2018 has so far been a time of change for GV. Earlier in the year, Sahar stepped down as Managing Editor, and this month Lauren will be leaving us to take up a job at Mobilisation Lab. 

Change often feels hard, and it’s especially difficult to lose someone like Lauren, who has been such a dedicated and inspiring member of the Global Voices community and also so central to our day-to-day operations. We shall deeply miss her calm, intelligent presence on the core team.

But we’re also approaching this as an opportunity to take a fresh approach to shaping the next edition of the GV newsroom—one that takes into account our current needs, the changes taking place in the world and in our field, and which allows us to situate our work more firmly in the places where it’s needed.

Our original plan was to have started the process of recruiting a new Managing Editor by the end of September. With Lauren’s departure, we’ve had to shift gears a bit. After Lauren steps down on July 13, we’ll be implementing an interim plan which will ensure the continuity of our day-to-day activities. From July 13 until the end of September, Taisa Sganzerla, currently our Lusophone regional editor and also a member of the sub-editing team, will be taking over the parts of Lauren’s job that affect the daily work of the newsroom. Georgia will continue as interim Managing Editor, as she has been doing since the beginning of the year.

At the end of June Endalk also stepped down as Sub-Saharan Africa regional editor to prepare to take up a teaching position at Hamline University in Minnesota in September. Amanda Lichtenstein will be filling in for him until at least the end of August, while we prepare to recruit a new editor. 

During this period the core team will be working, in consultation with the editors and the community, on mapping out plans for the next iteration of the newsroom leadership and editorial goals and priorities.

We look forward to working with all of you on our plans for Global Voices, and as always, we are available to discuss this change, our thinking about the future, and your ideas for GV projects, editorial focus, and great stories.