Wikimedia CEE Hub

WIKIMEDIACEEHUB

Regional hub covering Central and Eastern Europe

TheWikimedia CEE Hubis a network of communities and Wikimedia affiliates that have been organised in theWikimedia CEE(Central and Eastern Europe) group since 2011. The goal of thisregional hubis to formalise the ongoing collaboration within the CEE region and provide services for communities that support them in their work and enable them to grow how they see fit for them.

Background

The process of designing the CEE Hub started at theWikimedia CEE Online Meeting 2020,in close alignment with the2030 strategy recommendations.The initial CEE Hub group composed of volunteers and staff members of Wikimedia affiliates from Poland, Czechia, Austria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Armenia and later also Russia, have worked since 2020 on a concept that will provide services to support especially the less well organised parts of the region. This concept and research phase was implemented partly with the support of the WMF rapid funds strategy grantCEE Needs Research,which throughWikimedia Poland(WMPL) conducted interviews with 21 different communities and affiliates in the region. After receiving this grant, the group submitted and received another grant (MS Grants) from the WMF's in July 2022:Building a CEE Hubfor the implementation of one year pilot CEE Hub project. This project's official end date is December 31st 2023 (due to initial project implementation delay and based on approved project extension).

Pillars

The initial programme of the CEE Hub (for Year 1) focused on the following programmatic pillars:

Administrative
Programmatic
Communication

Organisation

CEE Hub Governance and the Steering Committee

The CEE Hub is governed by the Steering Committee.

At theCEE Meeting 2022the first official Steering Committee (SC) was suggested by the members of the CEE Hub group (described above). This first SC replaced the interim CEE Hub SC. The composition of the first CEE Hub's SC was presented to the participants of the CEE meeting in Ohrid.

The current Steering Committee was appointed at theCEE Meeting 2023 in September in Tbilisi, Georgia.

TheSteering Committeecurrently consists of the following ten (10) members:

Anton Protsiuk(Ukraine)
Tisza Gergő(Hungary)
Başak Tosun(Türkiye)
Ivana Madžarević(Serbia)
Kiril Simeonovski(North Macedonia)
Klára Joklová(Czech Republic)
Michał Buczyński(Poland)
Philip Kopetzky(Austria)
Toni Sant(Malta)
Wojciech Pędzich(Poland)

Special advisers

Delphine Ménard(Expertise: Onboarding, Grants, HR)
Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska(Expertise: Volunteer Support, CEE Research)

CEE Hub group

This group (formerly know asthe wider group) is open to everyone who is interested to follow the work and development of the CEE Hub. Currently (March 2024), the group consists of twelve (12) members.If you are interested in becoming a member, please contactstaff members.

Staff

CEE Hub Coordinator:Barbara Klen(Croatia)
Programme and Administrative support:Toni Ristovski(North Macedonia)

2023/2024 Steering Committee members
Staff members
Special advisers

News&Updates

You can follow the activities and work of the Wikimedia CEE Hubhere.Updates for the project are posted on the monthly basis.

Grants & Research

As of November 2023, the CEE Hub is funded throughWikimedia Foundationfor the grant period 2022-2023 or Year 1 under theMSIGproposal namedBuilding a CEE Hub.

The CEE Hub proposed another grant proposal namedStronger CEE Hubfor continuing its activities in 2024 (Year 2).

Research papers funded by Wikimedia CEE Hub

Community Mapping and DatabyBiyanto Rebin(July-August 2023)
Studying barriers of smaller communitiesbyVioleta Frimu(September-December 2023)

Meetings

Wikimedia CEE Hub group has regular bi-weekly online meetings. There were also several hybrid and/or in-person meetings of interested volunteers from the CEE (prior to the formation of the Steering Committee) and several meetings of the Steering Committee members and CEE Hub Staff (after the approval of the grant proposal in 2022). For every meeting which was held during the process and after the formalisation of the CEE Hub you can find meeting details on the Meta page dedicated to theevents.

Collaborations

During 2023, besides regular contact and meetings with the communities from the Central and Eastern Europe, the CEE Hub also had meetings with other stakeholders. We are having frequent contact with different Wikimedia Foundation teams and employees, but also meetings with affiliates and initiatives outside the CEE (Wikimedia Indonesia, Wikimedia DC, WikiVibrance Project, Wikimedia Sverige) and other interested external NGOs and individuals.

The CEE Hub is also implementing one initiative calledCEE Catch Up,which is a series of bi-monthly meetings about projects, activities and communities of theCEE region.The initiative is curated by the Wikimedia CEE Hub andWikimedia Foundation’s Movement Communications regional specialistNatalia Szafran-Kozakowska.

Contact information

You can find our email addresses and information about other ways of communicationhere.If you want to schedule a separate meeting with staff members about any Wikimedia-related topic,You can fill in this form

Endorsements

You can find previous endorsements for the project on the separate page. You can still endorse the project; read the information outlined in the grant proposals forYear 1andYear 2for further information.