Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/ A pilot project to translate WikiLearn Courses from English to Dagbani (ID: 22680717)
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Applicant Details
edit- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Alhassan Mohammed Awal
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
I'm a group leader of a Wikimedia User Group (submitted to the Affiliation Committee)., I'm a group leader of an informal Wikimedia group.
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
- Team Member (Volunteer), Dagbani Wikimedians User Group
- Co-lead (Volunteer), Dagaare Wikimedia Community
- Regional Ambassador (Volunteer), WPWP
- Liaison, Volunteer Supporters Network
Main Proposal
edit- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
A pilot project to translate WikiLearn Courses from English to Dagbani
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2024-08-20 - 2024-09-20
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Ghana
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Other (please specify) Translation of Course materials
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
The number of active contributors from Ghana to various Wikimedia projects is notably low. One contributing factor is the inadequate skills of indigenous language community members. Despite the presence of language-specific Wikipedias, only a few individuals actively contribute. Most active Wikimedians are students who face high internet costs and unstable networks, particularly in northern Ghana. These challenges hinder their participation in online training offered by User Groups to build their capacities. In-person workshops could help, but limited resources mean that only a few people are trained sporadically, often resulting in insufficient mastery of skills.
Additionally, it is observed that a significant number of African Wikimedians do not read most training materials currently in English, and sometimes the quality of training materials by some trainers in their in-person training sessions can be substandard, further discouraging effective contributions from the communities. Although English materials do not pose a language barrier for most Dagbani Wikimedians, they often neglect to read them.
As a digital language activist and volunteer, I have focused on leveraging Wikimedia projects to promote smaller languages, aiming to increase their visibility on these platforms. My outreach campaigns recruit and train individuals from underrepresented and indigenous communities to use Wikimedia projects for language preservation and promotion. However, my efforts are sometimes limited by resource constraints and my skills in some projects.
The WikiLearn platform has proven useful for understanding effective contributions to Wikimedia projects. Wikimedians carefully design the course materials with high expertise in Wikimedia projects. Its learner-friendly, self-paced courses help individuals facing network issues or internet data constraints. In my activism, I have noticed a growing interest in reading materials in indigenous languages. For instance, people find it engaging and easier to understand content in Dagbani on major platforms like Wikipedia. Providing materials in their native languages can motivate them to read and contribute to free knowledge sharing. With a deeper understanding of Wikimedia projects that WikiLearn offers, Dagbani Wikimedians can recruit more volunteers and provide appropriate training in other Ghanaian languages.
Initially, I considered translating all materials into Dagbani but, following advice from the Wikimedia Community Development Team in an email conversation, I decided to pilot this with one course. I aim to recruit Dagbani language experts to translate the “Trust & Safety Disinformation Training” course. This course was chosen for its relative simplicity to start with, and I believe that understanding this content will better inform, inspire, and empower Dagbani speakers to contribute to free knowledge sharing. This initiative will enhance the visibility of the language and promote diversity. The project is a new approach to complement the efforts of the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group in getting more active contributors to the various projects.
If successful, this project will expand to other Ghanaian languages, inspiring others to replicate it in their communities and get all other materials in the catalog translated.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
. Training of selected Dagbani Language experts. They will consist of both existing Wikimedians and potential Wikimedians. The aim is to get the experts who are not Wikimedians yet to be exposed to the Wikimedia ecosystem who are most likely to become Wikiemedians as a result and build the capacities of the existing ones so we can together produce a course material that will be patronized by many. 2. Translation of the course material from English to Dgbani after the platform administrators set up the page for Dagbani translations. 3. Selection of two (2) other Dagbani language experts (Dagbani language lecturers) to proofread the translations. This is to ensure the Dagbani orthography is duly applied for standardization and to make reading meaningful and easy. 3. Publicize the course material via talk pages, community portals, social media platforms, mailing lists, diff posts, YouTube, and local radios. Many, especially the youth of the Dagbani communities, rather spend more time on social media and promoting the availability of the course in Dagbani on these platforms has a high possibility of attracting their attention to explore it. 4. Public celebrations (on social media and others) of people who complete the course and gain certificates. This will help in the publicity process and motivate or catch the attention of others to also take the course. Find more on the meta page here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Translation_of_WikiLearn_Courses_from_English_to_Dagbani:_A_pilot_project
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
User: Alhassan Mohammed Awal will coordinate the entire project and liaise with the Community Development Committee to set up Dagbani on the course platform. User: Issahiddris is a prolific Dagbani Translator and will be responsible for co-training the selected translators. User: AFAIBRAHIM will be in charge of logistics. User: Hassslabetch has a technical background and will be responsible for technical stuff and communications.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The overall target participants are all native Dagomba but the team is specifically aiming at recruiting, selecting, and training Dagbani language experts to translate the course material. They are going to be a mix of existing Dagbani Wikimedians and new ones. There will be an in-person training for the selected translators and the course materials will be shared among them to translate. Timelines will be given for the translations. A dedicated WhatsApp group will be created to have all participants on board for discussions and resolutions.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
I opened a discussion on the Dagbani Wikipedia Community portal about the project. The link is here https://dag.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mabiligu_dund%C9%94%C5%8B#Translation_of_WikiLearn_Courses_into_Dagbani This application will also be on the talk page of the Dagbani Wikipedia, telegram group and other relevant platforms
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Language
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Advocacy
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Linguistic / Language
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Learning and metrics
edit- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
I want to learn the possibilities of Dagbani Wikimedians having more interest in taking WikiLearn courses in their language Also, I hope to learn about the impact of taking the WikiLearn courses by the Dagbani Wikimedians on their active and effective contribution to various Wikimedia projects due to the empowerment gained in the process.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 15 | |
| Number of editors | 10 | |
| Number of organizers | 5 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
Translation of course materials and encouraging community members to take the course
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
Dashboard
Financial proposal
edit- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U0gFUjKlfpFMzRWDQaxf7BPwVCi1R8cdNTYMuyOPTrY/edit#gid=0
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
34000 GHS
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
2301.91 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
editPlease add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).