[Foundation-l] Call for nominations: chapter-appointed seats on the WMF Board of Trustees

[J Alexandr Ledbury-Romanov]

2012/2/1 Béria Lima <berialima at gmail.com>

> that is a bit OT but...
>

Not at all, it is a statement of fact. The continent of Africa is scarcely
represented in terms of Chapters, despite being the world's largest
geographically and second most populous geographically.

>
> *It is difficult to get involved in chapters when, like me, you live in
> > Africa, and the only approved chapter for the entire continent is 8,000
> > kilometres away.*
> >
>
> Create one in your country! :D That is basicaly what we are doing in
> IberoCoop - help groups from all over Latin World with guidance and help.
> And IF they want to became a chapter, we help them (talk with ChapCom
> members, each month we have a new request from a Latin Chapter ;) )
>
> I rather expected you to say that. Currently the number of people on Meta
who have expressed an interest (two to three years ago) does not excede 10.
I daresay with help from ChapCom something could be done, though.

Notwithstanding, that would leave another 54 unrepresented countries. My
point is that African residents are disenfranchised virtually totally from
the selection. That's nearly 15% of the world's population (though not of
its readers/editors).


> I know isn't easy in Africa, but isn't easy either in Latin America, and we
> are doing it.
>


I am sure it is not easy to create a Chapter anywhere, and that Latin
America presents its own challenges. I suspect Africa is particularly
demanding with regards to languages spoken, compared to Latin America.


> On 1 February 2012 20:59, J Alexandr Ledbury-Romanov <
> alexandrdmitriromanov at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >
> > > Having seats appointed by movement organizations like the chapters
> offers
> > > a chance to involve of another subset of our community:  those who are
> > > interested enough in governance issues to get involved in the
> leadership
> > /
> > > decision-making of movement organizations. That's also an important
> > subset
> > > of our community.
> > >
> > >
> > > The existing chapter presence is a barrier to entry. It is difficult to
> > get involved in chapters when, like me, you live in Africa, and the only
> > approved chapter for the entire continent is 8,000 kilometres away.
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