Hi Abbas,
I agree that the society is not a reasonable way to go given the liability of the members. So don't bother to find out the costs. My question was not reasonable. Sorry for the confusion I might have caused
Manuel Schneider
Sent via mobile phone (+49 170 7740589).
----- Reply message -----
Von: "Abbas Mahmoud" <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com>
An: "Wikimedia Kenya" <wikimediake(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc: "Ali Mahmud" <aliyyi2002(a)yahoo.com>
Betreff: [Wikimedia Kenya] The Legal Perspective
Datum: Sa., Feb. 19, 2011 15:36
Am 9.2.2011 schrieb "Abbas Mahmoud" <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com>:>>Society - The registration process is tedious, slow and requires alot of pushing. When we register as a society, WMKE will be an amorphous institution, meaning it can't be sued on it's own. Rather, it is the officials or trustees that can be sued. Property/assets are registered under the trustees. The Society should file annual returns (e.g. indicating any change in trustees).>Manuel: What are the costs of this option?I never bothered to ask the lawyer. Due to a Society's drawbacks, I instantly ruled it out as an option. But I'll find out how much it costs and get back to you, nonetheless.>>Tax ExemptionAfter getting the Certificate of registration, we should contact the Minister for Finance and apply for tax exemption. The by-laws should clearly indicate that we are a non-profit organisation. A petition letter should be written to the Minister when applying for tax exemption with supporting documents (from WMF and/or ICT Board and/or Google Kenya). Tax exemption requires political pushing/influence -- so the duration of us getting tax exemption could be as short as a week and as long as decades!>Manuel: Does this apply for Trust or Society or both?It applies to both.>>Bylaws:The lawyer has proposed some changes to the bylaws:-That we have a two-tier board structure: The Board Of Trustees & The Executive Committee. The EC could be in charge of funding/project proposals etc while the Board oversees and has the final say in whatever the EC might suggest. We could have 2 board members in the EC as well.>Manuel: hmm, I don't understand why making it so complicated. I haven't heardof one chapter that has this kind of construction. In contrast, normallyyou have the problem of not being able to find enough members tocandidate. This will be even worse if you have two committees>I think that all this is not an issue of WMKE and even if it becomes anissue in the future it will take some years - then you can still changethe bylaws accordingly - if your members really want that. WMDE forinstance has still trouble finding enough members for their board ofeight.>For now, with much less ressources, keep it stupid and simple. Try toavoid overhead where possible.I agree that something simple and stupid is better.
Lodewijk, Delphine and all,Thanks so much for your comments. I expected some of the local WMKE participants to give their feedback as well...Anyway, since we were colonized by Britain, I gave the lawyer WMUK bylaws so that he could check out how WMUK registered. He found out that WMUK was a limited liability company by guarantee, and told me that he'll assess our chapter and explore the possibility of us registering as a limited liability company.
Anyway, I don't have all the info with me right now, so to cut the long story short, I think we should arrange a meetup with the lawyer so that we can discuss and decide which mode of registration suits us best, whether or not to make the changes that the lawyer proposed in the bylaws, and any other related matters.And BTW, I promised that I'd have posted the revised bylaws but that's not possible at the moment since apparently we have to decide on whether we want a Society, Trust or a Limited Liability Company so that the lawyer can redact the current bylaws to suit the mode of registration we'd decide on. So I expect that the final bylaws will be published after we meet and agree on the above-mentioned issues.I suggest that we meet on Saturday 26 Feb 2011 (at iHub?).
--Abbas.
--------------------------------------
Feel free to contact me:
Abbas Mahmood
Tel: +254722215101
Facebook: abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com
Skype: abbasjnr
Wikimedia Kenya Member
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment."
Please donate: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en
Am 9.2.2011 schrieb "Abbas Mahmoud" <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com>:>>Society - The registration process is tedious, slow and requires alot of pushing. When we register as a society, WMKE will be an amorphous institution, meaning it can't be sued on it's own. Rather, it is the officials or trustees that can be sued. Property/assets are registered under the trustees. The Society should file annual returns (e.g. indicating any change in trustees).>Manuel: What are the costs of this option?I never bothered to ask the lawyer. Due to a Society's drawbacks, I instantly ruled it out as an option. But I'll find out how much it costs and get back to you, nonetheless.>>Tax ExemptionAfter getting the Certificate of registration, we should contact the Minister for Finance and apply for tax exemption. The by-laws should clearly indicate that we are a non-profit organisation. A petition letter should be written to the Minister when applying for tax exemption with supporting documents (from WMF and/or ICT Board and/or Google Kenya). Tax exemption requires political pushing/influence -- so the duration of us getting tax exemption could be as short as a week and as long as decades!>Manuel: Does this apply for Trust or Society or both?It applies to both.>>Bylaws:The lawyer has proposed some changes to the bylaws:-That we have a two-tier board structure: The Board Of Trustees & The Executive Committee. The EC could be in charge of funding/project proposals etc while the Board oversees and has the final say in whatever the EC might suggest. We could have 2 board members in the EC as well.>Manuel: hmm, I don't understand why making it so complicated. I haven't heardof one chapter that has this kind of construction. In contrast, normallyyou have the problem of not being able to find enough members tocandidate. This will be even worse if you have two committees>I think that all this is not an issue of WMKE and even if it becomes anissue in the future it will take some years - then you can still changethe bylaws accordingly - if your members really want that. WMDE forinstance has still trouble finding enough members for their board ofeight.>For now, with much less ressources, keep it stupid and simple. Try toavoid overhead where possible.I agree that something simple and stupid is better.
