community is welcome to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

Once the nomination window closes June 30, 2021, the sitting members who are not candidates for re-election in this cycle will deliberate and then vote, taking into account all inputs from the meta page, self-assessment, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and committee member discussion.

A final decision will be made in late-July 2021, with new members to be notified for onboarding in August.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please:

Step 1. Post your application on the nomination page by 30 June 2021. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant education, experience, abilities, skills, knowledge, availability, and motivation for joining the committee.

Step 2. Complete the self-assessment survey between June 01, 2021 and June 30, 2021.

• The privacy statement that applies to the survey can be found here.
• NOTE: The survey will take 15 mins. Please do not close your browser. If you need a break, you are advised to keep the browser open. In case of losing the link, please reach out to mkaur-ctrwikimedia.org
• This survey must be completed before Steps 3 & 4, as it will provide more background as to the type of work and expectations of members of AffCom.

Step 3. Answers the following questions:

• NOTE: Questions 1-3 are required for all candidates.

• Question 4 & 5 should be answered by those interested in joining the Recognitions subcommittee.
• Question 6 & 7 should be answered by those interested in joining the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee.
• If you are willing to nominate yourself for both subcommittees, answer all questions.

1. What roles have you served across any Wikimedia projects and affiliates that you think have prepared you for this role?
2. AffCom members need to manage time, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and diverse situations across the global movement. How do you envision managing these?
3. Members of AffCom serve on one of two subcommittees: Recognitions OR Conflicts Intervention. Which one of these are you most interested in serving on?
4. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think makes a group of Wikimedians ready to function together as an affiliate?
5. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think are the benefits and responsibilities of functioning as formal affiliates?
6. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe your experience working with conflicts resolution.
7. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe how you have helped build consensus and support diversity.

Step 4. Once you have completed the above, send an email announcing your application to affcomwikimedia.org before the application deadline.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

-- FULBERT (talk) 15:30, 15 May 2021 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Join the new Regional Committees for Grants

Dear all,

We hope this email finds you well and safe. The COVID 19 situation continues to affect many of us across the globe and our thoughts are with everyone affected. We are also aware that there are several processes currently in progress that demand volunteer time and we do not want to add more work to anyone's plate.

We do want to draw your attention to our new Regional Committees for Grants though as they are an opportunity for you to have an active say in the future of our Movement!

📣 So today, we invite you to join our new Regional Committees for Grants! 📣

We encourage Wikimedians and Free Knowledge advocates to be part of the new Regional Committees that the WMF Community Resources team is setting up as part of the grants strategy relaunch [1]. You will be a key strategic thought partner to help understand the complexities of any region, provide knowledge and expertise to applicants, to support successful movement activities, and make funding decisions for grant applications in the region.

👉Find out more on meta [2].

Regional Committees will be established for the following regions:

• Middle East and Africa
• SAARC [3] region (Includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
• East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific (ESEAP) region
• Latin America (LATAM) and The Caribbean
• United States and Canada
• Northern and Western Europe
• Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

👉All details about the Committees and how to apply can be found on meta [4]. Applications have to be submitted by June 4, 2021!

If you have any questions or comments, please use the meta discussion page [5].

Please do share this announcement widely with your Network.

Best wishes,

JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 07:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC) on behalf of the Community Resources Team JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 07:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)

UCoC Affiliates consultation report

Hello,

We are pleased to announce the completion of the Universal Code of Conduct Affiliates consultation process early this month. The summary report of the direct consultations and survey is now available at this Meta page: https://w.wiki/3Pew.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to leave a message on the talk page of the report, or contact Mervat (msalman-ctr@wikimediaorg) and Ramzy (ramzym-ctr@wikimediaorg).

Regards,
UCoC Team, Wikimedia Foundation
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:51, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

Sunday June 6 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Swan of healing.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, and April SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Movement Strategy/Events, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday June 6, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC – *Note that we have shifted the second call an hour earlier in UTC time due to popular demand and to accomodate daylight savings*.)--Pharos (talk) 20:17, 3 June 2021 (UTC)

Wikimania 2021: Affiliate Program Submissions and Scholarships

Dear Wikimedia Affiliates,

Wikimania 2021 will be hosted virtually for the first time in the event's 15-year history. Since there is no in-person host, the event is being organized by a diverse group of Wikimedia volunteers that form the Core Organizing Team for Wikimania 2021.

Event Program - The program design of this Wikimania accommodates affiliates for them to curate a portion of the program. Wikimedia affiliates have an opportunity to host a series of their own sessions.

Below are some links to guide you through;

• Program Submissions
• Session Submission Guidelines
• FAQ

Please note that the deadline for submission is 18th June 2021.

Affiliate Scholarships - Scholarships are available to all Wikimedia movement affiliates to support practical access to and participation in Wikimania 2021 in their communities. Please read more about it in the Affiliate Announcement section here.

Office Hour - If you are left with questions, the COT will be hosting some office hours (in multiple languages), in multiple time-zones, to answer any programming questions that you might have. Details can be found here.

Best regards,

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:22, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

On behalf of Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team

Final Call for Candidates for AffCom - June 2021

Want to help translate? Translate the missing messages.

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) logo

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

This is a final Call for Candidates for the June 2021 Affiliations Committee election.

If you are interested in running, please post your application and follow all four steps on the nomination page by 30 June 2021.

If you know somebody you think may be interested, please share this with them and encourage them to consider it. If you have any questions about this process or the requirements, please email affcom@wikimedia.org before the application deadline or reach out to any of the current members.

