Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Working Groups/Capacity Building/Minutes

This page contains summaries of meeting minutes for the Capacity Building Working Group, one among the nine groups involved in the Wikimedia Movement 2018-20 Strategy process. The full versions of these minutes are accessible on Google Drive, but given their extensive length and detail, only their summaries are being shared here for the time being.

October 2019

23 October

WG members are feeling positively about the past one and a half years of their work and about the harmony they have kept together.

For the next phase, members can (individually) choose to continue in new, optional roles to support the synthesizing process. The deadline for applying to a role is October 29th. It’s possible to express interest by email or during the call.

Instead of prioritization, Capacity Building recommendations can be put into two categories: those proposing the new structures and those proposing programs to run through the structures. Jeffrey will start a one page document introducing the functions of recommendations in this manner.

Some are interested in continuing in the process but are concerned about the time commitment and timeline. The new roles can also be intimidating. One member (i.e. Jeffrey) expressed interest in the writer role.

May 2019

15 May

New member applications

Liang had interviewed Hakan, who expressed willingness to commit 7-8 hours a week to attend meetings to meeting and other Working Group activities. Liang can introduce him to the subgroup, and include him in writing the recommendations, after a veto process from the Working Group.

Inclusion of new members should emphasise diverse perspective rather than expertise in Capacity Building.

Wikimania & Harmonisation Sprint Participation spreadsheet

A larger majority of Working Group members in the meeting were fine with Jeffrey and Liang representing Capacity Building Working Group at Wikimania. Participation at the Harmonisation Sprint will be determined at a later date.

Research Contractor

The Working Group might need results of the research before the in-person meeting on 17 June, Working Group members will work on the research from within their available capacities, as the Core Team works on external contracting.

Besides documents for recommendations from Capacity Building subgroups, there will be need for knowledge from participants outside the movement.and best practices of what works (and what does not) from other organizations.

Update from the steering group meeting

Most of the Working Groups have similar challenges, and are using different methods of solving the challenges together with the Core Team, as they develop recommendations.

Community Conversations feedback

Feedback from Capacity Building was provided to the community conversations

If Capacity Building minigroups have any community conversations questions, they can get in touch with Kelsi.

The Working Group should not lose sight of the Strategic Direction while drafting recommendations, Capacity Building should align with Knowledge Equity, and Knowledge as a Service.

Minigroups updates were provided from the following topics/groups: Diversity, Resources, Methods, Capacities, R&Rs, Communication, Evaluation.

01 May

New member applications

A discussion was held to determine the best way of involving new members who had applied to join the Working Group.

Research Contractor and the in-person meeting

The sub-group had proposed to get expert support in a contractual format, the Core Team developed a document for the group to add people/contractors that can perform specific tasks or Working Group requests

For the in-person meeting, one of the roles of the second facilitator will be interchanging from facilitation, to taking notes/minutes, but there could be other needs/examples of co-facilitation.

Organizing the Work and mini groups updates

Some of the minigroups met and held discussions for their thematic topics, others have scheduled to meet and provide updates in the next meeting.

They will make use of the research statement of work document provided by the Core Team, if they need to commission research.

Community Conversations

Some of the Community members who have been involved in the Strategy conversations in Phase 1 feel burned out making it hard for feedback on meta. However, they are having conversations about the current phase on private channels which help in drafting recommendations end of this year.

Some of the discussion channels are using Spanish and Portuguese which creates some bit of confusion among the participants.
Community conversations else where like in Asia use many different social channels for community conversations which get scattered, as there’s no central place for collation.

April 2019

16 April

Review of the previous meeting

Support requests were provided to the Core Team.
- Working Group members also waiting on a response from Whose Knowledge.
One of the Working Group members requested to leave the Working Group due to health and other commitments

The advisory roles were defined in a document incase the Working Group would like to have external people for this role.

Singapore was approved as a venue for the Face to Face meeting.
Some Working Groups expressed the need to have the in person meeting pushed ahead: most likely after Wikimania, in mid September 2019.

Capacity Building organized tasks and next steps

Most of the topics to work on were assigned, a lead person for each group will be identified. Working Group members to go through the to-dos and knowledge sources in the organising tool document.

