Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Sister Projects Task Force

The Sister Projects Task Force (SiPTaF) sits under the Community Affairs Committee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. The Task Force is a group of community members and Foundation trustees working together to build a strategy to support the life cycle of non-Wikipedia projects across the movement.

The Community Affairs Committee charter calls on addressing “the review of the existing sister projects and new sister site applications, including creating a formalized procedure, from application to approval/disapproval” as one of the responsibilities of the Committee. The Sister Projects Task Force works towards this responsibility by building clear processes and criteria around sister projects and their development.

Sister Projects Task Force seeks Volunteer Advisory Members

SiPTaF seeks 3-6 Volunteer Advisory Members representing different projects and communities to serve on the Task Force.

How to apply

To submit your candidacy, please start a new section on this talk page about, including:

• the top 3 reasons you would like to join the project.
• your experience with sister projects (policy changes, being an administrator or another type of editor with extended rights (functionary) there etc.)
• the languages you are fluent in (English is the working language of the Task Force).
• your experience in project management and/or evaluation, if you have any.
• your experience working on getting a new sister project off the ground (successfully or not).

The Community Affairs Committee is interested in having as diverse a group as possible but would like to balance the transparency and safety of our candidates. Please send the information from which country/region you are coming to trustee Victoria Doronina (vdoroninawikimedia.org) if you are not comfortable sharing it on the talk page. Please see how regions are divided.

Please note: you do not need to disclose your real name publicly for this work. However, if you are selected, you will need to send a copy of an identification document privately to the Wikimedia Foundation and you may be asked to sign a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA) if your work requires you to handle sensitive information.

Selection criteria

The following criteria are flexible; you do not need to meet every point to be a successful applicant.

• 1+ years of experience as a functionary (user with extended rights, for example, administrator) on a sister project (being one currently would be a bonus) and/or 1+ years of prior project management and/or evaluation experience.
• General understanding of the movement, and Wikimedia projects, and Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Recommendations.
• Demonstrated track record of involvement with the Wikimedia movement outside one's affiliate or project community would be a bonus.
• Required: working level of spoken English, as this is the business language for the Board and its committees.

Time commitment

Advisors need to commit an estimated 2-3 hours per week to attend monthly and other ad-hoc online meetings, prepare or review required materials, and interact with the Taskforce, staff and/or board committee as required. Advisors will be asked to reflect on more than the processes of approving or closing the Wikimedia projects, but also on determining if a sister project is successful.

Selection timeline

• Candidates submit their interest and the above information no later than May 15, 2023.
• SiPTaF will interview top candidates by 30 May, 2023.
• SiPTaF will select the candidates by 15 June, 2023.
• Selected candidates to join the Task Force by June 30, 2023 and attend the next Task Force meeting.

Result

SJ, Kasyap, Noe, Billinghurst, and Galahad were appointed as Volunteer Advisory Members in July 2023. --Victoria (talk) 09:05, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

Wikimania 2023 session "Sister Projects: past, present and the glorious future"

The workshop was organised and run by the Sister Projects Taskforce members + the Chair of Community Affairs Committee Shani Evenstein Sigalov.

The link to the Transcript and notes. --Victoria (talk) 09:05, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

2023

The Sister Project Taskforce currently consists of 6 Trustees (Natalia Timkiv, Esra'a Al Shafei, Mike Peel, Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, Lorenzo Llosa and Victoria Doronina) as well as five volunteers selected after an open call - Bilinghurst, Sj, Noe, Kasyap, Galahad.

The Sister Project Taskforce work in 2023:

The Taskforce had nine meetings of the Taskforce in 2023, including a hybrid - in Singapore, where we ran a workshop on Sister Projects during the Wikimania 2023. Rosie and Lorenzo had run a similar workshop in Toronto during the Conference North America 2023. The results of the workshops were incorporated into the Taskforce group.

As a result of our work, we have drafted documents pertinent to the Sister project's lifecycle. In 2024, we will present these documents to the Community Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.