About Me:
Despite my engineering degree and due to my surrounding, I fastly became passionate about IT, Education and new innovative technologies, therefore I am holding the role of CEO at Drupal Moldova Association with the mission of promoting Drupal CMS and Open Source technologies in Moldova and regionally, to grow and sustain the community by organizing conferences and educational projects and establishing strong partnerships with companies, public institutions, and other NGOs.
Projects organized:
- Drupal Camps (http://moldcamp.com/);
- OpenSource Camp (https://opensourcemoldova.org/)
- Drupal Schools (http://school.drupalmoldova.org/)
- Code sprints;
- DGTDs;
- Drupal meetups;
- Tech events.
And many more, you can get to know more about our projects at http://drupalmoldova.org/
You can as well read some of my experiences sharing at: https://medium.com/@anya.abchiche
Statement of Candidacy Video:
Board meeting attendence:
none
Have you served on a board or committee?:
Yes
If so, tell us about it.:
I have been part of the non-profit sector for over 5 years now and this, in different International organizations, countries/continents, my first experience in the board was as National Member committee vice president Talent Management and Organizational development in AIESEC in Algeria and later in AIESEC Moldova, where I was in charge of the strategy creation in terms of recruitment, education, and engaging newcomers, while making sure they are aligned with the vision and values of the organization.
Nowadays, I am the CEO of the Drupal Moldova Association, where my daily duties are to grow and strengthen the Drupal and Open Source community, as well as making sure the organization runs its projects in a sustainable and a healthy way, which includes strategies creation, execution, financial, budgeting planning and fundraising.
What perspective will you bring to the board when discussing strategic topics?:
I have been involved locally and regionally in growing and advocating the Drupal and Open Source community for a couple of years now, which led me to really understand the reality and know how to push things ahead, I do believe that the best way to scale global strategies is to start locally and think globally, the perspective that I would bring is to share my vision and experience on how the Drupal Association can implement its strategies in the regions by adapting them to the local and regional reality and to get closer to the local active contributors.
I explored many areas during the past 3 years (Marketing, PR, Social Media, Events/Projects management, community building, legalities, and finances etc..) which allows me to discuss topics in different perspectives.
What existing board topics are you most passionate about? and why?:
- Strengthening Drupal Association sustainability
- Understanding what the Project needs to move forward and determine how the Association can help meet those needs through Drupal.org and DrupalCon
- Developing the strategic direction for DrupalCon and Drupal.org
I chose these 3 strategies and topics because I find them really linked to each other, sustainability for me means that the organization ensures a way to effectively adapt the daily duties over time and have space and the capacity to think creatively and develop a strong strategic plan to reach the organizational mission. I am passionate about how the Drupal Association have been striving over the past years on developing the direction and strategies through Drupal.org and DrupalCon and thus to ensure the project development and community growth.
Working in the non-profit sector really made me understand the importance of not having to worry about the basics and be able to focus on what matters the most, and I strongly believe that the D.A is in the right path on ensuring the long-term sustainability and health of the association.
What additional strategic topics would you like to introduce?:
I do understand that the main role of being part of the board is to help on implementing the existing strategies which indeed will be my focus, on the other hand, it could be valuable to introduce some of these strategies as well:
- Fundraising plan: and this by strengthening and expanding fundraising in our own community, and plan ways to raise resources by diversifying funding base, build more capacity and have a strong commitment to think in a long-term, nonprofit sustainability should not be up to just nonprofit leaders to figure out, anyone who wants to realize social change (the government, private sectors, social change leaders) must advocate for and support more sustainability in the sector.
- Scaling global programs and strategies (regionally and locally), One of the most visible and powerful educational events created by the D.A and implemented by locals are the DGTD and the Drupal Camps, which is a great way to introduce and keep updated newcomers to the Drupal and Open Source community, but in my opinion it is still limited in terms of learning deeply and becoming a Drupal Developer or any other related position, therefore I believe that introducing some other events/programs that have a longer period and gives more detailed information and practice to complement their learning journey (such as Drupal schools, backend or frontend trainings etc..) , and to participate on understanding the reality and facilitating the regional and local implementation of these programs (documentation, mentoring and good case practices sharing).
What unique skills would you bring to the board?:
My experience working in the non-profit sector and my daily mission of promoting and advocating Drupal and Open Source would be an added value for the board. Having the local and regional reality understanding would help in implementing and scaling the global strategies regionally and locally.
I understand the power of the community on making the Drupal project successful and I feel aligned to the D.A focus as well as to grow and reward the community builders and contributors while improving the Drupal project and ensuring a long-term financial sustainability.
How have your past contributions to Drupal prepared you for board candidacy?:
My daily activities derive from growing and strengthening the Drupal and Open Source communities, so most of my contributions are organizing events. regional Drupal and Open Source camps, code sprints, Drupal Schools (for beginners, intermediate and advanced level), DGTD, meetups and many more initiatives, throughout the past years I have learned many valuable lessons, and I have confirmed that what makes Drupal special as an Open Source Technology is the community and the educational projects around it, in results of these initiatives, we have impacted and involved over 2000 people, as well as created strong partnerships with other local communities and the Government of Moldova, we have got a grant from the Swedish government and USAID competitiveness project, we have as well helped and supported the private sector (Drupal and Open Source companies) and built a strong local community that understands the need of our support.
I find many similarities between the D.A and the Drupal Moldova Association in terms of sharing the same mission and strategies, and being part of that, prepared me to understand how to manage a non- profit organization, to fundraise and to ensure a financial sustainability while maintaining the purpose and values of the association.
Why should we vote for you?:
I strongly believe in the power of the community, and this applies even to those who are not having a technical background, because, each and every contribution matters.
Despite my civil engineering background and being born and raised in another continent, it didn’t limit me to be part of an IT and an Open Source organization, advocating a strong cause in another region, I have been now an ambassador and an advocate for Drupal locally and regionally which led me to be closer to people and to impact them directly or indirectly. Nowadays, I feel the need to scale my commitment and involvement globally and contribute on involving more people in this amazing journey, I want to showcase that being active within the Drupal Community brings us inspiration, helps us succeed in business and helps us find our way in life.
I am someone who does things by heart and I have now a valuable experience of participating in growing the Drupal community, my current role allows me to constantly be in touch with Drupal and other Open Source companies, developers, community leaders or other related roles, as well as my daily duties that include fundraising, financial and budgeting duties, so I believe that joining the board will be an added value in ensuring the sustainability of the association and the effectiveness of the strategies implementation.
Questions for the Candidate