Dear Malayalam Wikimedians,

As you may be aware, the Wikimedia Foundation has started elections[1] for community seats on the Board of Trustees. While previously there were three community seats on the Board, with the expansion of the Board to sixteen seats last year, community seats have been increased to eight, four of which are up for election this year.

In the last fifteen years of the Board's history, there were only a few candidates from the South Asian region who participated in the elections, and hardly anyone from the community had a chance to serve on the Board. While there are several reasons for this, this time, the Board and WMF are very keen on encouraging and providing support to potential candidates from historically underrepresented regions. This is a good chance to change the historical problem of representation from the South Asian region in high-level governance structures.

Ten days after the call for candidates began, there aren't any candidates from South Asia yet[1], there are still 10 days left! I would like to ask community members to encourage other community members, whom you think would be potential candidates for the Board. While the final decision is completely up to the person, it can be helpful to make sure that they are aware of the election and the call for candidates.

Let me know if you need any information or support.

Best -- Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (he/him) Board Governance Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidates#Candidate_Table [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidat...