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ESEAP Strategy Summit 2023/15 August Meeting

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ESEAP Strategy Summit 15.08.2023

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Strategy_Summit_2023

Location: Suntec Singapore, Room 325,

Participants:

Notes:

  • ESEAP Strategy Summit 2023 Opening by Butch
    • Finally not virtual meeting anymore
    • Very diverse group
  • Overview by Belinda and Rachtmat
    • Declaration drafted in February 2023
    • Roles and Responsibilities document worked on and reaved and open for consultation in June 2023
    • Theory of change documentation April 2023
    • ESEAP Community meeting encouraged going ahead with electing a Hub Committee
    • Working on an election process for a Preparatory Council who will finish documenting policies and finalise grant plan
    • Q&A (no question from the audience)

Johnny Review the Declaration Document https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Hub/Declaration_Statement_on_the_Creation_of_the_Regional_Hub

Q1: Iran asking if thyy can join the ESEAP Hub

Answer from Butch: It should be a global discussion on that point

Q2: Who count as a member of ESEAP Hub? individuals?

Answer from Johnny: Sharing general information of the Preparatory Council which is the main program for tomorrow morning session. Invite audience to join the tomorrow session.

Q3: Will Preparatory Council be an extension of the current IHC? or will need to voting to form the Preparatory Council.

Answer from Johnny: Preparatory Council's mandate will expire in two days time. There will be a new election process including a process for verification.

Q4: Following Q3 question, how about the individuals?

Answer from Johnny: Individuals will talk through Affiliate or Community Group

Comment from the audience: There are many contributor across the ESEAP region that do not have a affiliates , it is unwise to exclude the individuals.

Answer from Johnny: Preparatory committee may review initial policies. The members of the Preparatory Council will be affiliates or community groups.

Reke (with Joyce translating): There are two reasons to recommend not to have individuals to join Council - First the Board/Council has a limited number of seats (so need seats to represent a group/ region), On other hand, the Hub is not replacement for affiliate, but Hub will serve to represent and help groups become affiliates

Johnny: The 9 seats of the Preparatory Council need to be filled by people we trust and are qualified to do the work of reviewing the policies. It is very important that we select the right people - the qualified representatives that can condense our ideas and a common understanding that is acceptable to everyone.

Q5: The ESEAP community have a lot of individuals, they don't have an affiliate to represent them. What are we doing for those people and how will the Hub represent them? What if I don't belong to any group?,,,†

Belinda: It is possible to join as a community member. For individual's voice to be heard, it is definitely important to learn.

Trying to deep dive what is a community? Study from MCDC is that community is fluid.

ESEAP has always been "Everyone's voice counts", it started with a group of individuals, now it becomes a group of affiliates.

Butch: it's a complicated matter. Do we support a strong affiliate system or a strong individual system? When we started in 2018 we always met as individuals and affiliates. We're in limbo right now.

Q6: Any scenario been discussed because the person no longer a ESEAP member because of migration or no longer being resident in an ESEAP area. Will they then need to step down?

This is a policy thing that will be decided by the Board/Council. But you can't be representing two places at once. So the likelihood you'll need to step down. Most of the people to build ESEAP are indviduals. They are the pillars of ESEAP. Now we're down to the dilemma of whether it's affiliates or individuals. Most of the active people are not from the affiliates. It's like a tug of war. If we allow the affiliates to vote where is the balance with the individuals. Because there is a tug of war. You could get a balance that some seats are affiliate based and others that are individuals. The Preparatory committee will be preparing policies to help us transform into the fully formed Hub. Not all ESEAP affiliates are active in ESEAP.

Belinda: Breifing the draft Grant plan for the ESEAP Hub

Conclusion Committee is going to convene and consider the feedback from todays meeting.

Discussion moved to consider the location of ESEAP Conference 2024

Dody presented on Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and talked about the user group, The reason this was selected because we want to decentralise from the capital city. We want to change that situation of everything happening in the capital.

Question raised by Johnny - will this location be okay for flights given the numbers of people that will be attending? Answer: Yes there are direct flights from a variety of ESEAP locations.

Tell us more about Kota Kinabalu - If Malaysia is selected then it shouldn't be near Singapore as it's likely that those attending Wikimania are likely to visit places near Singapore. There's also a good community of students and teachers - there's a good wiki club that will support the conference organisation.

Reke presented on Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Southern part of Taiwan and can be reached by fast rail from Taipei.

Johnny presented on Philippines - good flights available for International airport, many international hotels and convention centres near the airport.

How will we vote? We've got three places ready to host - should we vote for the next three years? But will the people running the user group at that point be willing to host when someone earlier committeed them to the conference? Philippines are bilingual, but there are some other inconveniences. Immigration, customs, pickpockets but that's nothing new in other countries. But whatever the community wishes, we will follow. All of the submissions are good.

Significant support for Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to host ESEAP. Manila and Taiwan withdrew their applications, leaving Malaysia as the only choice. Show of hands around the room was unanimous for Malaysia.

Potential dates: probably May 2024

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