Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/Iberocoop: What was the first mentoring program between the Argentine and Mexican chapter like?

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Iberocoop: What was the first mentoring program between the Argentine and Mexican chapter like?

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During the last week of January 2016, Wikimedia Wikimedia Argentina and Wikimedia Mexico, were part of the First Regional Mentoring Program and Technical Assistance in the framework of the activities planned for this year as part of the regional initiative Iberocoop . The choice of the chapters was not a coincidence. While we represent the north and south of a region and work in the same language, during 2015, Wikimedia Argentina and Wikimedia Mexico , conducted similar projects that meant, similar objectives and realities.

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First mentoring program between the Argentine and Mexican chapter

Why not then, work together to strengthen the weak points of each chapter and share the experiences and results of our successful stories ?

The I Regional Mentoring Program and Technical Assistance has been the response to an identified need. We believed that we must overcome the virtuality of our communication to establish, during a week a work program with specific objectives.

Being together for a week and work closely with the program leaders of both organizations has not only strengthened us in our future actions, but invited us to reflection, analysis and evaluation of our activities, as well as helped us to have new tools to address challenges in our own contexts and has given us the opportunity to generate future actions together with much more results -oriented common goals .

Working together on common goals

First mentoring program between the Argentine and Mexican

Wikimedia Argentina and Wikimedia Mexico share in their work philosophy a common premise: make available to the movement, and in particular for Iberocoop organizations, our projects and learnings, as well as learn and get inspired by other global and regional experiences.

The meeting, which was held in Buenos Aires from 25 to 29, was the culmination of previous work carried out by both organizations; which are our strengths ? What can we improve? What can we learn from each other ?

During the work week, Wikimedia Argentina, through its Executive Director Anna Torres, and its communications manager, Giselle Bordoy, worked closely with Ivan Martinez and Carmen Alcázar, president and secretary of Wikimedia Mexico, in reference to their GLAM program’s projects and activities. For its excellent results, the Wikimedia Mexico’s GLAM program is seen as an example to follow in the region, not only by the number of activities and the partners they work with but for their innovative GLAM activities and its strategy to build and retain newcomers as part of its community during many of these activities while for most of the chapters, GLAM activities are seen as sporadic.

Through their expertise and by sharing its strategy to build the Mexican wikimedians community, Wikimedia Argentina, could reflect on how to target more adequately their activities in the program of cultural promotion, with the aim of establishing sustainable long-term relationships with partners and community volunteers.

On the other hand, Wikimedia Mexico began working on their future education program . While they already have successful experiences, Wikimedia Mexico leaders worked during two days along with Wikimedia Argentina which support them in the design of its program. Along with Melina Masnatta, responsible of the education program of Wikimedia Argentina , they drawn the first steps to define the main objectives to establish a new education program, we worked on the importance of understanding our local context and build our strategy on forging alliances with key institutions, as premises needed to achieve good results in the education. Likewise, both chapter analyse the WMF’s strategic education lines to better define the future Mexican strategy in this matter, also in terms of how to evaluate the program.

Through customized targeting, coordinated work and Wikimedia Argentina’s experience, the Mexican chapter could return home with the foundations laid to design their own education program.

Strategically, both chapters shared their learnings to improve the professionalism of their activities. We articulate common evaluation models, share strategies to monitor projects and we discussed processes such as the FDC, in which both are and will be participating in the nearly future.

Similarly, Wikimedia Mexico introduced to the staff of Wikimedia Argentina to new projects to apply in 2016 activities; eg Wikidata or how mainstream correctly gender issues .

Conclusions of the program. How do we continue?

Wikimedia Argentina and Wikimedia Mexico were empowered after the I Regional Mentoring Program and Technical assistance meeting. Beyond the own learning for each chapter, both organizations agreed on the need to continue creating opportunities and experiences that are enriching for the region and in particular for the Iberocoop movement. Our communication was already fluent but has improved since the experience; we have built a trusting relationship that will allow us to work more closely . The I Regional Mentoring Program and Technical assistance has been a breakthrough in Wikimedia Wikimedia Argentina and Mexico’ s programs relationships . These gains mean not only that we will work together to promote projects in the near future , but to understand the areas and fields of expertise of each chapter, to face our limits and failures, and generate best practices and learning patterns to enrich the movement .

This is a short video that describe the experience of Wikimedia Mexico and Wikimedia Argentina