Annual Report 2025/Story: Risks, benefits and costs of advocacy networks
In this story, we focus on the benefits and risks involved in our work with advocacy networks. This includes, among other things, the copyright network, Knowledge Rights 21, and the Open Government Program. The benefits, risks, and costs may relate to finances, political room for manoeuvre, or time.
In connection with the implementation of the Copyright Directive, Wikimedia Sverige began coordinating a number of like-minded organizations to enable an exchange of ideas and experiences and, to some extent, to serve as a counterweight to the closely coordinated collective management organisations. In late 2024, this loose group was formalised into a network, which now meets twice a year in person and online when needed, enabling both proactive and reactive work.
In addition to Wikimedia Sverige, the copyright network includes research librarians, GLAM organizations, universities, and other civil society organizations that, like us, want to advocate for a flexible and modern copyright framework. The network provides broader and often more practical perspectives on policy issues, and one important effect is that the consultation responses and contributions produced by the organizations involved become much stronger. Over time, this strengthens the participants in their role as consultation bodies and in other policy work. More generally, it helps deepen understanding of copyright among actors who lack legal expertise or extensive experience of legislative processes.
Wikimedia Sverige has worked strategically to collaborate and build networks with like-minded actors. The basic idea is that we all lose strength if we work in silos. We do not always agree with one another, so we do not need to speak with one voice, but the exchange itself gives those who choose to participate a deeper understanding. It also builds new bridges and trust within our part of civil society.
We have worked in a similar way within Knowledge Rights 21, although at the European level. KR21 is a pan-European program that works to advance the right to knowledge and information sharing in the European Union. KR21 partly enables funding, but above all it provides a network of experts and knowledgeable people in our fields in arenas that we do not have the resources to monitor ourselves. For example, KR21 colleagues can alert us when one of our issues is moving through a time-sensitive process in the EU. It also provides an understanding of how issues that matter to us are handled in other EU countries, which gives greater depth and resonance to our own work in Sweden. Overall, the copyright network in Sweden and participation in KR21 make us a more credible and well-grounded advocacy actor in the policy areas that we choose to do active work in.
At the same time, obviously, coordinating and participating in networks takes a great deal of time, and not everything discussed is directly relevant or useful to Wikimedia Sverige. Strong networks involve both giving and receiving, but they also require a willingness to contribute, both in staff time and other resources. Trust also takes time to build, and this is fundamentally important if everyone in the networks is to feel comfortable contributing and sharing input, especially given that some of the issues may be sensitive.
To balance these aspects, we have chosen, in the networks that we lead ourselves, to be selective about who becomes a member and to ensure that all members approve new participants, so that trust is maintained and the risk of reputational harm is minimized. We have also chosen to balance in-person and digital meetings, so that proactive efforts (through in-person meetings), where the immediate effect may be limited but the long-term opportunities are greater, are balanced with reactive efforts (through digital meetings), where we can together ensure strong and credible input without necessarily placing it within a longer-term perspective of change.
In summary, our experience is that Wikimedia Sverige has become a much stronger advocacy actor through running and participating in other networks, while also being able to contribute our expertise and experience in ways that have benefited others as well.
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