Sister Projects Committee

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The following is a proposed Wikimedia policy. References or links to this page should not describe it as an effective "policy". The proposal is in the process of gathering consensus for adoption (which is not determined by counting votes) at its discussion page.

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SisterCom

The Sister Projects Committee ("SisterCom") reviews requests for creating, significantly modifying, and closing Wikimedia projects. Reporting to the Global Council, the Committee supports contributors interested in its mandate.

Charter

Mandate

Review requests to create, significantly modify, and close Wikimedia multilingual projects.
1. Examples of significant modifications include merging, splitting, adopting, and changing the logo of projects.
2. Multilingual projects are those that do not have a specifically-defined language for content, as well as entire wiki families.
  1. Examples of "not multilingual": en.wikipedia.org, simple.wiktionary.org.
  2. Examples of "multilingual": wikimania.org, commons.wikimedia.org, the Wikibooks project.
Provide community members with support regarding its mandate.
1. Deliver feedback for improving proposals.
2. Contribute guidance on options for incubating projects (e.g. Wikispore).
3. Facilitate consultation of technical needs with the Technology Council.
4. Ensure the wide distribution of proposals through venues such as CentralNotice, local Village Pumps and mailing lists.
Develop implementation plans for approved sister projects.
1. Liaise with the Technology Council in tasks such as reserving relevant domain names.
Publish an Annual Report and regularly document its operations publicly.

Authority

The Sister Projects Committee reports to the Global Council.
1. Its decisions may be vetoed by the Council. However, the Council may not decide in issues within its mandate without previously consulting the Sister Projects Committee, unless the Committee lacks quorum.

Composition

The Committee is comprised of eight voting members (including one Chair and one Vice-Chair), two observers, and one Global Council liaison.
1. Until the Global Council is established, the Committee is to have one Board of Trustees liaison.
2. The Committee may appoint additional liaisons as appropriate.
The Chair breaks ties among Committee members.
The Vice-Chair assumes the role of the Chair in their absence.
The Chair and Vice-Chair are to be selected through a majority vote of Committee members.

Quorum

Quorum is set at five members.
In the absence of quorum, the Global Council has jurisdiction over the Committee's mandate.

Appointment

Members of the Committee serve for a term of two years.
Members may serve for a maximum of three consecutive terms.
The Global Council issues a call for nominations:
1. at the expiration of a term, and
2. upon the resignation of a member.
The Global Council appoints Committee members.

Amendment

This Charter may be amended through community consensus.