Grants:Programs/Hub Fund/The Content Partnerships Hub:Entering the next phase, diversifying and joining forces

statusFunded

Wikimedia Hub Fund

The Content Partnerships Hub: Entering the next phase, diversifying and joining forces

Fluxx IDG-HF-2505-19081

start date2025-10-302025-10-30T00:00:00Z

end date2026-10-312026-12-31T00:00:00Z

amount requested (local currency)1271377.6 SEK

amount requested (USD)120908.01 USD ^{[note 1]}

amount funded (USD)132604.68

amount funded (local currency)1271377.6 SEK

fiscal year2025-26

roundRound 2

organization (if applicable)Wikimedia Sverige

contact(s)John Andersson (WMSE) (talk • accounts • contributions • edit count)

give feedback

Review Final Report

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds, where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant information

Organization or group name. (required): Wikimedia Sverige

Provide your main Wikimedia Username. (required): John Andersson (WMSE) (talk • accounts • contributions • edit count)

Have you contacted the Wikimedia Foundation Hub team before applying? (required): Yes

Is your group legally registered in your country? (required)

Yes

Do you have a fiscal sponsor?: No

Fiscal organization name.: N/A

Main proposal

1. State the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required): The Content Partnerships Hub: Entering the next phase, diversifying and joining forces

2. Proposed start date. (required): 2025-10-30

3. Proposed end date. (required): 2026-10-31

4. Where will this proposal be implemented? Provide the region or country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal. (required): ===== Development of the Proposal =====

This proposal outlines the next phase to establish the Content Partnership Hub. The proposal will be implemented globally, within the thematic scope of the hub initiative. In preparation for this application, 11 affiliates and networks from all continents (Sweden, India, Finland, Indonesia, Germany/Singapore, South Africa, the UK, Chile, Serbia, France, and Brazil) met in Berlin to collaboratively explore how the initiative can be taken to the next level (see map). Several of these participants are also actively involved in the GLOSS initiative, ensuring a bridge between the hub proposal and the GLAMWiki Community. All participants in the workshop are interested in contributing to the implementation of the project, ensuring a global involvement. These affiliates will also enable involvement of additional communities that have so far been hard to reach, including ESEAP affiliates through the support of Wikimedia Indonesia; and African affiliates through Wiki in Africa. Additionally, the global GLAM Wiki community will be engaged through close coordination with the community to build bridges and synergies for deep collaboration and exchange. This involves close collaboration around the GLAM Wiki conference in Lisbon 2025 and GLOSS involvement in the governance of the Hub.

Governance body

To ensure that the project contributes to equity in decision-making and serves underserved and underrepresented communities, a governance body of 6–9 members with global representation will be set up as part of the implementation of the project. The Berlin workshop led to the development of a clear proposal for such a body, meaning that the project team will be able to set up the body early on in the project. According to the proposal drafted in Berlin, a nominations committee will be established to propose members for a governance body for the hub. The GLOSS initiative will hold a formal seat on this committee to guarantee GLAM community participation. In addition, the nominations process will be designed to ensure broad and inclusive representation, not only from affiliates present at the Berlin meeting, but also from other regions and from affiliated or non-affiliated GLAM organizers and volunteers. This will help create a governance body that is diverse and representative of the wider Wikimedia and GLAM communities, capable of overseeing the implementation of the project and guiding the future direction of the hub.

Expert Committee and Working Groups

The work of the Helpdesk will be supervised and guided by the Expert Committee, composed of a diverse and global set of volunteers with significant experience of content partnerships. This Committee plays a role in ensuring the quality, relevance, and strategic alignment of the Helpdesk’s responses, and also in anchoring its activities within the broader goals of the Wikimedia Movement.

By establishing Working Groups of the Helpdesk we will engage more experts from across the global Movement, laying an important foundation for building a worldwide service and support.

Online Participation

Many aspects of the project are online, which allows for global participation and engagement. This includes, e.g. the Metabase initiative where anyone can contribute with structured data about the Wikimedia movement’s work. But also the work on other aspects of capacity building and the support through the Helpdesk are based on online coordination. The WiR training program for IGOs will be a global program by design. The IGOs have offices across the world and are often specifically looking for Wikimedians with a regional expertise or a language skill set that can work from the specific office.

Team

The team at Wikimedia Sverige will provide the basic support and coordination needed for the initiative to swiftly move forward and will also act as the fiscal sponsor. Each of the Wikimedia affiliates as well as the volunteers participating in the hub initiative will have a clear mandate, tasks and responsibilities as part of this project. Regular meetings with all involved parties will ensure alignment and that everyone is at the same level. Many of the hub affiliates have comprehensive experience in working with this type of joint international collaborative efforts, with the staff members participating in the project belonging to different organizations. We are thus confident that it will work well and that we will be able to deliver services efficiently and purposefully in this setting too.

The new governance body will be tasked with defining how the initiative develops after this experimental project ends. The governance body will also help identify and prioritise funding opportunities that enable additional activities to be developed that are beyond the scope of this proposal. An integrated part of the project is that we will participate in Wikimedia events, either physically or online, to present about the initiative.

5. Does your group have a theory of change for your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (optional): Yes; For the Theory of Change, see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_AswlU1zKlpMw4dbzy3EKZKVEBjB3LOJOPcts1NV1wI/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0

6. Why do you believe your group is best positioned to drive this hub initiative? (required)

The five pillars of the Hub—Capacity Building, Data Uploads, Helpdesk, International Partnerships, and Software Development—are grounded in a movement-wide needs assessment. They address areas that are currently under-supported but clearly requested across the Wikimedia ecosystem.

The group behind this application brings together a wide and complementary range of experience and expertise necessary to deliver on these pillars and take the Hub initiative to the next level:

Wikimedia Sverige brings deep technical experience, particularly in software development and batch uploads, as well as substantial experience of forming partnerships at all levels, and project application writing.
Wikimedia Brasil is a global leader in software and data work. Together with Wikimedia Chile, they bring a strong focus on decolonising knowledge and connected advocacy and communication.
Wikimedia UK has internationally recognised expertise in training and capacity building, as well as an extensive track record of managing residency projects in the cultural heritage sector
Wikimedia Indonesia contributes extensive experience in partnerships focused on language preservation and cultural heritage.
Wikimedia Serbia brings long-standing experience with GLAM partnerships.
Wiki in Africa plays a key role in building capacity among African affiliates to activate content from GLAM and other institutions and communities.
WMFR brings long-standing experience with GLAM partnerships and is actively involved in activities spanning the Francophone world.
A2K brings a strong experience around copyright law and other regulations that affect knowledge and has a strong network in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
AvoinGLAM will work towards a shared agenda with the GLAM Wiki community, especially in regard to the activities the community has initiated for resource sharing: the global GLAM Wiki calls and the integration of the revamped GLAM pages with Metabase.
Wikimedians of Singapore User Group brings extensive experience in coordinating events and partnerships amongst affiliates within the ESEAP region.
The GLAM Wiki community is a wide ranging group of volunteers and staff that are actively working on different types of content partnerships across the world. The Community shares lessons and experiences, jointly develops and expands on different capacity building resources, prepares international events, and coordinates work and communication activities across stakeholders.

The strength of this group lies not just in the individual capabilities of the affiliates involved, but in the commitment to build something greater together. This is about creating synergies, fostering peer learning and development, and welcoming others — affiliates and individual volunteers alike — into the work.

The governance body will be formed through a nominating committee composed of individuals who attended the in-person Berlin workshop and who have deep experience and strong networks across the movement. This ensures continuity, accountability, and a foundation of trust as we move forward.