On behalf of the AffCom elections committee,

--- FULBERT (talk) 14:15, 20 June 2021 (UTC) via MassMessaging [[Category:AffCom Elections June 2021|]]

[Wikimedia Foundation elections 2021] Candidates meet with South Asia + ESEAP communities

Dear Wikimedians,

As you may already know, the 2021 Board of Trustees elections are from 4 August 2021 to 17 August 2021. Members of the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to elect four candidates to a three-year term.

After a three-week-long Call for Candidates, there are 20 candidates for the 2021 election. This event is for community members of South Asian and ESEAP communities to know the candidates and interact with them.

• The event will be on 31 July 2021 (Saturday), and the timings are:

• India & Sri Lanka: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
• Bangladesh: 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
• Nepal: 6:15 pm to 8:45 pm
• Afghanistan: 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm
• Pakistan & Maldives: 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

• For registration and other details, please visit the event page at m: Wikimedia Foundation elections/2021/Meetings/South Asia + ESEAP

KCVelaga (WMF), 10:00, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

Sunday July 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

The swan or the egg?

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and June SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Drafting Committee, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC – *Note that we have shifted the second call an hour earlier in UTC time due to popular demand and to accomodate daylight savings*.)--Pharos (talk) 14:47, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Election is open: 18 - 31 August 2021

Voting for the 2021 Board of Trustees election is now open. Candidates from the community were asked to submit their candidacy. After a three-week-long Call for Candidates, there are 19 candidates for the 2021 election.

The Wikimedia movement has the opportunity to vote for the selection of community and affiliate trustees. By voting, you will help to identify those people who have the qualities to best serve the needs of the movement for the next several years. The Board is expected to select the four most voted candidates to serve as trustees. Voting closes 31 August 2021.

• Learn more about candidates.
• Learn about the Board of Trustees.
• Vote

Read the full announcement and see translations on Meta-Wiki.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding voting. KCVelaga (WMF), 06:18, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

(First Reminder) Notification of User Group Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting

Greetings group contacts,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia Affiliates are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2021 annual reporting became past due in 2021-07-27. Please be sure to:

• Post your 2021 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.

• Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and

• Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to wadportalwikimedia.org.

Best regards,
Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

Sunday September 26 SWANniversary Party and All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting

Celebrate our first anniversary with SWAN-shaped desserts!

Join the SWANniversary on September 26 as we mark the first year of the Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network!

We will have the regular All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting, to be followed by a SWANniversary Party in the after hours session, likely through spatialized chat on WorkAdventure.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, June, and July SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, we'll look together at strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Drafting Committee, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday September 26, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC.)--Pharos (talk) 20:09, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Learn how the Implementation Grants can support your Movement Strategy plans

We are excited to announce the reopening of the Movement Strategy Implementation Grants. This program funds projects that advance a specific Movement Strategy initiative. The projects can be big or small, but they must all make a case for advancing one initiative. Affiliates that have received funding from the Simple/Annual Plan Grants are welcome to apply.

Read more about the criteria, what to apply for, and how to apply.

Best regards,
Movement Strategy and Governance Team
Wikimedia Foundation
15:31, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

Sunday October 31 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

A swan reflects.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and June, July, and September SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter Drafting Committee Set Up Process, Next Steps for Brand Work, 2021, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday October 31, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:30 UTC – *Note that we have shifted the second call a half-hour later in UTC time due to WikidataCon*.)--Pharos (talk) 01:57, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

(Second Reminder) Notification of Affiliate Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting

Greetings group contacts,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia Affiliates are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2021 annual reporting became past due in 2021-07-26. Please be sure to:

• Post your 2021 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.

• Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and

• Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to wadportalwikimedia.org.

Best regards,
Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

(Third Reminder) Notification of Affiliate Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting

Greetings group contacts,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia Affiliates are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2021 annual reporting became past due in 2021-07-26. Please be sure to:

• Post your 2021 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.

• Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and

• Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to wadportalwikimedia.org.

Best regards,
Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

Sunday November 28 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Chart a new course on the swan ferry.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Hubs Workshop, Movement Charter+Drafting Committee, WMDE's 'Future of Wikimedia Governance' proposal, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday November 28, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC, note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 20:19, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Invitation: Movement Strategy Implementation Grants (MSIG) Call for Wikimedians of India - 18 December 2021 (Saturday)

Hello everyone,

I am Chitraparna Sinha, the community facilitator of Movement Strategy for South Asia after Krishna Chaitanya Velaga.

I would like to invite Wikimedians of India for a getting to know each other session and discuss Movement Strategy Implementation Grants (MSIG), and how it can fund your projects surrounding Movement Strategy Initiatives.

Proposed Agenda

• Introduction with each other & learn about what all is going on in the community; and how I can support the community to grow.
• A brief overview of MSIG (what it is & how it will work) & discuss concerns.

Meeting Language

English / Hindi / Bangla - this could be a multilingual conversation.

Meeting Details:

(India) Grants Community Conversation

• Saturday, December 18 · 6:00 – 7:00pm IST

Google Meet joining info

• Video call link: https://meet.google.com/oug-bfih-vva
• Or dial: ‪(US) +1 415-604-0877‬ PIN: ‪951 921 494‬#
• More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/oug-bfih-vva?pin=4923022866600

Please share the message among community members. Thanks for sharing your valuable time.

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 09:10, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for candidates - January 2022

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Responsibilities

• Availability of up to 5-8 hours per month

• Participate in monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings

• Commitment to carry out assigned tasks in a given time.

