Wikimedia Meta-Wiki

Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wiki in Africa Multi-Year General Support 2023-25/Yearly Report (2023)

< Grants:Programs‎ | Wikimedia Community Fund‎ | Wiki in Africa Multi-Year General Support 2023-25
Yearly Learning Report (Year 1 - 2023)

Report Status: Accepted

Due date: 2024-02-09T00:00:00Z

Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund

Report type: Yearly Learning Report (for multi-year fund recipients) , reporting year: 2023

Application

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their midpoint report. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.


General information edit

This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving multi-year Wikimedia Community Funds to report on their yearly results.

  • Name of Organization: Wiki in Africa
  • Title of Proposal: Wiki in Africa Multi-Year General Support 2023-25

Part 1 Understanding your work edit

1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.

Year 1: 2023 was a particularly successful year for Wiki In Africa.

The remote team of 7 worked to support each other to achieve great forward strides over 2023. The team has regular team meetings, project-specific sessions, and deep dive workshopping sessions to keep the projects on track. The team coordinated its documentation using Google Workspaces, uses project management software (Asana and Notion), and kept track of timelines, tasks, and workflows using multiple design and social platforms for communications efficiency.

All planned organizational goals and project activities were completed, and the expected outcomes were met and exceeded. The project's activities are documented here: https://w.wiki/95qm .

In addition to the activities proposed in the Muti-year Plan submitted in 2022, the team planned, implemented, and successfully completed an additional project, African Environment WikiFocus, as part of the African Knowledge Initiatives.

Wiki In Africa was represented at multiple Wikimedia Events, including Wikimania, Wikimedia Summit, Wikimedia Edu Summit, WikiIndaba, Wikiconvention Francophone, WikiWomen Camp, and Wiki In Africa’s co-ED, Florence joined the Wikimedia ED Usergroup, allowing us to share strategies and tactics with our peers (and attend their gathering in Brussels). In addition, Wiki In Africa was represented at Open Education Global Conference in Edmonton, Canada, and was one of the representatives of the OEG Live session from Wikimania.

Wiki In Africa’s five closing highlights of 2023 were:

  1. Wiki Loves Africa: 9 years with 102,026+ images entered from 55 countries being viewed +1,3 billion! times on Wikimedia projects + WLA Video Jury established.
  2. Wiki Loves Women’s SheSaid: the 2023 drive resulted in +5 407 new articles created and +1 271 articles improved in 18 Wikiquote language projects!
  3. WikiChallenge African Schools’ 6th year: 190 schools in 10 countries participated! Award Ceremony hosted on WikiAfrica Hour.
  4. African Environment WikiFocus successfully held: 17 communities that supported 400 editors in creating or editing 10,830 articles and adding 2,579 references.
  5. Wiki In Africa projects represented at 7 Wikimedia and one international education conference!

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?

Wiki In Africa’s overarching goal of liberating African content through activating and supporting Wikimedia growth and development across Africa and other marginalised peoples is definitely succeeding, especially with more usergroups and volunteer groups involved in our programs than ever.

At an organisational level, our strategy focused on:

  • Ensuring content and passionate co-workers with clear pathways for development and growth. This year we:
  • Expanded our team slightly (2 principals, 4 members retained from 2022,1 newbie, 1 temporary contractor);
  • Consolidated processes that continued our “proactive, not reactive” approach to project planning, implementation, and documentation;
  • Maintained morale by providing regular meetings and check-ins and offline support during key stressful moments in each project.
  • Visibility and validity as a solid partner within multiple sectors
  • Ensured that our Staff, Board, Focus Group members, Community and Funding Partners, and Alumni are fully and clearly credited across the projects
  • Began discussions with consultants in different sectors and regions outside of Wikimedia
  • Lowered unavoidable financial impact by ensuring, where possible, that NGO discounts were applied for and activated.
  • Implementing an organisational and governance effectiveness review:
  • Began the process of reviewing governance processes and policies;
  • Progress towards Public Benefit Status in South Africa has been made.
  • Review and expand the Board and program Advisory Committees to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with:
  • Added 3 new members to the Board of Directors;
  • Hosted 2 meetings in 2023 with the Board of Directors; engaged the board on several opportunities within the Wikimedia space.
  • We have continued to offer Fiscal Sponsorship to communities with funding issues.