Lodewijk, Delphine and all,Thanks so much for your comments. I expected some of the local WMKE participants to give their feedback as well...Anyway, since we were colonized by Britain, I gave the lawyer WMUK bylaws so that he could check out how WMUK registered. He found out that WMUK was a limited liability company by guarantee, and told me that he'll assess our chapter and explore the possibility of us registering as a limited liability company.
Anyway, I don't have all the info with me right now, so to cut the long story short, I think we should arrange a meetup with the lawyer so that we can discuss and decide which mode of registration suits us best, whether or not to make the changes that the lawyer proposed in the bylaws, and any other related matters.And BTW, I promised that I'd have posted the revised bylaws but that's not possible at the moment since apparently we have to decide on whether we want a Society, Trust or a Limited Liability Company so that the lawyer can redact the current bylaws to suit the mode of registration we'd decide on. So I expect that the final bylaws will be published after we meet and agree on the above-mentioned issues.I suggest that we meet on Saturday 26 Feb 2011 (at iHub?).
--Abbas.
--------------------------------------
Feel free to contact me:
Abbas Mahmood
Tel: +254722215101
Facebook: abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com
Skype: abbasjnr
Wikimedia Kenya Member
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment."
Please donate: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en
Guys,
I will be doing the pre-vist next week, please let me know if there are any
specific targets you will require from me, apart from the general survey and
planning of the actual dates.
--
-------------
David Mugo,
ICT & E-Commerce Consultant,
http://majibu.com
Twitter: @raidarmax
Congraturations Asaf and Moushira on your new positions.Look forward
to working with you in days ahead
On 2/5/11, wikimediake-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org
<wikimediake-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Send WikimediaKE mailing list submissions to
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Schools covered In Rift valley. (Isaac K. Kosgei )
> 2. FW: [Internal-l] Announcement: Hiring of Asaf Bartov and
> Moushira Elamrawy contract extension (Abbas Mahmoud)
> 3. Re: FW: [Internal-l] Announcement: Hiring of Asaf Bartov and
> Moushira Elamrawy contract extension (SAMSON MAOSA)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 05:23:52 +0300
> From: "Isaac K. Kosgei " <kips8505izo(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] Schools covered In Rift valley.
> To: wikimediake(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Message-ID:
> <AANLkTi=jP2eACuF=xK7yjBN+QhUzo4cyzGLz6nS-4qku(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi Guys,
> I am happy to report that we went to Kapsabet boys and kapsabet girls
> high School, they were very receptive and the teachers were happy with
> our efforts. The principals of both schools told me to pass their
> Congratulatory messages to the entire Chapter for the work well done.
> They look forward to working with us in days ahead.
> As for my part I wanna thank Abbas for constantly keeping in touch,
> encouraging us and supporting us. To my amazing team At egerton
> uni>Bethwel Kiay(COMPUTER Science) and Edward Yego(ECON STAT), thanks
> for the sacrifice guys without you this would not have been possible.
> By the way today I will be in Kaptel boys before I head back to college.
> Hope to hear from you soon.
> --
> Isaac K. Kosgei.
> Bachelor of Agribusiness Management
> Egerton University,
> Njoro Kenya.
> (+254727553981/+254733553981)
> www.linkedin.com/in/kipsizoo
> Skype:Kipsizoo
> Twitter:@Kipsizoo
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 03:29:38 +0000
> From: Abbas Mahmoud <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] FW: [Internal-l] Announcement: Hiring of
> Asaf Bartov and Moushira Elamrawy contract extension
> To: <wikimediake(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID: <BLU116-W186F3DABCE12AE39CF36EDCAE90(a)phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Asaf Bartov, my dear friend from Wikimedia Israel, is now Wikimedia
> Foundation's Head of Global South Relationships. Further details about his
> job description below:
>
>> Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 18:44:45 -0800
>> From: bnewstead(a)wikimedia.org
>> To: internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> Subject: [Internal-l] Announcement: Hiring of Asaf Bartov and Moushira
>> Elamrawy contract extension
>>
>> I am very pleased to announce that Asaf Bartov has agreed to join the
>> Wikimedia Foundation as Head of Global South Relationships (pending the
>> completion of the U.S. visa application process) and Moushira Elamrawy
>> has agreed to a contract extension to serve as Chapter Relations
>> Manager. These positions are both part of the Global Development team
>> and seek to enhance WMF's relationships with and support of chapters and
>> other groups/individuals in the movement.
