Wikipedia:WISCom Retreat

The WikiIndaba Steering Committee (WISCom) Retreat proposes a [3 days] strategic retreat to be held in [South Africa] from [24 July 2023] to [26 July 2023], to discuss community mandate resolved during the 6th Wiki Indaba conference in Kigali 2022 for WISCom to transcend its original mandate of supporting the hosting of Wiki Indaba as an annual conference. The strategic meeting will primarily discuss the creation of a regional strategy to support the growth of Wikimedia Communities in the region through the formation of an official [Wikimedia Africa Hub], its founding manifesto, organizational/legal structure, funding as well as its relation to Affiliates in the region.

The retreat will take place at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa.

WHY
Whereas, community members appreciated the clear mandate that WISCom was created for, which is a singular need to support local organizing hosts to successfully organize Wiki Indaba conferences, there was a general sentiment that the time had come for WISCom to provide more broader leadership in regional issues between conferences. These new expectations require intentional deliberations amongst WISCom members to come up with a clear proposal for a unified regional strategic priorities that community members can rally behind.

WHAT
During the closing session at the sixth Wiki Indaba held in Kigali 2022, representatives present debated the purpose of Wiki Indaba as well as the role of WISCom. There is great expectation for WISCom to resolve conference specific issues such as:

Restrictive scholarship regime which limits total number of conference participants, and limits international scholarships to 50. Anglophone leaning conference which does not provide language translation (especially for Francophone attendees who are a significant portion of attendees). Need for redesign of conference program to allow for clearer meta-level discussions to surface African perspectives on current movement-wide issues.

In order for WISCom to successfully respond to these needs, it is necessary to review the current structure and set up of WISCom, including a serious discussion about the creation of an official [Wikimedia Africa Hub], its founding manifesto, organizational/legal structure, funding as well as its relation to Affiliates in the region and the Wikimedia.

Objectives
The objective of this event is to bring together members of WISCom and stakeholders of the WikiIndaba conference to discuss and find solutions on several issues centered on the following items:
 * what will becoming a hub look like for WISCom?
 * since we are based in different countries, how will receiving funding from WMF look like (as a hub)?
 * professionalising WISCom (administration & governance issues)
 * the role played by Afrika Baraza platform to communicate with the continent. How can we leverage that for the conference?
 * support from WMF, funding and sponsorship for WikiIndaba conference
 * interrogating and re-defining the results and impact of the WikiIndaba conference
 * review the planning pack of the WikiIndaba conference

As well as high level regional issues experienced by community members, including:


 * Onwiki culture (such as notability) which stifle region-specific content gap contribution and act as entrance barriers for newcomers
 * Targeted reverts and blocking by malevolent sysops on enwiki and frwiki
 * Difficulties in accessing funding within the region
 * Lack of unified regional voice in current movement-wide issues.
 * Need for more clarity on how WMF measures impact in the region in order to align effort with expectations.

WHEN & WHERE:
Proposed dates:	[24/07/2023] -  [27/07/2023]

Proposed Country:	[Johannesburg], [South Africa]

Secure support for strategic retreat:

 * Vote on whether to hold a strategic retreat
 * Deciding on the dates and venue in view of other community events
 * Create a grant proposal and clear budget and evaluation plan on meta

Prepare for the strategic retreat:

 * Finalize facilitation plan
 * Finalize list of WMF staff to be invited to the retreat
 * Inviting region-specific subject matter experts (eg Legal, Financial, Governance)

Strategic retreat:

 * Prepare and vote on resolutions
 * Document and communicate with community members

We anticipate this to be an excellent opportunity for WISCom to discuss all of these topics and define clearly our goals and vision for the next years in order to advance the African Agenda.

Report
This section provides the link to report of the retreat and the WISCom Charter