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WIKIMEDIA CEE HUB

Regional hub covering Central and Eastern Europe

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The goal of this page is to summarize updates about the activities and work of the CEE Hub in one central place to make it easier to follow the developments. The Steering Committee members (SC) present at the CEE Hub's status and strategic meetings (former bi-weekly meetings) are listed with their first names.

Short updates[edit]

March 2024[edit]

  • Second issue of the Volume 4 of the CEE Newsletter is published! Our editor of the Newsletter again had a brilliant introduction for this issue, which seems to be popular across the communities of the CEE countries, as we receive increasing number of submissions. Additionally, for the first time, we promoted this issue on the global mailing list and Facebook groups, so even people outside of the CEE region can read the newsletter.
  • Tallinn Meeting took place on 1st and 2nd of March 2024 and it was the first in-person meeting of the Steering Committee (SC) members, advisors and employees of the CEE Hub in 2024. At the meeting, main discussion points were reviewing of the planned activities of the CEE Hub in 2024, CEE Hub support for the conferences and regional projects, deciding on several proposals from the working groups, CEE Hub's Budget, CEE Hub Vision, Internal governance, incorporation, cooperation with others and communication management.
    • During the Tallinn Meeting, working groups consisted of several different SC members along with the staff members explained final proposals for community building and for micro grants program. Therefore, Steering Committee voted to offer planned community building in the form of a part-time employee to Romanian and Moldovan community and Greek and Cypriot community. Additionally, it was concluded that micro grants final draft should be finalised during the month. We expect to publish the process, whole documentation, and call for submission for the micro grants next month.
  • On 25th of March, 2024 CEE Hub held thirteenth Office hour.
  • CEE Hub staff started with preparation for the sixth meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which will this time be dedicated to the topic of the Annual Plan 2024/25 of the WMF.
  • During March 2024, we held the final meeting with the International team of volunteers before the official start of the Wikimedia CEE Spring 2024 for all final adjustments and communication. Additionally, we created a mailing list dedicated to the local coordinators, so can have better communication with them.
  • CEEM 2024 program committee was formed and its regular meetings started taking place. CEE Hub coordinator is a part of this committee.
  • We had a meeting with Yael Weissburg (Vice President for Community Growth) on the topic of budgeting for grants for the CEE communities and about possibilities for improvements of this process. During the meeting we discussed how to ensure transparency and how to improve communication flow between the hub and the WMF, to ensure that our CEE communities get information and support timely.
  • The CEE Hub was supporting the Wikimania organising team to find volunteers from the CEE who will be evaluating submissions for the conference. We managed to confirm commitment from 13 CEE volunteers who will be evaluation submissions on various topics (partnerships, GLAM, community health, research...).
  • We managed to confirm 2 afternoon time slots at Wikimania 2024 for the CEE Youth group, during which the youth group will have a chance to organise something for all Wikimania 2024 participates. We invited youth members who wanted to take part in Wikimania 2024 working group to start preparing the program for these time slots.
  • One CEE youth group member and the CEE Hub staff worked together with the Wikimedia Poland on one external youth related project proposal (Polish USAID funds).
  • We send out the announcement for another regional campaign that took place in this month Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month 2024 to the regional mailing list.