>>
>> We expect Asaf to join WMF in March 2011 and the position will be based
>> in San Francisco. Asaf is a long-time Wikipedian and Wikimedian. He
>> began editing Wikipedia in 2001, his home project is the Hebrew
>> Wikipedia. His first contribution to Hebrew Wikipedia was to initiate
>> the article on Homer (not the four-fingered guy from Springfield) in
>> 2003. He has been a member of Wikimedia Israel since 2008, and served as
>> board member and international liaison. Asaf has been making his living
>> in software, but has always cultivated a wide range of interests in the
>> humanities -- studying literature and classics, and then teaching
>> ancient Greek and Latin at Tel Aviv University -- as well as voluntary
>> activities in the open source and open content worlds. He is the
>> founding editor of Project Ben-Yehuda, a free 100% volunteer-run
>> repository of public-domain Hebrew texts. He is also active in
>> transforming library technology to 21st-century open standards, having
>> served as consultant at the National Library of Israel, and an invited
>> expert at the W3C's Library Linked Data Incubator Group (LLD XG).
>>
>> Asaf's primary role will be to support the growth of the Wikimedia
>> movement in the Global South with a specific focus on working with
>> chapters, groups who seek to become chapters and mission-aligned
>> groups/individuals. He will play an advisory role to support these
>> groups to advance their work in support of the movement. He will manage
>> WMF's grants program (globally) with the aim of providing funding for
>> strategy-aligned initiatives with a strong focus on innovation. Asaf
>> will work with groups to design effective grants and help create model
>> grants that groups can readily adapt to their local needs. Finally, Asaf
>> will help improve our knowledge repository of program and grant
>> experiences with a priority to create systematic means for evaluating
>> and learning from each program.
>>
>> I would also like to announce that WMF has extended the contract of
>> Moushira Elamrawy, who was serving as Global Campaigns Manager during
>> the 2010/11 fundraiser, to serve in a Chapter Relations capacity. She
>> will continue to be based in Alexandria, Egypt. Moushira was introduced
>> to Wikimedia in April 2007 during filming the footage of "Truth in
>> Numbers" in Alexandria, Egypt: a few weeks later she was appointed from
>> Bibliotheca Alexandrina to become the main organizer from the library's
>> side for Wikimania 2008. Her responsibilities started along with the
>> bidding process and extended until after the conference was over to
>> include co-organizing Wikipedia editing sessions, Arabic Wikipedia Day,
>> and an "Introduction to Free Open Source OS" sessions series. She
>> continues to help with new initiatives and offline activities concerning
>> Arabic Wikipedia, including ongoing efforts for creating an Arabic
>> Wikipedia signpost, organizing events that help attract new users such
>> as editing and licensee sessions. She recently initiated a cross
>> collaboration among Arabic users across north Africa, in order to create
>> a base of user groups across this region. Last fall, Moushira was
>> engaged by WMF's community department to focus on liaising between the
>> chapters and WMF during the 2010 fundraising campaign. Moushira has
>> previously worked for sustainable development projects in desert areas
>> of Egypt and Morocco focusing on ecological building approaches. She is
>> a Greenpeace volunteer and retired vegan.
>> Moushira's role will be to support WMF and chapters in living up to our
>> responsibilities to each other and to the movement, particularly with
>> regard to smoothing and systematizing communications mechanisms with the
>> goal of increased transparency and openness. She will help establish
>> processes that enable us to meet our commitments to each other and the
>> movement. She will facilitate the completion of requirements under our
>> fundraising and chapter agreements relating to revenue sharing,
>> reporting and accountability. She will support us monitoring progress
>> against these commitments, designing systems for tracking and creating
>> simple ways to work together in a manner that achieves mutual
>> accountability, while keeping the burden on volunteer board members and
>> other chapter members to a minimum. Moushira will also serve as WMF's
>> process manager over the next year for key activities such as the
>> signing of chapter agreements and fundraising agreements, compliance
>> with agreement requirements and more systematic capture of reports
>> to/from chapters. Please note that WMF doesn?t intend this role to be an
>> oversight function nor do we expect that it?s our role to remind
>> chapters of their responsibilities: the role is to both help WMF fulfill
>> our responsibilities and to help us all improve our processes. This is a
>> big challenge and she will work collaboratively with chapters to achieve
>> it.
>>
>> I am thrilled to add Asaf and Moushira to the WMF Global Development team.
>>
>> We will jointly host an IRC at the following times to address any
>> questions or comments that you might have about these roles.
>> 1. Friday, February 11 at 1500 UTC
>> 2. Friday, February 11 at 2200 UTC
>>
>>
>> ________________
>>
>> FAQ
>>
>> How did we source candidates for these roles?
>>
>> The Chapter Development Director position was publicly posted in August
>> 2010, and we interviewed a number of candidates. We had some strong and
>> interesting candidates, but we did not find anyone who could fulfill the
>> role as we had initially designed it. Asaf Bartov applied for the
>> Chapter Development Director and was interviewed by a panel of
>> interviewers. Moushira Elamrawy did not apply for the position, however
>> she was fulfilling some functions in the Global Campaigns role that we
>> saw as needed in our Chapter Development work (items that were listed in
>> the original job description).
>>
>> As such, we decided that the best course of action was to split the
>> initial role into two that would meet our needs and not require a reset
>> of the entire process. We did a review of the prior candidates to see if
>> any would be a good alternative to Asaf and Moushira and concluded that
>> we were comfortable with them as our selection. Please note that
>> Moushira?s role is temporary: that?s because the relationship between
>> the Wikimedia Foundation and the chapters is actively evolving, and so
>> we think this role may change significantly over time.
