Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees/Call for feedback: Community Board seats/Reports/2021-03-03 Conversation with Wikimedians of Bénin User Group

Participants

• Mahuton - (Facilitation for the French language) Facilitator
• Bachounda - (Facilitation support for French language and MENA region.)(notetaker)
• Kevine
• Fawaz
• Patrick
• Constant
• Rachad
• Saliou
• Mermose

Ideas discussed

Quotas, Call for types of skills and experiences and candidates resources

Quotas

A participant at the conversation said that the idea of quotas is a bad idea, specifically the gender quota. The participant suggested that if quota should be used then it could be a geographical quota based on the level of contributions of each region. Another participant (A woman) suggested an equal gender representation on the board. Another participant said that it could be a good idea to define a weighting system in order to give chance to candidates from under-represented groups.

To the question of if participants had the possibility to distribute the seats, how would they do that? A participant said 3 seats for women and 3 seats for men. Another participant said 1 seat for Africa and the others for other regions based on the contribution of each region to the movement.

Call for types of skills and experiences

One participant said that candidates should have minimum skills in people management and a good understanding of the movement. Another one said that good understanding of the movement should be the only skill that could be required.

Candidates resources

All participants in the conversation agreed that some resources should be provided to candidates. A participant said that mentoring / coaching support should be the most important one. Another participant added that there should be a package of resources shared among all candidates but not individual support or resources.