MCDC October Updates: Discussions about the Global Council Structure and Upcoming Events

In October, the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) convened for a total of five meetings. Three of these meetings were dedicated to their drafting sessions, during which MCDC members discussed the Global Council draft and addressed open questions about the Hubs draft. 

As part of their stakeholder engagement efforts, the MCDC members met with Selena Deckelmann, Chief Product and Technology Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation. The meeting served as a platform for mutual learning and the exchange of ideas between the MCDC and the Foundation’s Product and Technology perspective. The MCDC also held a meeting with the Affiliations Committee members to learn more about their work and discuss the role of AffCom in the Global Council draft. 

Following Wikimania, the MCDC decided to shift from working within separate Drafting Groups to collaborating as a unified committee and drafting collectively each week instead of bi-weekly. They also decided to open one of their regular weekly meetings to community members each month, so that there is better engagement with the movement. MCDC’s first drop-in session took place on October 5. You can watch the recording on YouTube.

How did the MCDC’s October open session go?  

Quick Info: MCDC’s September Updates on Diff. 

The October 5 Movement Charter Community drop-in session’s topic was the Structure of the Global Council. The guiding question was “why is this model the best for the Global Council?” In small self-assigned groups, participants explored three possible models: one in which there is no permanent body (“No Global Council”), a large consultative council modeled after the General Assembly model (“General Assembly”), and a small-sized council (“Small Committee”). Three models are based on the feedback received on Wiki and at events.   

Below you can find the summary of the discussions:

• No Global Council model: In this discussion group, it surfaced that there does not seem to be full consensus regarding whether or not and how to set up the Global Council, and the Wikimedia movement seems to be far from an alignment. In addition, there is an expectation that the Global Council would not change much regarding the representation of the smaller communities and affiliates, and larger ones already have a voice, making structural change redundant. The latter was a point surfaced from the MCDC July-September 2023 community consultations.
  • You can find the notes from the discussion in the Jamboard and also rewatch the report back on YouTube.

• General Assembly model – It was a large group discussion, where several areas of reasoning were highlighted. These included 1) greater diversity and representation, giving opportunity for equity and inclusiveness and representing diverse voices, 2) increasing legitimacy and transparency, as for important decisions representation seems to be the key for legitimacy, 3) enhanced human and community capital, essentially having more people power to fulfill its mission. In addition, it was noted that a General Assembly model would codify existing annual convening practices. Finally, the scope of the decision-making authority of the Global Council was also discussed.
  • You can find the notes from the discussion in the Jamboard and also rewatch the report back on YouTube

• Small Committee model – The core reasoning behind the model seems to be its feasibility and effectiveness. It was suggested that a small committee can make decisions faster and would be the only model that creates a platform for meaningful actual discussion. It was suggested that it would make sense to start with an incremental change and setting up a small committee feels the most feasible option. Points were made about the small committee model being less taxing on volunteer time and also having lower administrative overhead.
  • You can find the notes from the discussion in the Jamboard. When the participants reconvened after the breakout groups, they discussed a question regarding the foundations of the Charter itself. Recap of this conversation is provided on Meta-wiki.

Ongoing work:

• The Movement Charter Ambassadors are currently holding local community conversations about the Charter to collect feedback and opinions from communities that are traditionally not participating in Wikimedia governance discussions. 
• MCDC members shared their Advisors list on Meta. Those interested in becoming an Advisor to the MCDC should reach out to movementcharter@wikimedia.org. 

Upcoming November 2, 17:00 (UTC) Open Community Session:

The next open session with the communities is scheduled for November 2 at 17:00 UTC. The topic will be shared on the Meta page ahead of the meeting. You can join the session via Zoom link or watch the livestream on Youtube. 

MCDC’s upcoming participation at the regional events:

• WikiIndaba will take place in Morocco from 3 to 5 November. MCDC members Ciell, Georges, Anass will be there to chat with the African Wikimedia communities. 
• WikiConference North America in Toronto takes place from 9 to 12 November. MCDC members Anne and Pharos will hold a Movement Charter conversation on November 10. 

If you are attending any of these events, make sure to connect with MCDC members to discuss the charter and share your thoughts.