From a programmatic level:

  • The organisational security afforded by a 3-year MultiYear Grant ensured that one of our flagship projects (Wiki Loves Africa) could finally have the dedicated attention it deserved;
  • An additional project – African Environment – was picked up and successfully completed and involved new processes around applications, selections, microgrant funding, reporting, etc.;
  • The team strategically built, communicated about, and developed opportunities for the projects, ensuring that each project was integrated to support the others projects – this was particularly notable with the African Environment WikiFocus that was supported by both Wiki Loves Africa and Wiki Loves Women activities;
  • Global Wikimedia and aligned events were strategically approached to maximize impact for the team and the wider community;
  • The scope of WikiAfrica Hour was extended to host key community-focused launches and moments in the Africa calendar; this ensured opening up new programs to different audiences and ensuring WM events could be experienced by those not attending through the “Echoes from” episodes.

3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?

Wiki In Africa constantly innovates to ensure our programs remain relevant to the wider Wikimedia community. More information: https://w.wiki/95qm. In brief, we feel the following new or expanded elements were innovations within the Wikimedia organizers space and added to our effectiveness over 2023. We have limited it to 1-2 innovation per project.

Wiki In Africa

  • Continued review of communications to ensure brand cohesion and consistency, and also to relay the impact of the projects beyond the Wikimedia space. This began with the 4 posters printed for Wikimania in Singapore.
  • Bi- (and tri-) lingual communications are published; in some Zoom gatherings we were grateful for the support of WMF translators.

Wiki Loves Africa:

  • A video jury was compiled and supported for Wiki Loves Africa 2023. To our knowledge, this is the first of its kind for a Wiki Loves X on Commons.
  • Linguistic ambassadors activated at the end of 2023 to better serve and support Africa’s main linguistic ‘regions’.

ISA Tool:

  • To fix problems with the tool, co-organized a hackathon with WM Igbo Usergroup, WMF and WM DE.

African Environment WikiFocus

  • Co-organised major bi-lingual continental project with local Wikimedia Usergroup, Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire Usergroup;
  • New processes established to activate new communities (application portal, selection jury, microgrant funding, support for 17 teams, communications tracking, coordinated dashboard, report templates, etc.);

Wiki Loves Women

  • SheSaid organizers survey provided insight into this unique Wikiquote drive.

WikiChallenge

  • WikiAfrica Hour WikiChallenge Awards guests: Orange Foundation, WIA team, jury, the winning schools, the teachers, etc. Only children were missing!

WikiAfrica Hour

  • WikiAfrica Hour’s “Echoes From” bridged the gap between WM event attendees and those who could not attend by conducting Interviews at Wikimedia events and sharing them along with a panel of people who attended the event.

4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.

In 2023, we were more deliberate in ensuring the visibility of the organisers involved in our projects. Here are some examples:
  • African Environment WikiFocus: launched by WikiAfrica Hour, a mid-WikiFocus meeting, and a closing “party” where organisers shared their experiences. (https://w.wiki/95pr). There is a closing ‘party’ now planned for SheSaid 2023 and a launch for Wiki Loves Africa 2024.
  • Continual feedback is sought from community members who participate in our projects, e.g.:
  • Posters and presentations, and participation in sessions at Wikimedia Events (Wikimania, Wikimedia Summit, Wikimedia Edu Summit, WikiIndaba, Wikiconvention Francophone, WikiWomen Camp, and the ED Gathering). It is important to meet people face-to-face andshare experiences in person. The posters featured quotes from WikiAfrica Hour and Inspiring Open guests (https://w.wiki/96XW ).

