Dear Strategy Liaisons and Affiliate Representatives,

The launch of our final round of community conversation is finally here! On behalf of the Core Team, I am excited to have the opportunity to invite you to take part. 

tl;dr: The recommendations have been published! Please take time over the next five weeks to review and help us understand how your organization and community would be impacted.

What Does This Mean?

The core recommendations document [1] has now been published on Meta in Arabic, English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish. This is the result of more than a year of dedicated work by our working groups, and we are pleased to share the evolution of their work for your final consideration. 

In addition to the recommendations text, you can read through key documents such as Principles [2], Process [3], and the Writer’s Reflections [4], which lend important context to this work and highlight the ways that the recommendations are conceptually interlinked.

We also have a brief Narrative of Change [5] available in the above languages, plus Farsi, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, and Catalan which offers a summary introduction to the recommendations material. 

How Is My Input Reflected In This Work?

Community input played an important role in the drafting of these recommendations. The core recommendations document [1] reflects this and cites community input throughout in footnotes.

I also encourage you to take a look at our community input summaries [6]. These texts show a further analysis of how all of the ideas you shared last year through online conversations, affiliate meetings, and strategy salons connect to recommendations. Many of the community notes and reports not footnoted in the core recommendations document are referenced here as evidence of the incredible convergence of ideas that have brought us this far.  

What Happens Now?

Affiliates, online communities, and other stakeholders have the next five weeks to discuss and share feedback on these recommendations. In particular, we’re hoping to better understand how you think they would impact our movement - what benefits and opportunities do you foresee for your affiliate, and why? What challenges or barriers would they pose for you? Your input at this stage is vital, and we’d like to warmly invite you to participate in this final discussion period. 

To do this, many affiliate organizations are already working closely with one of our contracted Strategy Liaisons [7], but for others interested in hosting these discussions, please connect with me directly so that I can be sure your input is collected and used. 

After this five week period, the Core Team will publish a summary report of input from across affiliates, online communities, and other stakeholders for public review before the recommendations are finalized. You can view our updated timeline here [8] as well as an updated FAQ section [9] that addresses topics like the goal of this current period, the various components of the draft recommendations, and what’s next in more detail. 

Finally, I’d like to share that I will be on parental leave for February and March, but Diane Ranville (dranville-ctr@wikimedia.org) as well as other members of the Core Team will be responsive to you until I return.

Thank you again for taking the time to join us in community conversations, and I look forward to receiving your input. Happy reading!

Warmly,

Kelsi

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Principles

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Process

[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Writers%27_Reflections

[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Cover_note

[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Community_input

[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/People/Community_Strategy_Liaisons

[8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Frequently_asked_questions#/media/File:Community_Conversations_Timeline,_January_to_March_2020.png