We acknowledge that there are many more stakeholders, such as affiliates, communities and volunteers, in the Movement that could contribute greatly to the Hub initiative and we intend to continue scaling the group over the span of the project. This hub is being developed to support the entire Wikimedia movement engaged in GLAM work. It will respond to the evolving needs of the community and the changing digital landscape, ensuring its services and support remain relevant and inclusive. We are designing entry points to ensure the initiative grows beyond the initial group, with equity and collaboration at its core and a long-term vision where the hub is shaped and governed by those it serves.

7. Do you have a strategic plan that can help us understand your proposal? If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share your piloting plan. If your proposal relates to research, share your research plan. (required): Yes; https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Content_Partnerships_Hub/Strategic_plan

8. Describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project. If your proposal is related to piloting a hub, describe the services you plan to offer and include how you are drawing on community consultation and needs assessments to define your activities. (required)

The aim is that the Hub provides support and services that are global in focus and scale; solving problems that are not being handled currently and that are of such scale that multiple stakeholders need to be involved to ensure the service functions optimally. The Hub services have peer learning, knowledge exchange and co-creation built in by design. The priorities are based on a comprehensive needs assessment utilizing long-form interviews with content partnerships experts from across the Wikimedia movement. The needs assessment was finalized three years ago, in 2022, but as no major developments have taken place in the Movement in this space since, our sentiment is that the findings in the report are still very much valid. The findings in the GLOSS survey from 2025 align well with the needs assessment and reinforces the validity of this data.

The focus of this experimental project is twofold:

To develop and implement a first governance model for the Content Partnerships Hub; and
Bring together a first cohort of affiliates and volunteers that are willing and able to jointly scale the service and support provided through the five pillars of the hub.

Work Package 0: Project Management and Communication

The project will experiment how the different stakeholders can work together and engage their different organizations in the joint activities. This means that the project management will be complex, but this is a structure that Wikimedia Sverige (responsible for project management in this project) is very comfortable with, as we frequently lead multi-stakeholder projects and coordinate work from independent teams, not unlike this proposed structure.

Regular meetings, transparency and active communication between the teams will be needed to pull this off, but also clear responsibilities and a high level of trust. We will develop the process and methods for how to engage in this work.

This work package also includes the work associated with participating at different Wikimedia events aimed at sharing information about the Hub and creating engagement and with general communication efforts around the work happening at the Content Partnerships Hub.

Work Package 1: Governance work

So far in the hub initiative, we have focused predominantly on practical work with a focus on experimenting and testing. Already in this phase, we have started to build structures for equitable decision-making and global redistribution of power. One example is the Expert Committee, where international experts rather than a few individual staff members guide and prioritize the work of the Helpdesk. We are now ready to move forward and take the governance work to the next level. One central aspect of the project is therefore to implement a governance body to oversee the work of the hub. This is a logical furthering of the work taken up by CPH as its scope, engagement and metrics become globally distributed.

In preparation, Wikimedia Sverige conducted interviews with the CEE and WMEU hub initiatives to compare the different governance approaches. Insights from comparisons based on these interviews laid the foundation for a full-day discussion on governance issues at the workshop in Berlin. During these discussions, there was a clear consensus that, as this is an ongoing initiative that is providing important services and support, the governance of the hub should work as an enabler and not as a hindrance that slows down the work. The goal should be to move fast and efficiently and establish a minimum viable product (MVP) regarding governance – a light-touch structure that can be built upon and quickly adjusted according to need. A summary of the discussion was published on Meta-Wiki.

Additionally we also intend to keep the governance structure of the hub at a light touch model as there are many important funding and governance conversations happening within the movement as of now (referring to the pilots initiated by the WMF). Once these conversations/pilots have matured we would like to incorporate the learnings to our governance model.

Focus of this project

The first step towards this light-touch governance body is the formation of a Nominations Committee, consisting of movement and GLAM Wiki representatives who will not stand for elections to the governance body. The committee will provide a suggestion of 6–9 members that will form the first governance body of the Hub. The Nomination Committee will also be tasked with proposing ways to ensure legitimacy for the first governance body, e.g. to request formal support from elected boards, identify projects and communities that have not held seats of power in the GLAM context etc. The setting up of the Nomination Committee and later the governance body will be a part of the implementation of the project.

The governance body will be tasked with:

Deciding on a Terms of Reference.
Ensuring robust governance processes, including future committee elections/appointments.
Overseeing the implementation of this grant.
Supporting future concept and programme development.
Advocate for decentralised work and inclusion of marginalised communities
Coordinating with stakeholders and scanning for future funding.

To enable swift and collaborative efforts — and to allow us to focus on delivering support and services grounded in shared values and principles — the hub will not be established as a separate legal entity at this time. Instead, during the project period, the Content Partnerships Hub will be hosted by Wikimedia Sverige, which will serve as fiscal sponsor. The hub will operate under the supervision of the governance body, which will be accountable to the board of Wikimedia Sverige. The relationship and interaction between the governance body and the board will be outlined in the Terms of Reference.

Work Package 2: Expanding the Helpdesk

The Helpdesk serves as a key resource for volunteers and staff seeking support in their content partnership efforts. Through collaborations with affiliates, individual contributors, and external partners, it has already enabled the release of thousands of images and hundreds of thousands of data items. These contributions have not only enriched platforms like Wikipedia but also supported the success of initiatives such as Wiki Loves campaigns by streamlining the use of structured data. Depending on the needs of each case, the Helpdesk offers both direct assistance and broader strategic guidance.

Its work is overseen and guided by an international Expert Committee made up of experienced content partnerships specialists from across the Wikimedia movement. Serving in a volunteer capacity, these experts help ensure that the Helpdesk remains relevant, responsive, and aligned with the Movement’s larger goals. The expert committee has been active for several years and has become a crucial part of the Hub initiative. Their expertise has significantly shaped how we deliver services and support through the Helpdesk. By prioritizing capacity building—ensuring that support not only addresses immediate needs but also strengthens the skills of those requesting it—and by sharing learnings with wider communities, the committee has made capacity building a core element of the Helpdesk’s work.

Once requests are submitted, the Expert Committee plays a key role in prioritizing them based on urgency, relevance, and available capacity. Based on this prioritization, the Helpdesk’s Working Groups step in to actively provide the needed support and implement the decisions/prioritizations made by the Expert Committee in practice. These Working Groups are still in the planning stage, but the intention is that they will be made up of topic experts from across the Wikimedia Movement, collaborating to build capacity and share knowledge (for more, see our concept paper on Working Groups here, including a visual overview). We envision two kinds of working groups: One Standing Working Group that operates on a regular basis to support the service delivery, and then working groups appointed to execute on specific topics that have been identified/highlighted as part of receiving the Helpdesk requests. One past such example that could have led to a task force working group is how to support affiliates in using Wikidata to run Wiki Loves campaigns, both in terms of how to find and structure the data and then how to implement it in the Wiki Loves work flow, as this has been a recurring request to the Helpdesk.

The Working Groups help to identify existing materials that can address the request, often summarizing the current state of knowledge in the process. This not only helps resolve the immediate need but also highlights gaps and opportunities for developing new resources, contributing to wider capacity building in the Movement. As members collaborate on real-world challenges, they also grow their own skills and expand their networks — making the process itself a form of capacity building.

Each request becomes a focused, collaborative effort between the Helpdesk and a community member or affiliate. While the core work remains anchored in this responsive model, it also opens the door to broader experimentation and innovation as the project evolves.

The Helpdesk has been providing ongoing support to the international Wikimedia community since 2022. The work is detailed on the Meta-Wiki portal for the Content Partnerships Hub (detailed updates have been added in August and September 2025).