>>
>> How does the appointment of these two roles change the relationship
>> between WMF and chapters?
>>
>> Our hope is that these engagements will improve our relationship by
>> providing dedicated resources to our chapter interactions. This will
>> allow WMF to be more responsive and will provide resources to invest
>> time in creating new solutions to problems that we have dealt with in
>> the past, but haven't solved effectively.
>>
>> We also hope that Moushira and Asaf will help to enhance the
>> effectiveness of chapters by serving as advisors on program work,
>> helping to make connections between program work in different places and
>> by creating systems that ease the administrative burden on volunteers,
>> freeing you to focus more time on program activities.
>>
>> These engagements do not change the formal relationships between WMF and
>> chapters. We both will continue to be independently responsible for
>> meeting our commitments and for solving problems that arise in a timely
>> and collaborative manner.
>>
>> Why is Asaf's position focused on the Global South vs. all chapters?
>>
>> We do not have sufficient resources available to expend our resources
>> equally in all areas and still achieve impact and so we need to
>> prioritize. The movement priorities set out during the strategy process
>> set clear targets for our growth in the Global South and we are aligning
>> our resources to this priority. We will continue to support grants
>> across the globe and will engage with all chapters, but Asaf's first
>> responsibility will be to the work focused on the Global South.
>>
>> What does WMF plan to do with other groups/individuals in the movement?
>>
>> We continue to believe in the principle of a decentralized movement and
>> the importance of supporting good efforts by volunteers regardless of
>> organizational affiliation. While we expect chapters to play a strong
>> role in designing and running programs as well as funding
>> groups/individuals within their geographies to do such work, we also
>> want to keep the door open for groups or individuals who want to conduct
>> program work that supports the movement priorities outside of a chapter
>> structure. In recent months, this has included, for example, funding for
>> the Wikipedia in Schools program in Kenya and support for GLAM work by a
>> US-based volunteer, Aude.
>>
>> Does the appointment of Asaf change WMF's view of grant-making?
>>
>> We see grant-making as an important process for supporting chapters and
>> other groups/individuals to achieve movement priorities. The appointment
>> of Asaf provides us with an opportunity to expand grant-making and make
>> it more systematic. We believe that many chapters will not be in a
>> position to generate sustainable funding locally to fund the full array
>> of programs that may be needed to achieve our goals. Grant-making is an
>> effective way to fill that gap.
>>
>> We would like to see our grant-making work evolve to include much more
>> community participation in helping chapters and other groups/individuals
>> design good programs, in helping WMF make good decisions and in
>> evaluating and capturing the learning from grants after they are
>> implemented. This will be a core initiative for Asaf in his first year.
>>
>> I?ve got other questions that aren?t answered here.
>> Barry, Asaf and Moushira will host an IRC at the following times to talk
>> through the roles in more detail.
>> 1. Friday, February 11 at 1500 UTC
>> 2. Friday, February 11 at 2200 UTC
>>
>> --
>> Barry Newstead
>> Chief Global Development Officer
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634
>> Skype: barry.wikimedia
>> Twitter: @bazanews
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Internal-l mailing list
>> Internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/internal-l
>
>
Please accept my request to join your group.I am interested in this course
of helping to distribute information and i believe my input together with
yours will go a long way in achieving this goal.....am a student in jkuat
pursuing a course in Telecommunication and information Engineering and i
hope that you will grant me this opportunity.
Hi,
thank you Abbas for working on this. Once you put up the revised
version I will come with some more detailed comments based on past
experiences with other chapters. Please inform the chapters committee
when the time is there for that.
If I listen to your explanation, the trust (even thought hat word
seems to have a different meaning all over the world) sounds like a
reasonable structure. I do not think you want to set up a structure
where all board members are personally liable (for example in the case
someone wants to sue because of something written on Wikipedia). Can
you also have a membership structure in a Kenyan trust? If so, that
sounds more or less like an association in different jurisdictions.
This is a common structure for chapters.
I do not know how the situation is in Kenya, but it might be helpful
to submit bylaws at some point to a lawyer or civil servant informally
to ask "would this be likely approved as tax-exampt in Kenya?" after
you processed all changes you deem useful. That should save you some
worries later on. Just a suggestion.
The situation that was suggested is a situation that sounds like a
Dutch company with a board of directors and a board of commissioners.
Also Wikimedia Indonesia has a similar structure - they are also
structured like a company (non-profit). I do agree with Manuel that
this would probably make things complicated for you, but I also would
like to urge you to choose a structure that makes you feel
comfortable, that is common in your country. I suggest you approach
some organizations that are similar to yours (small associations) and
ask them how they organized themselves. In any case it is important to
have a clear division of responsibilities - describe your structure
very clearly in your bylaws.
I totally agree there should be a way for the membership to replace
the board members - but this does not have to be easy.
I agree with Manuel to have terms of 1 year instead of three. However,
keep in mind it is common that board members are re-elected, so their
actual term will likely be longer than one year.
Good luck with processing comments etc,
Lodewijk
2011/2/9 Manuel Schneider <manuel.schneider(a)wikimedia.ch>:
>
> Hi Abbas, Ali and all list members,
>
> thanks for the update and intense work on the bylaws.
