Hi everyone,
I thought to give feedback on the Strategy Transition process which is a followup on the movement strategy recommendations.
The Design Group is burdened with the task of designing the transition process.
The transition group meets weekly, and we have had five meetings.
The first meeting was an introductory meeting to what the task was and also getting to know each other in the team.
The second meeting focused on building ‘Building Trust and Framing the Work’. This meeting got the design team members to know each other better and it did explain what the design process will look like. At this point, most of the participants were still lost at the responsibility of the group. Some of the questions we asked were:
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Who is involved in the transition phase and the implementation phase?
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How do we frame the prioritization discussion?
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How do we agree on the same initiatives?
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Not necessary to share the same priorities/initiatives, but where should the events draw the line in terms of feasibility and coherence?
The second meeting focused on ‘ What is needed for the design process’. And something that stood out in that meeting was that the recommendations needed to be broken into smaller actionable items.
The third to fifth meeting focused on the below items:
1. People: This focuses on who are those that we will need to engage to get involved with the process? How do we identify and reach these people?
Q: How do we ensure that people are enabled and empowered to participate?
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Identify INCLUSIVITY criteria or standards
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Identify SELECTION and PARTICIPATION criteria or standards
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Identify COMMUNICATION tools and approaches
2. Process: This discusses what, how, and when. What do we want to do to get people engaged? When do we get them engaged and how do we get them engaged?
Q: How do we create a process that is clear and understandable for all participants, yet also serves the complexity of the discussions and our movement?
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Identify HOW to build a shared approach to prioritize initiatives
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Identify HOW to build a shared approach to sequence initiatives
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Identify HOW to build a shared approach to assign initiatives to stakeholders
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Identify HOW to plan for the next steps towards implementation
3. Legitimacy: This has to do with acceptability of the process. As a large movement, how do we ensure that everyone’s voice is heard?
Q: How do we ensure legitimacy of the transition to implementation and the decisions made?
One of the issues that has resonated all through the engagements we have had was inclusivity. As Africans, this is huge for us. We have several factors that may reduce our engagement in the transition process. Factors like language, skills, power, internet access, etc. All of these are being considered in the process.
At the end of the day, the design team is working towards a series of events that will take place between September-November 2020. Of course, due to the current global pandemic, these events will be virtual.
I will, therefore, appreciate feedback on how we (our communities inclusive) can participate in these events (main events, pre-events, and post-events).
I am happy to mention that Anass and Bachounda are both members of the design team and they are also here. So they can contribute to this and also answer your questions.
You can check for updates on Meta via https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transit…
Thank you.
Kayode Yussuf