Grants talk:Conference/Wikimedia Australia/ESEAP Conference 2022

WMF review and feedback

Hi ESEAP Conference 2022 team,

Thank you so much for this proposal! We are extremely happy for the possibility to support an ESEAP regional conference. We recognize how difficult and isolating it was during the past few years, and we definitely see how such a gathering can foster the future growth of the ESEAP Wikimedia community and accelerate your efforts. Thank you Wikimedia Australia for taking on the challenging task of hosting it.

I have reviewed your proposal and here are a few comments and questions.

Community input

• Hub governance; Affiliate governance; Outreach and community collaboration; Leadership development - All very important and definitely leading to establishing a leadership capacity and framework for the region. Thank you for prioritizing those goals.

Context

• It's a good idea to lump the two events (WOW 2022) together. I also see that as a great opportunity to leverage Wikimedia Australia's work by increasing local participation and partnerships.

Participation

• 60 scholarships, but you have 100 intended participants. Will those 40 be local participants?

Response from ESEAP  : The additional participants will be made up from a mix of WMF staff and WMAU committee, Wikimania Core Organising Team, self funded participants from across the ESEAP region and WoW conference participants. A maximum number is required for catering and venue budgeting.

• 2 representatives for each affiliate - who will determine who will get a scholarship? Will it be the scholarship committee, or the affiliate?
• Following the last question - will you be open to fund participants from communities who have a respective affiliate but are not in contact with the affiliate OR do not wish to be associated with? From our experience, delegating the selection process for a regional event to only to affiliates, might be complicated.

Response from ESEAP  : A representative scholarship committee will assess the applications and will seek input and feedback from the relevant affiliate to inform and ratify their decision. The criteria for selection is listed on the grant application submitted, however the scholarship committee is open to further discussions on the criteria.
We expect that 24 scholarships will be filled by ESEAP affiliate representatives, Wikimania 2023 COT and the rest will be made from open applications from the community across ESEAP countries including event organisers who require assistance.
We acknowledge that this may be complicated but association with an affiliate or user group is not an essential criteria.

• I would also encourage targeting or setting up a metrics goal of bringing first time attendees to a Wikimedia community event. There is a lot of value and impact in welcoming newcomers to those kind of events.

Response from ESEAP  : Definitely. We will add this as a desired criteria for the scholarship assessment panel, particularly the second affiliate seat.

Budget

• What is a '' special function venue''?

Response from ESEAP  : This is just to indicate that there will be a welcome evening activity on the Friday night of the conference.

• Merchandise - I assume you would like all 100 participants to get the conference packs wouldn't you? I see you only budgeted for 60. Do scholarship recipients get a different kind of packs?

Response from ESEAP  : Yes, all 100 participants will receive the same pack. We believe we can still deliver this within this budget.

• Event manager - What will it include? Because if it's also for communication and such, 20 days might not be enough.

Response from ESEAP  : This is predominately to support event organisation and communication with attendees. As Wikimedia will have two full time staff members, we feel this level of support is adequate.

Overall your proposal is great. A bit on the high end in terms of the budget, but I understand this is due to Australia being an expensive destination and we are experiencing similar situations in other parts of the world.

The one thing I'm really missing is a bit more impact evaluation. What needs to happen so you will consider this event a success? Do you have any quantitative or qualitative metrics? What are the clear goals you are hoping to achieve based on the community input survey and based on your understanding of the community? What does the ESEAP Wikimedia community needs more than anything at the moment? (please mind that we have 2 Survey analysis questions on the proposal that you haven't answered). I would be really glad to hear more about your thoughts and intentions.

Response from ESEAP  :

Goals of the conference include:

• ESEAP Hub planning formalised with a draft charter or strategic planning document
• Focus on regional topics of importance and knowledge sharing on ESEAP issues
• Better understanding and connection between the ESEAP region and WMF
• Learning new tools for developing Wikimedia projects, affiliate governance and reporting etc.
• Exchange of ideas and skill sharing, new relationships and networks established between individuals and groups across the ESEAP region
• Wikimania COT planning and documentation, team building and preparation

Reporting and evaluation

• Conference reporting will include scholarship reports and affiliate reports to WMF and to their affiliate.
• We will do an evaluation survey of participants to assess the value and positive experiences of the event, including new ideas for projects and new people and how they will apply the learnings to their communities.

