Wikimedia Foundation Board noticeboard/February 2020 - Board of Trustees on Movement Strategy
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees recently reviewed and discussed the Movement Strategy recommendations during its retreat on February 12, 2020. While we have been engaged and committed throughout the process, our recent discussion provided an opportunity to dig deeper into the recommendations, and to evaluate their alignment with the strategic direction and the goals of knowledge equity and knowledge as a service. We are enthusiastic about the significant potential for change that these recommendations present for the future of our movement.
What these recommendations aspire to is truly astonishing. Developing strategy through a radically open, global, collaborative and participatory process is uncommon, challenging, and complex, and we wouldn’t have done it any other way. The process is as important as the product — an opportunity to build trust and shared understanding as we design the future of the Wikimedia movement together. The process has taught us lessons in global collaboration and transparency, collective thinking, and participatory decision-making. These are learnings we can carry forward into our work together over the coming years.
We welcome the overall direction of the recommendations and the opportunities they present for overcoming enduring challenges, bridging gaps in the movement, and creating enabling environments for strategic growth, resilience, and diversity, within established communities and among new ones. The recommendations provide us with many practical ways to move forward and a robust basis for change at a level that allows flexibility for further discussions and local adaptation. The Board has welcomed many of the recommended ideas, such as upgrades to our technical infrastructure, support systems for increasing local capacity, inclusion and equity in access to resources and decision-making, community growth and health, providing training and skills improvement for the future community leaders, and the urgent support needed for better coordination, documentation, research, and evaluation. We have also provided guidance for improvement, sought clarity in certain areas, and have requested additional content from the writers so the recommendations can be refined and finalized. We look forward to reviewing and approving the final recommendations in late March 2020.
We are especially committed to supporting and endorsing initiatives to address the long-standing requests from all across the movement for improved safety and security, and concrete measures to respond to issues of harassment. The Board unanimously endorses a Universal Code of Conduct to be developed in collaboration with communities, a necessary and essential component in order to achieve the strategic direction.
It is important to also thank those who have made this work possible. Many stakeholders have been engaged in the strategic conversations, which have connected different corners of our incredible movement — including many new and emerging communities — to highlight opportunities, surface challenges, and identify ways to overcome common barriers. We are grateful for people all across the movement who took part in this unique endeavour, and to everyone who supported them along the way: Volunteers and community members who contributed to the development of the strategy, board and staff members of our affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation, community organizers, advocates, partners, and allies. We commend their sincere effort and congratulate those closely involved.
We are excited about the changes ahead, and encourage the continued momentum, passion, building of trust, and the spirit of collaboration that has been a common thread throughout this process as we transition from strategy to implementation.
On behalf of the Board, Raystorm (talk) 16:00, 28 February 2020 (UTC)