Wikimedia CEE Hub/Steering Committee/New members

WIKIMEDIA CEE HUB

Regional hub covering Central and Eastern Europe

The CEE Hub Steering Committee consists of a group of people with diverse skills and expertise. New members of the CEE Hub Steering Committee should therefore have skills and expertise that they can use when on the Steering Committee to contribute to the support system of the CEE region. The goal of this page is to highlight these requirements and make you familiar with the type of work that is done within the CEE Hub.

Goals and aims the CEE Hub strives towards

The CEE Hub strives to be an inclusive and balanced environment that emphasises teamwork and aims to have all kinds of voices, views and insights present at discussions. That is why the meetings, that happen every two weeks on a Wednesday at 18:00 CE(S)T/19:00 EE(S)T, are also attended by people that are not staff or Steering Committee members, called the advisory group. They have the opportunity to comment or ask questions about the topics and are treated equally to Steering Committee members (except for when there is something to vote on). The group is open to anyone interested in what is happening in CEE and the CEE Hub.

The same goal applies to the setup of the Steering Committee. It should be representative of the CEE region as a whole, and cover as many aspects and topics of this very diverse region as possible. At the same time it is also important to acknowledge the economic differences between the countries in the CEE region and takes this into account, and ensure that people from countries with a lower average income or with a lower economic status are not excluded from participating in the CEE Hub because of the fact that they would have to volunteer their time.

Skills and expertise needed

The first set of criteria for putting together a balanced and representative Steering Committee of 10 members are based on a mixture of the following aspects (in no particular order):

Region
- divided into often overlapping areas like Central Europe, Baltic, Balkans, Eastern Europe, South/Southeastern Europe, Caucasus, etc.
Gender
- should be balanced 50/50 between female and male Steering Committee members
Role within Wikimedia
- volunteer, board member of an affiliate, staff member of an affiliate, or others (for example people from organisations with similar aims or ideals)
Economic and societal situation
- Based on different measurements that emphasise the different economic realities that people in the CEE region live in, ensuring that the Steering Committee doesn't consist just of people from economically richer countries

The second set of criteria is focused on the skills and expertise that a Steering Committee of the CEE Hub should have. It covers day-to-day operations like being responsible for the staff members of the CEE Hub, being accountable and communicating with the groups involved in the CEE Hub as well as working on the short to long-term strategy and development of the CEE Hub.

General areas of skills and expertise

People and Culture
- Taking care of the staff members of the CEE Hub, making sure they have a safe and positive work environment
- Knowledge in employment law relevant to the staff members of the CEE Hub
- Knowing how to set up recruitment processes to hire staff in an international setting
European tax systems
- Expertise in how EU tax regulations and frameworks work and how this affects the CEE Hub and its fiscal sponsor as an employer across borders
Communication
- Talking to CEE communities, affiliates, the Wikimedia Foundation as well as partnership organisations and other hubs on a regular basis
Knowledge of the CEE region
- Knowing about current political events within CEE that affect communities and affiliates
Cultural sensitivity
- Respecting different approaches to solving tasks
- Understanding the cultural and societal background of a person and being able to adjust one's behaviour to accommodate others
- Being able to work in an international environment with many different world views and realities

Wikimedia areas of skills and expertise

Involvement in Wikimedia projects and communities
- Online projects in any CEE language
- Member of a community, group or affiliate associated with the Wikimedia CEE region
International
- Involvement in international processes of Wikimedia (ED Group, Committees, the Strategy processes, etc.)
Aspects of Wikimedia
- Technology (MediaWiki, Wikidata, tools, etc.)
- Community Health / Safety
- GLAM
- Education
- Advocacy
- Organisational development / Capacity building
- Event organising

Identified gaps (as they were in 2024)

Gaps in expertise, skills and knowledge within the current CEE Hub Steering Committee should illustrate what new members of the CEE Hub could contribute to the Steering Committee. They include, but are not limited to:

Gender imbalance of 3 female to 7 male committee members
Regions not covered
- Caucasus
- Bulgaria/Romania
- Baltic
Languages not covered
- Minority languages
- Baltic languages
Aspects of Wikimedia not covered
- Advocacy
- GLAM
Communities
- Links to other open knowledge communities outside of Wikimedia (for example OpenStreetMap, Open Knowledge Foundation, etc.)
- Free knowledge/transparency advocacy groups