Well, Isla and I were also discussing precisely this point this afternoon Bodhisattwa.
The fact board members+staff members+beneficiaries of grants are to be non-eligible can be very well understood from a conflict of interest point of view. But practically speaking... if those are not eligible... setting up a regional committee in Africa for example, with knowledgeable, experienced and trusted individuals will be a challenge. The system suggest that most of the current committee members should try to apply to be on a regional committee, but I am fairly sure that most of those would be ineligible.
Which actually brought another question to my mind... do candidates have to propose themselves only in the region where they live, or are they allowed to candidate to be on the commitee for other regions ?
Might it actually not be beneficial to see cross candidacies ? It would at the same time reduce the risk of conflict of interest and bring more opportunities for sharing experiences.
Florence
Le 21/05/2021 à 16:18, Bodhisattwa Mandal a écrit :
Hi,
I am concerned about the exclusion of affiliate board members in the regional committees. This decision would exclude a large portion of experienced volunteers who are there in different user group decision making committees. For global south countries, that would diminish the pool of volunteers who are experienced and suitable for this kind of work.
Regards, Bodhisattwa
On Fri, May 21, 2021, 19:27 Risker <risker.wp@gmail.com mailto:risker.wp@gmail.com> wrote:
I am very concerned that you think you're going to get about 80 qualified and committed volunteers to do this work within the next few weeks. This is unrealistic. I also agree with Florence's concerns. Risker/Anne On Fri, 21 May 2021 at 08:33, Florence Devouard <fdevouard@gmail.com <mailto:fdevouard@gmail.com>> wrote: Hello Julia I apology if I missed a step at some point. In this application, I read that "All the current grant committees (both active and inactive) will cease to function with the implementation of the new grants strategy of the Community Resources Team effective from 1 July 2021. We strongly encourage current and former committee members to apply to be part of the regional committees." So... is it to understand that absolutely ALL grants provided by the Wikimedia Foundation will go through those yet uncreated committees ? Does that mean all current recipients of APG grants will have to address their annual request to those yet unknown teams in the future ? (september in some cases) To whom will grants requests have to be addressed to for those groups who are not related to a specific region ? Do they have to pick up a region of their choice and consider themselves attached to it, or will they be appointed a region by default ? Sorry if the questions seem to be unrelated to your call but... 1) I am trying to understand and measure how much unstable our current situation is as grantees so that we can anticipate... 2) I am trying to evaluate the responsibilities that will be on the shoulders of those new regional committee members Best Florence Le 21/05/2021 à 08:06, Julia Brungs a écrit :Dear all, We hope this email finds you well and safe. The COVID 19 situation continues to affect many of us across the globe and our thoughts are with everyone affected. We are also aware that there are several processes currently in progress that demand volunteer time and we do not want to add more work to anyone's plate. We do want to draw your attention to our new Regional Committees for Grants though as they are an opportunity for you to have an active say in the future of our Movement! 📣 So today, we invite you to join our new Regional Committees for Grants! 📣 We encourage Wikimedians and Free Knowledge advocates to be part of the new Regional Committees that the WMF Community Resources team is setting up as part of the grants strategy relaunch [1]. You will be a key strategic thought partner to help understand the complexities of any region, provide knowledge and expertise to applicants, to support successful movement activities, and make funding decisions for grant applications in the region. 👉Find out more on meta [2]. Regional Committees will be established for the following regions: * Middle East and Africa * SAARC [3] region (Includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) * East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific (ESEAP) region * Latin America (LATAM) and The Caribbean * United States and Canada * Northern and Western Europe * Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) 👉All details about the Committees and how to apply can be found on meta [4]. Applications have to be submitted by *June 4, 2021*! If you have any questions or comments, please use the meta discussion page [5]. Please do share this announcement widely with your Network. Best wishes, Julia on behalf of the Community Resources Team [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021> [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021/Regional_Committees <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021/Regional_Committees> [3] https://www.saarc-sec.org/index.php/about-saarc/about-saarc <https://www.saarc-sec.org/index.php/about-saarc/about-saarc> [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021/Regional_Committees#How_to_apply <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021/Regional_Committees#How_to_apply> [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021> -- *Julia Brungs* Senior Community Relations Specialist Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list --wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>, guidelines at:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines> andhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l> To unsubscribe send an email towikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org>_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines> and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines> and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org>
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