CEE Hub Steering Committee governance and internal communication

The internal governance of the CEE Hub explains how the Steering Committee works and communicates, including its size and role, the responsibilities of its members, decision-making processes, and how meetings are organized. The document also outlines cooperation between the Steering Committee, Hub staff, and thematic working groups. The version below was adopted by the Steering Committee 2025/2026.

1. CEE hub’s Steering Committee composition, size, and election model

This chapter will outline the formation of the CEE Hub Steering Committee (hereafter referred to as the SC), including its composition, membership eligibility criteria, and the election process.

1.1 Steering Committee Composition

1.1.1 The maximum size of the SC is ten members, who are chosen through an election process. 10 SC members are selected from these groupings:

4 SC members elected through voting by the Wikimedia CEE Hub Community (Community positions)

4 SC members elected by the Wikimedia CEE Affiliates (Affiliate positions)
2 persons co-opted by the SC members based on specific skills needed for the following year’s plan (Co-opted positions)

1.1.2 The Community positions will be filled for 3 years, and the Affiliate positions will have a 2-year term. The Co-opted positions will be appointed for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years, depending on the consent of the co-opted member.

1.1.3 The minimum number of SC members is seven persons. Should the number of SC members fall below seven, a special election will be initiated to fill the vacancies.

1.2 Voters

1.2.1 Voters must be Wikimedia CEE Hub Community members. A Wikimedia CEE Hub Community member is any Wikimedian with a Wikimedia account that meets at least one of the following criteria by the time the nomination period ends:

present on the CEE Hub mailing list (approx 28 members),
present on the CEE General mailing list (approx 144 members),
delegates for the CEE Meeting at least once in the last 5 years (approx 150 members),
member of the CEE Youth group mailing list (approx 90 members).

1.2.2 In addition to 1.2.1, Wikimedia CEE Hub Community members must have a Wikimedia account opened at least 6 months before the time nomination period ends, with at least 300 edits in any Wikimedia project in the last six months before the time the nomination period ends, and who is not blocked on any Wikimedia project in the three months before the time the nomination period ends. Verification can be done by using Xtools: for example - https://xtools.wmcloud.org/globalcontribs/Strainu/all/2025-05-28

1.2.3 Each affiliate gets one vote, which is designated to an individual Wikimedian by the affiliate and announced on their website or other publicly accessible notes/minutes capturing the affiliate’s decision on this.

1.2.4 Each eligible voter can cast their vote for both Community and Affiliate positions if they are involved in both.

1.2.5 Current WMF Staff members are not eligible to vote.

1.3 Candidate eligibility

1.3.1 To be able to be a candidate for the SC, you must be eligible to vote (as above) and participate in at least two out of the last three CEE Hub Advisory Group monthly status meetings before the election nominations close, where you will be invited to make your candidacy known to the CEE Community before the election. The CEE Hub monthly status meetings (CEE Hub Advisory Group meeting) are scheduled for April 15th, May 20th, and June 17th, 2026. Each meeting lasts for one hour, from 16:00 to 17:00 UTC (which is 18:00 to 19:00 CEST). (Google meet meeting link: https://meet.google.com/sqj-bydf-hov?hs=122&authuser=0).

1.3.2 Candidates for Community positions may self-nominate. Candidates for Community positions may also be nominated by anyone else; however, the nominated individual must clearly accept the nomination ahead of the call for the nominations’ deadline.

1.3.3 Candidates for Affiliate positions must be nominated by an Affiliate in good standing (as per AffCom) of which they are a member. This should also be announced on the affiliate’s website or other publicly accessible notes/minutes capturing the affiliate’s decision on this.

1.3.4. The term limit for SC members is 6 consecutive years from the first election.

1.3.5. Every candidate must be above 18 years of age at the time the nomination period closes.

1.4 Electoral Commission

1.4.1 Appointment: As a first order of business before announcing an election, the CEE Hub will establish an Electoral Commission consisting of three members (or any odd number greater than three to avoid ties). The Electoral Commission is supported by CEE Hub staff members, primarily the Program Specialist. The Electoral Commission will have a Chair, who is the main contact person for both SC members and CEE hub’s staff.

1.4.2 Purpose: The Electoral Commission oversees the entire voting process, ensuring transparency, fairness, and compliance with established rules. The Commission operates independently from the CEE Hub Steering Committee. The CEE Hub staff is responsible for the administrative part of the Commission’s work, which includes making sure that each voter has only one username from which they’re voting, even if they are eligible to vote for both the Community and the Affiliate positions. In other words, each voter can only vote once for each of the two types of positions in the SC election.

