[Foundation-l] A chapters-related question

[Thomas de Souza Buckup]

Michael, thanks for starting this thread.

I'll try to synthesize below some information about the development of the
Brazilian "chapter". I hope the list will find it useful.

A group of volunteers spent more than one year discussing, writing,
translating and approving the bylaws to create a legal entity for a future
chapter in Brazil (we were blindly following the guidelines).

By the end of the process we realized that the requested bureaucracy did and
would not really help us much in order to promote the Wikimedia projects in
Brazil. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

We shared our concerns and ideas with the other chapters during the Chapters
Meeting in Berlin. Since than, we've been trying to "wiki" the guidelines
for the creation of new chapters.

We see ourselves with the same mission of any other Wikimedia chapter, but
we don't need any legal entity. The structure below would much better fit
our needs, considering the Brazilian context and culture.

(extracted from the Chapters Meeting presentation)

*We are **a movement of autonomous volunteers:
*

   - *Instead of a legal entity, an open movement*
   - *Instead of bylaws, a statement of principles*
   - *Instead of legal representatives, task assigned peers*
   - *Instead of internal finances, grants can go through partners*

*Actions come first to material resources!*

The "movement" called "wikibrasil" is finally growing organically, with less
bureaucracy and more action. We are definitely a grassroots initiative,
where any volunteer feels engaged and empowered to promote the Wikimedia
projects. Should it be any different from that?

I hope this thread can help us understand that there is hardly ever a single
formula that fits every single country. We could still be the cohesive
global movement that started 8 years ago.

abraços,
Thomas