Question: should we recommend establishment of a Chapters Network

Pharos,

This is an idea that really resonates with the research and interviews that I have been doing about other global NGOs and networks and what lessons the Wikimedia movement can potentially learn from their experiences. Every organization I have talked to so far (Habitat, Save the Children, Greenpeace, Medecins Sans Frontieres) has moved in the past 10 years or so to create a central representative entity with many of the roles and responsibilities that you describe here and in the proposal (communication, collaboration, making decisions that impact all chapter, etc). And in many cases (e.g. Habitat), the need for this central entity arose from a situation that seems similar to Wikimedia in many ways: Chapters popped up organically around the world, and the movement became big enough where they realized that they could do more if they worked together.

The accountability questions that you raise are really interesting. It seems like the force of the network's resolutions would be directly related to what it could offer the chapters in return for complying. And maybe there would also need to be some sort of contract or agreement that chapters signed when they joined?