1.4.3 Restrictions and Exclusions

1.4.3.1 Candidates running in the election cannot serve on the Electoral Commission.

1.4.3.2 Current WMF or CEE Hub staff are not eligible to be Electoral Commission members.

1.4.3.3 The Electoral Commission will not be directly involved in the selection and/or appointment of the 2 co-opted positions on the Steering Committee (they still need to meet requirements for candidate eligibility). These will be co-opted by the elected Steering Committee members. Unsuccessful candidates will be considered for the co-opted positions, but the SC may decide to co-opt people who were not candidates in the election.

1.4.4 Core Responsibilities

a) Validation of Voter List

Review and confirm the list of individuals eligible to vote.

b) Candidate Verification

Review and validate all candidate applications.

c) Coordination of the Voting Process:

Oversee the election timeline (voter registration, candidate nominations, voting dates, etc.)
Encouraging voters to cast their votes.
Ensure proper counting of votes.
The voting system/mechanism itself is proposed by the Steering Committee (SC) in consultation with TAG (CEE Hub’s WG). The Electoral Commission is not responsible for selecting the voting system/mechanism; however, they, collectively or as individual members, may be consulted ahead of the final decision.

d) Certification of Results

The Electoral Commission formally certifies:

The number of votes cast for each type of position
The number of valid votes for each type of position
The final results for the Community and Affiliate positions

1.5. SC Chair and vice-chair election and duties

At its first meeting following the election, the SC will elect a chairperson and a vice-chairperson from among its members to serve until the next election.

The Chairperson (seconded by the Vice-Chairperson):

is responsible for maintaining internal communication, including convening and moderating SC strategy meetings.
Sign relevant documents.
The Vice-Chairperson acts as the Chairperson whenever the Chairperson is absent or resigns from the role of the Chairperson/SC member.

2. Responsibilities of the SC members

2.1 Elect the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson.

2.2 Select the CEE Hub Coordinator and control their work, with particular emphasis on ensuring legality, economy, transparency, and maintaining the reputation of the Hub.

2.3 Approve the employment of any part-time or full-time staff working on behalf of the Hub, regardless of the source of financing.

2.4 Discuss and approve the draft budget and activity plan for the year.

2.5 Coordinate the preparation of the strategic plan of the Hub and propose the direction of the Hub.

2.6 Play an important role in networking with communities and other partners in the region, across the Wikimedia movement.

2.7 Approve the CEE Hub's bylaws.

2.8 Approve unplanned expenditures in the amount of over 20% of the contingency allocation in the year’s approved budget.

2.9 Decide on the acceptance of any donations.

2.10 Approve adding new staff positions beyond the ones budgeted in the annual activity plan.

2.11 Represent the CEE Hub in public.

3. SC Decision-making methods

3.1 Agenda Setting for SC Meetings

3.1.1 Agendas for the SC meetings are prepared by the SC Chair and are shared with the rest of the SC.

3.1.2 A draft agenda is shared by the CEE Hub Chair before the meeting.

3.1.3 All SC members or the CEE Hub may make suggestions for additions and/or amendments to the agenda.

3.1.4 The SC Chair closes the agenda 24 hours before the meeting.

3.2 Decision making

3.2.1 Decisions of the steering committee are made through voting.

3.2.2 Decisions made through a vote require a simple majority to pass.

3.2.3 Decisions are voted upon either by email or in live meetings (online or face-to-face).

3.2.4 Any topic proposed for a vote must be announced at least a day (24 hours) before the vote begins. Proposition of topics to a vote should be accompanied by all necessary information and documents needed for a potential discussion.

3.3 Votes during live meetings

3.3.1 SC meetings (monthly) or in-person annual meetings are the preferred place to vote.

3.3.2 Topics proposed for a vote at a live meeting must be proposed at least 24 hours in advance to be voted on at the next live meeting.

3.3.3 If, during the 24 hours before the meeting where the vote is meant to take place, no committee members object to the vote taking place at that meeting, then the topic is proposed to a vote at the meeting.

3.3.4 In order for the vote at a live meeting to be valid, there needs to be a quorum of at least a majority of members of the SC present at the meeting.The vote is then made with the present members and requires a simple majority to pass.

3.4 Email voting

3.4.1Topics proposed for a vote must be proposed at least 24 hours in advance of the email voting period starting.

3.4.2 The decision to vote on is shared through the SC mailing list.

3.4.3 The voting period is 7 days or until all members of the SC have voted, whichever comes first.

3.4.4 A vote requires a simple majority to pass.

4. Steering committee meetings

The SC meets at least once a month, and meetings are the primary decision-making venue of the SC. The chair/designated SC member of the Steering Committee (SC) is in charge of the SC Administration; see the list of current SC members.