03 April

Takeaways from the Wikimedia summit

High level discussions, if done well can generate engagement alot of People want their voices heard.
- Also a feeling of process burn out but it’s normal and worth it since this is a unique process and approach.
- Need to take into account regional perspectives and challenges, in the Working Groups’ work as part of Strategy.
Some Wikimedians felt their time was misused in the conference.
Input from the affiliates and other Working Groups was valuable for reviewing documentation and next steps.
Distraction from people with negative experiences, but positivity was a focus on the work that’s being done, which outweighed the criticism, Capacity Building Working Group made positive progress overall.

Review of expectations and non negotiable dates

For the in person meeting in June, it will be more efficient to have two people switching roles between facilitation and note-taking.
Wikimania dates are fixed where Working Groups need to have a first draft of recommendations ready, other expectations at WIkimania need to be clear.
Submission to the Board of Trustees in November
A template was shared for developing recommendations, the Core Team will look into providing more time for Working Groups to review each other's’ questions/recommendations.
Projected project costs for the Working Group over the next several months need to be sent shared with the Core Team, which also provided a list of support services.
The Sprint in July will be face to face with 2 people per working group to receive and provide feedback on a writing exercise.

Review of the timeline - April to July

A to-do list (Tool for organizing) was developed for priority actions ahead including

Summary of the Wikimedia Summit, Incorporating the feedback into the scope of the Capacity Building Working Group, Working on the content that would lead to recommendations.
One of the input channels can be community conversations,which will be shared on meta, the Core Team will share sources to where these can be found.
In the next two weeks, activities that need to happen include a review of available input from the Wikimedia Summit, summaries that can inform the Working Group members, analysis of the Scoping documents and refinement.
- Each of these topics will have 7 template docs, as per the recommendation sheet
Get more topical information for moving ahead with the areas that have been agreed to be taken on.
- Work on gathering ideas and divergent space.
- Prioritisation of ideas and development of ideas in early May.
- Get enough information outline and face to face meeting for the writing of recommendations in June.
Each of the subgroups will gather input to make a framework to make sense.

Face to Face meeting

The Working Group will determine the need of an in-person co-facilitator for note taking.

March 2019

31 March

The outcomes of the Summit were discussed by the Working Group, including timeline proposed by the Core Team, and next steps to be taken by the Working Group in the next few weeks.

Working Group members who might need additional logistical support will reach out to the Core Team.
The Working Group will need to engage with regional liaisons for feedback towards Capacity Building.
The Working Group will need to add experts or/and new members to the team and work more in deep in subgroups and with other Working Groups.
The Working Group will discuss conferencing tools with the facilitator.

Liang is going to the Internet Freedom Festival and can ask the following questions to stakeholders regarding Capacity Building:

What was the biggest surprise in the implementation of Capacity Building in your organization?
What are the currents trends of Capacity Building?
Most common barriers in the implementation of Capacity Building in your region?

20 March

Coordinators Call update

The monthly steering Group call for Working Group coordinators focused on publishing the scoping documents, next steps until the Wikimedia summit, and upcoming community conversations.

Among the next steps, included a re-energising period after scoping
Over 60+ members from organized groups have signed up for strategy liaisons to interact with Working Groups and the Movement Strategy process, more user groups and other organised groups are encouraged to join the Strategy Liaison network.
The Core Team will share meeting summaries with the working Group before publishing on meta. The Working Group members are advised to watchlist the respective scoping pages, and loop the Core Team informed in case there are scoping responses planned to be uploaded on meta

Wikimedia Summit Schedule

An overview for the summit schedule was provided, the Core Team has ensured all working groups get sufficient information and meet their needs for the summit, in case of additional logistical requirements, the working Group is encouraged to coordinate with the Wikimedia Summit Team ([[1]]).

Suggestions were made to create a daily digest in form of email, google document, an identity for the Capacity Building Working Group at the Summit by, for example, using an organizational profile, a to do list with a document/link to review other scoping documents.
The Face to Face 2-hour meeting at the Summit will be used to determine conversations, feedback with the rest of the Working Groups, and participation of all Capacity Building members on topics such as having potential new members join the group.

In-person Meeting

Communication about the in person meeting will be shared on the mailing list once final venue options have been provided.

