ESEAP ハブ/歴史
| “ | Latest news The nomination period for ESEAP Community Connector Cycle 2 will be held from June 13 to June 16, 2026. For more details, please visit this page. |
” |
ESEAP ハブ：これまでの物語と今後の展望
We have been working alongside each other; why not work with each other? This is the realization that came to several Wikimedians from East Asia and Southeast Asia during the Wikimania 2014. At the time, apart from the larger Wikimedia Asia-Oceania Project, there was not much or any collaboration or dialogue between Wikimedia communities in the ESEAP (East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific) region despite having similar struggles.
Recognizing that joining forces will take us further, Wikimedians in ESEAP initiated regional collaboration that would enable communities to share their experiences, both challenges and success, in order to learn from each other and build strong and lasting partnerships.
More than a decade later, what started as meetups has led to regular regional conferences to connect and increase mutual understanding; and finally into an ESEAP Hub. There is much to celebrate and even more to come.
A more structured collaboration
Before the ESEAP Hub settled in its current form, there had been a few iterations and experiments. As the collaboration takes shape, it constantly seeks to have better communication among the community as the bedrock of good cooperation. In the beginning, the community initiated meetups within Wikimania and Wikimedia Summit (previously Wikimedia Conference) to get to know each other better.
The meetups eventually graduated into an online space which serves as a way to communicate better and more regularly, compared to once or twice a year in bigger conferences. The ESEA Hub was then set up on Meta Wikimedia in 2015 to learn more about what each other is doing, share ideas, and to find collaboration opportunities with others.
In 2018, the cooperation in this region was cemented with its first regional conference in Bali, Indonesia, officially declaring the name East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific (ESEAP). From then on, regional conferences are held annually, alternating between ESEAP Conference (a gathering and celebration of ESEAP Wikimedians) and ESEAP Summit (a strategic meeting to discuss and shape the future of the Wikimedia Movement in the region).
The next important milestone for the community resulted from the ESEAP Conference in Sydney, 2022. It was the creation of the Interim Hub Committee whose mandate was to craft a declaration statement of the creation of the ESEAP Hub. This declaration sets out the mission and vision of the ESEAP Hub along with its strategic direction.
The Interim Hub Committee then handed over the baton to the ESEAP Preparatory Council to continue the ground work to set up the ESEAP Hub, which includes defining roles and responsibilities, developing a Theory of Change, and preparing a funding application.
Building an ESEAP Hub
The idea of Hubs evolved further as a result of the 2030 Movement Strategy recommendation “Ensure Equity in Decision Making”. Hubs were envisioned to empower communities to collaborate on capacity building, knowledge transfer, and coordination.
As the movement grows, ESEAP Hub tackles more complex regional challenges. The community faces limited access and representation in the region and wider Movement so the Hub is committed to provide services and support to increase regional capacity and representation.
Based on several community consultations, the Hub has translated their major challenges into five key goals as reflected in the ESEAP Hub Theory of Change, which are:
1. Improving engagement by diverse community languages and projects through translation
2. Enhancing communication in ways that address language differences, time zones, culture and distance
3. Empowering community capacity through knowledge, experience and resources sharing
4. Building trustworthy, transparent and equitable regional community decision making mechanism
5. Advocating the representation of ESEAP point of views in the global WMF movement
Achieving these big goals requires a long-term commitment and dedicated resources. But the journey starts with a single, bold step. That bold step involves launching a first-year pilot hub to experiment, gather insights, and learn from the experience.
The future of ESEAP Hub
The ESEAP Hub is celebrating a big milestone as they received a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation to kickstart their one-year pilot project.
“This grant will be a transformative milestone for the ESEAP Hub – enabling tailored training, strengthening regional collaboration, and amplifying diverse voices to empower our communities in sharing and accessing knowledge.” – ESEAP Hub Preparatory Council
During the pilot, the focus will be on two key areas that the ESEAP community has determined and clearly indicated are the priority:
コミュニティの技能をエンパワーし、地域としてのESEAPの代表性（権利擁護）
コミュニティをエンパワーし、その能力向上のため、ハブは複数の重要な活動を計画しており、例えばESEAP全体にわたるコミュニティの技能を調べてまとめること、ニーズを特定してそれに基づく研修プログラムを開発すること、月例の事務局時間を介してコミュニティに支援を提供していくことなどであり、また編集初学者ハンドブック（Newbie Handbook）も出したいと考えます。
当ハブでは広範な運動においてESEAPが取り組む権利擁護と代表性のあり方について、グローバルなレベルでESEAP参加者向けにパートナー関係をうながし機会をおし進めるとともに、当地域において重要かつ広範な課題は、ESEAP固有の視点により具体的に拾い集めて分類に取りかかります。
この新規取り組みは、本年5月にフィリピンのマニラで開かれたESEAP 戦略サミット2025の席上、それぞれのコミュニティや提携団体の代表が集まって人脈を築き、当地域における戦略上の課題について協議するときに第一歩を記す予定です。
情報源
ESEAP 準備評議会ならびにウィキメディア財団運動広報連絡担当イヴォンヌ・クリスティアーニ（Ivonne Kristiani）が連名で2025年3月20日に発信、当時は公式ブログDiffに公開しました。