February 2024[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates:
    • Meeting with Wikimedia Community User Group Cyprus for their preparation of the event HERitage Amplified, first of this kind on the island.
    • Meeting with Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia, as part of our regular communication with the communities.
    • Meeting with Wikipedians of Slovenia User Group, as part of our regular communication with the communities.
    • Meeting with Wikimedia Community User Group Malta, as part of our regular communication with the communities.
    • Meeting with Wikimedia Poland, as part of our regular communication with the communities.
    • Meeting with Wikimedians from Bulgaria, as we were contacted by the new group of Wikimedians interested into Wikidata. We discusses the possibilities and options regarding the revival of Bulgarian group as well as and their possible application for the WMF grants to implement local activities.
    • Meeting with Ivo from Wikimedia Estonia, as we wanted to have a local meeting with Estonian Wikipedians/Wikimedians at the upcoming Tallinn SC meeting which is taking place in March 2024.
  • CEE Hub staff member Barbara Klen and CEE Hub Steering Committee member Philip Kopetzky attended during the HERitage Amplified event, where they assist with the implementation of the awarded rapid grant. This event was a edit-a-thon honouring Cypriot women, along with insightful talks about gender bias and digital literacy. Apart of being one of the keynote speakers, Barbara and Philip, took part in a panel discussion centred on the gender gap in the Wikimedia context.
  • On 26th of February, 2024, CEE Hub staff along with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialist Natalia Szafran-Kozakovska, held fifth meeting of the initiative CEE Catch Up with the title Why the brand is important?. We had four different sharers: from Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimania 2024 and one regional community member from Türkiye, all on different perspectives and aspects related to visual identities and brand usage. More than 25 participants participates in the session. if you missed it, you can find the recording on our Meta page.
  • During February 2024, we had another meeting with Wikimedia Serbia where we talked about possibilities related to our support of the International Roma Day. The CEE Hub staff sent out the information emails to dozen of communities in the region, along with preparing the necessary documentation for the event, i.e. guides for the participants and for the local coordinators, so they can easily start this initiative.This campaign was chosen by the CEE Hub as Roma minorities are present in almost every CEE country.
  • After we discovered that CEECA grantee funds will be exhausted, we had a meeting with the responsible Program Officer for our region, and a separate meeting with the existing grantees, so they can communicate with us better and tell us their opinions about this situations. Additionally, CEE Hub staff members informed all possible grantees about this new situation, so they know well in advance that they cannot apply for funds during the Spring round of the General Support Fund of WMF.
  • On 5th of February, 2024 CEE Hub held twelfth Office hour.
  • CEE Hub coordinator and one SC representative joined Wikimedia Community User Group Cyprus at their first public event which was a part of the approved rapid grant proposal HERitage Amplified. We wanted to support the emerging Cypriot community in their efforts to raise awareness about Wikimedia.
  • In the period of 14 to 16 February 2024, CEE Hub staff along with representatives of the Content Partnerships Hub and four affiliates Wikimedia Sweden, Wikimedia Ukraine, Wikimedia Poland, and Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia, had its kick-off meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, which marked the official beginning of the seed project Heritage Guard Network.
  • During the month, we set up the agenda for the upcoming Tallinn SC meeting, which was planned for 1-2 March, 2024. Additionally, we had email communication with our former SC member Käbi, as she helped us a lot during this process for many logistical aspects of the meeting.
  • During February 2024, we continued with the meetings with the International team of volunteers for the preparation and possible improvements and changes related to the Wikimedia CEE Spring 2024. Additionally, during this month we notified previous local coordinators about the contest via personal emails.
  • CEE Hub Regional Coordinator was part of the episode 17 of the WIKIMOVE Podcast called Grants and Hubs (link) along with the Yop Rwan Pan. Barbara shared about how the hub was formed and how it is going currently.

January 2024[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates:
    • We had a meeting with the program officer Euphemia Uwandu from the WMF where we discussed two campaign tools that the WMF worked on. One tool is already finished and can be used by the communities, it is called event registration tool, and the second tool is still in the beta phase. It is called event invitation.
    • We had a preparation meeting with staff member from Wikimedia Serbia regarding their initiative International Roma Day, as that campaign is part of our annual plan for 2024, and we are supporting communities that wish to take part, especially those who are joining for the first time or after a break.
    • CEE Hub staff started a new round of meetings with the communities. During this round we aim to provide regular updates from the CEE Hub, especially about our activities planned for the Year 2, and we want to meet more CEE community members.
      • Meeting with Wikimedia Hungary.
      • Meeting with Wikimedians from Bulgaria.
      • Meeting with Wikimedians from Russia.
  • First issue of the Volume 4 of the CEE Newsletter was published! First words of the editorial of this issue were: "As we dive into the first issue of 2024, the CEE Newsletter is thrilled to bring you a vibrant tapestry of updates and accomplishments from the diverse communities across Central and Eastern Europe. Let's embark on a journey through the enriching stories that showcase the spirit of collaboration, resilience, and progress within the Wikimedia movement..." This issue had more submissions, beating the record of the previous issue.
  • Heritage Guard Network seed project funded by the Swedish Institute in which CEE Hub is participating started with the initial meeting in January 2024. This is the first external project in which the CEE Hub is participating and it serves as a good example of what hubs can also do. In January, all project partners agreed about activities which are necessary for the implementation of the project. it was agreed that we will continue with bi-weekly meetings, and as well we started preparation for the first in-person meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
  • CEE Hub published second research paper done by the external consultant Violeta Frimu (Viofri) called Studying barriers of smaller affiliates and communities in CEE Region and ways to create more engagement and connections, based on their context and needs (read the research here). Primary aim of the research was to understand more deeply the barriers that various smaller communities in CEE face and ways to create more engagement and connections depending on their context, needs, reality and relevance. This research will be a base to continue with the process of the community building in the Year 2 of the CEE Hub.
  • CEE Hub staff started with preparation for the fifth meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which will this time be dedicated to the topic of visual identities.
  • During January 2024, we commented and make suggestions for three rapid grant proposals.
  • On 3rd of January, 2024 CEE Hub held eleventh Office hour.
  • CEE Youth Group updates:
    • On 17th of January, 2024, we had an online meeting, which was used to welcome some new members in the CEE Youth Group, as well as set up of the timeline for the other bi-monthly meetings and working groups for several topics.
  • During January 2024, we started with initial meetings with the International team of volunteers for the preparation and possible improvements and changes related to the Wikimedia CEE Spring 2024.
  • CEE Hub was present at the preparatory meeting for the grant proposal of the regional conference Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024 in Istanbul, as part of our support for the conference.
  • In January we published our extensive report for the first project year for our grant proposal called "Building a CEE Hub", where everyone can find which activities we took during the first year and also we tried to list final outcomes of these activities.