Focus of this project

To improve the support and service provided through the Helpdesk we have four important organizational steps to take:

The Secretary of the Expert Committee will support the work of the Expert Committee. The Committee will engage new members in preparation for an expected increase in requests to the Helpdesk.
We will form a Standing Working Group, as outlined in the concept paper.
This will be followed by forming a first Working Group Task Force, as outlined in the concept paper.
We will analyze and report on the learnings from these processes. This report will be shared with other hub initiatives if they would like to develop Helpdesks within their thematic or regional areas.

After the organizational preparations, we will start the work to create engagement with the Helpdesk:

We will scale communications about the Helpdesk. A communication plan will be developed, and we will reach out about the opportunity both online and at different events. We will especially ensure that we coordinate this with the hubs that have a geographical or language focus to reach the communities they engage deeply with.
We expect to process at least five requests through the Working Groups. The result from these experiments will be analyzed in-depth and we will make recommendations for scaling the efforts further.

Work Package 3: Capacity Building

The Content Partnerships Hub is well-positioned to support the collection and creation of capacity-building materials within the Wikimedia movement, involving affiliates, individual contributors and partner institutions in the process. As affiliates are well suited to develop capacity building material and the Hubs role is to support the work. The Helpdesk and its working groups can be tasked with coordinating the effort, and Metabase will be an important database where the information is collected. The information is made available on Metawiki, establishing a showcase of activities in the Wikimedia movement and a go-to resource for capacity building materials. The capacity building efforts are closely linked to the other Work Packages that all help to identify the material and coordinate work between the stakeholders.

The Hub will help facilitate the creation of key material that (1) has been identified as missing (through discussions between experts in the Helpdesk’s working groups and the Expert Committee, and by searching for existing resources on Metabase); and (2) that has a clear real use case identified (i.e. based on a specific request to the Helpdesk, or to lower the threshold to use a technical tool that recently has been improved upon). The material will be developed by the Working Group (if the material is a direct response to a Helpdesk request) or by developers in cooperation with pedagogical staff if the material is in response to a tool changing form or functions significantly.

The Metabase platform is an attempt to provide a missing piece of infrastructure that is important for capacity building long-term, and is directly responding to Strategic Recommendation 7: Manage Internal Knowledge that recommends the following action point “Establish a knowledge-base system with access to all Movement learning assets”. We are currently mainly working on compiling data about content partnerships, but the way Metabase is structured, all information about the Wikimedia movement could be added there over time.

An important next step is to work with other hub initiatives so that they also can take advantage of the platform to structure information that is of relevance to them. The focus of Metabase to date have been on: (1) establishing a functioning platform; (2) establish data models for key areas to allow for data to be added in a structured way (3) add data to exemplify how it can be used (e.g. as a case study add data about one Wikimania, but not about all of the Wikimanias or other Wikimedia conferences); (4) add basic information about Wikimedia affiliates, partner organizations, geographical entities, keywords etc. that make it faster to add detailed information about e.g. an event as not all connected objects have to be created from scratch; (5) add personas and documentation that lowers the threshold to contribute. These five areas have been successfully achieved and the plan is to now invite more affiliates to contribute. A successful test case was the participation of an intern at WMIT that independently was able to add information about WMIT’s work to Metabase over multiple months, with very limited mentorship.

To make learning materials available:

1. Identify and list existing resources related to contributing to Wikimedia projects, record them on Metabase, and display them on Metawiki. Alternative interfaces external to Metawiki can be considered, to cater for better search capabilities.

2. Identify and collaboratively produce key learning resources to be kept up-to-date and made available in a multilingual form. Invite Wikimedia communities to contribute to them. Coordination can be managed by working groups.

3. Facilitate showcasing the activities taking place in the Wikimedia movement. Cater for recording the activities in Metabase. Integrate the recording effort with creating entries for This Month in GLAM. To make these contributions appealing and discoverable, publish the entries on the GLAM Wiki pages on Metawiki, adding visual components and interactivity, using the uniform design of the GLAM Wiki pages.

Focus of this project

Creating processes to jointly develop key capacity building material through the Helpdesk

Through the requests received at the Helpdesk we will gain insights into what capacity building material is most needed. The requests and the Working Groups response will also allow us to compile information about what existing resources there are. This work is about developing a methodology and a structure and we intend to develop one resource that goes through the following steps:

We will form the Working Group Task Force and develop capacity building material based on the requests that have been received by the Helpdesk and prioritized by the Expert Committee or one set of material connected to a tool.
The material will be added to Metabase by the participants of the Working Group Task Force (after being trained on how to contribute to Metabase by WMSE’s staff).
The new material will be added to Meta-Wiki and marked for translation. The team will identify what languages should be prioritized for a translation of the content developed and based on that either directly translate the material by the staff or connect with relevant affiliates, hubs and volunteers to ensure translation and contextualization of the material. For example we have started exploring a partnership around this with the WikiFranca Hub.
A case study will be developed based on the experience and recommendations for scaling the efforts further will be provided.

Expanding Metabase to broader Wikimedia movement and new types of content

Content partnerships (with e.g. GLAM and educational institutions) is an area of work where the Wikimedia Movement has a lot of experience and have created different pieces of materials over the last years. However, it is very hard to find as well as to navigate among the material as the material developed historically is spread across multiple wikis (Meta-Wiki, Outreach, chapters' wikis etc.) and on other platforms with no structured approach to organize and find it, keep it updated and expanded on. Metabase provides a solution for this. The platform is up and running, but still in its infancy.

As part of this project, the team will scale the work in the following ways:

Co-develop the Metabase dataset: The development of Metabase will be guided by ongoing collaboration with Wikimedia communities, affiliates, and other hub initiatives. In line with the recommendations presented in the Metabase case study we will train staff and volunteers from the Wikimedia organizations participating in the project about the possibilities and how they can help to improve different areas. Through the project workshops/meetings will be organized to discuss the material they have and match it with the Metabase data structure. We will jointly identify new types of content suitable for Metabase, this could for example include data around the organization (key documents, staff etc.), about activities. Partnering movement actors will be invited to explore how they might contribute, including training for data wranglers that can work to integrate content. WMSE has been able to hire an experienced Wikidatan through a grant from the Swedish authorities covering 80% of his salary (0.5 FTE). He will be adding material from 2025 to the end of 2027. Existing datasets will be uploaded in batches, and new types of content will be jointly identified and added ongoingly.
Develop material and training: We will develop a set of training modules for learn.wiki on how to contribute to Metabase. These modules will be connected to the specific courses that are being developed for different target groups. The materials will introduce the Metabase platform, how to contribute data, and how it can be used to support programmatic work. Translation support from participating organizations, interns, and volunteers will help make the materials accessible in multiple languages. We will also organize live workshops and other types of training and support to help interested stakeholders to get involved in the work.
Review and analyze: We will analyze and report on the learnings from these processes through case studies. In the case studies we will be detailing what data we worked on, what the outcome was of the joint activities and what recommendations we have for further work. The findings from the report will be shared with a broad group of Wikimedia affiliates to increase knowledge about the Metabase platform.
Coordinate with other hubs and strategic initiatives: To ensure that relevant resources are added from across the Movement we will engage with the other hub initiatives. We will organize meetings to discuss what opportunities and roles they see for themselves in the Metabase work. We will together develop concrete suggestions for how data wrangler positions could be established at the different hubs, what they might focus on and how they can structure the work. The findings and insights will be summarized in a concept paper that we will publish on our Meta-Wiki portal. Our main focus will be on content partnership related material, but to ensure that the platform can handle different types of challenges we will also engage with hubs that have other types of content. For example the EduWiki Hub is considering relying on the Metabase for resource sharing, per discussion at the last EduWiki Conference (May 30 - June 1, 2025). We will also coordinate closely with the Capacity Exchange, as both Metabase and CapX emerge from the same Movement Strategy Recommendation.
Engage volunteers: We will identify volunteers who could make a positive impact on Metabase and extend personal invitations to them to engage them actively in the work. We will develop and provide training for them and create a first set of capacity building material needed for them to effectively contribute e.g. by adding content related to a conference. We will test and evaluate the material based on their inputs and will summarize the findings in a report that will be shared with the broader Wikimedia community. The goal is that these volunteers will be acting as ambassadors for the project and will support them with different types of resources to do so.
Utilize the data: To make the data useful and visible across the movement, relevant content from Metabase will be used to populate pages on Meta-Wiki in alignment with the GLAM pages revamp project. These pages will offer accessible, regularly updated resources for affiliates and individuals working with content partnerships and related programs. This will help ensure that knowledge is not only gathered but also made actionable and widely shared.