06 March

Scoping document update

Capacity Building was the first group to submit the scoping document due to the efforts invested by the members. The scoping document is being analyzed by the core team, detailed feedback will be provided.

A suggestion was made to have Capacity Building subgroups review other Working Groups’ scoping documents (which have a direct relevance to the work of Capacity Building WG), then report back to the whole group.
- Jeffrey, Michal, Garfield and Liang will form a Sub group to review Advocacy and Partnerships Working Group Scoping documents (Liang will report recommendations for the next meeting of Capacity Building Working Group)
- Liang to create Telegram group for the sub group and create a document for the review of the other scoping documents. The subcommittee will consider the following four questions;
  1. What do we need to note/integrate from them
  2. What do we hope they would integrate from us
  3. Individual named contact(s) per WG to expedite interaction (When? Where? How record this?)
  4. Which other WG should we intentionally reach out to?

Wikimedia Summit planning

Over 9 members from the Capacity Building Working group will be attending the Wikimedia Summit in different capacities. There will be an opportunity to share the Strategy process and activities of the Working Group with new members, the scoping document, liaisons for organised groups, will provide attendees with a baseline of the Movement Strategy Process.

In-Person-Meeting update

The in-person meeting dates were confirmed by the Working Group 17-20 June 2019, and the Core Team is in contact with Wikimedia Travel Team to choose a location. Logistical information and bookings, will be discussed in the next meeting.

Work Plan and alignment with the In-Person Meeting

The Working Group is starting to think about next steps (outlined below) with the scope related to a timeline, resources, and answering scoping questions from the movement stakeholders;

Gathering feedback internally within the movement and outside the movement through community conversations online & offline.
The Core Team provided support for Liang, who is co-running a discussion with a member from Community Health Working Group.
The Wikimedia Summit is an opportunity to test the scoping document, whether it will resonate with the community.
The Working Group might need to commit its time and effort in identifying the external expertise and not wait for anymore information but start answering the questions and cover the ground to identify external expertise.

February 2019

20 February

Welcoming the new Working Group member

Simona was welcomed to the Working Group as a new Capacity Building Working Group member from the Wikimedia Foundation Community Development Team.

In-Person-Meeting

Working Group members planned for an in-person meeting for June 17th-20th 2019.

Review Scoping

The scoping document draft, and the scoping of capacity building from several informal gatherings are to be worked on in groups by the Working Group members.

The situation in Venezuela

Oscar Costero is the community leader for 8 years from Venezuela, majoring in economics. He gave a brief from social media and on ground activities about the economic crisis, inflation, bankruptcy, digital censorship (blocked Wikipedia for 5 or 6 days), in Venezuela.
- Wondering if there are ways that the movement can help in this crisis.

06 February

Permanent Coordinators of the Working Group

Jeffrey Keefer offered to replace Michal as the Coordinator of the Working Group to join Nikki zunier in this role. Michal Lester will be Coordinator Emeritus

Face to face meeting

A proposal was made to hold the Working Group in person meeting after the Wikimedia Summit in Berlin. The meeting will take into account the feedback to be received at the Wikimedia Summit.

Glossary Group Report and scoping

The glossary document for the subgroup has been cleaned up. Working Group will be transferring the energy into drafting of the scoping document.
- Some of the questions of Glossary sub group can be independendent questions for the scoping document.

January 2019

9 and 23 January

Facilitation and the new Working Group member

Explaining the role of a facilitator: Help in having constructive discussions, not pushing any agenda and not passing on content related information to Core Team.
Simona will be joining the Working Group as a long term contributor

Glossary and scoping draft Update

The Working Group needs to have a product to share before the Wikimedia Summit, with a draft ready to share by the end of February 2019 for community feedback, followed by analysis and later Recommendations.

The topics, headers and other sections in the scoping draft can be improved by the Working Group members

The audience for the scoping document includes other working groups doing the same scoping exercise, which will give the Capacity Building Working Group a basis for collaborating and coordinating at the summit);
The other audience is Wikimedia communities all over the world.
Whoever else attends the Wikimedia summit and is not part of Working Groups (representatives of affiliates, chapters and online community)
The Working Group is building a glossary that will be used across the movement.