December 2023[edit]

  • Meeting with the Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander and several other senior staff members from the Foundation as a part of their initiative Talking: 2024. They wanted to know more about our first year, challenges, support and relations with the WMF, our activities and how our example can be useful for other regions.
  • We were part of the focus group in the project Capacity Exchange (CapX) in order to assess the CapX previous pilot and identify its gaps and strengths. They will notify us about the results and updates related to the project in the early 2024.
  • Meeting with Wikimedia Foundation Partnerships team, because we wanted to share the contacts that we previously had the openfoodfacts to explore possible way of cooperation in the future.
  • Meeting with Wikivibrance member to learn more about their plans in 2024.
  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
  • In the second half of December 2023 the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) approved our grant proposal named Stronger CEE Hub. This grant proposal and our plan for 2024 were presented to the CEE communities on various occasions: during the CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi, during the two conversation hours that took place prior to the CEEM and also during many online meetings that the CEE Hub staff held with the CEE communities and interested Wikimedians.
  • CEE Hub informed the communities from the region about the rapid funding possibilities by the WMF, and invited all interested communities/individuals to ask for help from the CEE hub staff, as we can help them to create, improve and structure their proposals before submission. After the announcement, we received four requests by different communities: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Cyprus, and Turkey.
  • During December 2023, CEE Hub staff worked on the internal research about the grantee funding in the CEE region. We discovered how the limit for the CEECA grantees will soon be reached and therefor we reached out to the WMF and the programme officer for our region, as well as to the communities in the region, especially to those who were interested to apply in this period for funds.
  • On 4th of December, 2023 CEE Hub held tenth Office hour.
  • Based on the internal organisational scheme, Steering Committees members divided themselves into several working groups along with the CEE Hub staff members, in order to work in a more productive and efficient manner. We plan to let working groups focus and work on a specific topic (e.g. microgrants, internal governance) and once they reach conclusions, these will be discussed and voted by the whole Steering Committee. The idea is that not all SC members have to focus on all topics which the CEE hub is covering.