• Facilitate and support communications

• Affiliate Support and growth

Required and Recommended Abilities, Skills, Knowledge for Affiliations Committee Members

Strong interpersonal relationship among members of the committee and also with the Wikimedia community members. Across all committee members, there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required

• Fluency in English
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
• Strong track record of effective collaboration
• International orientation

Relevant for all members

• Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
• Skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Documentation practices
• Interviewing experience
• Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.
• Teamwork: Project and people management skills to coordinate and collaborate with different parties on a shared plan and see it through to completion.
• Problem-Solving: Ability to evaluate various solutions, consider multiple interests and points of view, revisit unresolved issues, seek compromise and work and communicate across languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining the course in 2022 and preparing for potential 2022 transitions as part of the Movement Strategy implementation process, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Relevant to Affiliate Recognitions

• Administration & Attention to detail
• Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
• Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models and understanding of community building, organizational development, and group dynamics

Relevant to Conflict Prevention & Intervention

• Communication skills for active listening, clear instruction and turn-taking.
• Stress Management skills for maintaining patience and positivity
• Emotional intelligence to maintain awareness of emotions of oneself and others to practice empathy, impartiality, and mutual respect.
• Facilitation, negotiation, and mediation skills to guide diverse individuals and groups toward cooperation.
• Ability to work within a team

Do you have relevant skills and interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 member selection process will include a public review and comment period and a self-assessment survey for candidates to share their skills and their experience. This self-assessment information will help the committee to identify the skill sets relevant and supportive to our affiliate support processes. We invite you to apply for membership to the committee and join us in supporting the affiliates. The data shared in the self-assessment will only be made available to the committee and the relevant staff support. The nomination, candidate Q&A, and endorsements will still take place posted on Meta for public review at January 2022 page. Here the global community is welcome to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

Once the nomination window closes 31 January 2022, the sitting members who are not candidates for re-election in this cycle will deliberate and then vote, taking into account all inputs from the meta page, self-assessment, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and committee member discussion.

A final decision will be made in late-February 2022, with new members to be notified for onboarding in February.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please:

Step 1. Post your application on the nomination page by 31 January 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant education, experience, abilities, skills, knowledge, availability, and motivation for joining the committee.

Step 2. Complete the self-assessment survey between January 1, 2021 and January 31, 2021.

• The privacy statement that applies to the survey can be found here.
• NOTE: The survey will take 15 mins. Please do not close your browser. If you need a break, you are advised to keep the browser open. In case of losing the link, please reach out to mkaur-ctrwikimedia.org
• This survey must be completed before Steps 3 & 4, as it will provide more background as to the type of work and expectations of members of AffCom.

Step 3. Answers the following questions:

• NOTE: Questions 1-3 are required for all candidates.

• Question 4 & 5 should be answered by those interested in joining the Recognitions subcommittee.
• Question 6 & 7 should be answered by those interested in joining the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee.
• If you are willing to nominate yourself for both subcommittees, answer all questions.

1. What roles have you served across any Wikimedia projects and affiliates that you think have prepared you for this role?
2. AffCom members need to manage time, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and diverse situations across the global movement. How do you envision managing these?
3. Members of AffCom serve on one of two subcommittees: Recognitions OR Conflicts Intervention. Which one of these are you most interested in serving on?
4. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think makes a group of Wikimedians ready to function together as an affiliate?
5. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think are the benefits and responsibilities of functioning as formal affiliates?
6. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe your experience working with conflicts resolution.
7. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe how you have helped build consensus and support diversity.

Step 4. Once you have completed the above, send an email announcing your application to affcomwikimedia.org before the application deadline.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a webinar call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:18, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for advisors - January 2022

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia Chapters, Thematic Organizations, and User Groups – is looking for advisors!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

We are looking for advisors who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee advisors selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

AffCom advisors can engage with the committee in a variety of capacities:

Consultant

Individuals with extensive movement experience can be engaged as Consultants for specific cases or initiatives by AffCom.

Trainer

Individuals with specific expertise may be engaged for short-term projects for training AffCom or Affiliates. They might also lead the Capacity Building initiatives for AffCom or affiliates.

Observer

AffCom can request specific or all advisors to act as an observer in different cases to ensure neutrality & compliance with guidelines.

AffCom Support

Development of Policies: While advisors cannot create legally binding policies for the committee, they can help create policies that provide direction and support for the committee.

Planning and Implementing Community Relations: The advisors are long-term wikimedians & also include influential community leaders who can be effective at spreading the word about initiatives and services.

Supporting Subcommittees: The advisors can support subcommittees that have assigned tasks in specific areas.

Other Tasks: Advisors can be engaged to address a specific need. Such engagements are usually short-lived and are disbanded as soon as their specific goals are met.

Key skills

We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our advisors, including the following key skills and experience:

1. Strong understanding of the structure and work of Wikimedia affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
2. Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
3. Availability of up to 2 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly two-hour voice/video meeting
4. International orientation and ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
5. Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus.
6. Fluency in English is required; skills in other languages are a major plus.
7. Experience with or in an active Wikimedia affiliate is a major plus.
8. Strong track record of effective collaboration (such as evidenced skills at facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and so forth) is a major plus.
9. Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 advisors selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications must be posted on Meta between January 01 and January 31, 2022 at Affiliations Committee/Advisors/2022, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate. At the end of the nomination period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made in February 2022, with new advisors expected to begin later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in advising the committee, please submit your candidacy on Affiliations Committee/Advisors/2022 between January 01 to January 31, 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee as an advisor.
3. The advisor role you would like to serve
4. Answers to the following three questions:
   1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
   2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
   3. What do you feel you will bring as an advisor to the committee that makes you a uniquely qualified candidate?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the committee. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:17, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Upcoming Call for Feedback about the Board of Trustees elections

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

More languages • Please help translate to your language

The Board of Trustees is preparing a call for feedback about the upcoming Board Elections, from January 7 - February 10, 2022.