Examples of types of communications, interventions, and tactics are:

  • Wiki Loves Africa’s organizers alerted to multiple funding options and deadlines, and are further supported by office hours, and direct communication with the grantees and grant officers. There is a telegram group and a mailing list. We support new communities every year, in 2023, we welcomed Senegal and Namibia to the contest. The theme is chosen by the community: https://w.wiki/95qD
  • The WLW Focus Group chose topics that are then hosted by key experts (external to group and sometimes WM). Presentations (without the discussions) shared on YouTube channel for skills transfer via (agreed) public or private access.
  • WikiAfrica Hour extended its offering to covering Wikimedia events, and the launch and awards ceremonies of Wikimedia projects relating to Africa.

Read about the Communication wins here: https://w.wiki/979U

5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
All activities (and stories) for Wiki In Africa programs are detailed here: https://w.wiki/95qm

All Wiki In Africa stories and news across all projects can be found here: https://www.wikiinafrica.org/news/ All newsletters accessed here: https://www.wikiinafrica.org/newsletters/

6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups Strongly agree
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community Strongly agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups Strongly agree
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives Strongly agree
E. Encourage the retention of editors Strongly agree
F. Encourage the retention of organizers Strongly agree
G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. Strongly agree

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?

All of our projects are geared to activate individuals and support communities around fun projects that help to close the gender gap and decolonize knowledge. Read our Theory of Change (https://w.wiki/6KbN).

We work with gender-focused communities across the movement to ensure voices are heard. During 2023, despite a lack of funding, 4 inspiring open interviews were conducted at Wikimania (published in 2024). Inspiring Open places a spotlight on the women leaders of the movement by highlighting their journey towards the wikimedia work they do.

WIA projects are geared to add content (although that is a vital part) through introducing and empowering new and early-stage Wikimedians with best practices, and supporting their navigation of a new movement and community. We collated a page of resources and videos that we have compiled across all projects over the years: https://w.wiki/95sM

African Environment WikiFocus supported new members of the movement in a collective effort around Environmental and Climate knowledge. New processes were implemented: a call for microgrant applications, a call for a selection committee, a selection process, onboarding, agreements signed and documented, microgrant dissemination to 13 countries, outreach dashboard collation, on-wiki documentation, final reports, etc., all supported through bi-lingual office hours and expert hosted webinars.

Part 2: Your main learning edit

8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?

Many of our initial learning priorities have been answered in 2023. Here are a few.

Wiki Loves Women 2023

  • How much impact has the Focus Group had on local community growth and development?

Respondents stated that:

  • sessions empowered them to co-lead their community.
  • their participation contributed to the development of communication skills within their community and enhanced leadership abilities.
  • knowledge gained in the Focus Group was shared with colleagues and the broader community, contributing to positive community growth.
  • they share this knowledge with Wikipedians in their community, fostering a culture of continuous learning.


  • How empowered do women feel through the program and initiatives?

Respondents stated that:

  • the sense of solidarity among women provided support, enabling the accomplishment of more ambitious goals without fear.
  • the skills acquired, including planning, project writing, grant application, and personal development, have found practical applications in their professional work.

The 2023 Focus Group annual survey: https://w.wiki/95qK WikiAfrica Hour

  • How effective is this format for imparting knowledge, building community skills, cohesion, and shared purpose?

Data indicates a successful format. Episodes were viewed 2,610 times over 2023. African audiences view WikiAfrica Hour when they can (58% on mobile). YouTube subscriptions grew by 54%. WikiAfrica Hour guests survey (25% response rate): https://w.wiki/95rv

9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?

As you can see from the answers to question 8, we have consulted the community thoroughly about their experiences and learned how to improve the effectiveness of each project year after year.

Of course, there are always new things to learn, and the deeper we dive into the lived experiences of present and future editors, the better we will be able to support their growth and contributions.