November 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates:
    • CEE Hub had a meeting for the first time with a member of Wikimedia Russia. During the meeting we discussed current context and needs.
    • CEE Hub had a meeting with interested museum workers from Croatia who wanted to apply for a rapid proposal during the next cycle.
    • CEE Hub staff started a new round of meetings with the communities. During this round we aimed to provide regular updates from the CEE Hub, especially for the Year 2, and to meet more people from the communities.
  • Fourth issue of the CEE Newsletter was published! CEE Newsletter continues to promote different projects from the CEE Region, which we categorised into three different topics: campaigns, updates from communities and opinions. Additionally, we included more sections, such as CEE Hub updates, regional reports, international updates, CEE in the News and open calls and consultations. Also, from the second edition we have category of Reader’s digest, where we bring to attention some of the important topics that were published through Diff Blog. The fourth issue had a record high number of submissions so far.
  • On 16th of November, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialist Natalia Szafran-Kozakovska, held fourth meeting of the initiative CEE Catch Up, which was dedicated to the artificial inteligence (AI). We had five different sharers from Wikimedia Foundation, Poland, Slovenia, Greece and Cyprus, which presented different perspectives and aspects of their usage and research connected to the artificial intelligence. More than 25 participants took part in this session and if you missed it, you can find the recording on our Meta page.
  • Grant proposal submitted by the CEE Hub along with Wikimedia Sverige (Wikimedia Sweden) and few other CEE Region applicants was approved by the Swedish Institute. Grant proposal was finalised and submitted during September 2023. This is not a funding for the activities of the CEE Hub, but the CEE Hub's role in the project is to connecting communities, and contribute to the writing of the follow up grant application.
  • Biyan-to from Indonesia held a public session about the research on community mapping and data. This research included 42 language communities from the CEE region with 205 project combinations, making a huge effort to include even more languages than what CEE Hub currently supports. The recording of this research is available on the Meta page dedicated to this research paper.
  • On 6th of November, 2023 CEE Hub held ninth Office hour.
  • CEE Hub coordinator did a presentation about the CEE Hub during her online participation at the local conference in Kyrgyzstan.
  • CEE Youth Group updates:
    • On 10th of November, 2023, we had an online meeting, which was used to welcome some new members in the CEE Youth Group, as well as a preparatory meeting for the upcoming in-person Prague meeting, which was held at the end of the November.
    • First in-person meeting of the CEE Youth Group was held during 24th and 25th of November, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic. 15 participants from eight different countries, along with four supporting members/organisers of the group took part in this meeting.The meeting was used to discuss the future of the group, their Wikimania involvement and possible regional connections.
  • CEE Hub main Meta page was redesigned and it contains new tabs and sub-tabs. This page is user friendly and it gives a better overview of our history, goals, current and planned activities.
  • During this month, CEE Hub got an approval approval from the Wikimedia Foundation to make final reallocation in the budget for this year.

October 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates:
    • We had a meeting with Zblace and Egezort, as they started an initiative to create a group-network similar to the CEE Youth dedicated to the LGBT(IQ+). In the beginning they want this group-network to be regional in Southeast Europe (Balkans).
    • We had a meeting with Egezort to understand his context and needs that the CEE Hub can support about his work at the university in Turkey.
    • Meeting with Frans Grijzenhout from Netherlands exploring the option to have board trainings in the future, supported and/or organised by the Wikimedia CEE Hub.
  • During October, Wikimedia CEE Hub proposed a new grant proposal named Stronger CEE Hub, which is a continuation of the ongoing project "Building a CEE Hub" which has been implemented since June 2022. This grant proposal would last for 12 months i.e. till 31st December 2024.
  • At the of the October, Selection Committee announced their final decision for the host of the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024, based on the completed applications for both proposed cities. It was decided that the 2024 CEE Meeting will take place in Istanbul and it will be organised by Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey (WMTR).
  • After the announcement during the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi that will be organised in-person meeting in Prague at the of November 2023, we started with the activities, as opening the registration forms and scholarship process, where we will fund partially or fully some of the participants.
  • On 2nd of October, 2023 CEE Hub held eighth Office hour.
  • CEE Hub staff continues with preparation for the fourth meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which will this time be dedicated to topic of the artificial inteligence (AI), confirming speakers and announcing the date of the session, along with opening the registration process for the session.
  • Preparation for the next issue of the CEE Newsletter including a Newsroom meeting at the beginning of the October, and publishing the submission call.
  • During this month, CEE Hub proposed another reallocation in the budget for this year.
  • CEE Hub coordinator did a presentation about the CEE Hub during her participation as a volunteer at the WikiWomenCamp in India.

