Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Centre for Internet and Society's annual work plan for 2023-2024

Follow-up questions on your application

Dear CIS-A2K team,

Thank you for providing your written responses to additional questions. See PDF document for more details. Thank you also for joining us on the call with the South Asia Committee on 30 May 2023. Your presence and participation was very well appreciated. Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 03:59, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

General Support Fund approved in the amount of INR 17,582,400 for 2023 to 2024

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of INR 17,582,400 with a grant term starting 1 July 2023 and ending 30 June 2024.

The changes we see:

• In the past 12 months, we observed that the CIS-A2K team has built a stronger team structure and plans to expand the current team capacity further to support its growth.
• We also recognise the strong efforts by the programme team in seeing through the 2022-2023 grant implementation plans, despite the uncertain circumstances. For more details, See midpoint report.

Opportunities that we see:

• Support from Regional Programme Officer and Movement Strategy Specialist, both from Community Resources when securing  further resources through Movement Strategy implementation grant for your India-level strategy salon.
• Potential to set up a repository of resources on publications, workflows, best practices, partnership collaterals etc that CIS-A2K has developed over the years. This repository can be hosted online, easily navigated and accessible by the wider community. Here’s an example: https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Resources
• As the project team looks to firm up plans on its assessment and strategic planning conversations with the Indian community (i.e. part of your 2023/2024 plan), we recommend putting together a separate write-up (e.g. case study) at the end of your grant period to document the process, tools, learnings and deliverables for wider circulation and sharing across the movement.

Snippets from WMF Staff (thematic focused)

• (PD) Based on the provided information, it appears that CIS’s proposed area of work through A2K is quite comprehensive and covers various important aspects. However, there are a few additional areas that CIS could consider incorporating into their scope of work to further align with the needs of the Indian community:
  • Given that the A2K program emphasis on Indic languages, it’ll be valuable to invest in initiatives that improve localization efforts, language tools, and resources to enhance the accessibility and usability of Wikimedia projects in Indic languages. This could involve working with Communities and the WMF.
  • While the proposed activities focus on capacity building and leadership development, it would be beneficial to have dedicated initiatives that provide ongoing support and mentorship to community members, especially new editors and contributors. This could include regular mentoring programs, online support forums, and community-driven initiatives to foster a supportive and inclusive environment for budding community leaders.
  • CIS could emphasise the necessity of research and documentation. This might include conducting research and publishing reports on the impact of Wikimedia projects in India, documenting best practices for community participation and growth, and analysing the difficulties and opportunities unique to Indic language communities.

• (RS) Engaging with WMF Regional Staff: It would be good to include the presence of WMF staff in the region who are focussed on India level activities. If CIS would be willing to engage and coordinate this could bring about a synchronised, supportive and collaborative environment. Especially while engaging with external stakeholders and a multi-level community engagement model.
• Outreach and Engagement of New Editors: One of the most important needs of all our affiliates is to bring new members to their groups, this has been echoed at various levels and is something the groups need support in. If CIS could tailor some of their activities to support this work/engagement, that would be highly beneficial to the movement at large.
• Alignment with the WMF Annual Plan: Given the timelines of the WMF Annual Plan (and its regional priorities) it would be good for CIS to indicate if their activities are aligned with the foundation’s annual focus. This would vastly impact our work in India and bring forth a concerted effort.

Next steps

• Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Do set up a regular schedule to connect with your SA Programme Officer based on your needs.
• The reporting requirements for the grant can be found here and templates are available here. Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.

Once again, Congratulations!

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on a new year of project implementation.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of the SA Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 05:38, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

I sincerely appreciate your ongoing support and guidance throughout the proposal development process. We are grateful for your well-thought-out suggestions, and we will thoroughly review them to devise a plan for their incorporation. We remain fully committed to the principles of equity and will continue collaborating with both communities and WMF to identify the most effective initiatives that will contribute to the success of the Wikimedia movement in South Asia. A2K is dedicated to building stable and sustainable models of community leadership, advocating for community support, actively engaging in global discussions, and implementing a program with long-term impact to expand the community. Once again, thank you for your invaluable assistance. Pavan (CIS-A2K) (talk) 13:17, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Grant extension documentation

Hello @Pavan (CIS-A2K),

Thank you for putting together a short brief for the 6 month grant extension. For documentation purposes, we are also making the brief available here.

[1]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eeV3yFTfvo0e-zfAIHsctHpWrT1BurJi/view?usp=sharing

This file will also be uploaded to the grant application retrospectively and shall be listed under additional information at question 22.

Thank you. Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 08:15, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

Your 6-month grant extension has been approved

Hello CIS-A2K team,

Thank you for your responses to the follow-ups questions. Congratulations! Your 6 month grant extension has been approved in the amount of INR 10,261,080 from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.

Note on grant funding amount

In your award letter/email, you may observe that the USD equivalent may be different from that floating exchange rate on Oanda. This is because (at the moment) we apply a pre-determined exchange rate for each grant as determined by the WMF Finance team. That said, I've published on meta the approved amount in your local currency and we can use that as a common reference point.

We know even the best thought through plans may change.

In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to me about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage). There is also the option to have the unspent funds deducted against a future grant. More details here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Return_unused_funds_to_WMF

Disbursement of Funds

To facilitate the funds disbursement process, we seek your prompt response on Fluxx and via emails with the WMF Grants Administrator team (grantsadmin@wikimedia.org). We highly encourage you to submit all supporting documents and endorse the grant agreements within the stipulated time frame. When in doubt, proactively reach out to the WMF Grants Administration team and copy your programme officer.

Additional resources which may be useful

• The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.
• Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx.
• Instructions for post award: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Processing/Grantee_Portal/Post_award
• Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

We thank you for your participation in the grant extension process and hope to continue to journey with you as continue into the next phase of your work.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 12:23, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

@JChen (WMF) We are thrilled to hear that our six-month grant extension has been approved for INR 10,261,080 from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.

Thank you for the details provided regarding the disbursement of funds and the reporting requirements. We will ensure to promptly respond on Fluxx and via email to the WMF Grants Administrator team.

We look forward to continuing our work and collaborating with you in this next phase. Thank you! Pavan (CIS-A2K) (talk) 15:18, 31 May 2024 (UTC)