Grants:PEG/WM ZA/Wiki-Indaba-2014/Report

Report accepted
This report for a Project and Event grant approved in FY 2013-14 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
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Wiki Indaba 2014
Goodies from Wiki Indaba Conference 2014

Compliance and Completion

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Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?
Yes
Is your project completed?
Yes
Did you use any of the grant funds?
Yes


Wiki Indaba was a 3 day conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Premier Hotel, OR Tambo International Airport. It was a gathering of African Wikimedians and other open knowledge volunteers who are aligned to the Wikimedia mission.

Access to mobile devices is on the increase in Africa and is expected to intensify in the next few years, increasing Africa's on-line presence. In order to take advantage of this projected growth, this conference was seen as an important opportunity to establish and strengthen Wikipedia and Wikimedia structures in Africa.

 
Wiki Indaba Conference 2014, Day 3 27

The Purpose of the Conference

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The purpose of the Indaba, amongst others were :

- To establish a sustainable dialogue with collaborators in Wikimedia Chapters, the Wikimedia Foundation and the international communities to frame the issue of community activation and corporate governance in the context of Africa
- To build a shared understanding of what it means to be a volunteer in Africa and why it is important
- To connect, multiply and create successful initiatives for increasing community activation and support within regions
- To aim to turn ideas into action

Focus of the Conference

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Along with the points mentioned above, this was an opportunity to develop a shared understanding and set of actions for improving Wikimedia's foot print in Africa.

To facilitate this, we focused on two aspects:

1. Community Activation - through gender specific initiatives, GLAMs and Educational institutions.
2. Corporate Governance - Chapter formations, Accountability and access to funding.

A copy of the Conference Guide is available online.

Participation

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The conference was attended by various delegates from Africa.

Name of Participant Country
Mompati Dikunwane Botswana
Candy Khohliwe Botswana
Aminou Tita Cameroon
Samuel Guebo Côte d'Ivoire
Yoro Bacely Côte d'Ivoire
Mohamed Ouda Egypt
Abel Bezuneh Ethiopia
Guillaume Goursat France
Raphael Berchie Ghana
Felix Nartey Ghana
Enock Nyamador Ghana
Ingo Koll Iran
Alexander Wafula Kenya
Michael Phoya Malawi
Peter Gallert Namibia
Kayode Yussuf Nigeria
Megan Beckett South Africa
Kelsey Wiens South Africa
Paul Kihwelo Tanzania
Habib Mhenni Tunisia
Mounir Touzri Tunisia
ABir Trabelsi Tunisia
Adele Vrana Wikimedia Foundation
Anasuya Sengupta Wikimedia Foundation
Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation
Bobby Shabangu South Africa
Douglas Scott South Africa
Dumisani Ndubane South Africa
Ebunoluwa Farinde Nigeria
Grant McNulty South Africa
Ian Gilfillan South Africa
Iolanda Pensa Italy / Switzerland
Isla Haddow-Flood South Africa
Olushola Olaniyan Nigeria
Rexford Nkansah Ghana
Theresa Hume South Africa
Florence Devouard France
Tobias Schonwetter South Africa

Activities

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Day 1

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Day 1 of the Conference consisted of several presentations about the Challenges and Success each region faces.

More information and copies of the presentations, can be found on the meta page Wiki Indaba Conference Day 1

Day 2

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Day 2 of the Conference included topics on Grant Making, Grant Evaluation Metrics and Grant Reporting and Community & Content Activation.

More information can be found on the meta page Wiki Indaba Conference Day 2

Day 3

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Day 3 of the Conference included topics on Education, GLAM and Community Outreach.

More information can be found on the meta page Wiki Indaba Conference Day 3


Copies of the various presentations have also been uploaded to Commons


         

Social Events

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On Friday, 20 June 2014 delegates enjoyed dinner at the House of Baobab in the famous Maboneng Precinct.

Maboneng, meaning ‘Place of Light’, is a privately developed urban neighbourhood on the east side of Johannesburg CBD. A fully fledged thriving community, Maboneng is home to several independent retail, restaurants and entertainment venues as well as loft apartments, offices, hotel, a museum and creative factory spaces in a connected urban environment.


On Saturday, 21 June 2014 delegates were hosted by Creative Commons & Hacks/Hackers for an 'everything you need to know about copyright' film night.

