WikiFranca Board report for 2024

Introduction

It is now more than a year since we, the members of the new Board, took up our positions following the election of our bureau.

We would like to congratulate the previous Board on the work it has accomplished, which has served as a lever for the actions and challenges we have set ourselves:

Solidarity and collaborative work;
The expansion of our association, its growth and its projection into the future;
Strengthening our administrative and organisational structure;
Proximity to our member associations.
...

As a result, we have carried out a number of actions and projects.

Actions taken

Regular meetings with a number of community leaders

We have initiated regular meetings with a number of community leaders (it should be noted that this process, while long, will continue) in order to gather their opinions and expectations regarding WikiFranca.

New members

On the basis of the objectives that we had set ourselves, our association has worked to recruit new members, increasing the number of members from 19 to 25; these are the following communities: Wikimedia Congo, Wikimedia Niger, Wikimedia Rwanda, Wikimedia Senegal, Wikimedia Madagascar and Wikimedia Burkina-Faso

NB: 2 new applications are currently being considered.

Francophone WikiConvention and 2025 Mois de la contribution francophone

Of the applications received, Wikimedia Benin has been chosen to organise the 2025 WikiConvention francophone and to coordinate the 2025 edition of the Mois de la contribution francophone; the detailed report is still awaited.

It should be noted that the 2026 edition of the WikiConvention francophone will not take place, as WikiFranca is working with Wikimédia France to organise the 2026 edition of Wikimania in Paris. The next applications for the 2027 and 2028 editions will be sent out in the coming weeks. The same will apply to applications for coordination of the 2026 ‘Mois de la contribution francophone’.

WikiFranca back to school

This new programme had 2 objectives when it was launched:

At the request of the six new associations that joined, the aim was to enable them to discover and learn more about the Wikimedia Movement, the financial management of a community and funding channels within the Wikimedia Movement in general and WikiFranca in particular. We also talked about community leadership...
As an association, it was a question of sharing with all our members the provisional calendar of activities and training sessions planned.

We had a great attendance and heard that the expectations of the new communities had been met. Nonetheless, the feedback we received will enable us to make a number of readjustments following the research work currently being finalised for this year.

Strengthening the microfi committee

Following numerous comments made by our members concerning the management of microfis, a call for volunteers was launched to improve the work of the committee. The committee now has 10 members.

Collaboration within the Movement

A number of collaborations exist and have been set up with the Wikimedia Foundation, including :

WikiCauseries

Launched in 2023, they are now in their 5th edition. It is a framework for exchanging, sharing and strengthening links between French-speaking communities and between French-speaking communities and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Contribution to the conversations on the hubs

During Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, two members of the Board (the Chairman and the Secretary General) took part in a number of working meetings and round tables on the role of the hubs within the Wikimedia Movement and the particularities of each hub. These discussions enabled us to get in touch with the people at the Wikimedia Foundation responsible for managing the hubs.

Monthly hub meetings

A monthly meeting is organised with the people in charge of the hubs committee. This is a forum for information, follow-up and support for WikiFranca from the Wikimedia Foundation.

Training in writing an annual report

At the request of one of our affiliated associations and with the support of the Hubs Committee, a training session open to all our affiliated associations was organised by the Affiliation Committee (AffCom). The aim was to present the new platforms for submitting reports, as well as the elements to be taken into account when writing an annual report.

Collaboration with Wikimedia Switzerland

Training was organised for primary and secondary school teachers to enable them to discover and use the DicoAdos tool in their professional environment.

Despite difficulties with internet access for the participants, several managed to complete the programme and the objectives set by the trainer.

Collaboration with Wikimedia Sweden as part of the Content Partnership Hub

This collaboration enabled us to assemble and share a number of French materials that needed to be translated into English and Swedish.

Collaboration with the West Africa Hub project

At the initiative of the Wikimedia Foundation's hubs committee, an initial meeting was held with the leaders of the West Africa Hub project.

The aim was for WikiFranca to share its experience of collaboration between groups within the Wikimedia Movement, and above all to lay the foundations for future collaboration, given the presence of WikiFranca members in the West Africa Hub project.

Several other initiatives of this kind will be implemented in the near future.

The WikiConvention francophone in Quebec City

As in previous years, the 2024 edition was held in Quebec City and organised by Wikimedia Canada.

Extraordinary General Assembly

As a Swiss association, WikiFranca should have a member living in Switzerland on its executive board in order to comply with the Swiss cantonal authorities. With the agreement of Wikimedia Switzerland to help us with this, the Board, accompanied by Wikimedia Switzerland's lawyer, decided to review the articles of association so that any changes to be made would meet the conditions laid down for associations based in Switzerland.

