Hi everyone,

This is our last communication as the Movement Charter Drafting Committee. The committee will dissolve today, August 30, 2024. We will take this opportunity to share our recommendations for the next steps concerning the Movement Charter work.

We want to start our recommendations for next steps by encouraging everyone to keep working on Recommendation #4 Ensure Equity in Decision-Making(1); we don’t need a “Movement Charter Drafting Committee” for this. It was clear in our conversations at Wikimania that you are passionate about governance and strategy, and you desire to move forward together. Simultaneously, we encourage the Wikimedia Foundation to take a more participatory and collaborative approach to Recommendation #4. The project contributors and the affiliates are two stakeholders in the movement; the Wikimedia Foundation is another. We need all three stakeholders to interdependently work together as equals to create a more equitable movement.

Regarding the three pilots from the Board’s resolution appendix

In the WMF Board’s resolution on 8 July 2024(2), they included three WMF-led pilot proposals that mirrored three of the functions that were assigned to the Global Council in the final text. We are encouraged by this alignment, and we view the proposal to test the functions in time-bound experiments to be a step in the right direction. However, we implore the Board to be bold and brave, and engage with and directly involve the movement to co-create and design together – affiliates and project contributors alike – in order to take these experiments forward. It is contrary to the principles of equity & empowerment(3) and inclusivity & participation decision-making(4) for WMF to be the sole decision-maker on how these pilots are conducted and if they are successful.

A core function of the proposed Global Council – future strategic planning for the wider movement – is not addressed by the three pilots. This should not be left behind in our changing world, and would be an appropriate field for community-led collaborations. As such, we recommend and encourage another pilot to be initiated by any interested stakeholders to fill this strategic gap.

Additional recommendations

We are pleased by the update(5) from Maryana reaffirming WMF’s commitment to a charter for the movement. However, for any subsequent process to draft a Movement Charter or set up a new governance structure to succeed in the future, we believe the following things need to be resolved:

With the WMF Board Governance Committee stepping in to support the path forward for a charter, we recommend that WMF clearly share their ideas for a movement charter – what is the purpose of a charter? Who would it serve? What should it look like?
The initial idea of a Global Council was put forward already about 20 years ago(6), yet so far, there has not been a clear alignment across the movement to take this idea to action. Before the MCDC started their work, there had not been a movement-wide effort to align on what problem in our movement governance this additional structure would solve. We therefore recommend that all stakeholders – project contributors, affiliates, and WMF – clearly share whether or not they support the creation of a new governance structure and the addition of a new body like a Global Council. And if yes, their vision of it – what are the problems and needs this new body would address? Only after we have alignment can we take the next steps of deciding on its structure, responsibilities and composition.
We recommend a review and an update to the Board liaison model to provide more clarity on what the role and responsibilities of liaisons are, how they interact with the committee they’re on, and what effectiveness looks like. This should be addressed for both committees with a limited mandate (e.g. MCDC) and committees with a continuing purpose (e.g. Affiliations Committee).
We heard from the Board liaisons(7) that the movement values needed to be validated by the entire Wikimedia Movement through a separate process. We therefore recommend that the WMF initiates or explicitly endorses a movement-wide process to validate the Wikimedia movement’s values.

Farewell

As we say farewell to you as the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, we want to leave you with this: the process of drafting a charter for, with and by the Wikimedia Movement has been an exhilarating journey. At times, we were overwhelmed by the intensity of interactions with the movement. From time to time, it felt like the feedback loops were never concluded and different stakeholders kept trying to intervene and give their feedback. Yet, this was probably the manifestation of the devotion in our movement to get things right together. Our committee was a microcosm of the larger movement: we represented different experiences and beliefs, we discussed and debated different approaches and proposals, and in the end, we made compromises to try to meet in the middle. We have learned a lot as individuals and as a committee, and we hope you too have learned something new during this process. Thank you again for your engagement and support during these past few years.

For the last time,

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee

Anass Sedrati, Anne Clin, Ciell, Daria Cybulska, George Fodouop, Jorge Vargas, Manavpreet Kaur, Michał Buczyński, Pepe Flores, Richard Knipel, Runa Bhattacharjee.

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