New subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] : Need for a structure

23 Jan 2011

      Hi Abbas,
On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 11:37 AM, Abbas Mahmoud abbasjnr@hotmail.com wrote:
...
Hi Manuel,
We have already submitted the bylaws to ChapCom and are awaiting their
approval. I greatly appreciate ChapCom's advice, especially from Lodewijk
and Delphine. Sometimes back in December, i asked Lodewijk about when we
should expect to be approved. He told me that we should have a look at the
draft bylaws and seal all the remaining loopholes and submit a final draft
and hopefully ChapCom would give their approval probably 2weeks later.
I must say that I read this and was "ooops!, I've missed a step", as i
didn't recall any request for bylaws approval sent to the chapcom in
the past few weeks for Wikimedia Kenya.
So I looked back on the history of our exchanges and came to the
following timeline:
* July 2010, Abbas sends us the byalws to get approved
* after which he and I have a quite long conversation about whether or
not to start with founding the chapter or maybe start getting into the
nick of things and organize wikipedia centered
events/happenings/projects.
* You all pull together the Wikipedia at School project, which is
officially launched a few days ago
*along with Ting's and other WMF people visit.
I have to say that between July and now, I personally had completely
forgotten that there was a "pending approval" of bylaws.
As such, I first want to apologize for this misunderstanding, because
in my mind's eye, the chapter idea was put on hold until more people
were found and active supporters gained to the cause of a chapter.
So to be fair, chapcom has not reviewed the bylaws at all. So it's not
like we're taking our time, we just weren't that clearly aware that
the bylaws were awaiting approval.
...
At that time, we were all engaged in making preparations for Ting's arrival,
the Wikipedia 10 Anniversary & the Wikipedia Schools Project so I really
didn't prioritize reviewing the bylaws. Since we've relieved most of our
burden now, I guess it's now time to review and make the final touches in
the bylaws and we'll hopefully submit a final draft to ChapCom by 1st
February.
Anyway, my mistake, how do we get forward? Well, your outline above
makes perfect sense. So here goes:
*Your group reviews the bylaws that are on meta, to see if they still
suit your needs/wishes
*You fill the little "questionnaire" Chapcom put together to give us
something of an "identity card" of what the active people is all about
[1]
* Once you all agree on the final version of the bylaws, you
(re)submit to chapcom and we will look at them and go through the
discussion process.
I just want to make sure that the bylaws submission reflects the
people involved today, and make sure that founding a chapter is really
the goal you want to pursue as a group and not some proposal that once
was and that we're pulling out of our drawers for convenience.
I am really looking forward to working with you all and hoping we can
get Wikimedia Kenya on tracks as soon as possible. :) I want to
apologize if you had been under the impression the chapcom was not
doing its job... we were not, but because we didn't really consciously
know we had a job to do. :D
Best,
Delphine
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_committee/Pipeline/Follow-up_questio...
(fill it on the meta page for Wikimedia Kenya, for example, or on a
subpage of the same.
-- 
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