Wikimedia Ukraine/Staffing plan 2019

The Wikimedia Ukraine staffing plan for 2019 is largely similar to the 2018 one, given that 2019 will see a major strategic effort, and includes potential plans to recruit a new position (Project Coordinator) by 2020. In 2019, we are planning an overall staff increase from 3.25 FTE to 3.5 FTE by switching one project manager position from 0.75 FTE to 1 FTE. Other positions remain unchanged in FTE. The distribution of their hours dedicated to different projects and administrative tasks is in a separate tab of the Budget for 2019 (Wikimedia Ukraine 2019 budget and staffing breakdown).

Project Managers

We will keep the model with two project managers, at least one of whom will be based in Kyiv (and another one can be based elsewhere and work remotely), both report to the board. As of the end of 2018, we have two part-time 0.75 FTE project managers, and we are planning to switch one position to 1.0 FTE. Overall project managers model will remain unchanged.

Full job description.

Following prioritisation of projects, we identified the projects facing significant increase and decrease in project managers staffing:

Increase: International part of Wiki Loves Earth. To be run smoothly this project needs either staff support or a dedicated team with a dozen of volunteers for whom Wiki Loves Earth would be the main project (like this is the case with Wiki Loves Monuments). While our middle-term plan is to move this to a more independent team with a separate grant like Wiki Loves Monuments, we need to work on creating and onboarding a team of volunteers working on this project. Our experience shows that without staff support this project is not moving smoothly and requires a lot of efforts to be finished.
Increase: Partnerships for GLAM and contests - we are looking to develop our networks of institutional partnerships for GLAM, photo and article contests. With the growth of Wikimedia Commons and Ukrainian Wikipedia it is harder to get the same level of results, as the most accessible topics are now better covered than two or three years ago. We need partnerships with organisations and groups outside big cities, we need partnerships with more focused organisations to get access to more specialised content and expertise. Even though our volunteers and existing staff helped us to advance on this, and we have positive feedback from institutions like museums and libraries, and they would like to work with us, we need more time and resources to advance on different partnerships.
Decrease: National photography contests organisation. We are planning to reduce staff time on organisational part of photo contests (other than partnerships). This notably means that staff will provide very limited support to the contest juries. To compensate that, we are planning to organise offline jury meetings as we have done them a few years ago: this is an alternative way to support jury work with less staff involvement.
Decrease: Free panorama advocacy and promotion activities. While this project is of a major importance, we decided to reduce project managers staffing and work with a dedicated advocacy contractor instead. This project requires working with institutions, setting relations with partners, participating in specialised events etc. We need a person involved in these activities with enough knowledge and understanding of how things work - at the moment we have two draft laws in the Parliament, and we need to be available for meetings during the working hours. Next year we have UKWIKI 15 and also elections. This is our chance to change the situation. We need to be in the room, and we think that a person with specific experience is more relevant than a generalist project manager for this.
Other projects, such as education activities, organisation of contests, Wikimarathon and uk-Wikipedia 15th birthday, and community support and development, will stay at roughly the same level of staff support as in the previous two years.

Accountant

1 accountant (1 FTE, existing), based in Kyiv and continues working on finance. Reporting to the Chair of Board and working closely with the Treasurer and Project Managers.

Full job description.

Office manager

1 office manager (0.75 FTE, existing), based in Kyiv and continues working on office management tasks. Reporting to Kyiv-based project manager, also works with the board and other project managers.

Full job description.

Project Coordinator (future)

Note: following discussions with WMF staff, this position will not be filled in 2019, although we might start hiring process or discussions based on feedback with WMF staff

1 project coordinator (1 FTE, new), based in Kyiv and reports to the board. Light version of ED position, in charge of coordinating project managers and volunteer support, reports to the Board. Board delegates day-to-day follow-up of projects and some organisational tasks (institutional partnerships, work with authorities).

In the new model, the project coordinator will be working with project managers on the daily basis and available to provide guidance and make high-level project decisions. At the moment this task is done by volunteer board members who are rarely available during working hours, making it complex to coordinate work.

The project coordinator will be the main point of contact for project managers, WMF and affiliates staff. He or she will have have weekly points with chair/vice-chair of board and will work with project managers and board members to prepare reports and discussion points for monthly board meetings. Full job description.