Consejo Mundial
- For a sub-chapter regarding the Global Council in final Movement Charter text that is up for ratification by the Wikimedia Movement globally in June-July 2024, see Movement Charter#Global Council.
El Consejo Mundial es un organismo planificado que pretende servir como «una estructura mundial que responda a las necesidades de nuestro movimiento en su conjunto y represente a las comunidades de manera equitativa», y sería «representante del movimiento en su función y composición». Se propuso como parte de una de las recomendaciones de la Estrategia 2018-20, titulada «Garantizar la equidad en la toma de decisiones», que luego, junto con el resto de las recomendaciones, fue aprobada por el Consejo Directivo de la Fundación Wikimedia.
The recommendation states that "Any decision affecting our communities has to involve those communities to prevent imbalanced outcomes", and describes the Council as "providing representation of communities" and "ensur[ing] shared responsibility and accountability". The Council will be composed of both elected and selected members, "in a way designed to reflect the breadth and diversity of participation not only in the Movement at present but also in communities we wish to serve".
The Council's precise responsibilities will be outlined by a Movement Charter. The development of the Charter will be overseen by the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (a role that was previously assigned to the Interim Global Council).
Roles and responsibilities
From the strategy recommendations:
This body will have authorities and responsibilities outlined in the Charter, and these should include, but not be limited to:
- Overseeing the implementation of Movement Strategy, with community input wherever possible, and its alignment across established structures of the Movement;
- Overseeing further development and endorsement of the Movement Charter;
- Enforcing accountability of all Movement organizations around:
- Use of Movement funds;
- Alignment with the Wikimedia mission, vision, and Strategic Direction;
- Compliance with the Movement Charter;
- Appropriate use of movement branding and marks;
- Setting frameworks on resource allocation and revenue generation for the Movement.
- Any responsibility that the Interim Global Council has identified as needing to be delegated by the Board.
The Global Council should oversee the implementation of the guidance given by the Movement as described in the Movement Charter, including recommendations for funds allocation to regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations while recognizing the involved organizations’ legal and fiduciary obligations.
Board good practices accountability
The Global Council will be responsible for holding boards accountable for following good practices, and will create mechanisms to review and provide support for boards that do not follow good practices. Good practice guidelines for how boards function (such as term limits, election and selection processes, and approaches to other governance questions where applicable and relevant for a community) will be established.
History
Several proposals for global bodies representing the community were made previously, including the Wikicouncil (also called "Wikimedia Global Council") proposal in 2005, and the Wikimedia Federation proposal in 2008.
The Global Council proposal was initiated by the Roles and Responsibilities Working Group during the 2018-20 Strategy Process. The proposal went through three iterations (1, 2, 3), before arriving at the final version in May 2020. The proposal, together with the rest of the strategy recommendations, was then approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
Transition and Interim Global Council
It was initially proposed that, during the Strategy Transition process, an Interim Global Council will be established. The Interim Global Council was assumed to oversee the creation of a Movement Charter, a responsibility that was later transferred to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee.
Specific proposals
- “Immediate steps” comment from Ad Huikeshoven (in English)
- Global Council distribution formula – a proposal by Yair rand (in English)
- Global Council proposal by Ziko (in English)
- Movement Charter Input by The Land
- Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network: IGC-MC
- Nano Charter by Pharos
- Project wiki representatives
- Proposal by Ramzy Muliawan (in English)