Wiki Movimento Brasil 2025 Strategic Process/Theory of Change/Presentation
This theory of change outlines the expected impact of Wiki Movimento Brasil (WMB) on the open knowledge communities and society at large. WMB, a Brazilian non-profit association affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation, has as its main goals to expand, enhance, and diversify the content and community within the Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and other sister projects, as well as to support the work of social organizations in the ecosystems of free knowledge.
Here, we present our normative framework, which prescribes our intentional actions to consolidate the Wikimedia Movement in Brazil. This theory of change is the starting point for the development of our strategic plan for 2026-2028, which will be created in a transparent and participatory manner.
Our new strategic cycle is based on the learnings from the previous process, documented in the 2023-2025 manifesto. We have learned to territorialize and diversify WMB's actions, to organize a Wikimedia affiliate deeply committed to sociotechnical reimagination from a Global South perspective, and to establish transparent and participatory governance, grounded in positive divergence and inclusivity.
The evolution we aim to enable through the new theory of change presented in this document was formulated in consultation with various stakeholders, using different methods, including focus groups with partner organizations, affiliates, and independent wiki groups from Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as members of the Wikimedia Foundation. We thank everyone involved in the process for their contribution along this path.
The central motto of this theory of change is: action generates action. We believe that intentional activity within Wikimedia should continuously foster and motivate sustainable communities, equipping them with the capacities and resources to generate new actions autonomously. This dialectical flow enables a participatory local process in favor of free knowledge.
Semiotically, this central motto is translated in the inscriptions "Gentileza Gera Gentileza" (Kindness Generates Kindness), by activist José Datrino, the Prophet of Gentileza. These messages, which adorn pillars in the degraded areas of downtown Rio de Janeiro, are a creative intervention in social structures, infusing hope and fostering the blossoming of new talents.