Wikimedia Ukraine

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
Wikimedia Ukraine
Location Ukraine
Affiliate codeWMUA
Country codeUA
Founding dateJuly 13, 2009
Approval dateJuly 3, 2009
Main office01010, Kyiv, Levandovska St. 3B
Membership70
Staff5
Official language(s)Ukrainian
ChairIlya Korniyko
Key peopleBohdan Melnychuk (secretary)
Mykola Kozlenko (treasurer)
Incorporation paperStatute
Budget$118,085 (2021)
AffiliationsWikimedia Central and Eastern Europe
Wikimedia Europe
Phone number+380 67 343 74 34
Websitehttps://ua.wikimedia.org/
E-mail addressinfo(_AT_)wikimedia.org (general)
board(_AT_)wikimedia.org.ua
Mailing listwikimediaua(_AT_)lists.wikimedia.org
TwitterWikimedia Ukraine
FacebookWikimedia Ukraine
InstagramWikimedia Ukraine




Wikimedia Ukraine is a regional chapter of Wikimedia Foundation in Ukraine. The Chapter was created on May 31, 2009. On this day the First Annual Meeting was held and the Board was elected.

On July 3, 2009 WMF approved Wikimedia Ukraine as its regional chapter.

On July 13, 2009 Wikimedia Ukraine got a certificate registering it as an organization from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Activities[edit]

The field of activities of Wikimedia Ukraine is divided into four general directions:

  • Content enrichment which includes projects aimed at new information being added to Wikipedia and related projects, such as article contests (like CEE Spring, Woman in STEM) or photographs contests (like Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Monuments, Science photo competition) which bring thousands of new articles to Ukrainian Wikipedia and thousands of new photos to Wikimedia Commons every year, as well as collaboration with GLAM institutions. Wikimedia Ukraine is in charge of organizing the international part of Wiki Loves Earth.
  • Enlargement of participation aimed at bringing more people into Wikipedia and related projects, with the biggest project being the Educational program which attracts school and college students to editing. The other big project is the annual Wikimarathon when every Ukrainian is invited to make a contribution to Ukrainian Wikipedia, either by coming to one of numerous wikitrainings at different locations in Ukraine or by doing it online.
  • Community support and development which focuses on making the community of Ukrainian wikipedians more connected and skilled. Wikimedia Ukraine organizes many meetings for members of the community, most notably the annual Wikiconference which brings together more than 60 wikipedians from all over the country and abroad, enabling them to discuss current issues, share their skills, get more knowledge about wikiprojects and to know each other better. Other meeting are the Annual General Meetings of the organization, occasional training for volunteers (editings trainings for newcomers, trainings for trainers, technical trainings, strategy sessions, governance trainings etc). Organizations gives grants to volunteers for attending international Wikimedia events (such as Wikimania, Wikimedia CEE Meeting or Wikihackaton) and for expenses aimed at adding content to Wikipedia or related projects (most often for wikiexpeditions and to buy books needed as sources).
  • Awareness about Wikimedia and promotion of free knowledge with a goal of as many people as possible becoming aware about Wikimedia movement and its purpose and a goal of removing obstacles to development and circulation of free knowledge. Members of the organization often give interviews to media, explaining how Wikipedia works and what is Wikimedia movement. The biggest challenge the organization has in this field is that unlike many other European states, Ukraine does not have the freedom of panorama yet, which is a giant barrier to free knowledge. Wikimedia Ukraine advocates legislative amendments which would implement freedom of panorama in Ukraine.

Membership and structure[edit]

Any person who reached the age of 14 and who participates in at least one Wikimedia project can apply to become a member of Wikimedia Ukraine. If the Board after public discussion approves the membership, the applicant becomes a member of organization immediately after paying the first annual membership fee, which currently is 100 UAH (approximately 2.5 USD). As of December 2022, the organization has 70 members.

Functioning of the organization is regulated by the Statute. The main governing body in Wikimedia Ukraine is Annual General Meeting, which meets once in a year, make plans for the next year, elects the Board and Audit Committee. The Board consists of seven people. They appoint among themselves a secretary, a treasurer, a responsible member for each of four directions of activity and a chair, who is also the head of whole organization. The Board runs the organization during the year between Annual General Meetings. The Audit Committee oversees the actions of the Board and issues recommendations to them. All of the above-mentioned and the press-secretary are volunteers. A big part of operations are carried out by the employees and contractors, of whom there are currently seven (including part-time employees & contractors).

Current Board[edit]

Annual report 2015

The Board, elected by AGM on 28 February 2021, is:

  1. Ilya Korniyko (chair)
  2. Bohdan Melnychuk (secretary)
  3. Mykola Kozlenko (treasurer)
  4. Nataliia Lastovets
  5. Anton Obozhyn
  6. Olga Milianovych
  7. Ihor Makovskyi

(Due to martial law being imposed in Ukraine as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion, the AGM scheduled for 2022 has been postponed until the end of martial law; the board elected in 2021 continues operating).

Current Audit Committee[edit]

  1. Viacheslav Mamon (chair)
  2. Maryna Liutynska
  3. Serhii Lypko

Press Secretary[edit]

Staff and contractors[edit]

Wikimedia Ukraine's organizational chart in 2021

Programs[edit]

Operations[edit]

Contact[edit]

Board
board(_AT_)wikimedia.org.ua
info(_AT_)wikimedia.org.ua
Mailing list (public)
wikimediaua(_AT_)lists.wikimedia.org
Web Site
ua.wikimedia.org
Interwiki prefix :wmua:
Blog
blog.wikimedia.org.ua

Other information[edit]