Grants:APG/Proposals/2019-2020 round 1/Wikimedia Israel/Staff proposal assessment

Staff assessment summary

Wikimedia Israel is a long time participant of the APG General support scheme and has developed a number of innovative programs in the past few years. It also has had to deal with quite a bit of turn over over the years, which it has succeeded in managing and using to adapt to changing circumstances and new ideas.

Strategy and programs

Wikimedia Israel still does not have a strategic plan, something they really should spend time developing in order to prepare for the outcomes of the Movement Strategy and which will support development and adaptation of their programs in the near future. While they do not have a dedicated strategic document, they are presenting this year's plan in a more strategic fashion, with three main programs.

The program "Enhancing Diversity" has two areas of focus: Women and Senior citizens, which act as directions for the long standing programs Wikimedia Israel has been developing over the years. The focus on Women has seen a setback in 2019 following a community scandal and 2020 will see a renewal of intentional development around making this a priority across programs: Arabic Education program, various chapters events and the Senior program, as well as developing specific courses to address the Gender Gap in the Hebrew Wikipedia. The focus on Senior citizens is relatively new in their programs but has shown real potential, by delivering on all fronts: new editors, excellent quality content and motivated editors. We are looking forward to see this program expand across the country and develop innovative ideas for outreach and involvement of new Senior Citizens.

The Program "Creating Content" will continue to see the development of WMIL's far reaching and outstanding education program, which is centered on adding content on the Hebrew Wikipedia and Wiktionary. The Education program among others rests on two long standing partnerships with Center for Educational Technology (a network of schools) and the Ministry of Education and has allowed the development of techniques to support students and teachers in their work on Wikimedia projects. The specific Arabic Education Program will continue to develop activities such as the "Students write Wikipedia" or the Ambassador Program where students present Wikipedia in their schools, and will be supported by a new instructional website 'Wiki Warscha" (Wiki Workshop) developed for that purpose. For 2020 at University level, WMIL will continue its shift from active outreach at the University level to a pull mode, where it uses the strength of the network of teachers already involved to bring in other teachers interested in working with Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects, a model less resource intensive for the organization and that yields better results in terms of commitment and retention of teachers. WMIL will also develop activities this year around Wikidata, as opportunities arise, and around partnerships with for example the Israeli Film Archive or the National Museum and other GLAM institutions.

WMIL's third program around "Building capacities" is being developed as needs arise in other programs for learning material and educational resources as well as instructor capacity. Development of learning materials is done in an iterative way, as programs evolve and learning points are being evaluated. It results in better learning material for all participants to Wikimedia Israel's activities and in a greater number of people, volunteers and staff alike, who are able to support the various programs. Some effort will be made to increase the ability for instructors to support Wikidata workshops and trainings.

WMIL has been developing its marketing capacity in recent months, working tightly with program leaders to attract newcomers and enhance efficiency of outreach efforts, with good results.

This year's plan is showing a more strategic approach based on activities that have shown their impact over the years. While we think that targets are maybe not very ambitious at this level of funding, we are looking forward to seeing how this strategic approach supports the development of more and more impactful programs.

Budget & grant request

Wikimedia Israel is asking for 1,075,000 ILS, the same amount as in the past two years. WMIL has been exploring new funding sources, such as round up and other grants, with success and we are looking forward to see how these efforts can be more streamlined and integrated in their continuous development.

• Recommendation: We recommend granting Wikimedia Israel its full request of 1,075,000 ILS - Request granted. Delphine (WMF) (talk) 14:29, 5 December 2019 (UTC)