     

Photographs

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Photographs of the Conference have been uploaded to Wiki Indaba 2014 on Commons

Video Channel

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A video channel has also been created which can be viewed on YouTube. This contains video's of some of the presentations made.

Lessons Learned

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We have taken the following lessons from this project :

Allow enough time for participants to apply for Visa's

One delegate was not able to obtain his visa on time and another's visa application declined at the last minute. We tried to assist participants by contacting the respective Embassy's to process applications faster. Unfortunately flight bookings had already been made for the two candidates who were not able to attend so we will need to recover these costs from the airlines.

Budget correctly for cost of airtravel

We did not foresee the cost of tickets for travel in Africa to be so high. We now have a better idea of these costs and will factor this into future grant requests.

Source a venue sooner and negotiate proper Wi-Fi access dedicated specifically to the conference

We were disappointed with the Wi-Fi service at the conference venue itself. If we allow sufficient time to plan the event, we can 'shop around' for a better supplier and negotiate better deals with the provider.

Allow time for sight-seeing

Participants visiting South Africa for the first time requested some 'time-out' from the conference schedule to do some sight-seeing. We should consider for example allowing participants to arrive a day earlier. This will give them the opportunity to do this and will make sure delegates are well rested before the start of the conference.

Ask for presentations prior to the conference

Setting up presentations caused time delays which could have been avoided if presentations were requested before the start of the conference. This would then be kept on a central laptop and displayed from here.

Be more strict with time keeping

We were not strict enough with time keeping which meant that the programme either had to start earlier, run later or we had to cut time on important discussion points. We will make sure to allow sufficient time and to stick to the time provided.

Enough power cords and adaptors

We feel that it is important to address this as a separate issue for future events.

Goals

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Wiki Indaba 2014 had the following goals :

  • Have a maximum of 35 conference delegates - A total number of 39 delegates attended the conference
  • Fund the attendance of 20 attendees from across Africa (excluding South Africa) through scholarships, with an emphasis on established Usergroups, planning Wikimedias, and 6 scholarships to active Wikipedians
  • Encourage the participation (through part-funding) of 10 South Africa-based Wikipedians.
  • Encourage the participation (through part-funding) of mission aligned and invested individuals and organisations, researchers, academics and other groups.- a total of 27 scholarships were allocated
  • Create a strategy for Africa from Africa that is mission-aligned and can be part of a starting point for a wider Global South strategy.
  • Create excitement and local organisation of coordinated continental outreach campaigns, such as Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Monuments, and the work of Afripedia and WikiAfrica.
  • Transfer community leadership and building skills, as well as share and adapt toolkits and event templates to encourage and activate community engagement and sustained contribution across Africa.
  • Identify areas of discussion for next year's conference.
  • Maintain detailed accounts of keynotes, workshops, and panels for remote online viewing, documentation, evaluation and report.


We believe that we have been successful in not only achieving all of the goals envisaged, but we have created a pathway for further discussions with countries interested in the Wikimedia movement and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Measures of Success

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We will consider this project a success if we have been able to:

  • Host diverse delegates attending from countries that are evenly spread across Africa
  • Dialogue with stakeholders to find common solutions to problems across English, French, Swahili and Afrikaans Wikipedias and Sister projects,
  • Establish clear communication links, actions and opportunities among existing African Wikimedia Usergroups, planning groups and chapters.
  • Define achievable actions towards a collective strategy for Africa in the Global South
  • Create a year-long agreed plan of coordinated continental outreach campaigns, such as Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Monuments, and the work of Afripedia and WikiAfrica
  • Ascertain clear intentions to establish formal Wikimedia active group in areas not yet reached by Wikimedia
  • Achieve proportional representation of female attendees at the conference (At least 40%).
  • Formally resolve to create a regional co-operation organization to facilitate regular interaction among African Chapters and Usergroups
  • Obtain early commitment from partners (corporate and government) for Wiki Indaba 2015.

We believe that this conference was a great platform and very successful in reaching the above measures. As mentioned before, this has created a platform for future open discussions about the movement.

An Evaluation Survey was sent out to participants to gage the level of impact of the conference.

An Analysis of this Evaluation Survey is available online.

A second survey will be sent out - in cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation - with more specific questions to address some of the issues raised. We aim to do this within 3 weeks of the conference.