>
> Am 9.2.2011 schrieb "Abbas Mahmoud" <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com>:
>>Society - The registration process is tedious, slow and requires alot of pushing. When we register as a society, WMKE will be an amorphous institution, meaning it can't be sued on it's own. Rather, it is the officials or trustees that can be sued. Property/assets are registered under the trustees. The Society should file annual returns (e.g. indicating any change in trustees).
>
> What are the costs of this option?
>
>>Tax ExemptionAfter getting the Certificate of registration, we should contact the Minister for Finance and apply for tax exemption. The by-laws should clearly indicate that we are a non-profit organisation. A petition letter should be written to the Minister when applying for tax exemption with supporting documents (from WMF and/or ICT Board and/or Google Kenya). Tax exemption requires political pushing/influence -- so the duration of us getting tax exemption could be as short as a week and as long as decades!
>
> Does this apply for Trust or Society or both?
>
>>Bylaws:The lawyer has proposed some changes to the bylaws:-That we have a two-tier board structure: The Board Of Trustees & The Executive Committee. The EC could be in charge of funding/project proposals etc while the Board oversees and has the final say in whatever the EC might suggest. We could have 2 board members in the EC as well.
>
> hmm, I don't understand why making it so complicated. I haven't heard
> of one chapter that has this kind of construction. In contrast, normally
> you have the problem of not being able to find enough members to
> candidate. This will be even worse if you have two committees.
>
> Wikimedia Germany tried to set up such a structure just a few weeks ago
> by the change of bylaws (which was not approved by the members).
> But they have more than 650 members, eight board members and about 30
> employees. The reason to split the committees was to split
> responsibilities, as the board is responsible (and liable) for what the
> Managing Director does.
>
> I think that all this is not an issue of WMKE and even if it becomes an
> issue in the future it will take some years - then you can still change
> the bylaws accordingly - if your members really want that. WMDE for
> instance has still trouble finding enough members for their board of
> eight.
>
> For now, with much less ressources, keep it stupid and simple. Try to
> avoid overhead where possible.
>
>>-That he will include a "no-confidence" section in the bylaws, so that if and when the members are dissatisfied with the Board, they have the power to vote them off.
>
> This should really be a standard in all bylaws, I totally agree.
>
>>-That the Board members that will be elected should sit in it for 3 years (rather than 1 year). This is because a year is not enough for the Board to familiarise, set things straight, come up with a strategic plan, etc.
>
> I oppose this. While one year seems to be the standard, also among
> Wikimedia Chapters, that was also part of the bylaw change at WMDE that
> didn't get approved, and I assert (personal oponion) that the reason
> that the bylaw change failed was because of this.
>
> I understand the idea and the argument behind it. Anyway I have never
> seen it as an issue, neither in WMDE, WMCH nor WMAT. WMDE still worked
> out a 10 year plan.
> On another note I think it is vital for a democratic movement such as
> Wikimedia that decisions (such as board votes) can be easily revised
> once a year. Most board members won't change anyway because they
> candidate again and will be voted again - if they did a good job, and
> that's the most important part!
> If they don't do a good job - how to get rid of them? Even though you
> have no-confidence paragraph now in your bylaws it is very hard to go
> through that process - we just did (for my first time ever) that in
> WMDE, and it was a lot of trouble.
> Also think of people that do not candidate again. Do you want to force
> them to drop out during their period? Then you will still have again
> order a general assembly to get them replaced, or you just nominate
> replacements - not democratic. Or you risk that you end up with half of
> the board being inactive after two years, taking away your ability to
> act.
>
> Just my personal opinions.
>
> Regards,
>
> /Manuel
>
> _______________________________________________
> WikimediaKE mailing list
> WikimediaKE(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
>
Hi folks,
First and foremost, let me take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for the delay in giving feedback on where we were on the bylaws in terms of legal review.
Yesterday, I managed to have a one-on-one meetup with Ali Mahmud (he's not my brother, FYI. We just happen to have the same last names.) The following is what we discussed/proposed/suggested: [Note: I have CC-ed him so that he may answer any queries you may have]. We could also arrange a meetup with him, if you wish.
Chapter Registration:We could either register our Chapter as a Trust or Society:Trust - When we register as a trust, we will be a legally-recognized corporate entity that is capable of suing or being sued. The corporate entity can own property and assets. Registration as a trust is much faster than a Society.The following is an approximate of the expenses to be incurred: Legal fees = KES50,000;
Government stamp duty = KES 200 Registration of Documents Act = KES 1500 Trustees (Perpetual) Succession Act= KES 5000 Total=KES 56700
The above process could take one month and we will then be issued with a Certificate.
Society - The registration process is tedious, slow and requires alot of pushing. When we register as a society, WMKE will be an amorphous institution, meaning it can't be sued on it's own. Rather, it is the officials or trustees that can be sued. Property/assets are registered under the trustees. The Society should file annual returns (e.g. indicating any change in trustees).