Work Package 4: Scaling the IGO efforts with WiRs and partnerships

As part of the project we are working on creating a formal partnership with UNESCO and exploring formal partnerships with other UN bodies. We have previously signed MOUs with IGOs such as UNESCO Archives, the European Investment Bank and UNFPA, and are in the process of signing an MoU with FAO.

Many UN agencies and programs require formal agreements of MoUs to be able to work with partners, as well as ‘focal point’, a single point of contact for organising the work. Because of this, they need formal relationships with specified organisations under the Wikimedia umbrella. For the last few years, Wikimedia Sverige has entered into a series of such agreements with UN agencies and other IGOs, which opens doors for other affiliates and Wikimedia volunteers to engage with IGOs. The CHP intends to continue experimenting around this together, as well as around how to co-hold these formal partnerships with other movement actors (such as the ongoing process of Wikimedia Sverige and Wikimedia UK signing an MoU with FAO). The accreditation this leads to means that we can support the Hub in opening up for affiliates across the movement to work with IGOs and within the UN system. Having the accreditation allows us to know about more opportunities and attend events that we couldn’t otherwise have access to.

The Content Partnerships Hub is uniquely positioned to work with the UN system, both due to the personal contacts that several parties to the initiative have after years of collaborating, and due to its technical capacity and experience with mass uploads. The scale of the knowledge and content the UN system and other IGOs produce is enormous, they have archives of millions of images, videos and audio files and produce thousands of publications per year, of high value to the Wikimedia platforms. Whilst they produce an enormous amount of very valuable content and knowledge they struggle to reach an audience which with much of their content, which is something Wikimedia is uniquely positioned to do.

Many of the affiliates participating in the work have had positive and productive initiatives with UN agencies and other IGOs over the years. These are efforts we will build upon together. With some staff working within the UN system for over 10 years to support UN agencies to change their copyright licenses and share content with Wikimedia the Hub has a uniquely strong network to build upon. The network of contacts include senior staff across most UN agencies including UNESCO, World Health Organization, FAO, UNEP, UNRWA, UN Human Rights Office, UN Population Fund, UN Women, WIPO and the International Energy Agency. Work is currently happening together with multiple agencies to open up opportunities for Wikimedia affiliates and has legal support from IP lawyers at WIPO, FAO and UNESCO.

Focus of this project

Formalized partnerships and events with IGOs and INGOs

A key part of this project is to create the opportunity for affiliates to take advantage of these formal partnerships, strong networks and experiences. The Hub will work to facilitate this and build upon the success to date. We expect to sign formal agreements with UN agencies as part of this project. Support will be provided for a couple of hands-on content sharing initiatives that help to showcase the joint work and deepen the cooperation. The initiatives will deliver new valuable content to the Wikimedia platforms and visibility for the Wikimedia movement, along with events that ensure that this content is being reused across Wikimedia platforms.

The affiliates will, in close conversation with the emerging governance body, be in charge of what activities to engage in and regional sensitivities and contextual needs will be of key importance to ensure success. The governance body will be fundamental in ensuring that knowledge shared via the collaborations is 1) relevant and 2) (re)used. A key part of this will also be to engage with the national and regional UN offices that are located in different countries, and Wikimedia affiliates in those countries and regions.

WiR training program for IGOs

There is a lot of interest within the UN/IGO system to work with the Wikimedia movement. We believe that it is currently at a stage where GLAM partnerships were 10 years ago and that the potential is enormous given the size and scope of the UN/IGOs and the vast amount of content that has been produced in the past 70+ years. For this to be successful it is important to find ways to quickly move from formal partnerships and individual activities and initiatives, as important as they are, to institutionalize and embed the activities in the daily work of these massive organizations. We need to provide continuous exchange, support and interaction to progress this work.

We believe that Wikimedian in Residence positions have a very valuable role to fill. However, the number of people that currently successfully can perform the roles is limited, given the high level and skill and professionalism needed, and we need to expand the pool. As part of our efforts, this project will allow us to take the next steps to organize a global WiR training program for UN agencies and other IGOs. The intent is to use this project as an engine to secure a large external grant for this work to scale. The work will include the following steps:

In conversation with the WREN network and affiliates with long-term WREN experience, the Hub will be leading the development of a new training program that builds on the report we published. The experimental work will include:
How to deliver the training and on what platforms (i.e. what is done in person/hybrid/online and what should be added as modules on learn.wiki and on wiki pages)
What the budget has to be
Timelines
Communication planning to reach people that should take part in the training
Evaluation of the learning outcomes should be done. This task will include close cooperation with other Wikimedia affiliates that are joining the hub work as formal partners and will support the training program. This could include e.g. WMUK, WMFR, WMAR and Wiki in Africa (others might join or replace some of these affiliates).
The intent is that the new training program will first be piloted with members of WREN. This group is well-versed in conducting WiR activities but operates outside the UN and IGO framework, making them an ideal testing ground.
The pilot will be closely monitored, with structured feedback collected from participants to refine and improve the program.
The updated version will then, if possible, be presented at the 2026 PIAM (UN Publications Inter-Agency Meeting). Wikimedia Sverige is a member of PIAM, alongside all UN agency and program publication divisions, making it an excellent venue to showcase the program to IGOs—likely the next organizations to hire WiRs.
Since PIAM is held annually in October, this presentation will mark the final milestone of the current funding cycle. However, we intend to apply for additional support, both from the Wikimedia Foundation and from IGOs, to continue scaling and implementing the program.
For the WiR training program to make sense there needs to be a clear interest from the IGOs that are intended to be hosting the WiR. We know that many IGOs are interested and we will use this to engage them in developing a detailed MoU that also creates other opportunities for the Wikimedia movement. The opportunity presented in 2b. Will be one way of engaging further IGOs to this end. A selected few staff members at IGOs will also be approached individually to join the training program as teachers and mentors.
We will develop a network structure for the IGO WiRs. The preparatory work focuses on establishing a detailed plan for how the network will be organized and what type of support will be required and how it connects to other parts of the Hub. Coordination is expected to take place with e.g. the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network (WREN) and UN networks.
We will also take the initial steps to develop a global database of IGO WiR candidates. This work includes development of a database of potential candidates. Contacts with affiliates across the world for suggestions of candidates is a key part of this process. This is also an opportunity to inform the Movement about the training program.

We will also investigate if such a WiR support program for IGOs could be adapted to also serve other international non-profits, or philanthropies, like those who currently support the WMF Endowment.

Work Package 5: Supporting tool development needed for content partnerships

Wikimedians and their partners rely upon many custom pieces of software (tools) that are crucial for effective content partnerships. Over the years the Hub initiative has worked on supporting both MediaWiki development as well as developing tools and supporting key tools to be maintained. With limited resources the ambition level has been reduced for this project, but the participating organizations strongly believe that tool development and maintenance is an area that a Thematic hub could and should have a role to play, taking advantage of the deep knowledge among the participating Wikimedia affiliates and associated organizations. The work with external partners making use of the Wikimedia ecosystem in contributing their knowledge in the global commons rely on custom data and media import pipelines. This pipeline is currently managed by many custom pieces of software (tools), often created by volunteer members of the community, with little coordination and lacking long-term support.

