Wikimedia CEE Hub/Pillars

WIKIMEDIA CEE HUB

Regional hub covering Central and Eastern Europe

The initial programme of the CEE Hub (for Year 1) focused on the following programmatic pillars. In general, the following pillars had been identified.

Administrative
- Simplify and pool bureaucratic processes
  - Especially relevant for areas of the region that have not been included in these processes so far
  - Supporting communities in writing applications for funds, be it WMF, EU or other funds
- Proximity to the communities makes it easier to set up support structures for various endeavours in collaboration with the thematic hubs and affiliates (Education, GLAM, Wikidata, … )
Programmatic
- Support structures for programmatic work, be it administrative, research, technological or outreach (graphic design, social media, texts, …)
  - Acting as a place where people can also connect to other regional projects (for example TechSoup)
- Developing initiatives for capacity development of volunteers, affiliates and communities in general
  - Supporting and maintaining the participation of smaller communities in regional/global projects like CEE Spring, WLM and WLE, WikiScience Competition, …
  - Support the running of regional meetings, foremost the annual CEE Meeting, setting up meetings in areas where an annual meeting would help galvanize the local community
- Facilitate the adoption of technical innovations and features (volunteer tools and those developed by WMF)
- Support region-wide efforts of topics that are of interest to volunteers that might not or can not tackle these topics locally for various reasons
Communication
- Establish and maintain connections between individuals, initiatives and communities within and outside of the CEE Hub
- Support knowledge and information exchange between communities, be it by visiting other affiliates, using the Capacity Exchange platform (cXc), or connecting people with the right information on the Wikimedia projects
- Support the information flow between wider global initiatives and interested people in the CEE communities, for example FKAGEU or Wikimedia Europe, but also beyond Wikimedia (especially in regional-local FLOSS and academic field)
- The CEE Hub's job is to enhance and enable connections, not to monopolise these connections
- Support global conversations by providing information in a form that is easily understandable for volunteers and communities who may have limited previous overview, knowledge or capacity to follow all the global conversations in English
- Streamline and structure communication channels in the CEE region
- Onboarding and leadership training for volunteers, board members and staff within the CEE region

Revised pillars

During the Zagreb Meeting 2023 and later discussions, CEE Hub revised programmatic pillars. Latest programmatic pillars are following:

Administration
1. Support and/or simplification of administration
  1. Collecting information about grant administration and advocacy towards WMF about problems/issues
  2. Coordination and filling in surveys that are sent (by WMF) to the CEE Region
  3. Creating and distributing CEE join materials (swag)
2. Regional grant support
  1. Brainstorm and learning sessions organised
  2. Enable cooperation/connecting different communities/individuals who want to start a project
  3. Documentation of CEE processes (e.g. CEEM/CEE Spring organisation)
  4. Pre-screening and commenting application (before application is submitted)
  5. Collection of feedback from communities to WMF
3. Hub & Thematic cooperation
  1. Adjusting global campaigns to local circumstances - guidelines
  2. Graphic design support provided - graphic, branding, WP banner, etc.
  3. Event organisation supported by participation in the process and talking over some task
4. CEE Meeting & Hub general meeting organisation
  1. Hub is supporting the organisation and running of the annual CEE Meeting (budget creation, business processes definition)
  2. General meeting of CEE Hub preparation - information for participants
Programmatic
1. Programmatic cooperation
  1. Sharing certain thematic knowledge around region
  2. CEE Hub employees are involved in program development activities in regional projects (CEE Spring): creation of content, graphic design, etc.
  3. CEE Hub developed a way/procedure to inform and connect people to participate or create other regional projects (e.g. TechSoup)
  4. The adoption of technical innovations and features (volunteer tools and those developed by WMF) is facilitated (Introducing new tools to communities, translating new tools and features created by WMF e.g. for newcomers)
2. Regional capacity building
  1. Hub created and Hub is maintaining a list of capacity development needs for the CEE region, organising specific workshops for capacity development
  2. Onboarding and leadership training for volunteers, board members and staff within the CEE region facilitated
3. Regional cooperation
  1. Hub maintains a database of regional&global projects CEE communities are participating in/wishing to participate in
  2. Hub is organising workshops/connecting people needed to support the participation of smaller communities in regional and global projects
  3. Hub is facilitating workshops in regions to help galvanise the local community
Communication
1. CEE (Hub) communication
  1. Hub open hours
  2. Community events calendar
  3. Newsletter
  4. Social network management
  5. CEE communities contact list maintenance
  6. Documenting the work of the Hub (Meta, how much content)
2. Knowledge and information regional exchange
  1. Study visits organised
  2. Capacity Exchange platform (cXc)
  3. Joint regional projects supported
3. CEE Hub output sharing
  1. Information about CEE Hub on regular basis in the Newsletter
4. Conflict facilitation & management
  1. Information about CEE Hub but also beyond Wikimedia
  2. Provide safe space and moderate discussions - conflict resolution
  3. Creating safe space and opportunities for different WM stakeholders for learning