While details will be finalized the week before the call, we have confirmed at least two questions that will be asked during this call for feedback:

• What is the best way to ensure fair representation of emerging communities among the Board?

• What involvement should candidates have during the election?

While additional questions may be added, the Movement Strategy and Governance team wants to provide time for community members and affiliates to consider and prepare ideas on the confirmed questions before the call opens. We apologize for not having a complete list of questions at this time. The list of questions should only grow by one or two questions. The intention is to not overwhelm the community with requests, but provide notice and welcome feedback on these important questions.

Do you want to help organize local conversation during this Call?

Contact the Movement Strategy and Governance team on Meta, on Telegram, or via email at msgwikimedia.org.

Reach out if you have any questions or concerns. The Movement Strategy and Governance team will be minimally staffed until January 3. Please excuse any delayed response during this time. We also recognize some community members and affiliates are offline during the December holidays. We apologize if our message has reached you while you are on holiday.

Thank you, CSinha (WMF) (talk) 07:38, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

Call for Feedback about the Board of Trustees elections is now open

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

More languages • Please help translate to your language

The Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections is now open and will close on 7 February 2022.

With this Call for Feedback, the Movement Strategy and Governance team is taking a different approach. This approach incorporates community feedback from 2021. Instead of leading with proposals, the Call is framed around key questions from the Board of Trustees. The key questions came from the feedback about the 2021 Board of Trustees election. The intention is to inspire collective conversation and collaborative proposal development about these key questions.

There are two confirmed questions that will be asked during this Call for Feedback:

1. What is the best way to ensure more diverse representation among elected candidates? The Board of Trustees noted the importance of selecting candidates who represent the full diversity of the Wikimedia movement. The current processes have favored volunteers from North America and Europe.
2. What are the expectations for the candidates during the election? Board candidates have traditionally completed applications and answered community questions. How can an election provide appropriate insight into candidates while also appreciating candidates’ status as volunteers?

There is one additional question that may be presented during the Call about selection processes. This question is still under discussion, but the Board wanted to give insight into the confirmed questions as soon as possible. Hopefully if an additional question is going to be asked, it will be ready during the first week of the Call for Feedback.

Join the conversation.

Thank you,

Movement Strategy and Governance CSinha (WMF) (talk) 10:17, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Movement Strategy and Governance News – Issue 5

More languages • Please help translate to your language

Movement Strategy and Governance News
Issue 5, January 2022Read the full newsletter

---

Welcome to the fifth issue of Movement Strategy and Governance News (formerly known as Universal Code of Conduct News)! This revamped newsletter distributes relevant news and events about the Movement Charter, Universal Code of Conduct, Movement Strategy Implementation grants, Board elections and other relevant MSG topics.

This Newsletter will be distributed quarterly, while more frequent Updates will also be delivered weekly or bi-weekly to subscribers. Please remember to subscribe here if you would like to receive these updates.

• Call for Feedback about the Board elections - We invite you to give your feedback on the upcoming WMF Board of Trustees election. This call for feedback went live on 10th January 2022 and will be concluded on 16th February 2022. (continue reading)
• Universal Code of Conduct Ratification - In 2021, the WMF asked communities about how to enforce the Universal Code of Conduct policy text. The revised draft of the enforcement guidelines should be ready for community vote in March. (continue reading)
• Movement Strategy Implementation Grants - As we continue to review several interesting proposals, we encourage and welcome more proposals and ideas that target a specific initiative from the Movement Strategy recommendations. (continue reading)
• The New Direction for the Newsletter - As the UCoC Newsletter transitions into MSG Newsletter, join the facilitation team in envisioning and deciding on the new directions for this newsletter. (continue reading)
• Diff Blogs - Check out the most recent publications about MSG on Wikimedia Diff. (continue reading)

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 07:57, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Question about the Affiliates' role for the Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

More languages • Please help translate to your language

Hi All,

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections so far. The Movement Strategy and Governance team suggested another question was still under discussion. As of today, we announce the last key question:

How should affiliates participate in elections?

Affiliates are an important part of the Wikimedia movement. Two seats of the Board of Trustees due to be filled this year were filled in 2019 through the Affiliate-selected Board seats process. A change in the Bylaws removed the distinction between community and affiliate seats. This leaves the important question: How should affiliates be involved in the selection of new seats?

The question is broad in the sense that the answers may refer not just to the two seats mentioned, but also to other, Community- and Affiliate-selected seats. The Board is hoping to find an approach that will both engage the affiliates and give them actual agency, and also optimize the outcomes in terms of selecting people with top skills, experience, diversity, and wide community’s support.

The Board of Trustees is seeking feedback about this question especially, although not solely, from the affiliate community. Everyone is invited to share proposals and join the conversation in the Call for Feedback channels. In addition to collecting online feedback, the Movement Strategy and Governance team will organize several video calls with affiliate members to collect feedback. These calls will be at different times and include Trustees.