September 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
    • CEE Hub continues to have regular meetings with Wikimedia Sverige (Wikimedia Sweden) and interested affiliates from the region, as we want to use the opportunity to apply for a regional project through Swedish Institute grant. Finally, during September 2023, the project was finalised and it is submitted. This is not a funding for the activities of the CEE Hub, but the CEE Hub's role is to connecting communities, and contribute to the writing of the grant application.
  • On 4th of September, 2023 CEE Hub held seventh Office hour.
  • Third issue of the CEE Newsletter is published! After the good start with the first two editions of the newsletter, the editorial team worked to publish a third issue in 2023. In the third edition, we kept the similar categories as in the first two editions of the CEE newsletter. Our temporary editor-in-chief Wojciech Pędzich from Poland was replaced by a new editor-in-chief Jan Beránek who also works as the coordinator of Programs for editors in Wikimedia Czech Republic, he is the administrator on Czech Wikipedia and a member of the CEE Youth Group. He studies journalism therefore he was a perfect candidate for this position.
  • Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 was held during the period between 15 and 17 September 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
    • CEE Hub held separate in-person meetings one day before and one day after the meeting, where Steering Committee members and both staff members had the opportunity to discuss various things, such as preparation of the CEE Hub Year 2 grant proposal, fine tuning scheduled sessions at the CEE Meeting, feedback from the participants of the CEE meeting about the work of the CEE Hub, and many others.
    • CEE Hub staff (Barbara Klen and Toni Ristovski) held their own presentation dedicated to the overview of the programmes per community in the CEE Region. This was our first attempt of grouping and finding similarities and differences between CEE communities. The session was almost overcrowded and we will try to continue researching and exploration of this topic in the future as well.
    • CEE Hub Steering Committee members and the staff members held a workshop with focus on a CEE Hub Year 2 Plan, where we divided ourselves into eight different working groups with eight different topics (which coincided with the work packages of the year 2 plan) and we invited the participants of the workshop to join whichever group/topic they want and to circulate as much as they want. Each group used a separate Etherpad link to note down new suggestions and comments and we managed to collect many valuable information. These suggestions were later used to refine and fine tune the CEE Hub's annual plan for the Year 2.
    • Just before the CEE meeting's closing ceremony, the CEE Hub SC members and staff had a separate session where all participants of the conference were invited to and where CEE Hub Year 2 was approved. Before the official approval, CEE Hub presented once again the main points of the annual plan. Additionally, during the session, the new Steering Committee members were presented and it was announced that one SC member will no longer be part of the committee. You can find the list of the current SC members on the Meta page (2023/2024).
    • CEE Youth Group held its third meeting during the first day of the conference. As this was a hybrid meeting (some people were on site in Tbilisi and others joined online), we used the opportunity to invite some new youngsters to join the group as well. Additionally, during the second day of the conference, members of the group had a separate workshop with the goal to present both the CEE Youth group and the local work of its members in their countries to all participants of the conference (slide deck from the session.
    • After the CEE meeting it was decided who the members of the Selection Committee (SelCom) for the selection of the location of the next CEE meeting will be. Their task is to chose a host for a Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024. You can find their names on the Meta page.
  • Biyan-to from Indonesia finished his report about the research on community mapping and data. In his research he included 42 main language communities from the CEE region with 205 project combinations, making a huge effort to include even more languages than what CEE Hub currently supports. The report will be published to the communities after it was reviewed by the CEE Hub's Steering Committee.
  • During September, thanks to the support of the CEE Hub, user Marios Magioladitis travelled to hold a workshop dedicated to Wikidata queries at the OSCAL conference. The conference was organised by theWikimedia Community User Group Albania and others organisations. The CEE Hub has been involved in this since the early spring 2023 after we were requested by the Wikimedia Community User Group Albania to find a suitable candidate who can teach the group about Wikidata and also hold a training on this topic.
  • CEE Hub Steering Committee officially supported Gergö’s feedback on the Movement Charter drafts (Hubs and Global Council)
  • CEE Hub staff started to prepare the fourth meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which will this time be dedicated to topic of the artificial inteligence (AI).

August 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
    • CEE Hub staff along with Steering Committee members finalised helding a meetings with delegates to the CEE Meeting 2023 and/or other persons from the affiliates and communities informing them about proposed governance models of the CEE Hub in the future, along with informing them about planning of the second year of the CEE Hub and grant proposal for 2024.
    • Follow up meeting with Wikimedia Community User Group Cyprus about their request to help them in drafting their first grant proposal.
      • During the month, CEE Hub staff help with their comments and suggestions in writing the rapid grant proposal, along with the proposed budget for their project connected to Women and Cultural Diversity on Wikipedia.
  • CEE Youth Group officially held first online meeting on 3rd of August, 2023, where we have a round of introduction of the members and we started to have first steps of discussions how the group will evolve in the future. The group has own Telegram chat (ceeyouth) and a mailing list (youth@wmceehub.org), along with separate Meta page with a logo designed for that matter. Additionally, group held second meeting later during the August in order to prepare the session on the upcoming Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • On 8th of August, 2023 CEE Hub held sixth Office hour.
  • On 22nd and 26th of August, 2023, CEE Hub organise consultation online meetings with the communities from the region about our grant proposal for Year 2, where we discuss proposed activities during 2024 and we were open for their suggestions and comments regarding these activities and/or proposing new ideas for including something else in our plan.
  • On 31st of August, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the members of Let’s Connect (Gorana Gomirac and Jessica Stephenson), along with the Senior Program Officer for the CEECA Region Chris Schilling organised third learning clinic, this time dedicated to the Collective learning from reports in the CEECA region, where we have more then 25 participants from the CEE Region. During the session, it was presented the report first of this kind to review reports from the grantees and as well conversations that grantees have with the program officer. We encourage everyone to read the report (including the annex).
  • CEE Hub provide documentation and organise the bidding process for the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024, which deadline for applying was on 31st of August 2023. We received two applications: Prizren, Kosovo by Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group and Istanbul, Turkey by Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey. As it was already written on the Meta page, in case there is more than one bid, an election committee will be assembled.

