08-10, 15:30–16:10 (Poland), Tbilisi (7)
Language: English
In early 2024 Wikimedia UK collaborated with a civic space charity Sheila McKechnie Foundation to produce a toolkit - a collection of materials for changemaking, advocacy, and campaigning. This session will walk participants through the materials. The three introductory modules are Introduction to changemaking, Analysing the Problem and Planning for Change, and Communicating for Change. Following these modules will develop an actionable understanding of campaigning and change-making. The aim is to support everyone to campaign more confidently straight away, and to give anyone interested in changemaking a framework to build more knowledge in the future.
Within the Wikimedia movement sits a great potential for making change in the world, across a huge range of societal issues (misinformation, shrinking civic space, decolonisation and knowledge equity). Because of Wikipedia’s brand, and the strength and size of the community, people in positions of power take note of us. A lot of us are, or could become, changemakers. However, within our movement, advocacy capacity development has focused on copyright public policy for people with some experience, while general skill and capacity building efforts haven’t looked at advocacy.
In 2023 Wikimedia UK started collaborating with Sheila McKechnie Foundation (https://smk.org.uk/) to harness their expertise by capturing it in a form of an introductory advocacy toolkit.
In 2023 Wikimedia UK delivered our Wikimedia + Democracy research (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_and_Democracy_-Wikimedia_UK_report_2021(full_report).pdf). The research highlighted that groups organised around a shared interest, value or cause and equipped with digital, information and collaboration skills, were more likely to engage in civic participation in public matters relevant to them. Alongside this understanding, the skills fostered in Wikimedia workshops led to further engagement in public matters, empowering the people who took part to be active citizens in other areas of their lives. We also recognised that globally we are faced with a trend towards a shrinking civil society space. Almost half the world is going to the polls in 2024, and as the need for action grows we are experiencing fewer spaces where citizens can develop and practise key civic skills such as collaboration, self-representation, and working within a context of diversity and difference of opinion.
In an effort to redress this imbalance and support the development of skills to engage in civic action, we partnered with SMK to deliver an advocacy toolkit.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Changemakers'_Toolkit
This session will
- present background and context to the project
- talk through the modules of the toolkit, giving a good overview of how to use it and what can be learnt
- have space for brief questions and reflections
The participants will
- gain full understanding of what the toolkit is and what materials are included
- reflect on where they could use it - e.g. in their own work or with what communities
Session recording: https://youtu.be/QfbjhJiy41E?list=PLhV3K_DS5YfJdC5P86rsDsUtxEow0gDnR&t=22950
This session is a cross-over collaboration in its heart. The changemaker's toolkit is a product of collaboration between SMK, a civic advocacy organisation who has the advocacy experise, and Wikimedia UK, who brought in knowledge of open knowledge. SMK wanted to increase reach of their materials by releasing them openly, while WMUK wanted to bring in advocacy knowledge to our activist communities. The collaboration perfectly addressed needs of the organisations, and through the project both were able to get out of the silos of their communities for the benefit of wider groups.
It may be possible to include an SMK speaker for the session, depending on logistics.
What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?* –Everyone can participate in this session
How do you plan to deliver this session?* –Onsite in Katowice
What other themes or topics does your session fit into? Please choose from the list of tags below. –Campaigns, Capacity building, Storytelling
Daria Cybulska has worked at Wikimedia UK since 2012, initially focusing on events, outreach, partnerships, and community development, and now serving as the Director of Programmes and Evaluation. In the last few years, she collaborated on Wikimedia’s 2030 global strategy with colleagues across the globe, a process that brought many reflections about accessibility, inclusion, and equity within collaborative knowledge projects.