Due to the late addition of this third question, the Call will be extended until 16 February.

Join the conversation.

Thank you,

Movement Strategy and Governance

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 12:56, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Member & Advisor Elections - Final Reminder for January 2022

Translations are available.

This is a friendly reminder that the Affiliations Committee – which is responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members and advisors! The deadline to post your application on the Member nomination page and Advisor nomination is 31 January 2022.

If you know somebody you think may be interested, please share and encourage them to consider applying. If you have any questions please email affcom@wikimedia.org before the application deadline or reach out to any of the current members. Good luck to all the candidates!

On behalf of the committee,
FULBERT (talk) 17:32, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

[Announcement] Leadership Development Task Force

Dear community members,

The Invest in Skill and Leadership Development Movement Strategy recommendation indicates that our movement needs a globally coordinated effort to succeed in leadership development.

The Community Development team is supporting the creation of a global and community-driven Leadership Development Task Force (Purpose & Structure). The purpose of the task force is to advise leadership development work.

The team seeks community feedback on what could be the responsibilities of the task force. Also, if any community member wishes to be a part of the 12-member task force, kindly reach out to us. The feedback period is until 25 February 2022.

Where to share feedback?

#1 Interested community members can add their thoughts on the Discussion page.

#2 Interested community members can join a regional discussion on 18 February, Friday through Google Meet.

Date & Time

• Friday, 18 February · 7:00 – 8:00 PM IST (Your Timezone) (Add to Calendar)
• Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/nae-rgsd-vif

Thanks for your time.

Regards, CSinha (WMF) (talk) 10:39, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Enforcement Guidelines & Ratification Vote

In brief: the revised Enforcement Guidelines have been published. Voting to ratify the guidelines will happen from 7 March to 21 March 2022. Community members can participate in the discussion with the UCoC project team and drafting committee members on 25 February (12:00 UTC) and 4 March (15:00 UTC). Please sign-up.

Details:

The m:Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) provides a baseline of acceptable behavior for the entire Wikimedia movement. The UCoC and the Enforcement Guidelines were written by volunteer-staff drafting committees following community consultations. The revised guidelines were published 24 January 2022.

What’s next?

#1 Community Conversations

To help to understand the guidelines, the Movement Strategy and Governance (MSG) team will host conversations with the UCoC project team and drafting committee members on 25 February (12:00 UTC) and 4 March (15:00 UTC). Please sign-up.

Comments about the guidelines can be shared on the Enforcement Guidelines talk page. You can comment in any language.

#2 Ratification Voting

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees released a statement on the ratification process where eligible voters can support or oppose the adoption of the enforcement guidelines through vote. Wikimedians are invited to translate and share important information.

A SecurePoll vote is scheduled from 7 March to 21 March 2022.

Eligible voters are invited to answer a poll question and share comments. Voters will be asked if they support the enforcement of the UCoC based on the proposed guidelines.

Thank you. CSinha (WMF) (talk) 16:18, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Sunday February 27 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

To dance is to fly.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Dialogue, Movement Charter, Universal Code of Conduct+Enforcement Voting, Brand, International Women's Day+Gender Gap and WikiForHumanRights campaigns, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday February 27, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC).----Pharos (talk) 18:06, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

The Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections is now closed

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

More languages • Please help translate to your language

The Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections is now closed. This Call ran from 10 January and closed on 16 February 2022. The Call focused on three key questions and received broad discussion on Meta-wiki, during meetings with affiliates, and in various community conversations. The community and affiliates provided many proposals and discussion points. The reports are on Meta-wiki.

This information will be shared with the Board of Trustees and Elections Committee so they can make informed decisions about the upcoming Board of Trustees election. The Board of Trustees will then follow with an announcement after they have discussed the information.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Call for Feedback to help improve Board election processes.

Thank you,

Movement Strategy and Governance
CSinha (WMF) (talk) 08:35, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

UCoC Enforcement Guidelines Ratification Vote Begins

This is a kind reminder that the voting on the ratification of the UCoC enforcement guidelines has started. Every eligible member can vote. Kindly share the update with your community members.

For instructions on voting using SecurePoll and Voting eligibility, please read this & click here to cast vote. The voting period will close on 21 March 2022.

For any questions or concerns, please reply to this message or contact UCoC directly at ucocproject@wikimedia.org

Thank you, CSinha (WMF) (talk) 13:32, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Leadership Development Working Group: Apply to join! (14 March to 10 April 2022)

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Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone who participated in the feedback period for the Leadership Development Working Group initiative. A summary of the feedback can be found on Meta-wiki. This feedback will be shared with the working group to inform their work. The application period to join the Working Group is now open and will close on April 10, 2022. Please review the information about the working group, share with community members who might be interested, and apply if you are interested.

Thank you,

~ On behalf of the Community Development Team

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 12:37, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines ratification voting is now closed

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

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Greetings,

The ratification voting process for the revised enforcement guidelines of the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) came to a close on 21 March 2022. Over 2300 Wikimedians voted across different regions of our movement. Thank you to everyone who participated in this process! The scrutinizing group is now reviewing the vote for accuracy, so please allow up to two weeks for them to finish their work.

The final results from the voting process will be announced here, along with the relevant statistics and a summary of comments as soon as they are available. Please check out the voter information page to learn about the next steps. You can comment on the project talk page on Meta-wiki in any language.