Tax ExemptionAfter getting the Certificate of registration, we should contact the Minister for Finance and apply for tax exemption. The by-laws should clearly indicate that we are a non-profit organisation. A petition letter should be written to the Minister when applying for tax exemption with supporting documents (from WMF and/or ICT Board and/or Google Kenya). Tax exemption requires political pushing/influence -- so the duration of us getting tax exemption could be as short as a week and as long as decades!
Bylaws:The lawyer has proposed some changes to the bylaws:-That we have a two-tier board structure: The Board Of Trustees & The Executive Committee. The EC could be in charge of funding/project proposals etc while the Board oversees and has the final say in whatever the EC might suggest. We could have 2 board members in the EC as well.
-That he will include a "no-confidence" section in the bylaws, so that if and when the members are dissatisfied with the Board, they have the power to vote them off.
-That the Board members that will be elected should sit in it for 3 years (rather than 1 year). This is because a year is not enough for the Board to familiarise, set things straight, come up with a strategic plan, etc.
-I will publish the revised bylaws online tomorrow so that you could see the above-mentioned changes. Your comments/suggestions are welcome.
Regards, Abbas.
--------------------------------------
Feel free to contact me:
Abbas Mahmood
Tel: +254722215101
Facebook: abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com
Skype: abbasjnr
Wikimedia Kenya Member
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment."
Please donate: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en
Hi,
i received the following email from the Google Talent and Outreach Program
manager in Africa, regarding the Google Online Marketing Challenge and I am
sure some of you received it as well. I just wanted the information to reach
as many of you and as early as possible. Good luck as you plan to use the
opportunity to develop yourself positively.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Obum Ekeke <obumekeke(a)google.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 6:45 PM
Subject: Google Online Marketing Challenge - help us spread the word *
To: Obum Ekeke <obumekeke(a)google.com>
**
*
Help us spread the word!
Buzz it, Tweet it, Facebook it:
Don't miss the Online Marketing Challenge, a global student competition to
learn about online marketing! Sign up now http://goo.gl/WCpY
The Online Marketing Challenge is open now with a new NGO Impact Award! Do
not miss this global student competition! http://goo.gl/WCpY
Copy and forward this email to your professors:
Dear (professor),
I would like to introduce you to the Google Online Marketing
Challenge<http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge>,
a global and unique student competition organized by Google and open to any
higher education institution anywhere in the world!
Basically, your student teams receive US$200 of free online advertising with
Google AdWords and then work with local businesses or NGOs to devise
effective online marketing campaigns.
Real money, real results, real experience! Check it out at
www.google.com/onlinechallenge.
How it works
Any professor at any higher education institute registers a student team.
Students can be any class, graduate or undergraduate, regardless of
discipline.
Teams select a business or an NGO, outline an online marketing strategy, run
a campaign, assess their results and provide the business/NGO with
recommendations to further develop their online marketing. Teams submit
their reports and are judged by a global panel of independent academics.
Advantages of the Challenge
This is not a simulation. Students gain real-world experience with real
clients. At the same time, clients (both businesses and NGOs) benefit from
free advertising and Internet consulting. Google provides US$200 in AdWords
advertising, along with teaching materials and other resources.
Prizes
The global winners and their professor receive a week trip to the Google
Headquarters in Mountain View, California to meet with the GOMC team.
Regional winners from America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa
and their professor receive a trip to a regional Google office. Students
that work with an NGO during the Challenge can compete for the NGO Impact
Award <http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/ngo_award.html> (up to
US$15,000 for the winners’ NGO).
To learn more and register, please visit www.google.com/onlinechallenge.
Remember! Registration closes April 21st, 2011.
Looking forward to your participation in the Challenge,
*
--
*Happy Days!*
*
*
*
*
Obum Ekeke
Talent & Outreach Programs, Africa
Google UK Limited
Tel: +44 (0) 207-881-4642 I Mobile: +447500084786
Google
123 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1 9SH.
Registered in England Number: 3977902
To find out what Google is doing in Universities in Africa, visit the Google
Africa University
Programs<http://www.google.com/africa/universityprograms/>site.
---------
If you received this communication by mistake, please don't forward it to
anyone else (it may contain confidential or privileged information), please
erase all copies of it, including all attachments, and please let the sender
know it went to the wrong person. The above terms reflect a potential
business arrangement, are provided solely as a basis for further
discussion, and are not intended to be and do not constitute a legally
binding obligation. No legally binding obligations will be created, implied,
or inferred until an agreement in final form is executed in writing by all
parties involved.
--
__________________________________________________________________________________
Samson Arosi Maosa,
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,
Bsc. Electronics and Computer Engineering
+254750-nine-one-seven-three-zero-five
*"In this world, everything has been done but suppose we try doing it in a
different (better) way?"*
Make someone know what you already know. Join us now at Wikimedia
Kenya<http://www.wikimedia.or.ke>
Hi all, as you know our wiki site is the converging point of all our
discussions, where every progress should be recorded. If one wants to
evaluate our progress, the first site they will look for information is our
Wiki. If i am not wrong, this is what many will use to see our seriousness,
the Wikimedia Foundation Chapters' Committee inclusive.
It is for this reason that I am abit concerned about the amount of content
in our website and how frequently it is updated. It is clear that there are
many discussions we do over the mail and is not documented in our wiki. It
is also clear that most of us are busy and we dedicate little time to our
wiki. I suggest that we start giving priority to our wiki for discussions.
