Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Indonesia 2024–2025

Follow-up questions on your grant application

Hello Wikimedia Indonesia team,

Thank you for responding to the follow-up questions. For documentation purposes, we are also making the questions and responses available here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bZKB4gFeqETVreenVKbXqo93qR_NyU6s/view?usp=sharing

This file was also uploaded onto the grant application retrospectively and can be found under additional information at question 22.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 12:59, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Your grant application has been approved

Hello Wikimedia Indonesia,

Thank you for your responses to the follow-ups questions.

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of IDR 5,500,000,000 from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. With this approved amount, do submit a revised budget by adding tabs to your existing spreadsheet and labelling it revised. Please reply to this talkpage message once the adjustments have been made.  

Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Please let me know if you require support in any way or would like to share your experiences with a wider community through the Let's Connect Programme or at ESEAP community meetings.

Note on grant funding amount

In your award letter/email, you may observe that the USD equivalent may be different from that floating exchange rate on Oanda. This is because (at the moment) we apply a pre-determined exchange rate for each grant as determined by the WMF Finance team. That said, I've published on meta the approved amount in your local currency and we can use that as a common reference point.

We know even the best thought through plans may change.

In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to your programme officer about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage). There is also the option to have the unspent funds deducted against a future grant. More details here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Return_unused_funds_to_WMF

Disbursement of Funds

To facilitate the funds disbursement process, we seek your prompt response on Fluxx and via emails with the WMF Grants Administrator team (grantsadmin@wikimedia.org). We highly encourage you to submit all supporting documents and endorse the grant agreements within the stipulated time frame. When in doubt, proactively reach out to the WMF Grants Administration team and copy your programme officer for clarifications.

Additional resources which may be useful

• The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.
• Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx.
• Instructions for post award: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Processing/Grantee_Portal/Post_award
• Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

Recommendations

• For this grant application, we would like to flag questions/ responses for 1/9 (clarity on multi-year strategy and how it translates to annual planning process, priorities, projects and deliverables), 3 (Board of Trustees), 10 (employment practices) and status of reserve funds for further reflection and inclusion into your implementation plan. (Note: referencing follow-up questions document on talkpage; also uploaded at question 22 of grant application.) Note: referencing follow-up questions document on talkpage; also uploaded at question 22 of grant application.

• Clarity on multi-year strategy and how it translates to annual planning process, priorities, projects and deliverables: Based on your application and responses in the follow-up questions, these key questions are still left unanswered. Specifically, it would be helpful to think along these lines
  • Analysis / evaluation of your operating context
  • Needs of the society and the community that drive your work and why you are best suited/positioned to do that work
  • See Theory of Change example 1 and example 2
  • Without the above, it also means that the proposed impact and how you hope to achieve is not clear, and without it, the potential to achieve is left undefined.

• Board of Trustees: As a  locally registered organisation with paid staff and Board of Trustees, Trustees should be aware of their responsibilities and have the capacity/ experience to perform their duty of care. Given the size and maturity of Wikimedia Indonesia, it would be useful to reflect on/review the role and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, appointment/recruitment process, composition, value proposition/contribution, structure (i.e. subcommittees), onboarding process, training, tenure, conflict of interest, level of independence and oversight. We would recommend conducting a thorough review of the existing setup (including documentation) and drafting further plans on improving areas of gaps and ensuring a clear separation of duties and reporting lines between the Board of Trustees and Board of Executives.

• Employment practices: We noted that over the past year, you have made inroads in understanding local labour laws and your obligations as an employer. As you continue to professionalise Wikimedia Indonesia’s setup, you will need to focus on building internal documentation, policies, clear job descriptions, contracts, reporting lines, performance evaluation, compensation policy etc and where relevant making them available on your meta page and internal shared drive (accessible to paid staff and reviewed on a regular basis). Given the magnitude of work that this entails, we would recommend conducting a review of the existing practices and we look forward to learning about your future plans and target deliverables in this area.

• Reserve fund policy: We recommend finalising and publishing your reserve fund policy. An earlier draft was shared in June 2023 and the following suggestions were offered:
  • Clarity on management of interest accrued on reserved funds
  • Use of reserve fund (i.e. decision making process; concerns about veto powers of the Chairperson)
  • Replenishment clause to safeguard funds (i.e. when and how)

There should also be clear and separate reporting on your reserve funds

• It would be also useful to flag that these considerations have been taken into account and tracked in your final report, where possible. If you find it supportive, do have a further discussion at your next check-in with your programme officer. Please feel free to reach out proactively.
• As you will be reflecting and prioritising key initiatives in your revised budget, it would be useful to keep the above in mind when you adjust your budget.
• While we noted that there are many other areas that require greater attention based on our dialogue (i.e. ESEAP Funds Committee) and representatives from the affiliate, we are flagging and prioritising the above for now.
• For the next grant application, we would encourage you to start conversations early (with the programme officer) to identify and plan for the supporting structures needed for your affiliate to grow. We hope to tap on the collective wisdom of your experiences, peer learning and sharing to plan for your growth.

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project. Good luck!

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of ESEAP Funds Committee and WMF Staff who participated in the review of your grant application JChen (WMF) (talk) 13:04, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@JChen (WMF): Dear Jacqueline, thank you for the valuable feedback! In response to your request for follow-up, we attach a document with the latest revised budget, adjusted to the approved budget: see here.

We would also like to respond briefly to the above recommendations:

• Clarity on multi-year strategy and how it translates to annual planning process, priorities, projects and deliverables: We are working to bring the theory of change into the focus and prioritization of this year's activities by tailoring to the 2023-2027 strategic plan. We hope to follow up with you in a regular meeting as necessary.
• Board of Trustees: I would probably like to restate that our Board of Trustees does not receive any salary from the organisation in their capacity. However, our staff members do.

For your information, the duties and responsibilities, appointment, composition, term of office, and scope of oversight of the Board of Trustees are laid out in our bylaws. Kindly let us know if you have any questions.

• Employment practices: We are now moving forward with the reform and updating of all our labour-related regulations. A few months ago, our association's rules on labour received approval from the local labour office and it means that the rules outlined therein are in line with the current labour laws. We have also recirculated the approved document to our staff as a transparency between employer and employee. Each staff also obtained a copy as an inseparable part of their employment contract. We are more than happy to elaborate to you on the work we have put in in this aspect as needed.
• Reserve fund policy: We have been revisiting the reserve fund policy draft with the Board of Executives. In due course, we will report back with a finalised policy.

Thank you for these invaluable inputs for the continued development of the organisation. Kind regards, Rachmat (WMID) (talk) 23:12, 30 June 2024 (UTC)