You may also contact the UCoC project team by email: ucocprojectwikimedia.org

Best regards,

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 09:09, 23 March 2022 (UTC)

Sunday April 3 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Bots in precious metals are part of our community too.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including UCoC Voting, Hubs Global Conversation held + CEE Hub update, Movement Charter + Leadership Development Working Group, Desktop Improvements, Celebrate Women in March + International Women's Day, Wikimania 2022 survey concluded + Wikimedia Hackathon 2022 May 20-22 + local events, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday April 3, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC, note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 17:36, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Call for Candidates: 2022 Board of Trustees Election

Dear community members,

The 2022 Board of Trustees elections process has begun. The Call for Candidates has been announced.

The Board of Trustees oversees the operations of the Wikimedia Foundation. Community-and-affiliate selected trustees and Board-appointed trustees make up the Board of Trustees. Each trustee serves a three year term. The Wikimedia community has the opportunity to vote for community-and-affiliate selected trustees.

The Wikimedia community will vote to elect two seats on the Board of Trustees in 2022. This is an opportunity to improve the representation, diversity, and expertise of the Board of Trustees.

Kindly submit your candidacy to join the Board of Trustees. CSinha (WMF) (talk) 09:04, 28 April 2022 (UTC)

Sunday May 8 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Swans are musical creatures.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including 2022 Board of Trustees Call for Candidates, Movement Charter/Content preliminary narrative, Human Rights Policy Community Conversations, Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan Feedback, IP blocking and Open Proxies discussion, Wikimedia Hackathon 2022 May 20-22 + local events, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday May 8, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC, note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 18:08, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

2022 Wikimedia Hackathon - May 20th - 22nd

Hello all, This is to invite you for this year's Wikimedia Hackathon from May 20-22. We hope to see you there! You can share the update with your community as well. The main event will be held online this year. We have an open call for sessions on our schedule page. If you'd like to host a session, you can simply pick an open slot in the category which best fits your topic. The developer advocacy team also put together some suggestions for how to create a fun session. You can also add project ideas to the Phabricator Board We will share more information soon about how to join the online space. You can also check through the list of local meetups holding around the world, you may find any closer to you. If you have any enquiry or translation requests, please contact hlepp@wikimedia.org See you there! Best regards, James Popoola On behalf of the 2022 Wikimedia Hackathon Committee.

James Moore200 (talk) 16:53, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Sunday June 5 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Swan impressions.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter, Hubs Global Conversation this June, WMF Proposal for Movement Strategy Forum, New rounds of WMF Conference Funds including in-person events, WMF Proposal for Sound Logo Contest, WMF Elections Analysis Committee selection, wikimania:Program submissions due June 10 (scholarship and local event grants due June 3) and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday June 5, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC).--Pharos (talk) 20:49, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

Sunday July 3 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Swan celestial.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter, Hubs Global Conversation last week, Affiliate voting period to shortlist WMF Board candidates (July 1-15), Wikimania updates, Desktop improvements, Wikimedia Enterprise first customers, Call for program submissions and updates for a global diversity of regional/linguistic Wiki-Conferences, Wikidata:Wiki Mentor Africa and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 3, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC).--Pharos via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:55, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Propose statements for the 2022 Election Compass

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

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Hi all,

Community members are invited to propose statements to use in the Election Compass for the 2022 Board of Trustees election.

An Election Compass is a tool to help voters select the candidates that best align with their beliefs and views. The community members will propose statements for the candidates to answer using a Lickert scale (agree/neutral/disagree). The candidates’ answers to the statements will be loaded into the Election Compass tool. Voters will use the tool by entering in their answer to the statements (agree/neutral/disagree). The results will show the candidates that best align with the voter’s beliefs and views.

Here is the timeline for the Election Compass:

• July 8 - 20: Community members propose statements for the Election Compass
• July 21 - 22: Elections Committee reviews statements for clarity and removes off-topic statements
• July 23 - August 1: Volunteers vote on the statements
• August 2 - 4: Elections Committee selects the top 15 statements
• August 5 - 12: candidates align themselves with the statements
• August 15: The Election Compass opens for voters to use to help guide their voting decision

The Elections Committee will select the top 15 statements at the beginning of August. The Elections Committee will oversee the process, supported by the Movement Strategy and Governance (MSG) team. MSG will check that the questions are clear, there are no duplicates, no typos, and so on.

Regards,

Movement Strategy & Governance

This message was sent on behalf of the Board Selection Task Force and the Elections Committee

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 07:58, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

Movement Strategy and Governance News – Issue 7

Movement Strategy and Governance News
Issue 7, July-September 2022Read the full newsletter

---

Welcome to the 7th issue of Movement Strategy and Governance newsletter! The newsletter distributes relevant news and events about the implementation of Wikimedia's Movement Strategy recommendations, other relevant topics regarding Movement governance, as well as different projects and activities supported by the Movement Strategy and Governance (MSG) team of the Wikimedia Foundation.

The MSG Newsletter is delivered quarterly, while the more frequent Movement Strategy Weekly will be delivered weekly. Please remember to subscribe here if you would like to receive future issues of this newsletter.