Here are two examples of unexpected (and positive) elements that occurred this year:

  • The WLA Video Jury feedback - when creating the first jury to evaluate videos for a Wiki Loves X competition (and we believe the first jury of its kind on Commons), questions were asked by the jurors about the differences in the types of video submissions (clips, narrative, reportage, etc.). These questions resulted in the 2024 contest being more specific in the prize categories, with the prize amounts also reflecting the level of complexity and effort.
  • The ISA Tool ran into some technical glitches. It had been a year-long worry that our partners at Wikimedia SV had run out of money to help this community tool. A solution came about in the form of a hackathon for developers to improve the tool. The resulting event was a collaboration between Wiki In Africa, the Igbo Wikimedia Usergroup, and others. The event took place in January 2024 but resulted from planning in 2023. 428 registered, 328 attended the 3 days event, 129 actively contributed to the hackathon. https://w.wiki/95t4

10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?

Some of the new priorities have been mentioned earlier, or in passing, but here are some we are currently implementing during 2024.
  1. Feedback from the francophone community pushed us to formalise a more robust translation strategy and to put out a call for Wiki Loves Africa linguistic ambassadors.
  2. Implementing the African Environment WikiFocus reinforced the importance of focusing on Topics of Impact, such as Climate Change, and the urgent need to fill these critical knowledge gaps. We are very keen to find ways (and the funding) to make this project an annual event built into our calendar.
  3. African Environment WikiFocus communications successful strategy means we now include a launch and/or closing events in our major contribution event schedules – this is being implemented in 2024 for both SheSaid and Wiki Loves Africa.
  4. Due to the success of WikiAfrica Hour’s “Echoes From” series, this will be a feature of future programming.
  5. Due to the success of WikiAfrica Hour, we (might be) are planning a similar live show that encompasses a different segment of the Wikimedia community (watch this space!).
  6. During this busy year, and in not being able to completely fix the technical issues we have had with the ISA Tool, we have also become much more aware of the need for a staff member who is focused on being a tool ambassador to the Wikimedia community.
  7. Our involvement post WikiWomen Camp has made us keen to explore hosting WikiWomen Camp in 2025 on the African Continent!

11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?

  1. The extraordinary success of video winner Bouba Kam’s video training sessions for Wiki Loves Africa 2023 resulted in 16 finished mini-documentaries, motivating us to encourage similar efforts.
  1. Creating and supporting the Video Jury for the Wiki Loves Africa video prizes exposed glaring gaps in how Commons host videos and what videos are ‘acceptable’ as encyclopedic. We are working on this in 2024 with the wider community, and African Filmmakers.
  1. The African Environment WikiFocus was not covered by the WMF grant, but it was an incredible (and very tough) learning experience. We learned valuable lessons about what we could do, how well we work together under pressure, essential non-negotiables and what NOT to do. In the end, it stood out as a defining project in 2023.

12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Insights, resources, and tools:

Participation and Organiser experiences for 2023 programs:

  • Wiki Loves Women
  • Wiki Loves Africa 2023
  • WikiChallenge African Schools
  • WikiAfrica Hour
  • A survey was sent to all 101 WikiAfrica Hour guests, there was a 25% response rate. Read about their experiences here: https://w.wiki/95rv
  • African Environment WikiFocus
  • A three-tier feedback process was followed for this project. Read the experiences of 5 organisers, the organiser’s, and the participant’s survey here: https://w.wiki/95s4

Results and best practices:

Since 2021, Wiki In Africa has been offering volunteer groups and individuals Fiscal Sponsorship. These experiences have ensured that we could formalize the expectations of potential applicants and were able to provide operational feedback to WMF about contractual agreements, tracking systems, etc., which we believe are useful to the community at large and manage expectations (https://w.wiki/6LSh).

Part 3: Metrics for Year 1 edit

13a. Open and additional metrics data

Open Metrics
Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Leadership Journey of core participants to Wiki Loves Women We have trained and mentored core participants in the Wiki Loves Women program since 2017. What happened to them since then? What was the impact of the collaboration on their journey ? Did that reinforce their leadership ?