The Content Partnerships Hub initiative has considered supporting tech development for media and data uploads a key area where a thematic hub could have a role to play. Aiming for a more professional approach to tech development, the Content Partnerships Hub actively seeks collaboration across the Movement entities and with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Focus of this project

The team will explore, ideally collaboratively with the Wikimedia Foundation, the services that are needed by the partners to contribute to Wikimedia projects and how to deliver these services. The discussions will initially focus on delivering concrete suggestions in two areas:

Produce a roadmap for developing services (including a hierarchy of needs), that the Wikimedia Foundation and affiliates can both contribute to. The roadmap can inform the work of the Product and Technology Advisory Council and related efforts. Co-development workshops or hackathons inform this work.
An updated prioritization of what software to focus on with estimations of the complexity of the task (including additions of new functions). This work will allow us to make strategic choices and quickly develop different grant applications. We call this the Content Partnerships Tool Pipeline and it will outline what a minimum viable infrastructure for GLAM-related tools should look like and how its maintenance can be sustainably shared across affiliates to ensure successful content partnerships. For details, see the supporting document Content Partnerships Hub Technical Application Information ([1]).

When the Content Partnerships Tool Pipeline plan is in place and in parallel with this more strategic work, we will actively engage and support some of the key tools that affiliates across the world depend on. We have researched this space extensively and are well aware of the current situation. We intend to experiment how developer teams at Wikimedia affiliates jointly can support the maintenance of key tools. Staff developers from WMSE and WMB will work together to tackle important development work and will establish routines and ways to coordinate the work between the developer teams. The collaboration will serve as a pilot to test how geographically and structurally diverse teams can jointly support technical work. The experience gained will inform a broader model that can later be scaled to include other affiliates.

The collaboration in WP5 will also feed directly into WP3 (Capacity Building), as lessons learned from maintaining and localizing tools will be translated into training material, particularly for underrepresented communities. This includes developing support for both existing developers to be able to contribute to key tools and to engage new developers to start contributing. For users, the focus is on lowering the threshold to be able to use the tools effectively. This will include translating the interface of different tools so they are accessible to different language communities, and training in the use of the tools. WMB’s contribution also includes sharing expertise on socio-technical infrastructures and governance of tools in the Lusophone context. This perspective will help ensure that maintenance and prioritization efforts are inclusive of Global South needs, particularly for communities where technical sustainability is a pressing issue.

Work Package 6: Strategic data upload and curation

This pillar establishes a framework to leverage data for the benefit of the Wikimedia movement. By strategically working to identify, prepare and upload and/or curate datasets that are of importance to form and maintain content partnerships, the Hub is laying an important foundation for future partnerships.

Unlike the requests that come to the Helpdesk where the work is reactive and incomplete, the work with strategic data uploads and curation is proactive, long-term and ambitious and aims to cover a strategic area in full. This work includes efforts around mapping and uploading information about GLAMs and other content partners, heritage sites and more—enabling the identification of potential partners for different Wikimedia-led initiatives. This facilitates the planning of future batch-uploads, making it possible to prioritize and assign staff resources where they are most needed. It also makes it easier to plan for possible difficulties, e.g. where additional information is needed, and to structure the work around them and lowers the thresholds to start an initiative with a content partner (e.g. as the GLAMwiki experts more easily can identify suitable partners). It also includes efforts to ensure that materials imported through content partnerships are easily accessible and findable through Structured Data on Commons. By ensuring continuous curation and revisiting and improving content from old partnerships we ensure usage of the material on Wikimedia Commons media files on Wikipedia and a continuous and strong relationship with the content partners.

From a practical point of view this work nicely complements the work done as part of the Helpdesk as staff can easily reduce or scale up this work depending on how many and the types of requests received through the Helpdesk. E.g. a month with fewer Helpdesk requests around data or image uploads allows the staff to work on this backlog.

Focus of this project

The basic work to continuously add new datasets to Wikidata will continue. The team will work on mapping existing datasets of GLAMs and heritage sites around the world. Through batch uploads, the datasets will then be added to the unique global dataset that nowadays exists on Wikidata.

The decision on what datasets to strategically prioritize will be decided by the governance body. In preparation for new initiatives the team will organize discussions to help make the strategic choice of what datasets and specific information should be prioritized next, e.g. if the site is at risk for some reason.

Volunteers with local knowledge of the datasets are instrumental in identifying and preparing the datasets. Through the Hub, training for volunteers on how to work with the data will be organized and the team will work to reach the right people. This includes work on structuring the data, providing insights about the context, translating the data and improving the foundational data on Wikidata.

Another area within this program is to support and facilitate discussions on how to handle ethical issues and decolonization of the data. For example, we have faced situations where the only existing dataset of built cultural heritage in a certain region is focusing on colonial structures, excluding local sites of importance. How should the Movement support the additions of new sites? Another example is that nationally owned GLAM institutions might not be the most important players preserving local heritage, but instead privately owned but publicly accessible collections have that role. How do we capture this in the datasets? What implications does it have?

Work Package 7: Other possibilities

To be able to develop the Hub further and identify different sources of funding the team will work on developing new concepts that could be developed into new areas of work over time.

This work includes applying for external funding to cover the cost of further work within the different areas of work outlined in this project, but also to develop new areas to include in the offers made by the thematic hub.

For example we intend to apply for funding from the UN fund to expand the training program for people to become Wikimedian in Residence at UN agencies and other IGOs.

Micro grants

One such area is support through microgrants. This type of support was frequently highlighted in the needs assessment done in 2022 and again highlighted in the GLOSS survey. A few of the organizations participating in this project have relevant experience in this field and we will jointly develop a concept for how to work within this space. Coordination with the grants team at the Wikimedia Foundation will be of key importance.

Advocacy

During the Berlin meeting the possibility to develop advocacy into a new pillar gained support, also an area highlighted in the GLOSS survey. As part of the project a small study will be conducted outlining the following in a concept paper:

What the role of the Hub would be and how it complements and overlaps with the work by e.g. Wikimedia Europe, WMF and with affiliates.
What the strategic focus areas and stakeholders would be, what issues are of interest and relevance to the broader work by the Hub.
How an engagement pack for volunteers could be developed.

Exchange program for peer-to-peer learning

We will develop an application for funding for the Grand Tour of Wikimedia initiative. Then we will prepare an application together with at least three more Wikimedia affiliates. One key focus for the Grand Tour participants will be to compile information about capacity building material, develop new material and expand on existing. The initiative will develop a model for the exchange of staff and volunteers in the Wikimedia movement. This can take place as a collaboration between three or more Wikimedia affiliates, for example. The exact details outlined on the concept page on Meta are still subject to change based on future discussions with the participating organizations.

Support to the coordination of the GLAM and Wikimedia Commons communities

The GLAMWiki Conference in October/November marks an important date for the GLAM community in general, including the Content Partnerships Hub initiative. The community has, through many initiatives, including the recent GLOSS survey, gathered input on how to collaborate, coordinate and structure the GLAM work globally, and discussions around this will be an important part of the conference. It includes how the wide range of GLAM initiatives that volunteers and affiliates have been developing across the Wikimedia movement for nearly two decades should be formalized and supported, and how the ecosystem – including practitioners, Wikimedians in Residence, developers, affiliate staff, and community members, can be strengthened.

This area will support the implementation of the outcomes of the GLAMWiki Conference. During the current pause in recognition of new affiliates, the Content Partnerships Hub will provide active and financial support for the coordination of the community in the implementation of the outcomes of the GLAMWiki Conference. This is especially relevant since one potential outcome of the conference is the final step towards applying for recognition for a GLAMWiki User Group, whose activities would overlap with the goal of the CPH. The activities of the User Group, or whatever structure emerges from the conference, overlaps with the goals of the hub, and can contribute directly to building capacity, sharing knowledge, and supporting affiliates in their work with cultural heritage institutions.

