Global Voices community members at the Global Voices Summit 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo by Jer Clarke.

In the guide Introduction to Global Voices (GV), you learned that many people work to keep GV running from day to day. This guide will delve into the details of each of the roles at GV: what they do, what their responsibilities are, and how they interact with others. To see a full listing of the people who occupy these roles, see the Our People page on the main site.

Volunteer Contributors

Volunteer contributors are the engine that makes Global Voices run. In addition to writing and translating stories, contributors provide a breadth of experience and local knowledge and connect Global Voices with communities of writers, bloggers, media analysts and journalists around the world. Volunteer contributors also help in other ways, including helping to manage GV’s social media accounts, sending along story tips and ideas, mentoring other contributors, and more.

Translation Managers

Translation Managers are responsible for ensuring that GV’s original stories are translated into other languages and published on their corresponding language site. Translation Managers recruit and lead teams of volunteer translators, training them in the practice of translation and in our WordPress content management system, as well as editing translations before they are published. They ensure that their language site’s infrastructure, including categories and About pages, are localized and updated. They may also seek out and cultivate partnerships with like-minded organizations and undertake promotion and outreach activities, such as social media publishing or newsletter production on their language site’s individual channels.

Newsroom Editors

Newsroom Editors are responsible for the production of stories from around the world that support GV's mission of fostering understanding across borders. They include Regional Editors, who bring their regional perspective to bear on a story; Associate Editors, who revise a story with a global audience in mind; and Special Project Editors, who edit a story to conform to the requirements of their particular project. Newsroom Editors recruit, train and lead teams of volunteer contributors and cultivate partnerships with like-minded organizations that republish GV’s original stories and/or allow GV to republish the partner’s content.

Visualization of how the volunteers, partners, staff and core team of Global Voices work together.

Core Team

Executive Director (Malka Older)

The Executive Director is responsible for oversight and coaching of the senior management team of Global Voices; fundraising, including proposal and project development, meetings and strategic outreach to foundation, government, corporate and individual donors; representation, promotion and external relations, development of long-term strategic plans for Global Voices including planning on issues of financial sustainability, in close consultation with the Board and senior management team; development and oversight of internal systems for accounting, legal compliance, contracting, finance and administration and human resources, including oversight of annual budgets and audit processes; and support of the Stichting Global Voices and Friends of Global Voices (US) boards of directors.

Managing Director (Georgia Popplewell)

The Managing Director is responsible for daily management of the organization, including overseeing finance and accounting administration, technical needs, human resources, operations, workflow, team management, and safety and security issues. The Managing Director works with the Executive Director on fundraising, including proposal development, meetings and strategic outreach to foundation, government, corporate and individual donors; and on long-term strategic planning for Global Voices, including planning on issues of financial sustainability, in close consultation with the Board and senior management team. The Managing Director is the lead on planning and coordination of events such as the Global Voices biennial Summit, and also supports the Stichting Global Voices board of directors.

Managing Editor (Filip Noubel)

The Managing Editor is responsible for general oversight of the Newsroom and for developing, communicating and implementing the editorial mission of GV. This includes managing GV’s outreach to and relationships with other media; designing and managing collaborations and partnerships; conceptualizing and launching special editorial content and new editorial initiatives; developing strategies for growing readership; increasing the reach of GV’s stories; and improving audience engagement.

Rising Voices Director (Eddie Avila)

The Rising Voices Director leads Rising Voices (RV), an initiative that supports marginalized groups such as Indigenous language communities to represent themselves and their concerns in online media. The RV Director works to foster networks of participatory media initiatives in underserved communities around the world through outreach and targeted events, as well as to increase access to knowledge resources, best practices and training materials for those networks. The RV Director manages contractors and volunteers who contribute to the initiative as well as grantees who benefit from RV support, and is responsible for project coordination, grant disbursement, financial oversight and technical support. The Director fundraises and builds relationships with partners, donors and other networks, and collaborates with Newsroom Editors and Translation Managers to publish and translate RV-related stories.

Social Design & Technical Lead (Jer Clarke)

The Social Design and Technical Lead ensures the smooth and rapid flow of communications and ideas, both within the GV community and with external audiences. This work includes creating incentives for GV community members to communicate, removing impediments to communication and maintaining agreed standards for digital security and privacy. The role has a techno-social focus, combining strategic analysis of communication incentives and impediments at both the technical and interpersonal levels with the testing and implementation of technologies in alignment with the interests of the diverse sections, projects and teams within GV. The role also provides general oversight of GV’s technical needs, including designing, coding and maintaining GV’s many websites in accordance with evolving web standards and technologies, usability best practices and interactive design trends.

Lingua Director (L. Finch)

The Lingua Director leads Lingua, an initiative that translates GV stories into dozens of languages. The Lingua Director recruits, trains and supports Translation Managers; fosters space for challenges and strategy to be deliberated as a group; and cultivates an open library of how-to guides and learning materials. The Lingua Director also maps the growth and sustainability of the Lingua community; fundraises and develops special translation projects; identifies opportunities to connect the Lingua community with other Global Voices sections; and contributes to the strategic direction of the GV organization as a whole, with a particular focus on fostering communications between projects, languages, teams and sub-communities.

Stichting Global Voices Board

GV is registered in the Netherlands as a type of legal entity called a “stichting,” which is a foundation that is dedicated to supporting a non-profit cause. As such, GV is governed by a board of directors that provides strategic, management and financial oversight. The current GV board of directors comprises nine seats: Two of these seats are permanently reserved for GV’s founders (Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon); three are for GV community representatives, who are elected by the community every three years; and four are for external individuals who are appointed by the entire board. The board meets at least once each quarter, i.e., four times a year. See the guide on Global Voices Board Elections to learn more.

Friends of Global Voices Board

Friends of Global Voices is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization registered in the US with the purpose of raising funds in the US for citizen media projects, including GV. It is managed by a board of directors who are responsible for distributing funds to appropriate projects and organizations. The board meets annually or as needed.

Global Voices Community Council

The Global Voices Community Council plays a consultative role in various decision-making processes led by the Stichting Global Voices Board and GV’s Core Team. The Community Council is convened for a deliberation about once per year to discuss an important issue, including fundraising and ethics policies, editorial approach, programmatic focus and more. Before each deliberation, there is a registration period, where active contributors at GV are invited to apply for membership. See the Global Voices Community Council guide to learn more.