It was also an opportunity for us to ask the electoral commission set up at the general assembly in April 2024 to make improvements to certain articles.

The new articles of association were approved at the Extraordinary General Assembly held on 13 February 2025.

Strategic weekend

At the suggestion of Wikimedia Switzerland and with the support of Wikimedia Switzerland and Wikimedia France, a few members of the board accompanied by a number of our association's stakeholders took part in a strategic weekend in Bossey, Switzerland, from 7 to 9 March 2025.

The meeting was very fruitful and helped us to define :

WikiFranca's mission

« To work for the development and growth of French-speaking communities, and to defend and promote their interests in the Free Movements and within Wikimedia».

The vision of WikiFranca

« To federate an open space for collaboration and to be a key player at the heart of the advancement and defence of free knowledge in the French-speaking world».

4 strategic themes

Finance
Advocacy and partnership
Leadership and governance
Growth and development

From these different strategic themes, a number of key actions and milestones have been defined in order to move directly into an implementation process.

Over the coming months, meetings are planned with the leaders of the member communities as well as with the Francophone community in order to share the work of the strategic weekend and to gather feedback and other proposals.

A summary document will be drawn up at the end of these consultations.

Current projects

Research project: Defining training and capacity-building needs

Following the selection process, we selected Reda Benkhadra from Wikimedia Morocco, who began work on the project in January 2025.

At the end of this work, we will have an overview of the training and capacity-building needs of our member associations; it is on this basis that we will be able to establish a planning for implementing these needs.

A follow-up and evaluation meeting is held every 15 days with a member of the Board as stipulated in the contract.

Making WikiFranca a resource centre for our members

The medium-term aim of this action is to make resources and skills available to our members:

Resources: This is a collection of tips, tricks and other support on the various Wikimedia projects to be made available to our members and the community.

Skills: This involves listing the skills of French-speaking volunteers in different areas such as: projects, events, governance, etc.

Creation of the Awards Committee

In order to encourage the work done by Francophones within the Wikimedia Movement, Florence Devouard (Co-Executive Director of WikiInAfrica), Benoît Rochon (Wikimedia Canada) and Mahuton Possoupe (Wikimedia Benin) have been chosen to sit on the Awards Committee.

It has been tasked with making proposals for prizes that could be awarded to francophones who have distinguished themselves during the year (between editions of the WikiConvention francophone) and making the selections; a first round of prizes will be awarded at the WikiConvention francophone in Benin.

Support for Wikimedia Guinea

The WikiFranca Board is working with Wikimedia Guinea on governance issues.

This collaboration will lead to the setting up of new operating bodies within the group and, above all, will facilitate a better flow in terms of information sharing.

The perspectives

This section sets out our plans for the next 2 to 3 years:

Creation of a bank account

We have begun the process of setting up our bank account. Once the account has been set up, WikiFranca will be able to manage microfis directly and in the near future, in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, we will be able to handle all francophone rapid grants.

Recruitment of a microfis committee coordinator

Like the creation of the bank account, this action is part of the implementation of the strategic theme linked to Finance. A first version of a document describing the microfinance application and reporting process has been drafted.

Proposed budget 2025-2026

A budget will be submitted to the Wikimedia Foundation in August to monitor and implement all these actions.

Creation of governance and audit committees

In line with strategic theme 3: Leadership and governance, the aim is to strengthen the association's governance capacities, policies and processes.

The governance and audit committees set up will not only monitor issues relating to governance within WikiFranca, but will also help to propose policies that will enable WikiFranca to be a model in terms of governance and ethics.

WikiFranca Events Coordination Committee

An events coordination committee (Mois de la contribution francophone, WikiConvention francophone, etc.) will be set up to ensure continuity in the organisation of events within WikiFranca.

Research project

Following the report produced by Reda, a planning of resolutions will be established and a project coordinator will be recruited to implement the training and capacity-building planning.

Acknowledgements and conclusion

We cannot end this report without thanking everyone who has contributed in any way to the realisation of all these actions and initiatives: the members of the Board, the Wikimedia Foundation, our 25 member associations, not forgetting the many people who, individually or in groups, are constantly making themselves available to provide multifaceted and constant support for the work that is being done.

Since we took up our position, we have seen a great commitment every time you have been asked to take part in the committees, during the various training sessions or during consultations relating to the research project.

Let's keep up this motivation and commitment so that the Wikimedia Movement in general and WikiFranca in particular can shine.

That's how, together, we'll be able to help achieve the goals we've set ourselves for the coming years.