Wikimedia South Africa/SWOT

Strengths[edit]

Diverse team will help to achieve local objectives.
Wealth of resources, talents and skills to expand on and implement global Wikimedia programs and projects locally
Active Wikimedia community contributors who can help to align local activities to the projects' requirements and standards.
Commitment to the values of openness and freedom embodied in the Wikimedia vision

What can we do to create more measurable, positive impact?
Which performance indicators would demonstrate the value of the individuals within the team and help to focus our efforts?

Insufficient cohesion as a team due to ineffective communication and lack of trust
Unclear strategy
Potential for dependent relationship with WMF and established chapters (perpetuating a welfare paradigm)

How can we address these weaknesses, operate more efficiently as a team, and be more effective as a Chapter?

Affecting (national or regional?) Policy and Legislation (how?), e.g. Language Policy (more detail?) Generating language specific instructional, broad-based educational text
Motivating South Africans who do not currently engage with Wikimedia projects to do so, through programs and projects that capture the imagination, to inspire and motivate contribution and use.
Creating and testing models for sustained editor growth and development in the relatively untapped South African pool of potential contributors.
Bringing free knowledge within the reach of South African society
Giving South Africans access to tools to help address historical imbalances in access to scholarship
Generating better coverage of South African topics in Wikimedia projects

What resources, talents, and skills do we require to achieve these goals?
How do we articulate the value proposition to potential users, contributors, and government and other partners?

Lack of focus from team members due to other commitments (work, study, etc.), leading to failure to achieve the Chapter's goals
External interferences (for example?) that could prove to be divisive and detrimental to the life of the Chapter
Deterioration of WMF, Chapter and Movement wide relations
Financial and legal risks due to limited management capacity

How do we reduce our exposure to these risks?

How can we create an environment that is welcoming, equal and be conducive to generating better ideas, solutions and decisions?
How can we speed up our decision making?
How can we increase participation, motivate eachother as a team, and motivate the the community at large?