Impact

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This project meets a number of mission targets for Wikimedia strategic plan (through 2015). They are outlined below:

Fit to strategy

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The Wikimedia Foundation has acknowledged the difficulties that Africa, and other Global South regions, have within its various projects. It has also admitted to content bias in the Wikimedia’s Strategic Plan

Increasing reach

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Increasing Wikimedia's reach in the Global South is one of the salient points of Vision 2015, Africa is crucial to this objective. This conference allowed target volunteers to meet and devise means of increasing reach in their own countries.

The conference supported continent-wide growth in readership and editing and participation by up-skilling, transferring knowledge, networking and supporting the fledgeling Wikimedia usergroups and Wikipedians across the continent. The conference made an effort to reach out to Wikimedians across Africa who have little to no access to Wikimedia chapter activities; in addition, it assisted in supporting and fomenting the growth of thematic and linguistic groups.

This conference benefit a number of language Wikipedias by bringing together editors from all across Africa. It also addressed the need for support tools, event planning toolkits and a supportive continental network.

It also served as a platform to create a proactive strategy that will help to drive Africa's involvement in the Wikipedia projects, that is aligned with the Wikimedia Foundations own strategy goals.

The conference was an environment where:

  • Wikipedians and Open Movement activists from across Africa formed their own network, created a supportive community, and acknowledged and found solutions to local and regional challenges.
  • Experienced editors and newbies alike had the opportunity to learn about and discuss challenges relating to the relevant projects, resources and local communities.
  • Wikipedians shared and created best practices around article credibility, local community, educational possibilities, technological innovations, and usergroup stewardship.

Quality

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African chapters/usergroups are in their infancy, and as such there is no set standard of quality in terms of chapter governance and volunteer activation and support. This conference engaged delegates in discussing peer monitoring and review mechanisms that will enable the establishment of common standards of chapter governance and management.

Credibility

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By showing our support to groups in Africa, we have been able to improve our credibility as a chapter and movement in handling such important issues as access to information for the continent through collaboration efforts with government organs, and in running large scale public events in African countries.

Benefits

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This project benefited African online communities as a whole.

Provide a brief statement (about 1 paragraph) about how your project is related to other work in the Wikimedia movement.
This conference was considered as a continuation of the International move to create regional cooperatives within the international Wikimedia communities.
If successful, does your project have the potential to be replicated successfully by other individuals, groups, or organizations?
The conference has huge potential in being held annually. We hope that the hosting of the conference will be rotated among regional chapters.
Please list any other benefits that this project will produce.
For us as a small chapter this project provided us with an opportunity to foster lasting and healthy communication within the region with chapters and like minded Thematic groups.

Media Coverage

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The event was attended by Charlie Fripp from htxt Africa. The article 'What does Wikipedia need to do in Africa' can be viewed here

Wikimedia Blog

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A write up on of the event also appears on the Wikimedia Blog

Failure Report & Learning Patterns

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Although this event was successful in many ways, it was also unsuccessful in some ways. This section deals with the aspects of the conference that we as organizers felt could have been better.

Quality of discussions and strategy formulation

We felt that our model of break-away group discussions did not work as well as expected. Delegates could not easily agree on points of discussion. Such discussions were not adequately recorded (on meta or through mailing list).

What can be done to correct this
We believe that in future similar events, a specific strategy question should be identified for discussion, instead of a general symposium. This way the discussions will be more focused. Where possible this discussion should be initiated well in advance of the event.
Quality of presentations

With regards to state of the movement presentations, we felt that these did not clearly capture all activities from the represented countries. The presentations tended to be summaries of what the delegates were involved with, instead of a thorough analysis of the strength and weaknesses of the movement in respective countries.

What can be done to correct this
Delegates should be guided by a specific format of presentation for this portion. Although an attempt to do this was communicated to the delegates, it was not made compulsory.
Cross pollination of projects and ideas

We can not confidently say that people with similar projects were able to exchange meaningful ideas and ways to collaborate into the future. At the very least this responsibility did not seam to be absorbed by individuals. There was always the expectation that organizers would lead this aspect.

What can be done to correct this
It was felt by some delegates that the conference might have been too formal. Perhaps a semi-open type of a conference should be looked at for future events. It should be possible at least on day two or three to offer space for delegates who want to work on a particular problem, to be able to go there and work without feeling guilty for not being in the conference.

