Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Activating Botswana 23/24, WikiConnect:Building Bridges and Fostering Free Accessible Knowledge For All

statusFunded
Activating Botswana 23/24, WikiConnect:Building Bridges and Fostering Free Accessible Knowledge For All
start date2023-07-012023-07-01T00:00:00Z
end date2024-06-302024-06-30T00:00:00Z
budget (local currency)539407.87 BWP
amount requested (USD)39550 USD
amount recommended (USD)39550
grant typeIndividual
funding regionSSA
decision fiscal year2022-23
funding program roundRound 2
applicant and people related to proposalShoodho Kolobetsoo

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Applicant details edit

Wikimedia username(s):

Shoodho

Kolobetsoo

Organization:

G. Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?

Applied previously and did receive a grant

H. Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?

Yes

H.1 Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?

African Knowledge Initiative

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

Yes

M1. Fiscal organization name.

Wikimedia ZA

Additional information edit

R. Where will this proposal be implemented?

Botswana

S. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope:

Local

S1. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.

T. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has. (optional)

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

Yes

M1. Fiscal organization name.

Wikimedia ZA

Proposal edit

1. What is the overall vision of your organization and how does this proposal contribute to this? How does this proposal connect to past work and learning?

Our community in 's vision for Botswana is to promote knowledge sharing and content creation among people from all backgrounds, by encouraging volunteering and fostering public interest in culture. Our aim is to support and facilitate the collection, development, and dissemination of knowledge for free.

In 2022, we received a grant that enabled us to initiate a movement in Botswana and implement our objectives and goals. We learned from this experience and are now planning to improve and expand our work in the future. This proposal seeks to build upon our previous successes and continue making progress towards our vision for a more connected and collaborative community in Botswana.

2. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important?

This grant proposal aims to increase the quantity and quality of content in Setswana, an indigenous language of Botswana, and bridge the gender gap in Wikipedia. Currently, there are only 1,010 Setswana articles written in Setswana Wikipedia (tn.wikipedia.org). Since the launch of our General Fund in 2022, we have created over 300 new articles and improved existing ones. We seek to continue promoting our local language and creating more content about Botswana in Setswana.

Our ultimate goal is to encourage more Batswana to contribute to Wikimedia projects, reducing the digital divide in Africa and creating a fair representation of our local communities on the global web. We believe that by building a movement that advocates for greater involvement of emerging communities, we can make progress towards a more inclusive and collaborative online community.

3. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.

Building community: Creating a community of passionate volunteers who share the same vision and mission can be a powerful strategy. By hosting local events, meetups, and workshops, user groups can create a supportive environment that fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing. Engaging with local institutions: Engaging with local institutions such as universities, libraries, and cultural centers can help our community tap into local knowledge and expertise. Partnering with these institutions can also provide access to resources such as internet connectivity and physical space for events. Focusing on local language content: Creating content in local languages can help increase the visibility and accessibility of Wikipedia in the local community. This approach can also help preserve local knowledge and culture, which might not be easily accessible through other online platforms. Developing training programs: Developing training programs for new contributors can help build the capacity for our community to increase the number of active contributors. These programs can be tailored to specific topics or skills such as editing, citation, or translation. Collaborating with existing user groups: Collaborating with existing user groups in the same region or with similar interests can help the emerging user group learn from their experiences and leverage their resources.

4. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?

Here are some activities that will developed and delivered as part of the approaches and strategies :

Building community: Host regular meetups and events to bring together volunteers interested in the Wikimedia movement. Create online discussion forums or mailing lists to facilitate ongoing communication and collaboration on our content channel platforms(social media), hosting trainings/tutorials, or panel discussions. Engaging with local institutions - Partner with local universities, libraries, and cultural centers to co-host events and workshops. We already have a good relationship with University of Botswana and Francistown Library.

Focusing on local language content: Host translation events or workshops to translate articles into our local language Setswana.

We are excited to present our activities that will re-engage inactive editors and help us rebuild our community user group. Our proposal is aimed at increasing community diversity, growing the number of articles in Setswana, and increasing public access to free knowledge through campaigns and panel discussions.

The first activity we propose is the Setswana Wikipedia Challenge. This event will train our community to create more articles about Botswana and notable people in our native language Setswana. We have a strong relationship with the University of Botswana students/staff who will assist us in editing quality articles.

The second activity is a series of edit-a-thons, including WLW, and Art & Feminism. We have close relationships with established Wikimedian affiliates communities such as the Wiki In Africa where Oteng is active as one of the Focus group members hence this will provide guidance and support for our community on best practices to host these events and engage more female editors.