The support will focus on collaborating with the communities and implementing the strategic outcomes of the GLAM Wiki 2025 Conference, at least until the Affiliations Committee resumes its recognition process.

Any strategic outcomes of the conference that involve the Content Partnerships Hub as a collaborator in the activity, will also be supported.

This work also includes targeted efforts to engage with the Wikimedia Commons community and initiate a space for the discussion needed to understand this specific community’s needs and wants and how they align with the work of the Content Partnerships Hub, this could e.g. include workshops online or at Wikimedia events, and supporting methods such as surveys or interviews.

9. Did you involve communities during the drafting of this proposal? Share which specific communities you involved, the process you used to involve them, and how they will participate in this proposal. (required)

The process of drafting this proposal

Community involvement has been central to drafting this proposal, ensuring that it reflects the needs, priorities, and aspirations of the wider Wikimedia movement. The process began with an in-person workshop hosted by Wikimedia Deutschland in Berlin, where 13 representatives from 11 affiliates, networks, and other movement structures convened over three days. The workshop focused on collaboratively defining the scope of the Hub, laying the groundwork for the application, and initiating discussions on a representative and functional governance structure. The outcomes of these sessions directly informed the content and design of this proposal.

The participants first engaged with in-depth presentations on the scope of work until that point, which set a shared foundation of understanding. These presentations were given in virtual calls leading up to the physical meeting. Building on these calls, the Berlin participants worked together in open discussions to explore which aspects should be expanded, sustained, or phased out. These conversations were highly collaborative, with diverse perspectives helping to identify what mattered most across the community. The priorities that emerged from this collective process are the ones carried forward in this application.

From the outset, we recognized the importance of ensuring that the proposed Hub would benefit not just affiliates but also individual volunteers and underrepresented communities globally. Therefore, we deliberately invited participants who could represent broader communities and independent volunteers, rather than focusing exclusively on affiliates. These voices brought invaluable perspectives that are often absent from formal structures and helped ensure that the proposal is inclusive, equitable, and responsive to community realities.

To extend and deepen this engagement, we organized follow-up consultations with thematic communities, particularly the GLAM Wiki community and the GLOSS initiative that is in the process of establishing a GLAM Wiki affiliate. On 13 May, we presented the outcomes of the Berlin workshop during the global GLAM Wiki call. A subsequent open community call on 20 May focused specifically on the future of the Hub initiative and invited feedback from interested volunteers and community members. In parallel with the Berlin workshop, we also held targeted conversations with leaders from the GLAM Wiki and GLOSS communities. These dialogues focused on co-developing synergies and creating pathways for ongoing collaboration. Together, we explored the results of the GLOSS survey in depth, connecting its findings to the hub proposal and considering how best to reflect the wishes of the global community. This was an iterative process, and while insights and next steps were still evolving at the time of the first submission, the spirit of shared ownership and collaboration shaped the direction of the work. This spirit is also reflected in the fact that the letter of intent of the GLAMWiki+ User Group proposal explicitly states:“As a community user group, we seek to support the work of the Content Partnerships Hub and its mission to make Wikimedia platforms the go-to place for organizations worldwide to openly share their content.”

How stakeholders will be able to participate in this proposal

A key part of this pilot work is to find effective ways for different Movement stakeholders to contribute to the service and support provided by the hub. This includes work to engage new stakeholders and to collaborate on a deeper level with those that already have experience.

Importantly, these stakeholders will continue to be involved throughout the pilot phase. They are invited to take on roles in the emerging governance body, ensuring ongoing representation and accountability. The proposal outlines mechanisms for maintaining open communication, including regular community calls, structured feedback loops, and transparent documentation of decisions. In alignment with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Hub Guidelines, this ensures that stakeholders are not only well-defined but also actively shaping the direction and priorities of the Hub.

The different stakeholders involved in this proposal will work together with co-creating the services and support provided through the five pillars, and all will both be joining and using them.

Participation will happen at different levels, depending on capacity and interest — from strategic governance to practical contributions in software, training, and partnerships.

Work Package 0: Project Management and Communication

Communication and coordination:

Contribute to relevant newsletters, blogs and other communication channels, and summarize key points of the work for broader dissemination and consumption
Inform wider communities about the existence and possibilities to engage with the Content Partnerships Hub, especially the Helpdesk
- Share stories about impact and output of Helpdesk
Help maintain and update the Meta-Wiki portal
Act as ambassadors for the different pillars of the hub and make the wider community aware of the opportunities and support and services offered. An ambassador should have a deep understanding of the hub, the project and what is going on in the space (of hubs and the implementation of the strategic recommendations) and training will be provided to the staff members/boards/volunteers engaged in the project
Coordinate with other stakeholders to engage them in reaching further, for example seek out involvement from Thematic hubs formed around languages (e.g. WikiFranca or The Wikimedia Languages Diversity Hub) and Regional hubs to join our efforts in translating and contextualizing the material
Participate in regular community calls, such as the global GLAM calls.
Support the facilitation and organization of GLAM tracks at Wikimedia events, including the GLAM Wiki 2025 Conference

Reporting and analyzing:

Lead or support the development of case studies or concepts based on the experimentation
Support the development of the project report to WMF
Develop new concepts that could be included in the Hub, e.g. around advocacy and microgrants

Work Package 1: Governance work

Nominations Committee and Governance body:

Suggest staff or representatives from the organization to join either body
Communicate about the governance work to the wider Movement
Help with research about governance models being used by the different hub initiatives
Give feedback on the proposals developed by the Nominations Committee and Governance body
Present the CPH work and its perspective in the ongoing global conversations around governance and resource distribution (NB, Wikimedia UK’s CEO is a member of the interim Global Resource Distribution Committee)
Identify areas of synergy both at the local and international level regarding making GLAM work and CPH more inclusive and recognizable to stakeholders outside of the Wikimedia movement

Work Package 2: Helpdesk

Working Groups:

Join the Standing Working Group (with GLAM Wiki staff members or volunteers, or other content partner experts) and contribute to the work of the group
Join one of the Working Group Task Forces (with GLAM Wiki staff members or volunteers, or other content partner experts) and contribute to the work of the group

International Expert Committee:

Help identify new committee members if needed

Events:

Organize edit-a-thons to add the material to Wikipedia articles
Organize metadata-thons to improve the metadata in the content shared through the joint Helpdesk initiatives

Work Package 3: Capacity building

Metabase:

Identify and add material from their organization/activities they have organized (e.g. create new items or improve existing ones)
Structure data from across the Movement about a specific focus area that they are working on (e.g. use the Metabase platform as part of a research project)
Discuss how new types of data should be structured (e.g. provide suggestions for new properties etc.)
Translate the labels and descriptions of the items
Develop missing instructions and/or improve existing ones
Translate instruction pages
Translate educational modules in learn.wiki
Identify volunteers in their local communities who could become Metabase ambassadors

Develop Capacity building material:

Based on requests to the Helpdesk the missing pieces are created or the material needing an update is improved upon. Volunteers or affiliates can volunteer to take on such tasks ongoingly

Work Package 4: International partnerships

Partnerships with UN agencies, other IGOs and INGOs:

Organize events to use the material from the IGOs that have been shared
Organize events with the IGOs around specific themes jointly identified
Engaging with the regional offices of the IGOs

WiR program for IGOs:

Engage pedagogical staff to develop the program (i.e. what to teach the participants)
Deliver it with active involvement from experts from different affiliates
Communicate about the opportunity to participate in the program to the members, volunteers and staff from the affiliates
Coordinate the above with the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network (WREN) and the Wiki Consultant Network

