New subject: [Wikimedia-l] Appointment of Esra’a Al Shafei to Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

1 Dec 2017

Hi everyone,

With the appointment of Raju to the Board of Trustees a couple of months
ago, we were left with a remaining open vacancy to fill. I am thrilled to
share that after several months of searching and discussions, we have made
another important appointment. At our November Board Retreat, the Board
appointed and welcomed Esra’a Al Shafei to fill our vacant expert seat.

Esra'a is a prominent international human rights activist and social
entrepreneur. She founded and directs Majal, a nonprofit which utilizes
digital media to amplify under-reported and marginalized voices throughout
the Middle East and North Africa. For those of you that heard her keynote
presentation at this year's Wikimania, I think you will agree she will make
a very valuable addition to the Board and brings an important perspective
and skillset to the Board's efforts.

Below (and on the Wikimedia Blog) you will find the official announcement
about Esra’a Al Shafei. Please join me in warmly welcoming her to the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and to the Wikimedia movement!

Christophe
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

P.S. Due to the nature of Esra’a’s work, sharing photos or videos of Esra’a
may endanger her safety or the safety of others. To help ensure the privacy
and safety of Esra’a and her colleagues, we are not sharing any photographs
or videos of Esra'a. We ask that you please join us in supporting this
important safety consideration.

Press release

Header: Esra'a Al Shafei joins Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

Subheader: Bahraini human rights activist and social entrepreneur brings to
the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees more than a decade of experience
in applying creative solutions to challenges faced by underserved and
underrepresented communities.

Image: https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Esraa.png[a]
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[d]
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San Francisco, California, 1 December 2017 — The Wikimedia Foundation today
announced the appointment of Esra'a Al Shafei, a prominent human rights
activist and a passionate defender of free expression, to the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees.

A native of Bahrain, Esra'a’s work aims to increase and protect free
speech, promote expression for youth and underrepresented voices, and
improve the lives of LGBTQ people in the Middle East and North Africa. She
founded and directs Majal, a network of online platforms that
amplify under-reported and marginalized voices.

“Esra'a shares Wikimedia's foundational belief that shared knowledge can
facilitate shared understanding,” said Wikimedia Foundation Executive
Director, Katherine Maher. "Her achievements exemplify how intentional
community building can be a powerful tool for positive change, while
her passion
for beautiful and engaging user experiences will only elevate our work. We
are so fortunate to have her perspective in support of our global Wikimedia
communities."

Esra'a founded Majal in 2006 as Mideast Youth, at the time a series of
blogs bringing a voice to marginalized and underrepresented young
people across the Middle East. Today, the organization's team helps build
communities that celebrate, protect, and promote diversity and social
justice. Their endeavors include CrowdVoice.org, which curates crowdsourced
media to contextualize social movements throughout the world; Mideast
Tunes, the largest web and mobile app showcasing underground musicians in
the Middle East and North Africa who use music as a tool for social change;
and Ahwaa.org, an open discussion platform for Arab LGBTQ individuals that
uses game mechanics to protect and engage its community.

“When I first encountered Wikipedia shortly after obtaining an internet
connection in the early 2000s, I felt that the true purpose of the internet
was realized. With Wikipedia, I accessed research regarding persecuted
communities in my home country and the wider region: ethnic and religious
minorities whom we were discouraged from learning about, and whose
histories and beliefs were dictated to us from a singular government
perspective. Wikipedia’s open source and crowdsourcing practices would
inspire the platforms I built to advocate for underrepresented communities,
and the internet would shape my life’s work in advocating for freedom of
expression and identity around the world,” said Esra'a.

Esra'a received the Berkman Award for Internet Innovation from the Berkman
Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in 2008 for
"outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society." The
World Economic Forum listed her as one of "15 Women Changing the World in
2015." She has won the "Most Courageous Media" Prize from Free Press
Unlimited, and the Monaco Media Prize, which acknowledges innovative uses
of media for the betterment of humanity.

She has been featured in Fast Company as one of the "100 Most Creative
People in Business;" in The Daily Beast as one of the 17 bravest bloggers
worldwide; and in Forbes' "30 Under 30" list of social entrepreneurs making
an impact in the world.

Esra'a was a keynote speaker at Wikimania 2017 in Montreal, the annual
conference centered on the Wikimedia projects.

“Esra'a brings tech expertise and a valuable perspective to the Board -
coming from a region where access to information is not taken for granted.
I was impressed by her talk during Wikimania 2017 on 'Experiences from the
Middle East: Overcoming Challenges and Serving Communities'. I think her
experience in that region will be important to our efforts around the
globe,” said Nataliia Tymkiv, Governance Chair for the Board.

Esra'a is a senior TED Fellow, an Echoing Green fellow, and a Director’s
Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. She received a Shuttleworth Foundation
Fellowship in 2012 for her work on CrowdVoice.org.

Esra'a joins nine other Foundation Trustees
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3Dhttps://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees%26amp;sa%3DD%26amp;ust%3D1512164054873000%26amp;usg%3DAFQjCNHvsp86oFFv5hD8SZzexjBIHdrkWA&sa=D&ust=1512164054901000&usg=AFQjCNGS6qlGUSUBQzF5PmvviPecf7Kw4A>
who
collectively bring expertise in the Wikimedia community, financial
oversight, governance, and organizational development; and a commitment to
advancing Wikimedia’s mission of free knowledge for all.

She was approved unanimously by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
Her term is effective December 2017 and will continue for three years.
Please see the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3Dhttps://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees%26amp;sa%3DD%26amp;ust%3D1512164054873000%26amp;usg%3DAFQjCNHvsp86oFFv5hD8SZzexjBIHdrkWA&sa=D&ust=1512164054901000&usg=AFQjCNGS6qlGUSUBQzF5PmvviPecf7Kw4A>
for
complete biographies.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and
operates Wikipedia and its sister free knowledge projects. Wikipedia is the
world’s free knowledge resource, spanning more than 45 million articles
across nearly 300 languages. Every month, more than 200,000 people edit
Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, collectively creating and improving
knowledge that is accessed by more than 1 billion unique devices every
month. This all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties in
the world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is
a 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.

Esra’a Al Shafei profile

Esra'a Al Shafei is a human rights activist and the founder and director of
Majal, a nonprofit which helps build communities that celebrate, protect,
and promote diversity, and social justice.

A native of Bahrain, Esra'a works avidly to increase and protect free
speech, promote expression for youth and underrepresented voices, and
improve the lives of LGBTQ people in the Middle East and North Africa. She
founded Majal in 2006 as Mideast Youth. The organization has built online
platforms that creatively facilitate the struggle for social change in the
Middle East and North Africa.

Esra'a received the Berkman Award for Internet Innovation from Berkman
Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in 2008 for
"outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society." The
World Economic Forum listed her as one of "15 Women Changing the World in
2015."

She has won the "Most Courageous Media" Prize from Free Press Unlimited,
and the Monaco Media Prize, which acknowledges innovative uses of media for
the betterment of humanity.

Esra'a is a senior TED Fellow, an Echoing Green fellow, and a Director’s
Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. She received a Shuttleworth Foundation
Fellowship in 2012 for her work on CrowdVoice.org. She lives in the Middle
East and North Africa region.