We will also host Wiki Loves Africa event, which will generate photographic content to illustrate relevant articles and enhance coverage of Botswana topics on Wikipedia.as well as a photography project to capture profile images of prominent people in Botswana, particularly parliament members who mostly do not have images on Wikipedia. This initiative will help to fill the gap and enhance the visual representation of Botswana on Wikipedia. We can allocate resources to set up a Photo Booth to capture the profile images of parliament members and other prominent figures in Botswana. This project will help our community attract the attention of the government, which will help establish better collaborations in the future.

We will host a Francistown Librarian Workshop for librarians and newbies to create quality articles about Botswana in both English and Setswana languages. These activities will provide dedicated time events to increase collaboration, retain volunteers, and attract newbies to our community.

Lastly we have the school club activation project. We think that this is an excellent way to engage and empower students to contribute to the Wikipedia community in Botswana.

We suggest that this project be included as an additional activity to the grant proposal, specifically under community engagement. We can allocate resources to coach and train students in at least two different universities and liaise with student representatives to monitor and manage the Wiki community in their schools. We will also engage with them on a bi-weekly basis to keep their school participants active and encourage the volunteering spirit in their schools.

This project aligns with our objective of increasing community diversity and promoting free knowledge access to the public. We are excited to work with you on this project and look forward to your support in realizing our shared objectives.

5. Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?      

No

5.1 If yes, provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan?

N/A

6. Please include a timeline (operational calendar) for your proposal.

Link here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L1awX8rskfJn2SUgoucZ1KIAeUnsLlIl/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112179996594021215799&rtpof=true&sd=true

7. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?

Program Coordinator - Assist with planning and coordination of programs and their activities. Monitor implementation of program policies and practices. Work to keep programs on schedule, within stated budgets and functioning smoothly. Support program growth and development as necessary. link here; https://www.payscale.com/research/BW/Skill=Project_Coordinating/Salary

Project facilitator - A project facilitator combines management skills and administrative duties to help a team working on a project to complete it on time and to proper specifications. As a project facilitator, your job duties include creating budgets and proposals, handling staff issues, and monitoring the project throughout each phase. Link here: https://www.payscale.com/research/BW/Skill=Project_Coordinating/Salary

Communications lead - communication officers (also known as public relations account executives) plan and develop PR strategies for brands, individuals and organizations. As part of this, they will identify target audiences, then develop and share information that's tailored to audience preferences. Link here: http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=28&loctype=1&job=599&jobtype=3

Outreach program officer / Community facilitator: Outreach program officer oversee the policies and strategies for outreach programs, which include budgeting, communication, education, marketing, donor relationships, and events coordination. Link here: http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=28&loctype=1&job=12577&jobtype=3

8. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Content Gender gap, Language, Sexual Orientation, Socioeconomic Status, Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial

8.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.

To address the gender gap and increase content on Wikipedia in our local language, we could take several actions, in addition to those mentioned previously:

Encourage more women to participate in our projects and create content in our local language. This could involve partnering with women's groups or hosting events specifically for women who are interested in contributing to Wikipedia. Create content in our local language that specifically addresses gender-related topics or focuses on women's contributions to our community. This can help to ensure that the voices and experiences of women are represented in our local language Wikipedia. Partner with local language organizations or educational institutions to promote the use of our local language and increase content on our local language Wikipedia. By building relationships with these organizations, we can tap into local knowledge and expertise, and encourage more people to contribute to our local language Wikipedia.

9. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.

Education, Advocacy, Human Rights, Culture, heritage or GLAM , Diversity, Climate Change and sustainability

10. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Please note, we had previously asked about inclusion and diversity in terms of CONTENTS, in this question we are asking about the diversity of PARTICIPANTS. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Disabilities, Linguistic / Language, Socioeconomic status, Digital Access

11. What are your strategies for engaging participants, particularly those that currently are non-Wikimedia?

To engage participants, particularly those who are currently non-Wikimedia contributors, we could employ several strategies, such as:

Outreach: We can reach out to non-Wikimedia contributors through social media, local community groups, and other online platforms. Training and coaching : We can offer training and coach for the school activation project opportunities to help new contributors get started. This could include introductory workshops, one-on-one mentoring sessions, and ongoing support to help contributors build their skills and knowledge. Community building: We can create a supportive and inclusive community of volunteers by hosting events, meetups, and social gatherings. By creating a sense of community and belonging, we can encourage more people to get involved and contribute to our work. Partnership and collaboration: We can partner with local organizations and institutions to reach underrepresented groups. For example, we can collaborate with local libraries or schools to offer training and mentorship opportunities to students, or partner with community-based organizations to reach underrepresented groups in our community.

The diversity projects (such as Wiki Loves Women and Art & Feminism) seek to engage a more diverse group of participants with the intention of growing the local Wiki community in a more diverse way and thereby address the diversity gap. This is an effort to address the racial, gender and sexual orientation gap within the local community.

