Strategy Liaison (Contract)

Location: Remote

Duration: February 2019 - December 2019 (with possible extension)

Hours: 20 hours/week 

Summary

Strategy Liaisons will act as a bridge between communities and the Movement Strategy Process, including the Core Team, holding dialogues with communities about the process and incorporating broad community perspectives into all steps.

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for Strategy Liaisons to play a vital role designing and implementing engagement plans with Arabic, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese language communities to ensure their voices and perspectives are heard and considered in the Movement Strategy Process.  

Strategy Liaisons will build relationships with Wikimedia community members around the world and undertake outreach and engagement approaches to advance the Movement Strategy Process designed by its Core Team. This includes sharing process guidance to communities so that communities are better supported in engaging with the Movement Strategy Process. Strategy Liaisons will also be responsible for highlighting most important community feedback points to the Core Team.

The Strategy Liaisons are expected to collaborate with other community members in a respectful manner, to encourage collegial engagement, and to be creative. This is an opportunity best suited for those who work well both independently and with others.

We’re looking for candidates who are mission motivated, love working with people and engaging communities, advocate for open knowledge, and who are excited to help advance the Movement Strategy Process. This role reports to the Liaisons Coordinator, Movement Strategy.

We’d like you to do these things:   

• Coordinate and facilitate community consultations (with guidance from the Core Team)  for key communities to advance the Movement Strategy Process
• Engage deeply the communities in their native languages, acting as a conduit for community ideas, questions, and proactively update them about the ongoing work and how they can participate in it effectively
• Ensure that all materials shared out are easily understandable and translated into their language (translations will be commissioned by an external translation service provider)
• Step into difficult discussions and situations when necessary to provide details and context and be able to explain details and context to communities in a simple way to promote effective resolution, mutual understanding, and healthy communication;
• Monitor relevant on- and off wiki communication channels for discussions of major strategic questions, feedback relevant to the strategic process, and emerging issues that have an impact on the Movement Strategy Process
• Translate or manage volunteer translators to translate materials produced by the community into English
• Assist with correspondence management, which will include answering questions from both users and the public in a timely, efficient, and respectful manner
• Summarize diverse input, feedback, and insights relevant to the process comprehensively in the predefined formats and share them with the Liaison Coordinator and the Core Team
• Produce a summary report of engagement in assigned language communities
• Build relationships with Wikimedia community members around the world
• Be a friendly face who is never "too busy" to talk with community members and staff of movement entities who have questions or issues about the Movement Strategy Process

We’d like you to have these skills:

• You are an experienced contributor to Wikimedia projects, capable of representing the community and representing the Movement Strategy Process
• You have strong communication skills (both written and verbal), and can explain the ongoing work to different groups of users with different levels of involvement in the movement
• You are fluent in English (written and verbal), and fluency in at least one of the following: Arabic, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese
• You are approachable, as both users and staff must be able to trust the Liaisons for the relationship to function to the benefit of the movement
• You are able to focus on the larger picture, understanding which concerns and views are widespread and which are individual and opinion-based
• You have interpersonal communication skills with an ability to communicate with key stakeholders in styles ranging from precisely detailed to clear and simple, depending on context. You excel at understanding the perspectives of others and bridging the gap between different approaches to the world
• You are emotionally mature and self-reliant, navigate ambiguity reliably, and are not easily discouraged
• You are a team player who cares deeply about his/her own work and also helps colleagues succeed
• You are organized, efficient and thrive on delivering outcomes within deadlines

Cover letter is required and important. We care what you have to say and how you say it. Tell us how your interests and experiences make this the right job for you.

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