For example, when discussing an important issue, we could create a page for
the issue and hold the discussion on the Talk page of the page. We could
also use the main page talk page for other general discussions.
About the frequency of updating the wiki and the general organization of the
wiki in general, Manuel and Asaf could be doing that but I can imagine the
amount of work they have, plus they are not in Kenya and may sometimes not
have first hand information regarding many events. From now on I will
dedicate as much time as I can to organizing the general look of Our
Wiki<http://www.wikimedia.or.ke>for ease of accessibility of the
articles as well as catching up with and
tracing back our progress.
On the same note, I would like to urge all of those who do not have accounts
with Wikimedia Kenya <http://www.wikimedia.or.ke> to create accounts by
sending the username you would like to use to Asaf
Bartov<asaf.bartov(a)gmail.com>or Abbas
Mahmood <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com> and they will configure the account for you.
Have a great weekend guys.
--
__________________________________________________________________________________
Samson Arosi Maosa,
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,
Bsc. Electronics and Computer Engineering
+254750-nine-one-seven-three-zero-five
*"In this world, everything has been done but suppose we try doing it in a
different (better) way?"*
Make someone know what you already know. Join us now at Wikimedia
Kenya<http://www.wikimedia.or.ke>
Hi folks,
Asaf Bartov, my dear friend from Wikimedia Israel, is now Wikimedia Foundation's Head of Global South Relationships. Further details about his job description below:
> Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 18:44:45 -0800
> From: bnewstead(a)wikimedia.org
> To: internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Internal-l] Announcement: Hiring of Asaf Bartov and Moushira Elamrawy contract extension
>
> I am very pleased to announce that Asaf Bartov has agreed to join the
> Wikimedia Foundation as Head of Global South Relationships (pending the
> completion of the U.S. visa application process) and Moushira Elamrawy
> has agreed to a contract extension to serve as Chapter Relations
> Manager. These positions are both part of the Global Development team
> and seek to enhance WMF's relationships with and support of chapters and
> other groups/individuals in the movement.
>
> We expect Asaf to join WMF in March 2011 and the position will be based
> in San Francisco. Asaf is a long-time Wikipedian and Wikimedian. He
> began editing Wikipedia in 2001, his home project is the Hebrew
> Wikipedia. His first contribution to Hebrew Wikipedia was to initiate
> the article on Homer (not the four-fingered guy from Springfield) in
> 2003. He has been a member of Wikimedia Israel since 2008, and served as
> board member and international liaison. Asaf has been making his living
> in software, but has always cultivated a wide range of interests in the
> humanities -- studying literature and classics, and then teaching
> ancient Greek and Latin at Tel Aviv University -- as well as voluntary
> activities in the open source and open content worlds. He is the
> founding editor of Project Ben-Yehuda, a free 100% volunteer-run
> repository of public-domain Hebrew texts. He is also active in
> transforming library technology to 21st-century open standards, having
> served as consultant at the National Library of Israel, and an invited
> expert at the W3C's Library Linked Data Incubator Group (LLD XG).
>
> Asaf's primary role will be to support the growth of the Wikimedia
> movement in the Global South with a specific focus on working with
> chapters, groups who seek to become chapters and mission-aligned
> groups/individuals. He will play an advisory role to support these
> groups to advance their work in support of the movement. He will manage
> WMF's grants program (globally) with the aim of providing funding for
> strategy-aligned initiatives with a strong focus on innovation. Asaf
> will work with groups to design effective grants and help create model
> grants that groups can readily adapt to their local needs. Finally, Asaf
> will help improve our knowledge repository of program and grant
> experiences with a priority to create systematic means for evaluating
> and learning from each program.
>
> I would also like to announce that WMF has extended the contract of
> Moushira Elamrawy, who was serving as Global Campaigns Manager during
> the 2010/11 fundraiser, to serve in a Chapter Relations capacity. She
> will continue to be based in Alexandria, Egypt. Moushira was introduced
> to Wikimedia in April 2007 during filming the footage of "Truth in
> Numbers" in Alexandria, Egypt: a few weeks later she was appointed from
> Bibliotheca Alexandrina to become the main organizer from the library's
> side for Wikimania 2008. Her responsibilities started along with the
> bidding process and extended until after the conference was over to
> include co-organizing Wikipedia editing sessions, Arabic Wikipedia Day,
> and an "Introduction to Free Open Source OS" sessions series. She
> continues to help with new initiatives and offline activities concerning
> Arabic Wikipedia, including ongoing efforts for creating an Arabic
> Wikipedia signpost, organizing events that help attract new users such
> as editing and licensee sessions. She recently initiated a cross
> collaboration among Arabic users across north Africa, in order to create
> a base of user groups across this region. Last fall, Moushira was
> engaged by WMF's community department to focus on liaising between the
> chapters and WMF during the 2010 fundraising campaign. Moushira has
> previously worked for sustainable development projects in desert areas
> of Egypt and Morocco focusing on ecological building approaches. She is
> a Greenpeace volunteer and retired vegan.