Work Package 5: Tools

Maintenance of key tools:

Support with developer time to work on security issues
Support with developer time to work on bug fixes
Support with developer time to work on new features
Support with design choices of the software
Support with code review of the software
Support with testing of the software
Support with user evaluations of the tool and with providing feedback to the developer(s)
Support with translations of the tool’s interface

Strategic discussions:

Organize meetings for affiliates and/or other stakeholders that are interested in developing tools for content partnerships. This could include supporting the GLAM Digital Resilience Hackathon at GLAM Wiki 2025 conference.
Develop reports and suggestions for how work could be done in a distributed fashion between stakeholders interested in contributing to the tools/software
Update the material about existing tools and their usage and maintenance and facilitate conversations around prioritization of them

Capacity building:

Develop training materials around existing key tools
Translate existing training materials around key tools

Work Package 6: Strategic data curation and upload

Identifying datasets:

Work with local affiliates, volunteers, regional hubs and external partners to identify datasets to upload (e.g. a dataset of libraries in a specific country)
Work with data owners (e.g. public agencies) to clarify copyright status of the datasets. This is an opportunity to inform them about the Wikimedia platforms and facilitate sharing of data under open licenses
Organize a set of workshops to discuss priorities of what datasets to include in the future
Organize a set of workshops to discuss ethical aspects of dataset curation, e.g. around decolonization

Uploading datasets:

Structure and clean up messy data to allow it to be batch uploaded
Provide insights into how the data is structured
Translate keywords, etc.
Examine and improve relevant foundational data on the Wikimedia platforms (e.g. ensuring that Wikidata has a complete coverage of what different types of museums exists in a country, before uploading the data)

Community work:

Work with local Wikimedians to identify gaps in data coverage and the underlying problems (lack of openly licensed data sources, lack of technical skills etc.)
Gather insights about technical needs related to data uploads that could be addressed through the Hub's Software program
Work with local Wikimedians to inform them about newly uploaded data and encourage them to improve and use it
Organize events, like contests and edit-a-thons, focused on data enrichment
Translate, update or create relevant manuals and guides for data uploads and enrichment
Inform data owners about how their data has contributed to the Wikimedia platforms
Train the trainers so that staff at the participating organizations can train local communities

Work Package 7: Other opportunities

New concepts:

Develop a new concept around microgrants
Develop a new concept around advocacy

Grand Tour of Wikimedia:

Support in writing the application to Erasmus+ or other funders
Sign up to host participants
Sign up to send participants

Fundraising:

Identify different grant opportunities (internationally or in a specific country or region), possibly around the new concepts outlined above
Write applications for project grants or other types of funding

Community:

Governance and Hub members participate in Global GLAM Calls, and alternate hosting with community volunteers
Content Partnerships Hub provides infrastructure for the community calls (Zoom)

10. Are you in communication with other initiatives or groups that either support similar communities or offer similar services to the ones in your proposal? Provide information about any initiatives, affiliates, and/or hubs that have the potential to duplicate or overlap with your proposal. (required)

Yes, the CHP team is in ongoing, close communication with several initiatives and communities whose work aligns with or complements this proposal. Most notably, the team is actively collaborating with the GLOSS initiative and the GLAM Wiki community. Several of the key contributors to GLOSS also represent organizations that are co-signatories of this proposal, ensuring strategic alignment and continuity. Additionally, the team is in dialogue with the organizers of the upcoming GLAM Wiki 2025 conference in Lisbon (November 2025) to explore synergies and prevent duplication of effort. Our shared goal is to coordinate rather than compete — identifying areas of overlap as opportunities for mutual reinforcement.

The team also engages with complementary projects targeting specific regions, where our hub infrastructure can provide shared capacity. For example, Wikimedia Sverige is co-leading the Heritage Guard Network with Wikimedia Poland, Wikimedia Georgia, and Wikimedia Ukraine, as well as the OpenGLAM in Ukraine project in partnership with Wikimedia Ukraine. These projects, while regionally focused, are tightly integrated with this hub initiative through shared resources like the Helpdesk, strategic data uploads, software tools, and collaborations with international organizations.

As a mission-aligned initiative, several hub members are members of the Creative Commons led TAROCH (Towards a Recommendation for Open Cultural Heritage) Coalition, and Wikimedia UK is leading the Advocacy Circle for the UK.

These intersections should not be seen as duplication, but as a source of strength. By seeking external funding in collaboration with other affiliates, the CHP is able to co-develop resources—such as software tools — that serve local contexts while remaining adaptable and reusable across the movement. For example, infrastructure developed for the CEE region can equally support GLAM work globally. This approach enables us to respond to regional needs while building solutions with movement-wide impact.

11. Who is your primary audience(s)? List the communities, affiliates, and groups. (required)

The Content Partnerships Hub serves a broad and diverse set of stakeholders across the Wikimedia movement and beyond. Our primary audiences are stakeholders in the Wikimedia movement that work with content partnerships in staff or volunteer capacities, including Wikimedia affiliates and hubs, WMF staff as well as the GLAM Wiki community and the GLOSS initiative.

There is, though, a large group of stakeholders that will be important to reach out to in addition to the primary audiences. A comprehensive list of primary and secondary audiences read as below:

Organisations

Wikimedia Affiliates (outside the hub): We coordinate with affiliates globally to share resources, co-create capacity-building opportunities, and support joint initiatives.
Other Wikimedia Hubs: Through inter-hub coordination, we exchange lessons learned, develop shared governance experiments, and support strategic alignment across regional and thematic hubs.
Other Wikimedia allies (outside of the affiliate network)
Wikimedia Foundation Staff: We work closely with Foundation teams on e.g. cultural heritage, software development and strategic development, particularly in alignment with the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations.
Intergovernmental Organizations (e.g., UN agencies): We collaborate, along the lines of digital public goods framework, on policy guidance, concept development, developing best practices and case studies, providing guidance and documentation and aligning knowledge sharing with global development goals.
International GLAM organizations: These stakeholders are engaged in developing best practices, case studies, and thematic partnerships.

Individuals

Wikimedians in Residence (WiRs): WiRs collaborate with us on providing guidance and documentation, developing best practices, doing internal advocacy, creating opportunities for content uploads and increasing institutional knowledge.
Let’s Connect Participants and Capacity Exchange (CapX) Users: These networks provide peer-learning opportunities, amplify local innovations, and help distribute effective practices across the movement.
Thematic Community Groups (e.g. WikiProjects): We support these groups in reusing and contextualizing content uploaded through hub-supported initiatives, ensuring alignment with user needs.
Volunteer Developers: Collaborating on open-source tool development and interoperability projects across hubs and thematic areas.
Wikimedians and Wikipedians: Collaborate in volunteer capacities on content partnerships, capacity-building activities, and making use of content made available through e.g. Helpdesk and IGO collaboration.
GLAM Wiki community/GLOSS initiative: We collaborate with the GLAM community and the GLOSS initiative on communicative and strategic efforts, on surfacing needs and opportunities, on jointly promoting further GLAM/content partnerships projects and building capacity in the Wikimedia movement to this end.