Expenditure

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Description Requested Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (USD)
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 1 - Preliminaries and General
1.1 Postage 1 1 000.00 1 000.00 1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.2 Telkom costs @ R 350.00 per month per organiser for three months 5 1 050.00 5 250.00 1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.3 Printed T-Shirts, for the conference participants (incl Volunteers) 35 100.00 3 500.00 50 92.57 4 628.41 8.53 426.70
1.4 Event Badges 35 100.00 3 500.00 100 14.14 1 413.60 1.30 130.32
1.5 Press Kits 5 200.00 1 000.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.6 Conference Documentation 1 25 000.00 25 000.00 1 7 632.60 7 632.60 703.66 703.66
1.7 Incidental Costs & Contingencies 1 35 000.00 35 000.00 1 1 964.19 1 964.19 181.08 181.08
1.8 Project Management 3 10 000.00 30 000.00 1 15 000.00 15 000.00 1 382.87 1 382.87
TOTAL BILL Number 1 104 250.00 30 639.55 2 824.70
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 2 - Local Organising Team Setup
2.1.1 Flights 4 2 500.00 10 000.00 4 2 389.25 9 557.00 220.27 881.07
2.1.2 Accommodation & Breakfast : (@R 900.00/night per person for 4 days) 2 4 500.00 9 000.00 4 5 867.90 23 471.60 540.97 2 163.88
2.1.3 Meals (Lunch and Dinner) for Pre-Conference days (3 days) : @ R 200.00 per person for 3 days) 5 350.00 1 750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Item 3.1
2.1.4 Transportation (1 x Hired car for 5 days @ R 500.00 per day) 1 2 500.00 2 500.00 1 1 166.24 1 166.24 107.52 107.52
2.2.2 Wi-Fi Wireless Network Connection (Dedicated for Conference) 1 7 000.00 7 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Items 3.1.1
2.2.3 Printer 1 1 000.00 1 000.00 1 799.90 799.90 73.74 73.74
2.3.1 1 x Boardroom @ R 1 500 per day for 5 days 5 1 500.00 7 500.00 3 2 500.00 7 500.00 230.48 691.44
2.4.2 Stationery (Paper, pens, staples ... etc) 1 1 000.00 1 000.00 1 41.99 41.99 3.87 3.87
TOTAL BILL Number 2 39 750.00 42 536.73 3 921.52
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 3 - Conference Days
3.1.1 2 x Track Conference Rooms @ R 1 500.00 per room per day 4 3 000.00 12 000.00 3 4 500.00 13 500.00 414.86 1 244.58
3.1.2 Flipchart Table 4 500.00 2 000.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Items 3.1.1
3.2.1 1 x Coffee Station for 4 days @ R 1 500.00 per day 4 1 500.00 6 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Item 3.1.1
3.2.2 Lunch for 4 days (@R75 per person) 35 300.00 10 500.00 50 1 031.42 51 571.00 95.09 4 754.40
3.2.2 Dinner for 3 days @ R120 per person (one night is wiki night out) 35 360.00 12 600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Items 2.1.2; 5.1.3 & 5.2.2
3.3.1 Water and sweets per room : three conference rooms for 3 days 6 250.00 1 500.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Items 3.1.1
TOTAL BILL Number 3 44 600.00 65 071.00 5 998.99
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 4 - Social Events
4.1.1 Wiki Takes Johannesburg Heritage and Joburgpedia Tour - Tickets 25 50.00 1 250.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Event Cancelled
4.1.2 Wiki Takes Johannesburg Heritage and Joburgpedia Tour - Transport to and from Conference Venue 3 2 500.00 7 500.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Event Cancelled
4.2.1 Wiki Night Out Event - Group Buffet 35 150.00 5 250.00 50 195.00 9 750.00 17.98 898.87
4.2.2 Wiki Night Out Event - 1 Drink per person 35 20.00 700.00 50 20.00 2 560.00 1.84 236.01
4.2.3 Wiki Night Out Event - Transport to and from Conference Venue 3 2 000.00 6 000.00 1.00 6 400.00 6 400.00 590.02 590.02
TOTAL BILL Number 4 20 700.00 18 710.00 1 724.90
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 5 - Travel Scholarships
5.1.1 International Scholarships - Flights 23 6 000.00 138 000.00 23 190 082.00 190 082.00 17 523.92 17 523.92
5.1.2 International Scholarships - Visa Assistance 1 5 000.00 5 000.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.1.3 International Scholarships - Accommodation and Breakfast 23 3 600.00 82 800.00 23 5 867.90 134 961.70 540.97 12 442.31
5.1.4 International Scholarships - Transportation 23 250.00 5 750.00 1 590.00 590.00 54.39 54.39
5.2.1 Local Scholarships - Flights 8 2 500.00 20 000.00 3 7 540.00 7 540.00 695.12 695.12
5.2.2 Local Scholarships - Accommodation & Breakfast 8 3 600.00 28 800.00 3 5 867.90 17 603.70 540.97 1 622.91
5.2.3 Local Scholarships - Transportation 8 250.00 2 000.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.3.1 Keynote Speakers - Accommodation and Breakfast 2 3 600.00 7 200.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.4.1 Travel Agency - Arranging and booking of Flights 1 20 000.00 20 000.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Included in Items 2.1.1; 5.1.1 & 5.2.1
TOTAL BILL Number 5 309 550.00 350 777.40 32 338.66
Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Qty Rate Total (ZAR) Rate Total (USD) Notes
Bill No. 6 - Variation to Grant
6.1 Gift Bags 0 0.00 0.00 50 61.79 3 089.40 5.70 284.82
6.2 International Scholarships - Partial Scholarship - Accommodation 0 0.00 0.00 1 6 714.00 6 714.00 903.79 903.79
TOTAL BILL Number 6 0.00 9 803.40 903.79