Process Timeline

The scoping timeline describes what the Working Group is going to look at to analyse the topics and come up with recommendations that provide structural guidance towards increasing Capacity Building across the movement.
- There are lots of gaps on the local level, while some of this is known, there is a lot more for the Working Group to explore. This will be especially done in the analysis phase, after understanding the scope to move ahead.

Discussion of ways of working

The face-to-face meeting will benefit the Working Group to prepare for next steps and responsibly divide the work among the members after the Wikimedia Summit.

October 2018

3 October

Summary:

9 people participate in this meeting. In this meeting, the participants started from icebreaking chat. Oscar shares there will be a radio show of Wikimedia in Venezuela; Garfield mentioned maybe capacity building may make unexpected good outcome but he doesn’t have a term for the situation. After that, Jeffrey shared what the two things he has done with Nikki in the past two weeks, which are reviewing for the upcoming Capacity Builders Conference and the draft of Expertise Evaluation work. We then discussed on the document of their work. We examined the scope and the relationship of the three tiers. Then people added their own expertise to the blanks of the expert eval form. The third agenda is to review the progress of the review of the difference/comparison of Asaf’s CCM and the WG’s framework that Nichole volunteered in the last meeting, and Oscar says he is willing to work with Nichole to advance this work. Then Tanveer, the representative from the Core Team, gave the member updates from them. He says the Core Team is trying to develop a better mechanism so the discussion can flow back to the core team rather than CT tries to outreach and ask each Working Groups’ update. It’s still in the process. Finally, we confirmed the action list for the next two weeks to generate and submit a summary of our work to the CT, along with some revisions of the working group member capacities in the map. The importance of this meeting is that as a working group, we have examined the expertise eval sheet together and make sure all the participants have reviewed it. Also, more small groups and people have formed to divide and conquer the workload. It is also important to make the group participants hear from the update of the core team to understand the current milestone and the whole picture of the strategy discussion.

September 2018

19 September

Summary:

The third Working group meeting was held with 10 participants of the group. Where Nikki shared that the Capacity Building WG is on track, and Tanveer from the Core Team(CT) shared that the CT will provide an outreach document and a support guide to the WG, where the Outreach document is for the WG to plan and invite new members based on the diversification matrix and expertise evaluation. The WG also discussed about the expertise evaluation and how small groups can be formed within the WG to get the tasks done. The Working group members had discussed coming up with our own tasks as the CT has not provided concrete and clear scope on the WG. Where Nikki suggested by April 2019 a written recommendation to be presented for Capacity Building in our movement and with other communities as well. The meeting ended with dividing tasks with some of the participants, where Nichole will map the Asaf capacity building guide and the tool developed by WG tool the task of and Nikki and Jeffrey would focus on mapping our expertise evaluation.

August 2018

29 August

Summary:

7 participants joined the group discussion. The meeting started with a review of the diversity in the working group. The group members agree that the diversity profile is already well representing the global movement and decide not to recruit more people into the group. Nikki will communicate to the Core Team for this resolution. Then we started to imagine and discuss what is capacity building, the definition or scope of our working group. We discussed if and how a sense of us as a community can emerge, and what we should design or recommend to help our community to form. Then Nikki said she will start to make a framework of capacity building. Then we discussed the frequency and which day of a week to organize future meetings. It was not conclusive, so Nikki said she will make a Doodle survey to reach a consensus. At the end of the meeting, there is a discussion regarding the dynamics when meeting, with members unevenly providing inputs. We discuss maybe we can do some ice breaking game or turn on webcam for a friendly ambiance. This meeting builds the momentum and creates more structure in our working group. We acknowledge in this group that the participants have not yet clicked as a shared group. However, we are developing ways to make the working group members be more comfortable speaking up to help develop a sense of group formation and membership.

14 August

Summary:

The Capacity Building Working Group (CB WG) held its first online meeting with 11 members of the WG, starting with everyone introducing themselves, their roles in the Wikimedia movement, understanding the expertise of the group members, and the diversity of the working group. The meeting was scheduled for two hours, where it was decided by the group members to make the next call for one hour. Nikki and Michal were chosen as the coordinators of the WG, and in the end a Telegram group was formed for the group members to stay in touch and discuss the scope of capacity work in the Wikimedia Movement.