12. If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share the governance structure you plan to establish. If this governance structure is not yet in place, share how you are making decisions in the interim. (optional)

Under question 8, we explain the process towards establishing a diverse, global governance structure for the Hub. The governance structure we aim to establish, developed during our Berlin meeting and with contributions from 10 Wikimedia affiliates and stakeholders from across the globe, can be found here: Content Partnerships Hub/Governance proposal

13. Describe your team. (required)

The Content Partnerships Hub initiative will implement this proposal. The initial group of the hub, based on the participation at a funding and governance workshop in Berlin in May 2025, and formal partners (co-signatories) to this application are (in alphabetical order): AvoinGLAM, IIIT Hyderabad (formerly known as A2K), Wiki in Africa, Wikimedia Brasil, Wikimedia Indonesia, Wikimedia Serbia, Wikimedians of Singapore User Group, Wikimedia Sverige and Wikimedia UK. Wikimedia Serbia is also a secondary contact for the application. Wikimedia Chile, Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia France are all endorsing this application. To make sure that the initiatives are closely aligned, the GLAM Wiki community and the GLOSS initiative representatives will be closely connected and involved in the work in volunteer capacities, though they cannot sign without an organisational entity. The GLAM Wiki community and the GLOSS initiative will own the question on who to represent them in the nominations committee that will be set up to establish the governance structure (see Question 8).

The project will channel funding to staff at AvoinGLAM, IIIT Hyderabad (formerly known as A2K), Wiki in Africa, Wikimedia Brasil, Wikimedia Indonesia, Wikimedia Serbia, Wikimedia Sverige and Wikimedia UK. Some stakeholders, incl. Wikimedia Brasil and Wikimedia Sverige will also contribute with staff hours pro bono. Wikimedians of Singapore User Group is not receiving funds. No funds are going to the affiliates endorsing the application. All affiliates will contribute according to what fits their strategic directions and capacities. Exact roles and names will be decided by each party and coordinated through a call every second month with the whole group.

John Andersson will be the main responsible for overseeing the implementation of the grant. Eric Luth will support him in this work, together with a team from WMSE: Alicia Fagerving for strategic uploads and software development, Anna Jegéus for communication and Jenny Brandt and Elenor Weijmar for finances. Luis Carrasco from Chile supports as secretary of the Expert Committee (consultant), and John Cummings (consultant) will bring vital experiences to achieve tangible outcomes in the IGO work.

14. Upload a timeline of activities or provide a link to it. Timeline (operational calendar) is for your programs and activities. (required): For the timeline, see here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yIVlsDor95J6tF_myLItIf1mnU8NcrXz5c3X-SNrXE/edit?usp=sharing

15. How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Share your communication plans. (required)

For each of the areas we are focusing on we have a dedicated lead person that is responsible for sharing material and the progress and updating the community (see next heading).

We will coordinate between the Wikimedia affiliates, hubs and non-affiliated Wikimedia groups taking part in the project through communication staff. The table below describes which groups we will reach through which channels, represented by a ✓ mark. Each target group will receive information through many channels, helping us reach the largest audience we can.

The organizations participating as co-signatories of this project will be responsible to keep the communities they serve and their own organization informed about the project and the larger initiative.

Individuals that are not fully partners, but in our general "ecosystem", such as photographers, are important stakeholders but not a primary target group in this rather small experimental project.

For channels and target groups, see here: [2]

16. If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive, inclusive, and safe? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions. (optional)

We will cultivate a productive, inclusive and safe environment for all participants in the following ways:

Productive

Clear communication which fits the target audiences.
Clearly set expectations for participants.
Investing sufficient time in planning events and bringing in expertise from across the hub and from other affiliates as needed.
Using professional facilitation where needed.

Inclusive

Communicating about events to a wide audience to encourage attendance.
Identifying Movement actors and key volunteers to invite.
Proactive planning to accommodate participants with special needs.
Inclusive facilitation practices of ensuring equal participation including:
Rotating hosts.
Community-driven topics.
Transparent note taking and documentation.
Scheduling for all timezones.
Translations for equitable participation.
Ensure that community perspectives can shape the project.

Safe

Hosting a UCOC and Friendly Space Policy onboarding session and discussion round(s) with the team working with the Hub.
Introducing all participants at events we organize to the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy.
Offering digital “HR office hours” for participants to book one-on-one meetings with the organizers, in order to discuss concerns or air complaints.
Policies and practices that respect privacy, e.g. paying attention to how participant data is exposed and shared.
Safety related to calls including:
Assigning a safety contact to people in calls and other events.
Recording / sharing of recordings only with consent.

Friendly Space Policy: https://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Riktlinjer_för_inkluderande_möten

17. Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information that will give more context on your proposed project. You can also upload any additional documents in the section below. (optional)

In some aspects we are working on an advanced level in this work and have been working iteratively for several years in this space. We have developed strong concepts, we have been inclusive and have conducted a very large number of discussions with relevant stakeholders, building a strong international team and community. Therefore we have a very lead time on the proposed work and are ready to get to work from the first day.

There are a large number of areas of work that are completely new to the Movement that we are trying to explore and with these added resources we are able to continue some of the work we envisioned.

We will take into account research data that has been produced in the Wikimedia movement regarding the Content Partnerships Hubs domains, this include:

The GLAM CSI project has useful needs assessment and community consultations for planning Content Partnerships Hub pilot projects.
The GLOSS survey results is the latest enquiry into the GLAM Wiki community’s needs.
Creative Commons "What are the barriers to open culture?"
Open letter to protect Wikipedia and other public interest projects in the Global Digital Compact

Metrics

18. Share quantitative and/or qualitative metrics that you plan to measure in order to showcase the impact of your activities. (required)

For the Metrics, see here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10S1UuPE1URtrJ19c54e0Rd8u3NXck4GTF5KPrAooiJ0/edit?usp=sharing

Budget

19. Your local currency. (required): SEK

20. What is the requested amount in your local currency? (required): 1271377.6 SEK
Requested amount in USD: 120908.01 USD ^{[note 1]}

↑ ^a ^b The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

21. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required): Yes

21.1. How many paid staff members and contractors do you plan to cover through the Hub Fund? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period as well as their work status (full-time/part-time, indefinite/fixed). If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms (period of work).

The project team includes part-time staff and a short-term contractor contributing to different work areas throughout the proposal period. Their roles, work status, and employment types are as follows:

1 part-time staff member from Wikimedia Brasil (10% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from AvoinGLAM (10% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from Wikimedia Indonesia (15% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from Wikimedia Serbia (15% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from Wikimedia UK (10% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from Wiki In Africa (15% FTE, indefinite)

1 part-time staff member from A2K (20% FTE, fixed-term)

1 part-time staff member for project owner, governance work, IGO agreements, MoUs and collaborations with other hubs and initiatives (WMSE), 7% of a FTE (equal to 151 hours) (indefinite)

1 part-time staff member for project management and coordination, governance work, organization of Helpdesk, IGO meetings and pilots, communication (WMSE), 30% of a FTE (equal to 704 hours) (indefinite)

1 part-time staff member for data entry and modeling in Metabase, support for beginners, developing documentation (WMSE), 20% of a FTE (equal to 403 hours) (indefinite)

1 part-time staff member for development of Metabase and support for new organizations to contribute, working group work in Helpdesk, support for WiR training, mass upload/support for IGOs (WMSE), 20% of a FTE (equal to 354 hours) (indefinite)

1 part-time staff member for financial staff and administration (WMSE) 12,5% of a FTE (equal to 242 hours) (indefinite)

1 part-time staff member (contractor) GLAMwiki coordinator (consultant), 20% of a FTE (equal to 390 hours)

In total, the project will engage 13 part-time staff members through the Hub Fund. However, to a limited extent the FTE % might be shared by multiple people at the participating organizations as deemed appropriate.

2 fixed-term contractors are co-funded by Wikimedia Sverige.

22. Provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. (required)


Budget category	Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs	913677.6 SEK
Operational costs	176700 SEK
Programmatic costs	181000 SEK

23. Upload your detailed budget or provide a link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lGykClZnMcBWVOZkjJsFHII94IS-o1A_8ynru2ieCNY/edit?usp=sharing

By submitting your proposal/funding request you confirm that you have read and agree to the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy, and the Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Feedback

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[fixedrate-1] The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

[note 1]