• Movement sustainability: Wikimedia Foundation's annual sustainability report has been published. (continue reading)
• Improving user experience: recent improvements on the desktop interface for Wikimedia projects. (continue reading)
• Safety and inclusion: updates on the revision process of the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines. (continue reading)
• Equity in decisionmaking: reports from Hubs pilots conversations, recent progress from the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, and a new white paper for futures of participation in the Wikimedia movement. (continue reading)
• Stakeholders coordination: launch of a helpdesk for Affiliates and volunteer communities working on content partnership. (continue reading)
• Leadership development: updates on leadership projects by Wikimedia movement organizers in Brazil and Cape Verde. (continue reading)
• Internal knowledge management: launch of a new portal for technical documentation and community resources. (continue reading)
• Innovate in free knowledge: high-quality audiovisual resources for scientific experiments and a new toolkit to record oral transcripts. (continue reading)
• Evaluate, iterate, and adapt: results from the Equity Landscape project pilot (continue reading)
• Other news and updates: a new forum to discuss Movement Strategy implementation, upcoming Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election, a new podcast to discuss Movement Strategy, and change of personnel for the Foundation's Movement Strategy and Governance team. (continue reading)

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 12:42, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Vote for Election Compass Statements

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

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Dear community members,

Volunteers in the 2022 Board of Trustees election are invited to vote for statements to use in the Election Compass. You can vote for the statements you would like to see included in the Election Compass on Meta-wiki.

An Election Compass is a tool to help voters select the candidates that best align with their beliefs and views. The community members will propose statements for the candidates to answer using a Lickert scale (agree/neutral/disagree). The candidates’ answers to the statements will be loaded into the Election Compass tool. Voters will use the tool by entering in their answer to the statements (agree/neutral/disagree). The results will show the candidates that best align with the voter’s beliefs and views.

Here is the timeline for the Election Compass:

• July 8 - 20: Volunteers propose statements for the Election Compass
• July 21 - 22: Elections Committee reviews statements for clarity and removes off-topic statements
• July 23 - August 1: Volunteers vote on the statements
• August 2 - 4: Elections Committee selects the top 15 statements
• August 5 - 12: candidates align themselves with the statements
• August 15: The Election Compass opens for voters to use to help guide their voting decision

The Elections Committee will select the top 15 statements at the beginning of August

Regards,

Movement Strategy and Governance

This message was sent on behalf of the Board Selection Task Force and the Elections Committee

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 06:56, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Delay of Board of Trustees Election

Dear community members,

I am reaching out to you today with an update about the timing of the voting for the Board of Trustees election.

As many of you are already aware, this year we are offering an Election Compass to help voters identify the alignment of candidates on some key topics. Several candidates requested an extension of the character limitation on their responses expanding on their positions, and the Elections Committee felt their reasoning was consistent with the goals of a fair and equitable election process.

To ensure that the longer statements can be translated in time for the election, the Elections Committee and Board Selection Task Force decided to delay the opening of the Board of Trustees election by one week - a time proposed as ideal by staff working to support the election.

Although it is not expected that everyone will want to use the Election Compass to inform their voting decision, the Elections Committee felt it was more appropriate to open the voting period with essential translations for community members across languages to use if they wish to make this important decision.

The voting will open on August 23 at 00:00 UTC and close on September 6 at 23:59 UTC.

Best regards,

Matanya, on behalf of the Elections Committee

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 07:33, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

2022 Board of Trustees Community Voting Period is now Open

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.

More languages • Please help translate to your language

Dear community members,

The Community Voting period for the 2022 Board of Trustees election is now open. Here are some helpful links to get you the information you need to vote:

• Try the Election Compass, showing how candidates stand on 15 different topics.
• Read the candidate statements and answers to Affiliate questions
• Learn more about the skills the Board seeks and how the Analysis Committee found candidates align with those skills
• Watch the videos of the candidates answering questions proposed by the community.

If you are ready to vote, you may go to SecurePoll voting page to vote now. You may vote from August 23 at 00:00 UTC to September 6 at 23:59 UTC. To see about your voter eligibility, please visit the voter eligibility page.

Regards,

Movement Strategy and Governance

This message was sent on behalf of the Board Selection Task Force and the Elections Committee

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 04:19, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

WikiConference India 2023: Initial conversations

Dear Wikimedians,

Hope all of you are doing well. We are glad to inform you to restart the conversation to host the next WikiConference India 2023 after WCI 2020 which was not conducted due to the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, it couldn't take place. However, we are hoping to reinitiate this discussion and for that we need your involvement, suggestions and support to help organize a much needed conference in February-March of 2023.

The proposed 2023 conference will bring our energies, ideas, learnings, and hopes together. This conference will provide a national-level platform for Indian Wikimedians to connect, re-connect, and establish their collaboration itself can be a very important purpose on its own- in the end it will empower us all to strategize, plan ahead and collaborate- as a movement.

We hope we, the Indian Wikimedia Community members, come together in various capacities and make this a reality. We believe we will take learnings from earlier attempts, improve processes & use best practices in conducting this conference purposefully and fruitfully.

Here is a survey form to get your responses on the same notion. Unfortunately we are working with short timelines since the final date of proposal submission is 5 September. We request you please fill out the form by 28th August. After your responses, we can decide if we have the community need and support for the conference. You are also encouraged to add your support on this page, if you support the idea.

Regards, Nitesh Gill, Nivas10798, Neechalkaran, 06:40, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

The 2022 Board of Trustees election Community Voting is about to close

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Hello,

The Community Voting period of the 2022 Board of Trustees election started on August 23, 2022, and will close on September 6, 2022 23:59 UTC. There’s still a chance to participate in this election. If you did not vote, please visit the SecurePoll voting page to vote now. To see about your voter eligibility, please visit the voter eligibility page. If you need help in making your decision, here are some helpful links:

• Try the Election Compass, showing how candidates stand on 15 different topics.
• Read the candidate statements and answers to Affiliate questions.
• Learn more about the skills the Board seek and how the Analysis Committee found candidates align with those skills
• Watch the videos of the candidates answering questions proposed by the community.