> Moushira's role will be to support WMF and chapters in living up to our
> responsibilities to each other and to the movement, particularly with
> regard to smoothing and systematizing communications mechanisms with the
> goal of increased transparency and openness. She will help establish
> processes that enable us to meet our commitments to each other and the
> movement. She will facilitate the completion of requirements under our
> fundraising and chapter agreements relating to revenue sharing,
> reporting and accountability. She will support us monitoring progress
> against these commitments, designing systems for tracking and creating
> simple ways to work together in a manner that achieves mutual
> accountability, while keeping the burden on volunteer board members and
> other chapter members to a minimum. Moushira will also serve as WMF's
> process manager over the next year for key activities such as the
> signing of chapter agreements and fundraising agreements, compliance
> with agreement requirements and more systematic capture of reports
> to/from chapters. Please note that WMF doesn’t intend this role to be an
> oversight function nor do we expect that it’s our role to remind
> chapters of their responsibilities: the role is to both help WMF fulfill
> our responsibilities and to help us all improve our processes. This is a
> big challenge and she will work collaboratively with chapters to achieve
> it.
>
> I am thrilled to add Asaf and Moushira to the WMF Global Development team.
>
> We will jointly host an IRC at the following times to address any
> questions or comments that you might have about these roles.
> 1. Friday, February 11 at 1500 UTC
> 2. Friday, February 11 at 2200 UTC
>
>
> ________________
>
> FAQ
>
> How did we source candidates for these roles?
>
> The Chapter Development Director position was publicly posted in August
> 2010, and we interviewed a number of candidates. We had some strong and
> interesting candidates, but we did not find anyone who could fulfill the
> role as we had initially designed it. Asaf Bartov applied for the
> Chapter Development Director and was interviewed by a panel of
> interviewers. Moushira Elamrawy did not apply for the position, however
> she was fulfilling some functions in the Global Campaigns role that we
> saw as needed in our Chapter Development work (items that were listed in
> the original job description).
>
> As such, we decided that the best course of action was to split the
> initial role into two that would meet our needs and not require a reset
> of the entire process. We did a review of the prior candidates to see if
> any would be a good alternative to Asaf and Moushira and concluded that
> we were comfortable with them as our selection. Please note that
> Moushira’s role is temporary: that’s because the relationship between
> the Wikimedia Foundation and the chapters is actively evolving, and so
> we think this role may change significantly over time.
>
> How does the appointment of these two roles change the relationship
> between WMF and chapters?
>
> Our hope is that these engagements will improve our relationship by
> providing dedicated resources to our chapter interactions. This will
> allow WMF to be more responsive and will provide resources to invest
> time in creating new solutions to problems that we have dealt with in
> the past, but haven't solved effectively.
>
> We also hope that Moushira and Asaf will help to enhance the
> effectiveness of chapters by serving as advisors on program work,
> helping to make connections between program work in different places and
> by creating systems that ease the administrative burden on volunteers,
> freeing you to focus more time on program activities.
>
> These engagements do not change the formal relationships between WMF and
> chapters. We both will continue to be independently responsible for
> meeting our commitments and for solving problems that arise in a timely
> and collaborative manner.
>
> Why is Asaf's position focused on the Global South vs. all chapters?
>
> We do not have sufficient resources available to expend our resources
> equally in all areas and still achieve impact and so we need to
> prioritize. The movement priorities set out during the strategy process
> set clear targets for our growth in the Global South and we are aligning
> our resources to this priority. We will continue to support grants
> across the globe and will engage with all chapters, but Asaf's first
> responsibility will be to the work focused on the Global South.
>
> What does WMF plan to do with other groups/individuals in the movement?
>
> We continue to believe in the principle of a decentralized movement and
> the importance of supporting good efforts by volunteers regardless of
> organizational affiliation. While we expect chapters to play a strong
> role in designing and running programs as well as funding
> groups/individuals within their geographies to do such work, we also
> want to keep the door open for groups or individuals who want to conduct
> program work that supports the movement priorities outside of a chapter
> structure. In recent months, this has included, for example, funding for
> the Wikipedia in Schools program in Kenya and support for GLAM work by a
> US-based volunteer, Aude.
>
> Does the appointment of Asaf change WMF's view of grant-making?
>
> We see grant-making as an important process for supporting chapters and
> other groups/individuals to achieve movement priorities. The appointment
> of Asaf provides us with an opportunity to expand grant-making and make
> it more systematic. We believe that many chapters will not be in a
> position to generate sustainable funding locally to fund the full array
> of programs that may be needed to achieve our goals. Grant-making is an
> effective way to fill that gap.
>
> We would like to see our grant-making work evolve to include much more
> community participation in helping chapters and other groups/individuals
> design good programs, in helping WMF make good decisions and in
> evaluating and capturing the learning from grants after they are
> implemented. This will be a core initiative for Asaf in his first year.
>
> I’ve got other questions that aren’t answered here.
> Barry, Asaf and Moushira will host an IRC at the following times to talk
> through the roles in more detail.
> 1. Friday, February 11 at 1500 UTC
> 2. Friday, February 11 at 2200 UTC
>
> --
> Barry Newstead
> Chief Global Development Officer
> Wikimedia Foundation
> Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634
> Skype: barry.wikimedia
> Twitter: @bazanews
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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