July 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
    • CEE Hub staff along with Steering Committee members held a meetings with delegates to the CEE Meeting 2023 and/or other persons from the affiliates and communities informing them about proposed governance models of the CEE Hub in the future, along with informing them about planning of the second year of the CEE Hub and grant proposal for 2024.
  • Second issue of the CEE Newsletter is published! After good start of the first edition of the newsletter, editorial team work to publish second issue in 2023. In the second edition, we keep similar categories as in the first edition of the newsletter, but we add one new category, reader’s digest. Also, all proposals from the communities were divided into three main categories. And if you happen to have a spark for Wikimedia journalism or just want to share an interesting Wikimedia story, you are invited to contribute and to apply to be a member in the editorial team of the CEE Newsletter.
  • On 3rd of July, 2023 CEE Hub held fifth Office hour.
  • On 31st of July, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialist Natalia Szafran-Kozakovska, held third meeting of the initiative CEE Catch Up, which this time was dedicated to the supporting community health. We had three different sharers from Human Rights Team, Poland, and Ukraine, which share different topics, such as planning of the creating Mental Health Resource Center, creating a new internal policy to develop and implement an anti-mobbing, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy and procedure, and impact of the employees and contractors of the Wikimedia Ukraine after Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • Biyan-to from Indonesia started on 10th July 2023 to work as a freelancer for Wikimedia CEE Hub with a task to do a research on communities and to mapped them. CEE Hub will use this research in the future to have a more contacts from the communities, to have an overview of the level of activity of the communities and to explore underrepresented and minority language communities in the region, which was not contacted so far.
  • CEE Hub staff and some of the Steering Committee members had a workshop with a Brand Studio from Wikimedia Foundation, on which they explore symbols, icons, colours and designs for the future visual identity of the CEE Hub.
  • On 25th of July, 2023, it was organised meeting between members of Let’s Connect (Gorana Gomirac and Jessica Stephenson), along with the Senior Program Officer for the CEECA Region Chris Schilling. Purpose of the meeting it was planned report Collective learning from reports in the CEECA region and learning session dedicated to the report, which will happen at the end of August 2023.
  • CEE Hub published results of the received responses of the survey about usage of the calendars in the work of the affiliates/communities in the CEE Region.

June 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
  • CEE Hub meetings with other stakeholders
    • CEE Hub meet with possible candidates which will work as freelancers on several topics during this year. It is expected first freelancer to start working during July 2023 on community mapping of all language Wikimedia projects in the Central and Eastern Europe.
  • On 5th of June, 2023 CEE Hub held fourth Office hour.
  • CEE Hub coordinator and some of the Steering Committee members were present during General Assembly of Wikimedia Europe in Prague, which was held on 9-10 June 2023.
    • Using the opportunity, CEE Hub held own small working hybrid Steering Committee meeting, on which some of the SC members and the employees were present offline and online.
  • CEE Hub coordinator was part of the General Assembly of Wikimedia Poland, where Barbara presented about the CEE Hub, its purpose and ongoing activities. She explained what Hub is for and for which services individuals and CEE communities can turn to the Hub.
  • With the help from the CEE Hub staff and SC members, a page about CEE Meeting 2024 was created. There, the next host will be decided through bidding process in case more than one application is received.
  • CEE Hub sent a survey to the communities about their usage of the calendar during their work, as we aim to renew a previous CEE Calendar, which existed in period of 2015-2017.
  • CEE Hub had a meeting with a Brand Studio from Wikimedia Foundation, as we can explore option to create a visual identity for the CEE Hub.
  • Second issue of the CEE Newsletter was announced and final deadline for submission was 25th June 2023.
  • CEE Hub awarded three scholarships for the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia, one for female participant from Azerbaijan and two for young Wikimedians from the CEE Region.
  • CEE Hub staff started to prepare third meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which this time will be dedicated to community mental health.

