Hi everyone,

After more than 3 years of movement-wide collaboration, we are putting movement strategy into action. And what a great time to celebrate this accomplishment as we near Wikipedia’s 20th birthday.

Quick recap

Despite a challenging and unprecedented 2020, we came together to discuss what initiatives from the recommendations should be prioritized in 2021 and began identifying steps to put those initiatives into action. Around 600 people took part in the discussions.

The initiatives began emerging first based on priorities from nearly 60 communities, affiliates, and groups https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Prioritization_events/Table [2]. At the Global Conversations in November, community members from around the world further discussed those priorities to select the most important ones to work on in 2021. Together we identified 8 sets of initiatives https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Discuss [3] from the recommendations. For more detail, please see the report from November https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Global_Conversations/Report [4].

At the Global Conversations in December https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Global_Conversations/Report/December [5], on wiki, and at community events since, Wikimedians are discussing the next steps for implementing the top initiatives. There is a dedicated discussion space https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Discuss [3] for each set of initiatives. You can find text and video summaries as well as the interested communities listed.

Global Council priority The Movement Strategy team is happy to share plans for finalizing the transition to implementing the movement’s recommendations. From the conversations that took place in small and large communities around the world, it is clear that the Global Council, Movement Charter, and Interim Global Council are top priorities. They are the important first steps to enabling more global decision-making and distributed leadership. Global Conversations for establishing the Interim Global Council will take place on January 23 and 24 — please register early https://forms.gle/FwEBS5TbA2EPbmFt7 [1].

What’s next

The approach for implementation will vary from one initiative to another depending on the contexts and community priorities. At follow-up discussions in January and early February, interested communities and affiliates will come together with different teams from the Wikimedia Foundation to plan the next steps for the 18 months ahead. We have plans to communicate further information on these meetings soon.

The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to resourcing the movement’s top priorities, including the Interim Global Council, and the discussions that will help shape them. The path forward for some of the initiatives is clear. Others need further discussions to narrow the scope or to select from different ideas to experiment and learn.

How to prepare

Conversations are open and ongoing https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Discuss, so please help to enrich them and express your interest to join follow-up discussions [3]. Join follow-up discussions of your interest with your thoughts and suggestions.

We will be communicating the dates and times for the other follow-up discussions very soon. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Support Team with your questions, comments, or ideas at strategy2030{{at}}wikimedia.org

On behalf of the Support Team,

Kaarel

[1] Register for global conversations on the Interim Global Council: https://forms.gle/FwEBS5TbA2EPbmFt7

[2] Map and table of priorities from communities, affiliates and groups: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transiti...

[3] Discussion space for each of the top 8 sets of initiatives: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transiti...

[4] The report from the November Global Conversations: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transiti...

[5] The report from the December Global Conversations: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transiti...