Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/University Students Wikimedians 2022/2023

Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal

Hello Magotech

Thank you for taking the time to submit your proposal. We are pleased to have reviewed it and have the following comments and questions;

• The proposal is clear - with an inspiring target group. strategies are clear & understandable to address the problem identified.
• Risks have been stated with relevant mitigations; stated Activities are feasible within the timeline of one year; training of lecturers & teachers is a commendable activity and is encouraged - it has a long term effect in terms of shifting attitudes towards Wikimedia projects leading to further acceptance.
• The proposal has potential for impact based on the indicated geographic spread and diverse participants such as young people and women. This also means that more knowledge about these locations will be covered on the Wikis.
• Holding of inter-meet ups - promotes learning, sharing of experiences & propels capacity building; also the organizing of competition - is a good motivator to build interest; break barriers on acceptance.

Suggestion to continue engaging, training of lecturers & teachers. Great to see that the proposal speaks to the Gender gap, and will be reaching more women and youth too. The strategy of involving Wikimedia Tanzania and Wikimedia Arusha in their capacity building event is wonderful. Hence there will be participation from diverse communities and geography.

• While the team is made up of emerging Wikimedians, we recognize that they hold sufficient capacity to implement the activities with the support of experienced Wikimedians.
• Kindly share a more detailed timeline / operational calendar of the programs and activities proposed.
• How did you arrive at your 10% contingency cost? Is it 10% of staffing cost or project activities as a whole and what informed your decision?
• You mentioned there will be 6 contest events each in Morogoro, Dodoma and Iringa but said there will be gift cards for only 3 contest events each in the 3 communities. Is this an error and if not, would you explain this clearly, please?
• It is stated that 100,000 people will be reached via social media through this project. Has a strategy been developed to ensure this? Could you share this?
• Please share more details about the team roles and responsibilities.

Questions from staff;

• You have indicated that you are applying for a 3-year multi-year grant, kindly share your strategic plan for the next 3 years for us to learn more about how the proposed strategies and goals fit and align over the next 3 years.
• Would you share with us how you have managed resources before. What financial systems structures and skills have been useful in the past that will be handy in managing this proposed grant?
• Please share with us how the roles and responsibilities have been shared in the past amongst team members and how those roles will shift, given that the scale and scope of your proposal are bigger.
• How have you ensured accountability and transparency are achieved as a community.

We see a significant portion of your resources is on staff and while we understand the purpose of the request we have a few questions to support us in understanding the measures you have put in place to support this transition from volunteer-led to hiring staff to manage projects;

• What is the basis/rationale informing the staff costs?
• Have you taken time to review the labour laws and regulations and what policies have you put in place to be complaint
• Employees' experience in an organization is enabled by organizational culture and in thinking about the experience you hope the proposed staff would have, might you have thought about the organization’s culture and other organizational elements associated with hiring staff.
• Additionally, who would the staff be reporting to and getting support from?
• Seeing that there will be a compensation/staff costs element, it would be financially appropriate that the payment is made from a legally recognized organization. Having mentioned that are you legally registered and if not, what is your intended plan of action.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you. On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 15:09, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Hello @VThamini (WMF), thank you for the constructive remarks, recommendations, and comments made towards the proposal, below are the responses to the raised questions on our submitted project proposal:- Q1. Kindly share a more detailed timeline / operational calendar of the programs and activities proposed.

: I have updated the link to the timeline/operational Calendarin Fluxx but you can also access it via: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p9Q0J0A9lyemhX3GXM3cLZc5Fg-sM-lJO38LnroXOvE/edit?usp=sharing

Q2. How did you arrive at your 10% contingency cost? Is it 10% of staffing cost or project activities as a whole and what informed your decision?

: The 10% contingency costs come as a result of project activities as a whole. A decision was made up to this point depending on the experience in hosting our past events where we have been facing emergencies that were not included in our budgets and we had to spend from private financing. Seeing this as a long-term budget we were sure to include the 10% to ensure the proper and smooth running of the projects by being able to tackle any emergencies that may arise.

Q3. You mentioned there will be 6 contest events each in Morogoro, Dodoma and Iringa but said there will be gift cards for only 3 contest events each in the 3 communities. Is this an error and if not, would you explain this clearly, please?

: Mentioned activities and gift cards were not an error. We will be holding three contests in which every contest will have two events (i.e Opening event which will introduce the contest's aim to the participants and provide support and training to the participants. However, we will be hosting a second event at the end of the contest which will include giving out gift cards to the winners, and sharing the experience from both the participants and organizers which this experience will be later shared with other communities for learning).

Q4. It is stated that 100,000 people will be reached via social media through this project. Has a strategy been developed to ensure this? Could you share this?

: By the use of social media marketing will ensure that we reach 100,000 people throughout the year. We project on using the paid ads which have been proved to be efficient in our past events.

Q5. Please share more details about the team roles and responsibilities.

(i) Magoiga M. Mtatiro (username: magotech): Program co-ordinator (Salaried)
  : Promotes the development and diffusion of project management culture throughout the project.

  : Maintains effective communication with senior management (WMF) and leaders from other communities in Tanzania (Currently: Wikimedians of Arusha & Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania), making them aware of critical issues on the project and of the action plans for addressing those issues.

  : Identifies needed corporate process improvements and works with business partners to effectively drive change throughout the organization.

  : With the director of divisional project offices, organizes the project office structure to effectively achieve divisional and departmental project objectives.

  : Ultimate responsibility for enterprise project problem/issue identification and resolution.