During 2022 we have consistently consulted the core participants about their needs and desires with regards to the future of the program and direction of the support it offers. This has been gathered in an informal manner, using emails, specific feedback sessions, and Telegram channel polls.
This is a qualitative metric we would like to explore further and more structured in 2023. At this point, we believe a way to do that would be to facilitate a series of individual interviews to members of the WLW focus group and former leaders of WLW programs + create and send an anonymous survey (to members of the focus group, former leaders of WLW program and current leaders of #SheSaid initiative), to assess past and future practices with outcomes presented in a report.
This is a rather time consuming effort, which will only be seriously explored if we have sufficient staff time support.

Note: due to budget restrictions, WIA unfortunately can not hire a Wiki Loves Women facilitator. It is very unlikely that this learning process will be thus implemented.

N/A N/A In 2023, a feedback survey was conducted with the Focus Group members. Please find the executive summary and results here: https://w.wiki/95qK Feedback survey
Participation of professional photographers to Wiki Loves Africa For the past 2 years, we have tried to reach out to photo professionals in Africa. We intend to expand this strategy in 2023. Is there an impact on photo quality ? on awareness of the photo contest ? on awareness of Wikimedia Commons ?

This is a qualitative metric we would like to explore in 2023. For the last few years, we have been focused on better supporting Wikimedia lead organisers. But the work has definitely started:

Another direction started in 2022 is to foster a community effort to deliberately get WLA pictures tagged as featured, quality, or value (thus being able to evaluate the situation over the years). The early development of a ‘tips and tricks’ series for interested photographers, hosted by past winners and jurors.

We feel that 2023 will be the right time to implement these long-term goals.
We would like to better qualify our database of professional photographers (increase quality contacts number; measure impact of our messages to them such as opening rate), and photography schools and groups, and identify professional participants to WLA on Commons.

We could plan an awareness measurement campaign of Commons/WLA (or WLX) in Africa, in partnership with the relevant Wikimedia Foundation team.

All those will be time consuming efforts, which can only be seriously explored if we have sufficient staff time support.

Note: due to budget restrictions, the planned half time staff dedicated to WLA will be hired for 8 months instead of 12 months. We will do our best, but this metrics may be only partly implemented.

N/A N/A Three elements have moved us forward on this Open Metric Goal:

1. A focus has been developed on Master Classes for the 2024 contest. 2. In 2023, we did an experiment with a previous winning filmmaker who hosted Wiki Loves Africa video training in Cote d’Ivoire. This was particularly successful, and we are exploring ways to replicate this in-person video masterclass in the future. 3. The 2024 Participants Survey will include questions that are specific about photographic and video skill level.

Consulting Wikimedia Commonists that have been involved in the jury or in Wiki Loves Africa. Facilitating an experimental video masterclass that was successful. Posting a Participants Survey.
WikiAfrica Hour impact We have been running this programme for a year or so and intend to continue in 2023. How effective is this format for imparting knowledge, building community skills, cohesion, and shared purpose? Is it worth it? What would be more effective?

An interesting direction would be to set-up an advisory committee (made of africans, podcasters, communication people etc.), provide them with an overview of what has been achieved so far, what programmatic elements could be fine tuned, what is missing, etc.and get them involved in 1-3 online sessions to brainstorm on the strategy ahead. We would probably need an external dedicated person to facilitate such an activity.

N/A N/A Three elements that have moved us forward on this Open Metric Goal:

1. At the end of 2023, we approached the 101 guests that had been hosted on WikiAfrica Hour episodes with a survey. The 25% response rate resulted in critical feedback that will help to drive the project forward. Find their responses here: https://w.wiki/95yX 2. The original project manager and host left Wiki In Africa at the end of 2023. This has allowed us to re-envision the format, host options and future of WikiAfrica Hour. 3. Current YouTube data points to the format being successful. The live viewing figures are not particularly high (averaging around viewers). However, the views of each episode grew exponentially over the year to 2,610 views- indicating that African audiences are very keen to view (58% from mobile phones) WikiAfrica Hour in their own time, at their leisure. The subscriptions to the YouTube channel have grown by 54% this year, indicating a keen desire for repeat viewing and eagerness for new content.

