Long term impact of Wikimedians in Residence (2018)/best practice

Reviewing the residencies periodically with our partners gave us a lot of clarity about barriers which prevented the projects from reaching their full potential and impact, and also the things that were enabling desired changes. Longer term, we have been able to reflect for example on why the initial enthusiasm and energy within the organisation while the resident was in place may have failed to continue after the placement ended. Awareness of those barriers gave us clarity on what sort of enabling factors are needed to reach long term impact. We were also able to use those reflections to adapt how Wikimedia UK delivers the WIR programme and to present that learning here as considered principles of best practice.

• Learning patterns/Clarity of expectations when setting up a partnership
• Learning patterns/Need to establish the digital skills level of the partner organisation
• Learning patterns/Securing project visibility and success by having a showcase early on
• Learning patterns/Build trust to know what sort of challenges are coming up for the partner organisation