Metrics include:

• Number of first time participants
• Number of people presenting for the first time.
• Number affiliates participating
• Overall number of attendees and breakdown of participation across the weekend activities
• Diversity of participants

Thank you again for time and energy spent on creating this proposal, and for allowing this important platform for the region and the movement. Thank you for considering this application and for your feedback. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 17:01, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

We also acknowledge the high expense of an event like this on Australia. - Tenniscourtisland (talk) 00:44, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Additional Questions (from ESEAP Programme Officer)

Hello ESEAP Conference 2022 team,

Adding a few more questions to the list.

1) From the 42 people who responded to the community survey, were you able to make a further analysis of the geographical spread, level of engagement with the Wikimedia community, affiliation etc? What were key observations? How does it relate to the table of community inputs?

Answer to this question still to come.

2) Could you elaborate more on how your approach to identifying individuals who will receive scholarships through the category of "open positions with a focus on underrepresented countries and leadership development"? What would be examples of profiles that would fit into "development of new leaders or ESEAP members leading WMF global community initiatives"?

Response from ESEAP  :

Activities that would count towards scholarship selection include:

• Contributing from a country without an affiliate
• Forming a new affiliate
• Part of a non-affiliate community committee, ie language, steering, LDWG, strategy working group,

Alliances Fund

• Admin on a language project
• Running events like WLM, WLE, or doing outreach
• Key person in developing new language projects currently in the incubator
• Working on unsupported projects in areas with affiliates

3) How do you think Alliances Fund partners and ESEAP Funds Committee members can contribute to the conference (pre/during/post)? Could we make space for them to be part of the conference? Would they also be eligible to receive a travel scholarship to the conference?

Alliances Fund partners in ESEAP

• Analysis and Policy Observatory, Australia

• Creative Commons, Indonesia

• Open Street Map, Indonesia

• Open Street Map, Taiwan

• Shin Leh Yuan Art Space, Taiwan

• National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Response from ESEAP  :

• We would welcome and encourage participation from Alliance Fund partners and ESEAP Fund Committee members. They are welcome to submit program proposals about their activities and send representatives. Scholarship eligibility for Alliance Fund Partners would depend on whether their WMF grant included provisions for travel to events - in which case they should use this funding. Otherwise they can apply in the open category.
• All WMF employees with ESEAP responsibilities are welcome. Volunteers on the committee would be able to apply for scholarships based on their contributions to the funding committee and any other areas of activity.

4) As we work towards gender equity and diversity across membership and leadership structures within ESEAP region, how can we be more intentional in creating safe/welcoming space for, and lifting up missing voices (e.g. women, LGBTTQ, indigenous peoples and other minorities)in participation, programming etc? What can we do more or less of? If/When participants feel unsafe, unseen, would we be open to receiving formal feedback so we can all learn and be more aware of our own privileges or be more culturally sensitive? How do you think we can do that?

Response from ESEAP  :

• The scholarship and programming committees will both make selections based on equity, diversity and inclusion principles.

In terms of the meeting itself, this will be run based on the active application of:

• UCoC
• WMAU Friendly Space policy
• Contacts for T&S issues at the event
• Australian laws which prevent discrimination
• A diverse program covering a wide range of topics based on the interests of the community and the goals of the meeting.

Thank you. JChen (WMF) (talk) 13:29, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for your additional inquiries. We hope our answers satisfy. --Exec8 (talk) 06:44, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

Dear ESEAP team and @Exec8, Yes it does. Thank you for incorporating these into the grant application. Regards, Jacqueline

Proposal approved

Hi ESEAP Conference 2022 team,

Thank you for your work on the grant request. I appreciate your efforts and patience with this special round process.

We are glad to inform you that we have reviewed the final proposal and we are happy to support it in the amount of 248,825 AUD (175,185 USD).

Looking forward to working together!

On behalf of the Conference Grants Committee and Community Resources team.

Best, CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 12:25, 28 June 2022 (UTC)