May 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
  • CEE Hub meetings with other stakeholders
    • First meeting with Human Rights Team from the Wikimedia Foundation, where we introduce ourselves and we explore what is their scope of work. In the upcoming month, it is planned to evolve this meeting into something more concrete, determining next steps in working with this team for our CEE region.
  • On 2nd of May, 2023 CEE Hub held third Office hour, where we have only one participant, Ivo from Wikimedia Estonia, where we initially agree that CEE Hub should help him in promoting the Wiki Science Competition, which will happen once again during 2023.
  • The CEE Newsletter is back! Finally, CEE Newsletter is revived and it is published first issue in 2023, after long pause since November 2018. In the first edition, you can find CEE Hub updates, regional reports, international updates and CEE in the News sections. Also, all proposals were divided into three main categories, such as updated from the communities, opinions and campaigns. And if you happen to have a spark for Wikimedia journalism or just want to share an interesting Wikimedia story, you are invited to contribute!
  • On 16th of May, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialist Natalia Szafran-Kozakovska, held second meeting of the initiative CEE Catch Up, which this time was dedicated to the young people in the CEE Region. We had four different sharers from Armenia, Poland, Denmark and Türkiye, which share their experience on Wikipedia, and how they started their journey in the Wikipedia/Wikimedia world and movement.
  • On 17th of May, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the responsible staff from Wikimedia Foundation (Yop Rwang Pam and Aida Akhmedova) organised second learning clinic, this time dedicated to the Movement Strategy Implementation Grants (MSIG), where we have more then 25 participants from the CEE Region, but also outside of the region. During the session, our sharers from Shared Knowledge, Wikimedia Serbia and Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda talked about their MSIG projects and how they implemented in their communities, sharing interesting moments and challenges that they faced during the implementation of their projects. Session ended with the Q&A from the participants.
  • CEE Hub continues to follow situation with the Montenegrin Wikipedia Incubator (project page). Project is still under discussion, which can be followed here.
  • CEE Hub staff is involved in reminding affiliates and communities about registration process and submissions for the upcoming CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • During this month, CEE Hub gets an approval from the Wikimedia Foundation to make a reallocation in the budget for this year.

April 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
  • CEE Hub announced the CEE Newsletter, publishing through various communication channels first call for proposals of the renew CEE Newsletter, which will be published at the beginning of the May.
    • First call for proposals in the first issue of the renew CEE Newsletter was extended up to 25th of April.
    • After closing the call for proposals, CEE Hub Staff along with the temporary editor-in-chief Wojciech Pędzich worked on the reviewing sent proposals and categorising them into several categories.
  • CEE Hub through their communication channels also announced call for on-demand promotional materials for all communities and affiliates from the CEE Region.
    • CEE Hub received five different requests for printing various promotional materials.
  • On 13th of April, 2023, CEE Hub staff along with the members of Working group of Let’s Connect (Gorana Gomirac and Jessica Stephenson) organised first Learning Clinic: practices to support Wiki Loves Earth, where we have more than 25 participants from the CEE Region, but also outside of the region. On the session, participants from Shared Knowledge, Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey and Wikimedia Ukraine share their practices in organising the campaign in their countries. Additionally, Olesia Lukaniuk from the International team of Wiki Loves Earth, share the information about international scope of the campaign.
  • CEE Hub started working on the second Learning Clinic, which will be done in collaboration with Aida Akhmedova during May 2023 dedicated to Movement Strategy Implementation Grants.
  • CEE Hub staff started to prepare second meeting of the initiative Catch Up, which this time will be dedicated to the young people in the CEE Region.
  • CEE Hub started to communicate with the Language committee regarding status of the Montenegrin Wikipedia Incubator (project page), as we received a request from Montenegrin community, that the committee planned to close the incubator and that the incubator is locked for editing long time.
  • Barbara Klen have a three minute introduction for the CEE Hub and our work in a call for consultation regarding Wikimedia Foundation Annual plan 2023/24, which was organised for the CEE Region and Africa. The invitation to the hub came after the CEE Hub was mentioned in the Annual plan under regional goals.
  • CEE Hub held second Office hour on the beginning of April, where we have smaller participation.
  • After Zagreb Meeting, CEE Hub continue to work on the future governance model of the CEE Hub.

