You may have interest on this issue, so I forward it to the public list.

Belayet ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Tanvir Rahman" wikitanvir@gmail.com Date: Aug 25, 2012 12:17 PM Subject: [Wiki Loves Monuments] Bangladesh stepped down from WLM To: "Wiki Loves Monuments Photograph Competition" < wikilovesmonuments@lists.wikimedia.org>

Hi everyone,

Maybe some of you already know this, but I would like to confirm that according to our Board, Wikimedia Bangladesh has decided to step down from organizing Wiki Loves Monuments this year. Several months ago, when Lodewijk mailed to our public list offering the opportunity to join this awesome global event, we were pretty much excited to be a part of it. But reality bites.

As you may know Wikimedia Bangladesh is a small chapter, and its main focus is Bangla Wikipedia which actually run by a very small community. So we are always in desperate need of volunteers to organize various Wikimedia events here. Needless to say for WLM, we would need at least a few dedicated volunteers to manage the entire contest. But currently we do not have enough volunteers for this.

I know several countries arranged WLM without having an established Chapter, but for Bangladesh it is a bit unusual and might be tough to organize such an event without an established legal entity. This not necessarily because of the law, but also the tradition. We have our legal registration pending in a long bureaucratic process, which we hoped (at first) would be all done before organizing WLM here. But turns out it is still pending for approval.

Wikimedia Bangladesh will continue to work on their other priories – local registration and expanding the community further. And we hope to arrange WLM next year. Not sure if it will happen globally next time, but we would love to give it another shot.

I thank everyone who supported us this far to keep the hope up. And a special thank you to Lodewijk.

Regards, Tanvir

-- Tanvir Rahman Wikitanvir Secretary Wikimedia Bangladesh

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