Guest survey. YouTube analytics.
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Additional Metrics
Additional Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities WLA participants = 1,500

Wikiquote participants = 9 x 20
ISA participants = 40

N/A 7533 The expected targets on WLA, Wikiquote and ISA have been reached. Regarding WLA... historically the number of newbie entrants for Wiki Loves Africa is relatively high and averages out to around 80% over the first 8 years. In 2023, the percentage of new editors dropped to 57%, showing returning editors. WLX Tools, wikimedia metrics, ISA statistics (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool/Impact), SheSaid Queries, etc.
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors N/A N/A N/A Achieved. Expectations and experience survey conducted Dec 23. Results: https://w.wiki/95qK Surveys.
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees N/A N/A N/A Achieved. Wiki Loves Africa 2024 Participant Survey Results: https://w.wiki/95rE ; African Environment WikiFocus organisers and participant feedback: https://w.wiki/95s4  ; Wiki Loves Women's SheSaid Organiser feedback: https://w.wiki/95q4 1 on 1 Interviews. Annoymous surveys.
Number of people reached through social media publications We are deploying an important outreach effort on social media. We expect to see an increase in followers, but also in engagement. 30% increase 30 19 Average of 18.52% increase in new fans and followers across 10 socials platforms. Notable increasees in WLA Instagram (21.7%), WLW Instagram (80.8%), Linked In (59%) and YouTube (54%). Social media analytics.
Number of activities developed N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of volunteer hours N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

13b. Additional core metrics data.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants WLA participants = 1,500

Wikiquote participants = 9 x 20
ISA participants = 40
WAHour guests = 12 x 4

1800 7533 WLA users entered photographs = 802

WLW ISA: Tell Us About Her = 28 SheSaid Wikiquote participants = 298 ISA Participants = 237 WAHour guests = 64 WLW Inspiring Open podcast guests = 4 African Environment = 400 WikiChallenge Participating Children (ave. 1 class of 30 kids/school) 5,700

WLX tools, WLX Tools, wikimedia metrics, ISA statistics (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool/Impact), SheSaid Queries, etc.

SheSaid participants minimum expected (using Hashtag tool)

Number of editors WLA participants = 1,500

Wikiquote participants = 9 x 20
ISA participants = 40
WAHour guests = 12 x 4 WLW Inspiring Open podcast guests = 12

1700 2023 We view this as the participants (please see above). Anyone who contributed or made an edit is counted (however, we have not counted the children from WikiChallenge)

WLA users entered photographs = 802 WLW ISA: Tell Us About Her = 28 SheSaid Wikiquote participants = 298 ISA Participants = 237 WAHour guests = 64 WLW Inspiring Open podcast guests = 4 African Environment = 400 WikiChallenge teachers = 190

WLX tools, WLX Tools, wikimedia metrics, ISA statistics (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool/Impact), SheSaid Queries, etc.

SheSaid participants minimum expected (using Hashtag tool)

Number of organizers WLA org team members = 21 x 3

WLW Focus group members / SheSaid= 15.
Additional Note: it is nevertheless likely that some figures overlap between organizers WLW and organizers WLA...

78 261 WLA local org team members = 90

WLW Focus group members = 16 She Said participating communities = 54 ISA campaign creators = 32 WikiChallenge Organisers = 20 African Environment = 34

Wiki In Africa Databases; WLX tools, WLX Tools, wikimedia metrics, ISA statistics (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool/Impact), SheSaid Queries, minimum average figures per country/team/language.
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Wikimedia Commons Images collected through Wiki Loves Africa photo contest 8000 13386 Images collected through Wiki Loves Africa photo contest Wikimedia Commons: https://tools.wmflabs.org/wikiloves/africa
Wikiquote Wiki Loves Women SheSaid entries 400 6678 Wiki Loves Women SheSaid entries: 5 407 new articles created and 1 271 articles improved in 18 languages Queries to track articles produced per language: https://w.wiki/97JF
Wikimedia Commons ISA descriptions and captions added 50000 162083 ISA descriptions and captions added in 2023. ISA Tool Impact: https://w.wiki/97JM
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?

