Hi, I should clarify about this EP project:
* it has been started by a small group of german and austrian Wikipedians who have been active doing the State Parliament projects in DE and AT. Project manager and contact person to the EP is Olaf Kosinsky who also lead the State Parliament Project 2012 - 2014 with a Grant of WMDE. * the project has never been approved, it doesn't need to. It's done by volunteers, not by any entities. Entities have been asked to contribute, such as a WMF grant was requested (and funded). In the past the local chapter has supported the volunteers to go to the State Parliaments by reimbursing travel costs and lending equipment - both WMDE and WMAT have regular programs for this, thus no special budget or approval was needed. In the case of the EP the goal is to involve as many EU countries / languages as possible. There budget has been split into general project cost which are no country-dependant and costs for volunteers. The general costs will be covered through a WMF grant, the costs of the volunteers by their local chapters, through the general programs these chapters offer. So in most countries no approvals are needed. In some cases we need to find scholarships, eg. as WMFI or WMPT have no funds to support their volunteers and several countries have no chapter at all. If the WMF grant wouldn't have been granted Olaf would have had to look for other sources, eg. another chapter or by splitting the costs to all chapters. There is also still the possibility that the EP supports the project which would increase the money returned to the WMF after the project. * I'd like to especially point out that the project itself never changed. The WMF grant was approved as requested. The goal never was to "only take pictured" and it still does not include "lobbying". It is taking pictures, writing / improving articles, translating between languages, talking to MEPs to educate them about the Wikimedia mission. Beside that volunteers will learn from each other, eg. from those experiences made with the State Parliaments in AT and DE. Obviously it will increase cooperation between chapters and language community. * WMCH go involved as it was - like other entities and volunteers - informed through mails on public mailinglists like the Chapters mailinglist and Wikimedia-l. I am happy that WMCH was among the first entities to respond and generously offer their support. Charles also helped me and got Ludovic from WMFR on board which I am very grateful of. So, if anyone if interested in participating or simply spreading the word to other entities / volunteers please check out the project page on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliament I have written to a few chapters in person to point them at the mails sent on the global mailinglists and make sure they are being noticed but I didn't write to all of them yet. So if you happen to have any contacts feel free to forward the information. Better two people write than nobody. /Manuel -- Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Lausanne, +41 (21) 34066-22 - www.wikimedia.ch _______________________________________________ http://wikimedia.ch Wikimedia CH website Wikimediach-l mailing list https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediach-l
