Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy/Review/Wikimedia Ukraine

Community review of the progress of the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy is open from 7 February to 20 March 2024. You are invited to read the information and guiding questions and share your thoughts on the talk page. You are also welcome to request a conversation and share your thoughts during Talking:2024 conversations. We look forward to talking with you. – Nat, Lorenzo, and Mike.

Proposed rubric for how checking may look like for an affiliate. Wikimedia Ukraine was chosen as a case study [to have a “real” affiliate] for a small-to-middle chapter.

Note: the rubric was filled as an example by a member of Wikimedia Ukraine. The information provided here might be not full or up-to date, and it is filled in only for illustrative purposes

Caption text
Criteria	Documentation	Wikimedia Ukraine (WMUA)
Active and welcoming new users	a list of members (if applicable) or volunteers actively collaborating with the organization/allies (who engage in the decision-making of the group) – either public or sent to AffCom if there are legal/safety concerns. For a legal entity with legal limitations (like GDPR in Europe), it can be a number of members published with notes (an affiliate might have 100 members in 2022, and 100 in 2023, but there was a turnover of 50 people)	73 members (list), 3 were accepted in 2023, none in 2022 (none applied; probably understandable with the full-fledged invasion) list of former members: 1 member left in 2023, but it was due to an internal turnover, the same user left and later joined^[1]
Encouraging being conscious of gender balance (including on the board)	public information on who are people making decisions; sharing information on what is being done to encourage gender diversity	General Assembly (GA) chooses the Board and Audit Committee among its members, no Annual General Assembly after 2021 – due to the martial law during the full scale invasion (14 out of 73 members are females; 1 out of 3 joined in 2023 – female) Board – 2 long term ones (chair since 2015^[2] and treasurer since 2016^[3]), 2 since 2020, 2 since 2021, 1 since 2023 (1 out of 7 is a female) Audit Committee – 1 person since 2019, 2 people since 2021 (1 out of 3 is a female)
public-facing governance practices	a public document on how decision-making is happening (not only bylaws for the legal entities) – e.g., how a scholarship to attend a meeting is decided, where the resolutions are published if there is a board, etc	Bylaws (a legal document) (in English) Board votes on this page publicly, passed resolutions are recorded here Confidential voting takes place in rare cases when the matter is sensitive & confidentiality is needed (HR matters): example Scholarships (a page containing information on who received scholarships, and links to the pages were people were submitting their applications for scholarships)
Diverse, skilled, and accountable leadership	a report of an affiliate should include training courses that its membership (especially leadership) underwent, if any. This includes training organized by the affiliate, other affiliates, hubs, Wikimedia Foundation, and external organizations (in line with Movement Strategy 2030 Initiative #33 Leadership development plan)	Board members do not have a personal plan for development, new board members have an online onboarding training into the role together with new Audit Committee members Trainings for members interested in joining Board or AC (or newly elected) are planned around GA – to improve their knowledge around governance practices Community members can request funding for external training here, and if suitable, receive a partial or full scholarship to attend
connected with the community it supports/serves	show people take part in the affiliate activities; how Wikimedians are reacting to the plans of the affiliates and to their reports (surveys if enough capacity); meetings with the communities, etc	2024 plans were discussed on WMUA’s site, the invitation to join discussions was published on the Ukrainian Wikipedia Village Pump (here, in Ukrainian) and other public channels 2022 annual report in Ukrainian 2022 Board report on governance (in Ukrainian)
offline (online or hybrid) collaboration	regular meetings with a measurable outcome(s), and not only annual meetings	Annual Wikiconference (hybrid) – 60 people online, 80 people offline /so not only for members/ Regular offline and online meetups, usually around specific campaigns or topics (e.g. WikiGap or in-person conference & online meetups for educators), events are documented on the WMUA website + reported on the blog
delivering on goal(s)	the report should contain self-evaluation against the stated goals from their plans; strategic plans (if applicable)	Strategy 2020-2022 (English, Ukrainian) Metrics in 2022 Grant report Strategy 2024 (English, Ukrainian)^[4]
Financially well managed	through financial reporting (if applicable)	No external audits^[5] 2022 financial report in Ukrainian 2022 Grant report (English) 2022 Grant report for Wikimania 2022 (English)
Universal Code of Conduct	evidence of preventative steps, and addressing UCoC complaints in an effective and timely manner (or seeking external help)	Translation of the Friendly policy into Ukrainian on WMUA’s site (mentions steps at Wikiconference 2023)
effective partnerships, collaborating	should be mentioned in the reporting (partnerships with other Wikimedia communities; partnerships with non-Wikimedia entities)	Collaborates with and helps support CEE Hub A member of Wikimedia Europe Wiki Loves photo contests cooperation with Wikimedia Sweden (for lists of monuments) Partnerships for different projects (Public list of partners, 2020 case study, 2023 case study

References[edit]

↑ according to the Bylaws one cannot leave the Board before the term ends without leaving the organisation – changing the Bylaws is very costly and difficult, so it is not advisable to change the Bylaws just for this one issue
↑ Board Chair is the head of the organisation, and changing the head of the organisation is complicated legally (as for practical reasons they need to be in Kyiv in person, so choice is limited)
↑ It has proven difficult to find another person with knowledge of finance among members available
↑ Currently a very short-term strategy, built on the 2020-2022 Strategy
↑ No GAs after the full-scale invasion of Russia, so no internal audit reports were published (they are supposed to be submitted and approved by the relevant GA)

[1] rding to the Bylaws one cannot leave the Board before the term ends without leaving the organisation – changing the Bylaws is very costly and difficult, so it is not advisable to change the Bylaws just for this one issue

[2] Board Chair is the head of the organisation, and changing the head of the organisation is complicated legally (as for practical reasons they need to be in Kyiv in person, so choice is limited)

[3] It has proven difficult to find another person with knowledge of finance among members available

[4] Currently a very short-term strategy, built on the 2020-2022 Strategy

[5] No GAs after the full-scale invasion of Russia, so no internal audit reports were published (they are supposed to be submitted and approved by the relevant GA)

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