Yes

15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.

This inability to truthfully show long-term impact and year-on-year metrics has had, and will continue to, create problems when seeking external funding for projects. There needs to be an urgent movement focus on fixing these tools before they start impacting ALL Wikimedia organiser projects, and especially GLAM and research partnerships.

A series of global movement monthly hackathons where several tools are "fixed" might help to get this currently critical situation fixed.

16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Results and best practices:

Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships edit

17. Organizational Capacity

Organizational capacity dimension
A. Financial capacity and management This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
B. Conflict management or transformation This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it
C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
D. Partnership building This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
E. Strategic planning This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
F. Program design, implementation, and management This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
J. Governance This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
K. Communications, marketing, and social media This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
M. On-wiki technical skills This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
N. Accessing and using data This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
O. Evaluating and learning from our work This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
N/A
N/A

17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Formal training provided from outside the Wikimedia Movement, Peer to peer learning with other community members in conferences/events, Using capacity building/training resources onlinee from sources OUTSIDE the Wikimedia Movement

17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of training that fits contextual needs and interests, Barriers to access training because of language

18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?

Our plan for 2024 is to strategically approach other organizations to secure external funding for some of our programs. Sustainability is important, and so is the validation that comes with being funded by multiple institutions that believe in proven solutions to critical real-world problems. This strategy has already started with the consolidation of our branding and making visible our impact to the wider community and beyond. We still need help in presenting ourselves outside the movement, meeting the right people, and being in the right room at the right time. We’d be happy to chat with someone at the WMF or someone they have worked with to help to hone our strategy in this regard.

19. Partnerships over the funding period.

Over the fund period...
A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) Agree
B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups Agree
C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups Strongly agree

19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Permanent staff outreach, Volunteers from our communities, Partners proactive interest

19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships, Lack of staff to conduct outreach to new strategic partners, Limited funding period

20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?

  1. Wikimedia Foundation: we stay in touch and are open about our struggles, and support the WMF staff when we can. We are in it together.
  1. WM communities: Face-to-face discussions result in a beneficial situations; organisers approached as soon as challenges arise to solve a problem together.
  2. African Environment WikiFocus: multi-player partnership more complicated, stressful, and exhausting than expected; clear planning, expectations and tasks not enough; taking a few months to cool down + face-to-face discussions helped to clear the air.
  3. External partners: Repetition and 101 explanations provide context. They do not “get it” as the wiki world is complex and unusual; vigilance required to not be a “service providers”; as “volunteers”, our insights and knowledges are undervalued.

Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration edit

21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?

This is a hard question to answer. We feel that we fully belong to and are part of the Wikimedia movement. Our work is intricately linked to the success of the movement, especially in the spheres where we are working to close the participation and contribution gaps. Some of the elements that we highlighted last year are not as glaring this year - and that might just be due to more visibility through our programs. As expressed last year, we continue to be involved in and part of the larger free knowledge movement by supporting, participating in, and giving presentations at Open movement events around the world.

In some ways, our confirmed position within the Wikimedia movement is sometimes to our detriment as it is difficult for external funders to see how our projects can solve real-world problems. Internally, we are aware that, as an organisation, our projects pose specific solutions for some of the key access, education, and knowledge challenges facing Africa.

22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Somewhat increased

23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

More visibility on our own platforms. Facilitating the visibility of Wikimedia projects to the wider African community, and also to other Free Knowledge movement groups, for example organising OEG Live session for educators at Wikimania Singapore.

24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Somewhat increased

25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

Our personal investment in the movement remains strong and committed. Creating platforms through which other Wikimedians can share and shine a light on their own Wikimedia wins is very fulfilling and has reinforced our own commitment as a group. Working in new areas has also inspired new project ideas!

26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.