In terms of investments, we could consider allocating resources towards:

Developing outreach materials: We could create flyers, brochures, and other materials to promote our work and attract new volunteers. Hosting events and meetups: We could allocate funds towards hosting events and meetups to build community and engage new contributors. Offering gift vouchers: We could offer gift vouchers to compensate volunteers for their time and effort, especially those who have the highest contributions in editathons and also support those who may have financial issues to attend our unperson or online issue, especially most interested and active participants.

12. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants and promoting the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy, and/or equivalent local policies and processes?

This policy will be shared with the community both offline and online engagements. The group will allocate a trust and safety desk to follow up. Uphold constantly sharing the Wikimedia UCoC policy our events to ensure safety and equity in the community.

13. Do you have plans to work with Wikimedia communities, groups, or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?

Yes

13.1 If yes, please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.

Art & Feminism for Art & Feminism campaign in Botswana Wiki Africa for the Wiki Loves Africa event Wiki Africa for the Wiki Loves Women She Said campaign Igbo Wikimedia Community usergroup for Wikidata training in our community.

14. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?

No

14.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

N/A

15. How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?

Community activities are continuous so we will be applying again in 2024/25 grant thereby allowing us to continue many of these projects. Once our community is more familiar with the process we would like to apply a multi-year project grant to better plan for long running projects.

16. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these. This can include factors such as external/contextual issues that may affect implementation, as well as internal issues, such as governance/leadership changes.

Leadership or Governance Changes: Changes in leadership or governance could impact the project's implementation. To mitigate this risk, consider establishing clear roles and responsibilities, developing succession plans, and ensuring that decision-making processes are transparent.

Lack of Buy-In from stakeholders are not fully committed to the project, implementation could be hindered. To mitigate this risk, involve stakeholders in the planning process, communicate clearly and frequently, and ensure that everyone understands the goals and objectives of the project.

17. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Improve User Experience, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge

18. Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here.  

No

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation edit

19. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?

How many individuals got involved in community event organising? Which kind of events did they get involved in and what was their contribution? Which events show recruitment of long term volunteers? Which kind training has a higher retention of volunteers?

20. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following space provided.

Main Metrics Description Target
Participants Individuals who attend various community organised events 100
Editors Individuals who contribute to Wikimedia's projects :

WLW - (New editors 10 Old editors 5) Art & feminism -(New editors 10 Old editors 5) WLA -(New editors 20 Old editors 10) School Activation project (New editors 15 Old editors 5)

40
Organisers Individuals that are engaged in and support community activities 5
' N/A
' N/A

Here are some additional metrics that you can use if they are relevant to your work. Please note that this is just an optional list, mostly of quantitative metrics. They may complement the qualitative metrics you have defined in the previous boxes.

Additional Metrics Description Target
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities Dashboard 20
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities 5
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability We plan to work with 2 more Universities apart from the University of Botswana 2
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors Use of Google forms we have participants help us strategize and give use feedback to improve. 20
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees We have at least 20 active women editors 25
Number of people reached through social media publications Facebook stats on adverts 1000
Number of activities developed With progress of hosting our events we hope recruits at least 20 active newbies 20
Number of volunteer hours Part time for all the community staff 3

21. Additional core quantitative metrics. These core metrics will not tell the whole story about your work, but they are important for measuring some Movement-wide changes. Please try to include these core metrics if they are relevant to your work. If they are not, please use the space provided to explain why they are not relevant or why you can not capture this data. Your explanation will help us review our core metrics and make sure we are using the best ones for the movement as a whole.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target
Number of participants New participant: 75

Returning participant: 25

100
Number of editors We measure active editors through our dashboard and xtool hence we aim to have 40 active editors this year 40
Number of organizers 5 organiser this is determined according to how active and and editor is when organising events and skills they show within the community that they would like to offer to help in building our community. 5
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia Create and Improve articles in Setswana (lImprove 250 Articles and Create 250 articles).

This will be under the Setswana Wikipedia Contest and the School club activation project. (dashboard will be used here)

500
Wikimedia Commons Add at least 400 images for Wiki Loves Africa project and 50 Images for the prominent figures in Botswana photography project. (Montage will be use here to judge best images) 450
Wikiquote Create 75 New articles and Improve 75 Articles, on the #SheSaid Campaign (dashboard will be used here) 150
Wikidata Improve 50 articles and create 100 articles (dashboard will be used here) N/A
N/A N/A N/A

21.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.

n/a

22. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?

The Dashboard Montage Xtools

Financial Proposal edit

23. & 23.1 What is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.

539407.87 BWP

23.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?

39550 USD

23.3 Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.

Link here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNsz8F3OgR76XtPmli6vgc7zBUrpn6lg/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112179996594021215799&rtpof=true&sd=true

23.4 Please include any additional observations or comments you would like to include about your budget.

N/A

Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.

Other public document(s):

Final Message edit

By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes


Feedback edit