* Item 5.1.1 includes a refund of R 8 067.00 expected from the airline. Documentation for this will follow as soon as it is received from the travel agent and is currently not reflected in the supporting documentation.

Bills Subtotals

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Description Requested Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (USD)
PROJECT BILL OF QUANTITIES PRICE SUMMARY PAGE Total in Rands (ZAR) Total in Rands (ZAR) Total in Dollars (USD)
1 Bill No. 1: Preliminaries & General R 104 250.00 R 30 639.55 $ 2 824.70
2 Bill No. 2 - Local Organising Team Setup R 39 750.00 R 42 536.73 $ 3 921.52
3 Bill No. 3 - Conference Days R 44 600.00 R 65 071.00 $ 5 998.99
4 Bill No. 4 - Social Events R 20 700.00 R 18 710.00 $ 1 724.90
5 Bill No. 5 - Travel Scholarships R 309 550.00 R 350 777.40 $ 32 338.66
6 Bill No. 6 - Variation to Grant R 0.00 R 9 803.40 $ 903.79
7 SUBTOTAL R 518 850.00 R 517 538.08 $ 47 712.55
8 VAT (14%) R 72 639.00 R Included $ Included
9 TOTAL BUDGET PRICE R 591 489.00 R 517 538.08 $ 47 712.55

Costs Covered by other Donors

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Description Requested Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (ZAR) Used Funds (USD)
PROJECT BILL OF QUANTITIES PRICE SUMMARY PAGE Total in Rands (ZAR) Total in Rands (ZAR) Total in Dollars (USD)
1 Transport to Creative Commons Social Event - Wikimedia UK R 6 400.00 R 6 400.00 $ 588.78

The Grant Application can be viewed here

Summaries

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Total project budget (from your approved grant submission):

ZAR 591 489.00 Or $ 54 530.00 rounded total.

Total amount requested from WMF (from your approved grant submission, this total will be the same as the total project budget if the WMF grant is your only funding source):

ZAR 591 489.00 Or $ 54 530.00 rounded total.

Total amount spent on this project (this total should be the total calculated from the table above):

ZAR 517 538.08 Or $ 47 712.55 rounded total.

Total amount of WMF grant funds spent on this project (this total will be the same as the total amount spent if the WMF grant is your only funding source):

ZAR 517 538.08 Or $ 47 712.55 rounded total.

Are there additional sources of revenue that funded any part of this project? List them here.

ZAR 6 400.00 Or $ 588.78 total funded by WMUK.

Remaining Funds

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Are there any grant funds remaining?

Yes

Please list the total amount (specify currency) remaining here. (This is the amount you did not use, or the amount you still have after completing your grant.)

ZAR 73 950.92 Or $ 6 803.21

Please indicate the required amount that must be re-allocated to a mission-aligned activity.

ZAR 37 926.95 or $ 3 544.40 approved for Kiwix and mobile wifi hotspotgrant

Funds remaining

ZAR 36 023.97