In April, the full draft of the Movement Charter was published on Meta in different languages. The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) invited all stakeholders in the Wikimedia world to share their feedback in any language. The Committee communicated in various ways to reach as many people in the vast landscape of the Wikimedia movement as possible: Meta, community spaces (Village pumps, forums), Central Notice Banner and via the support of the Movement Charter Ambassadors.
On April 4, the Committee held a community engagement meeting where they dived into the content of the draft Charter and heard feedback from attendees.
In the second part of the call, participants were invited to express what they support in the draft Charter, identify any concerns that would prevent them from supporting the Charter and suggest specific ways to improve clarity of the Charter text for the final release in June.
Some questions asked during the April 4th call included inquiries about the legal status of the proposed Global Council, distinctions between the Global Council Board and Global Council Assembly, and highlights of the Charter relevant to emerging communities. Responses shared during the April 4th call to these questions have been documented on Meta.
April was packed for the MCDC. While involved in online community engagement and conversations, they also attended the Wikimedia Summit 2024 in Berlin. Below you will find details of MCDC’s work in this month:
- The MCDC met for their regular meeting on April 11 to hear updates on the candidate pool for the Charter Election Commission, discuss and prepare for Wikimedia Summit 2024.
- Between April 17 and 21 the MCDC attended the Wikimedia Summit: MCDC members served as a resource for Summit attendees. They provided answers to questions, clarified aspects of the charter, and collected feedback. Summit participants engaged in working groups focused on specific charter related topics. These groups discussed areas for improvement, brainstormed ideas, identified potential dealbreakers, and celebrated the areas they appreciated. The summit resulted in a set of outputs generated by participants.
- On April 25 during their regular meeting, the Committee discussed learnings from the WM Summit, community engagement period, and they were updated on the communication plans for post draft Charter engagement by the Communications SubCommittee.
- “Ask Me Anything” about the Movement Charter session was held via Zoom on April 26. This session was organized as a response to the feedback heard from different communities on the need to onboard them on the Charter text in detail. The walkthrough of the charter is available to watch on Wikimedia Commons in Spanish and Portuguese (Brazilian).
End of the April 2024 feedback period. What’s next?
The MCDC is grateful for all the comments, suggestions and questions. The MCDC considers all the feedback, and works to update the final version of the Movement Charter accordingly between April 30 and mid-May. After which the text goes through several preparatory phases before it can be published, including copy-editing review, legal review, and translations.
The final Movement Charter text is expected to be shared in the third week of June. The Movement-wide ratification vote on the Movement Charter will take place between June 25 to July 9, 2024. The Charter will be voted on by among others: Individual contributors, affiliates, and the Board of Trustees of the WMF.
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