March 2023[edit]

  • CEE Hub meetings with communities and affiliates
  • CEE Hub meetings with other stakeholders
  • Preparation for first one of the series CEE Catch Up, bi-monthly meetings organized by CEE Hub and Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialist
    • First meeting dedicated to this initiative was held on 21st of March, 2023 with over 27 participants from the whole CEE Region.
    • You can read written report about first meeting of this initiative on the Meta page.
  • CEE Hub introduces their office hours, which will happen monthly (at the beginning of the month).
    • First open hour was held on 12th of March 2023, 2023 with seven participants from the whole CEE Region.
  • Initial meeting with International team for Wiki Loves Earth (WLE) of Wikimedia Ukraina about support from the CEE Hub regarding this campaign.
    • CEE Hub was included in creating Rapid Fund guidelines for WLE, which is now incorporated in the general page of WLE on Wikimedia Commons.
    • Preparation for a learning session dedicated to WLE will be organized during April 2023 with support from the International team, and Working group of Let's Connect, where we will offer knowledge exchange sessions for communities that want to organize or have already organized.
    • Provide support writing rapid grant applications.
  • CEE Spring 2023 started officially on 21st of March, 2023, where we welcomed two new communities (Aromanian and Western Armenian) and Sakha return as a guest community of the CEE Region.
  • CEE Hub started working on preparation for renewal of the CEE Newsletter.
  • Setting up an agenda and defining scope of the Zagreb Meeting.

February 2023[edit]

January 2023[edit]

December 2022[edit]

  • CEE Hub representatives (Barbara and Klara) attended the Big Fat Brussels Meeting in Brussels on December 2/3, 2022
  • Steering Committee is planning to have an in-person meeting in Zagreb, around March/April 2023 (see more Zagreb 2023)
  • The hiring process for the second staff person has started
  • CEE Hub started contacting communities and affiliates for meetings

News[edit]

December 21st, 2022 (Status meeting)[edit]

  • SC members present: Anton, Gergö, Käbi, Kiril, Klára

In the collapsed table you can find summary of this status meeting.

December 21st, 2022 (Status meeting)
  • The hiring process for the 2nd staff person has been started - preliminary conversations have been held with potential candidates. Because the 2nd staffing position requires a lot of knowledge about Wikimedia governance and application processes, the search initially focusses on candidates that have that kind of expertise
    • Anton, Klára and Philip will conduct interviews together with Barbara over the Christmas break
  • Contacting the affiliates
    • Barbara has written to the communities about their time and availability for a first meeting with her
    • A meeting with the Turkish community has already happened - some questions will be submitted to the community in writing to enable a more detailed response
  • There was a discussion about the annual budget increases for 2023/2024 that the WMF had initially promissed. While in Western Europe adapting the budgets to inflation seems more difficult, there are less such issues in the CEE region (also because the budgets are generally a lot smaller)
  • There are currently two cities in the CEE region that have signalled interested in hosting Wikimania 2024, Kraków and Istanbul.

December 7th, 2022 (Status meeting)[edit]

  • SC members present:
    • Steering Committee members: Anton, Gergö, Kiril, Klara, Michał, Philip
    • others: Delphine, Z. Blace
December 21st, 2022 (Status meeting)
  • Barbara and Klara attended the Big Fat Brussels Meeting in Brussels on December 2/3 2022, which is primarily focused on EU advocacy work but also offers the opportunity to meet representatives from the European affiliates involved in that work
    • On Saturday, December 3, there was a meeting between Wikimedia Europe, the WMF strategy team and the CEE Hub representatives Barbara and Klara
      • The meeting involved getting to know each other better and what the possible joint tasks could be in terms of informing the movement charter
      • It was agreed that both projects will document the tools and processes used to establish both networks in one document to be published early next year (the WMF strategy team will provide the questions/framework to write this document first)
  • The CEE Hub will start contacting affiliates and communities starting before Christmas via email, to establish a line of communication with Barbara before the programmatic work starts
  • The SC is planning an in-person meeting in Zagreb in March/April 2023 to take stock of the status at that point and work on the mid- to long-term strategy of the project
  • A Telegram group was set up for the wider CEE Hub group for Barbara to have a pool of people to help with onboarding and general questions
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