ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025/Report/Biyanto R

The ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025 was a summit for Wikimedia affiliates and invited resource persons in the ESEAP region to talk about the Movement Strategy, including any developments around the Movement Charter, as well as topics for the ESEAP Hub itself, including its own Charter. This year, the summit took place in Manila, Philippines, from May 23 to May 25, 2025.

Pre-summit

I was excited when I received the scholarship notification in March 2025, as it was the first time since 2022 that I had another chance to reconnect with the ESEAP family. I planned my travel itinerary carefully to maximize my participation in this event by booking my flight one day earlier (May 22) and returning one day after the summit (May 26). I encountered several familiar and new faces during the departure, including Hillun, Rachmat, Zhilal, and Bayu.

Event

Day 1 — Friday, 23 May

On the first day, I attended several sessions, including:

Opening session
- Butch Bustria opened this session and introduced us to the summit committee members, officially opening our three-day convening.
HUB, Action! 🎬 Designing Governance and Strategy Together
Landscaping Global and ESEAP Regulatory Trends for Advocacy

I immensely enjoyed the "HUB, Action! 🎬 Designing Governance and Strategy Together" session, I fully participated in topic 3 of "supporting emerging communities", and I gained a lot of new insights from our fellow ESEAP Wikimedians.

Day 2 — Saturday, 24 May

Connecting and Collaborating between Affiliates and Countries
Open Mic for Cross-border Collaboration
Strategic Tactics for Building External Partnerships
CEE Hub: Exchange and Learnings
Global Trends Workshop
- Global Trends Workshop (Breakout 1: Readers and Contributors)
Field building - from conceptualisation to actualisation (a pilot initiative)

These two sessions, "CEE Hub: Exchange and Learnings" and "Field building - from conceptualization to actualization (a pilot initiative)," caught my attention. I learned valuable lessons from Barbara Klen's experience managing the CEE Hub and its community. The session of "Field building - from conceptualisation to actualisation (a pilot initiative)" gave me an opportunity to share my professional journey within the Wikimedia movement, as well as listen to the journeys of other valuable community members.

Day 3 — Sunday, 25 May

Collective advocacy actions in ESEAP
Global Resource Distribution Committee Update
Move into Future Conference(s)

During the GRDC session, which was led by Jorge Vargas, Elliott Bledsoe thoughtfully mentioned how the grant distribution disparity among other ESEAP members compared to Australia. I think this is a bold statement, and I fully agreed with him.

Comments and suggestions

This is my first comeback event after a two-year hiatus in the ESEAP community. I was surprised by the sheer size of our active community. In terms of participation, maturity, and professionalism, the ESEAP community has achieved an incredible amount of success, which is an outstanding achievement for every community member.