We are part of the following movements:
  • Open Education – through OEGlobal events and participation (Isla staff). Florence was a reviewer for the OEAwards. Isla will attend the OER Conference in Cork, Ireland, in 2024. Isla is the chair of the Advance Edukos Foundation.
  • Creative Commons – Isla is a Global Network member, and both Isla and Florence have attended Creative Commons Summits in previous years.
  • Intellectual Property Rights – Florence works part-time as a WIR for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and occasionally consults with the affiliated United Nations group of organizations.
  • Open Data – such as Open Food Facts (Florence is a board member of Open Food Facts)
  • Climate Justice – connection to and involvement with continent-based groups.

Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration edit

We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.

27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?

Yes

27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?

Results and best practices:

28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?

We do this regularly (at least once a month)

29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?

We do not do a formal mutual learning session with other grantees – although we are always eager to contribute to Let’s Connect, Organisers Lab, and WMF Grants sharing sessions. As a team, Wiki In Africa shares its lessons and outcomes for all Wiki In Africa programs through the annual “Results and Best Practices” pages. On a regular basis, we use our platforms to share lessons, resources, and opportunities and WM news) to the WM Community:
  • Wiki Africa Hour
  • Wiki in Africa monthly bi-lingual newsletters
  • on mailing lists
  • blog posts (on DIFF or elsewhere)
  • on Telegram, Linked In, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram
  • at Wikimedia conferences

Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance edit

30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

3060731

31. Local currency type

ZAR

32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

  • Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
  • Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
GFS Financial Report 23 (public): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z5Qm9aGtX0pTSG-PVxeVY7DFN8Wy4mRJhr4r3sVJQE8/edit?usp=drive_link

This is the summary version for the Wikimedia community

33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.

The grant amount was 162k USD

Final expenses estimated in dollars: 166k

We generally respected our budget. The main source of increase ended up being service subscriptions (Google Workspace, Adobe, 1Password, Asana, etc.). Costs increased due to 1) the addition of a few new services, 2) an increase in staff (many services are “per user”), 3) inflation, and a significant increase in service rates. We addressed the issue with a thorough review of all the tools and services we used, canceled some of them, and applied for NGO’s discounts where possible.

The main difference between our budget and final expenses were tax fees and tax services which we did not expect that totalled over 4k USD. We are still in the process of applying for tax exemption, a process that is not easy in South Africa (but we are working on it).

In the meanwhile, the main way to avoid paying taxes is to avoid finishing the fiscal year with a large sum of money in the bank account, which makes it seem we are closing the year with a profit (which we are not). In South Africa, the fiscal year ends at the end of February. We have addressed the situation in 2023 by asking for the WMF grant team to transfer the grant in March rather than December or January. The 4k tax was related to tax calculated on former years.

Other differences are mostly linked to inflation and currency fluctuations (all staff contracts are either in Euros or US Dollars). We also experienced critical security issues related to the website in early 2023, which had to be addressed by our webmaster.

In the Year 2 Annual plan, we reported that one of our major issues at Wiki in Africa was the very low financial reserves, which did not provide any security in case of unexpected expenses. So how did we manage the unexpected 4k+ related to the taxes?

Well, in 2023, Wiki in Africa had one other source of revenue only: a grant to operate the AKI project. That money was separated from our GFS fund. The AKI budget covered an external contractor, and a percentage of the administrative and management salaries, in compensation for time spent running the AKI program. While the external contractor and the admin have received salaries, we “saved” the management money and tightened other expenses to cover the non-budgeted taxes. We further decided to not spend on a few other lines (travel etc.) to ensure a little bit of cash security.

We will end our fiscal year with around an estimate of 12k, which means our current reserve is still an issue at only 7,5% of our total budget.

34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?

34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

N/A

34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?

N/A

34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.

N/A

35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?

As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.

36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?

Yes

37. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.

Yes

38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.

Thank you !! to the WMF Grants team and the WMF team in general! It is always a pleasure to work through a busy year and remind ourselves of the value of what we do and the sheer joy of working collaboratively with an international team that is open to discussions, brainstorming challenges and ideas alike, and listens to our suggestions and often has solutions for our bottlenecks!
Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Wiki_in_Africa_Multi-Year_General_Support_2023-25/Yearly_Report_(2023)&oldid=26466959"