4.1 Scheduling the date

4.1.1 A regular meeting of the SC shall be called once a month by the chair/designated SC member, usually the first or second Wednesday of the month at 18:00 CET.

4.1.2 If it is apparent that a majority of the SC members cannot attend a regular meeting, the SC chair (or vice-chair, if necessary) may decide to reschedule or cancel the meeting on an emergency basis. They shall promptly inform the SC of such a decision via the SC email distribution list (sc@wmceehub.org).

4.1.3 Regular meetings of the SC shall normally be scheduled for 90 minutes.

4.2 Course of the meeting

4.2.1 Meetings of the SC shall normally be chaired by the Chair or Vice-Chair when the Chair is not available.

4.2.2 SC meetings shall be open to all members of the SC. If the SC decides to discuss certain items on the agenda as reserved business, these items shall be placed at the end of the agenda and discussed among SC members only..

4.2.3 Minutes or notes for all meetings of the SC shall be taken by the SC member in charge, or wherever is designated by the SC chair on the day. The text of the minutes/notes shall be available online to all attendees during the meeting and after the meetings ends.

4.2.4 The minutes/notes from the non-public part of the meeting are taken in non-public mode separately from the main minutes/notes of the meeting. Access to the non-public minutes is available to SC members only or on a need-to-know basis through the SC Chair.

4.2.5 SC resolutions (especially outcome of votes) and important discussions from the SC meeting captured in the minutes/notes are to be communicated to the CEE Hub Advisory group at the earliest public meeting following the SC meeting.

4.2.6 The SC meeting shall end when all items on the agenda have been discussed or when the SC Chair closes the meeting.

5. Communication between SC members and Hub staff

5.1 The SC recognizes that the CEE Hub Coordinator is the primary person to assign workload and tasks to other staff. The SC members should avoid micromanaging.

5.2 When SC members informally communicate with staff members about CEE Hub business, they should specify in advance the role in which they are approaching the CEE Hub staff member/s, ensuring clarity regarding the previous points in this section of this document.

5.3. There are two official internal channels for communication among SC members:

SC email distribution list (sc@wmceehub.org). This is a primary communication channel, and no important matters should be communicated through any other channel (other than live meetings that have accessible notes/minutes) without it being on the SC email distribution list.
SC Telegram group: this channel is just for instant SC members' informal communication, reminders, etc. Any important point should be communicated via the SC email distribution list. Topics unrelated to SC business should be avoided.

5.4 There is one official internal channel for communication between the CEE Hub Coordinator and SC: SC email distribution list (sc@wmceehub.org).

6. Expectations from SC members

6.1 Attend all scheduled SC meetings or notify the chair before the meeting starts so that this can be recorded in the meeting notes/minutes.

6.2 Lead WG/s as designated through the SC and/or participate fully in WG on which the SC member is allocated.

6.3 Notify SC about absences from running the business for a period longer than 1 month as soon as possible so that alternative arrangements can be made, if/when necessary, enabling the SC to decide the next steps.

6.4 Abide by Wikimedia’s Universal Code of Conduct at all times, bringing any breach or major issue to the SC as reserved business, in the first instance, to enable appropriate action.

7. Thematic Working Group & Mandated SC Roles

The CEE Hub staff carry out their activities by dividing the workload into work areas handled by thematic working groups (WGs) and in cooperation with an SC member appointed to a mandatory role by the SC.

7.1 Current list of thematic working groups and mandated SC roles

7.1.1 The list of thematic working groups and mandated SC roles is regularly updated with the approval of the SC. The current list can be found here and on Meta. This list is derived from the current annual plan of CEE Hub’s activities.

7.1.2 WG/ Mandated roles internal rules:

Each Working Group shall comprise a minimum of three and a maximum of five members. In exceptional circumstances an additional member to the WG may be permissible through SC approval. At least two members of each WG should be current members of the Steering Committee.
The remaining members of the Working Group may be selected from individuals within the CEE Hub Advisory Group.
Each Working Group has a designated SC member as the WG lead. They communicate the WG’s activities and outcomes during SC meetings.
The WG lead is also tasked with conveying SC decisions to the WG. Additionally, this SC member serves as the primary point of contact for relaying important information between the SC and the CEE Hub Advisory Group.
Each Working Group has a designated administrator from the CEE Hub staff, working in close contact with the WG lead.
A SC member assigned to a mandated role performs a function comparable to that of a WG-designated SC member for a specific topic. The main difference is that topics that have assigned mandated roles are not discussed by as many people as WG topics, and are only brought to the SC meeting agenda as needed.

8. Changes to this document

Any substantial change to this document, even if minor, needs to be put to a 2/3 vote of the SC before being implemented.