Regards,

Movement Strategy and Governance

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 12:33, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Sunday November 13 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

bestiary (Q830560)⊆compendium (Q1459574)⊆reference work (Q13136).

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Wikimedia Research Fund, 2023 Ombuds commission and Case Review Committee appointments process, feedback on consultation and community session of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, various Wikimania topics: (ideas/suggestions for Wikimania 2023, expressions of interest for Wikimania 2024 and beyond, expressions of interest to join Wikimania Steering Committee), and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday November 13, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 02:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC
UTC times are different from before, and also note that some areas may have recently experienced daylight savings time changes.).--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:18, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Movement Charter: South Asia Regional Consultation

Dear affiliate members,

As many of you are aware, the Movement Charter regional consultations have begun. The MCDC seeks community feedback about three sections of the Movement Charter:

1. Preamble
2. Values & Principles
3. Roles & Responsibilities (intentions statement)

How can you participate?

You can participate by joining the regional consultation for South Asia on 2 December 2022 (Friday) from 14:00 to 15:30 UTC (7:30 PM to 9:00 PM IST) on Google Meet. Kindly add the event to your calendar.

Other ways to share feedback are:

1. Fill the survey.
2. Write on the Meta Talk pages: Preamble, Values & Principles, Roles & Responsibilities (intentions statement)
3. Write on the Movement Strategy Forum: Preamble, Values & Principles, Roles & Responsibilities (intentions statement)
4. Email MCDC at movementcharter@wikimedia.org

If you want to learn more about the Movement Charter, its goals, why it matters, and how it impacts your community, a 12-minute recording of one of the “Ask Me Anything about Movement Charter” sessions is available here.

Thanks for your time and interest. CSinha (WMF) (talk) 08:54, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement Guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct

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Hello all,

In mid-January 2023, the Enforcement Guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct will undergo a second community-wide ratification vote. This follows the March 2022 vote, which resulted in a majority of voters supporting the Enforcement Guidelines. During the vote, participants helped highlight important community concerns. The Board’s Community Affairs Committee requested that these areas of concern be reviewed.

The volunteer-led Revisions Committee worked hard reviewing community input and making changes. They updated areas of concern, such as training and affirmation requirements, privacy and transparency in the process, and readability and translatability of the document itself.

The revised Enforcement Guidelines can be viewed here, and a comparison of changes can be found here.

How to vote?

Beginning January 17, 2023, voting will be open. This page on Meta-wiki outlines information on how to vote using SecurePoll.

Who can vote?

The eligibility requirements for this vote are the same as for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees elections. See the voter information page for more details about voter eligibility. If you are an eligible voter, you can use your Wikimedia account to access the voting server.

What happens after the vote?

Votes will be scrutinized by an independent group of volunteers, and the results will be published on Wikimedia-l, the Movement Strategy Forum, Diff and on Meta-wiki. Voters will again be able to vote and share concerns they have about the guidelines. The Board of Trustees will look at the levels of support and concerns raised as they look at how the Enforcement Guidelines should be ratified or developed further.

On behalf of the UCoC Project Team,

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 09:59, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

Voting Opens on the Revised Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Enforcement Guidelines

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Hello all,

The voting period for the revised Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines is now open! Voting will remain open for two weeks and will close at 23:59 UTC on January 31, 2023. Please visit the voter information page for voter eligibility information and details on how to vote.

For more details on the Enforcement Guidelines and the voting process, see our previous message.

On behalf of the UCoC Project Team,

CSinha (WMF) (talk) 10:51, 17 January 2023 (UTC)

Sunday July 16 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting (Global Council focus, now available in ar, es, fr!)

SWAN: The Next Generation

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Wikimania Singapore, Future of SWAN, Movement Charter/Content new sections (particularly Movement Charter/Content/Global Council), other activities you submit, and we will top it all off with a grand finale AI Happy Hour / Doom Hour!

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 16, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

UTC meeting times are 02:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC
Note that we are now meeting on Zoom, with interpretation in the 2nd session in (Arabic) (Spanish) (French)--Pharos (talk) 02:41, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Sunday June 23 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting (WMF BoT statement on Movement Charter ratification)

A group of SWANs heading to the meeting

Hello everyone!

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas about current developments in the Wikimedia Movement. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for further Wikimedia 2030 strategy process work.

At this meeting we will focus on the recent statement by the WMF Board of Trustees liaisons statement on the Movement Charter in which the liaisons stated that they will be recommending the Board of Trustees not to ratify the final draft of the Movement Charter. The community and affiliate votes on the ratification are supposed to start on Tuesday, 25 June. This meeting offers a venue to discuss the situation and formulate the "next steps".

This month, we are meeting on Sunday, June 23, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC

Nadzik (talk) 16:30, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Sunday July 28 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting (Results of Movement Charter ratification)

SWANs gathering for a conversation

Hello everyone!

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas about current developments in the Wikimedia Movement. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for further Wikimedia 2030 strategy process work.

At this meeting we will focus on the results of the Movement Charter ratification. We will also discuss the aftermath of the Board of Trustees' decision to veto the Movement Charter, including their recent proposals. We will also cover updates about upcoming Wikimania 2024.

This month, we are meeting on Sunday, July 28, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC

Nadzik (talk) 19:55, 18 July 2024 (UTC)