MCDC’s February Monthly Updates

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) continues drafting the Movement Charter for the Wikimedia Movement in alignment with recommendation #4 of the Movement Strategy, which advocates for ensuring equity in decision-making processes.

In early February, the Committee members assigned themselves to new roles: chapter stewards and chapter internal reviewers. The chapter stewards worked towards refining each chapter to a “good enough” version. These chapters then underwent a preliminary, two-week-long review phase by a diverse group of reviewers and advisors. The reviewers group included former members of the MCDC, members of communities and affiliates, WMF Board of Trustees (BoT) members, and members of the Affiliations Committee. The MCDC received invaluable proposals for improvement from their advisors and reviewers on the full Charter draft both in writing and during their closed call with the advisors on February 22. The Committee extends its gratitude to everyone who invested their volunteer time and provided constructive feedback. This collective effort shows the shared ownership and commitment of all involved parties. 

MCDC’s February convenings  

• 1 February – MCDC’s regular meeting: Committee members recapped the outcomes of their January in-person meeting and spent most of their time drafting in breakout rooms. During this meeting, it was decided that the roles of chapter stewards would include deciding which points need to be voted on by the full MCDC, drafting their respective chapters, preparing readers’ notes, integrating feedback from reviewers, and resolving comments from the MCDC, among others. The internal chapter reviewers provided actionable feedback on the chapters for which they volunteered. In addition, the Committee reached an agreement to produce three layers of text, namely: 1) the full Movement Charter draft, 2) Reader’s notes – to assist readers in understanding the context and intention, and 3) Supplementary documents – this level provides background information on the charter content. It focuses on how to advance the Charter after ratification and serves as a form of handover to the future Global Council.   
• 2 February – Meeting with WMDE to discuss details of the Wikimedia Summit 2024. 
• 5 February – A group within the MCDC met to discuss the Global Council text, other members worked a-sync to improve the chapter texts. 
• 8 February – MCDC’s regular meeting: Chapter stewards provided updates on their work progress and discussed the next steps, the Committee then discussed the Global Council draft. 
• 10 February – A group within the MCDC met to finalize the Global Council text for the preliminary review by advisors and reviewers.  
• 15 February – MCDC’s regular meeting: The Committee discussed the chunks they will present for deliberations at the Wikimedia Summit 2024. In addition, the Committee spent some time preparing for their closed call with advisors and reviewers of the Charter draft. 
• 22 February – MCDC’s closed call with Advisors to provide space to listen to the feedback from the advisors and reviewers on the draft Charter.   
• 24-25 February – MCDC’s online working weekend: This weekend was dedicated to the incorporation and reconciliation of the feedback received from the advisors and reviewers. 
• February 29 – MCDC’s regular meeting: The chapter stewards shared updates on each chapter. The Committee members brainstormed about the questions or topics they want to bring to the table at the Strategic Retreat with the WMF staff, WMF BoT, and WMF Endowment in New York on March 7 & 8.

In other news

The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation shared their perspectives on the Global Council. In this letter, the BoT presented some areas of responsibility to reassign from the Foundation to the Global Council as well as the changes that are not under consideration for the time being. Please read the full message on Meta. 

Upcoming community engagement period on the full draft Charter

The MCDC will share the full Charter with everyone on April 2 on Meta-wiki to kick off the community engagement period between April 2-22. We encourage all members of the Wikimedia community, including movement volunteers, individual online contributors, Affiliates, project communities, stakeholders, regional groups, and WMF staff, to actively engage with the Charter draft during the community engagement period. This means carefully reviewing the draft and providing suggestions for improvement to the MCDC. Acknowledging that this period overlaps with the Wikimedia Summit between April 19-21, where many affiliates will convene, this engagement is inclusive of all stakeholders, including those who won’t be at the Summit or are part of an affiliate. Community engagement details will be shared on Meta closer to the start of the engagement.

The movement-wide voting period on the full Movement Charter will take place between June 12-25.