  : Oversees the integration of project processes with other functional areas such as Logistics, communications, and finance to ensure the success of project strategies, programs, and initiatives.

(ii) Naemi Ng’anunga(HappyDeLuckiest): Assistant program co-ordinator (Salaried)
  : Preparing external official documentation 
  : Managing online resources
  : Attending staff meetings and taking minutes
  : Assisting in the planning and overseeing significant events
  : Acting as a liaison between different departments
  : Act in the position of the Program Coordinator in his absence.

(iii) Sylivester Johnbosco (username: codtz): Accountant (Salaried)
  : Preparing documentation for grants
  : Documenting financial transactions
  : Processing payments for vendors and suppliers 
  : Monitoring the efficiency of existing accounting procedures and ensuring they comply with the government regulations
  : Reviewing financial documents to resolve any discrepancies and irregularities
  : Reconciling already documented reports, statements, and various transactions
  : Creating, reviewing, and presenting budgets
  : Recommending financial actions by analyzing accounting options
  : Cooperating with auditors in preparing audit reports

(iv) Awadh Mpogole (username: Awadhi Awampo): Communication Officer (Salaried)
  : Compiling and sending bulk mailings.
  : Social media accounts management and handling.
  : Responding to emails and answering calls.
  : Create PowerPoint presentations, brochures, and visual enhancements.
  : Manage a central secure and public website.
  : Maintain a database of media organizations and contacts within them
  : Regularly meet with and conduct interviews with members of the projects and make them for public access
  : Create and produce internal newsletters for the organization
  : Prepare and manage the organization’s communication budget

(v) Maria Alpha: Logistics officer ()
  : Making reservations for various off-site project meetings
  : Reserving equipment and conference rooms for presentations and in-office meetings
  : Develop logistics along with support plans, budget requirements, and deployment timelines for new operations
  : Develop logistical plans for current operations and logistics contingency plans.
  : Develop and execute tools and methodologies to enable effective implementation of logistic plans
  : Ensure logistics requirements take gender-specific needs into consideration
  : Develop and execute logistics support policy, processes, and methodologies to the general benefit of all mission units

(vi) Clubs coordinators (5 positions): Open positions
  : Keep close contact between the members and management (University Students Wikimedians COT)
  : Keep track, maintain and retain their members
  : provide support to their members where possible

(vii) Ebenezer Mlay (Username: CaliBen) – Project advisor and facilitator
  : Provide advice where needed
  : Provide training in events

(viii) Otto Nyongole (Username: Olimasy) - Project advisor and facilitator
  : Provide advice where needed
  : Provide training in events

(ix) Ingo Kipala (Username:Kipala) – Project advisor
  : Provide advice where needed
  : Provide training in events whenever possible

(x) Riccardo Riccioni (Username:Riccardo Riccioni) – Project advisor
  : Provide advice where needed
  : Provide training in events whenever possible

Questions from staff;

---

1. You have indicated that you are applying for a 3-year multi-year grant, kindly share your strategic plan for the next 3 years for us to learn more about how the proposed strategies and goals fit and align over the next 3 years.

: As indicated applying for the 3 years' funding, our strategic plan is as follows (briefly):-

(i) 1st Year, we would like to create more awareness of the current regions (Morogoro, Dodoma, and Iringa regions) where we have covered few Universities and Colleges compared to the number of available institutions, while we keep on retaining the clubs we have already in different institutions.

(ii) 2nd Year, after creating a significant awareness to as many as possible educational institutions we envision using the second year to strengthen the communities attained in the 1st year. Strengthening these communities will include training and participation in more projects of the Wikimedia Movement which will build up their skills, we will also work based on the Wikimedia 2030 strategies.

(iii) 3rd Year, after making sure that the 2 years of managed communities (in the regions) are strong enough to be able to interact and contribute to the WMF projects without any problem we hope to expand the community by adding more new educational institutions(TBD), as we know and understand that the WMF Movement is not known to many in Tanzania this is due to few organizing personals in the country and low awareness in the country. In the 3rd year, we might add another region(TBD) if not other institutions in the currently covered regions.

Q2. Would you share with us how you have managed resources before? What financial systems structures and skills have been useful in the past that will be handy in managing this proposed grant?

: In our past grant management we managed the funds where we had a professional accountant in our team who was responsible for managing, structuring, distributing, and financial documents and reports. Since the grants were not that huge (i.e they were short-timed), Microsoft Excel was preferred as the software used.

Q3. Please share with us how the roles and responsibilities have been shared in the past amongst team members and how those roles will shift, given that the scale and scope of your proposal are bigger.

: Th e-distribution of roles in the past was provided based on profession, skills, experience, and willingness to volunteer (we did not have reimbursements). However, the encouragement to all the members on self-learning the skills were encouraged and we did run some sessions to provide training (practically and theoretically) to all members who wanted to learn.

Q4. How have you ensured accountability and transparency are achieved as a community.

: Referring to the past, to ensure accountability and transparency all the proposals were posted mostly on our meta page and our social media groups, however, the reports were also shared publically and all the members were notified of such incidents.
We envision doing the same to this project for it has been seen to be efficient in the past.

We see a significant portion of your resources is on staff and while we understand the purpose of the request we have a few questions to support us in understanding the measures you have put in place to support this transition from volunteer-led to hiring staff to manage projects;

Q5. What is the basis/rationale informing the staff costs?

: The basis was on the duties, experience, and projected working hours and accordance with the working Laws of Tanzania.

Q6. Have you taken the time to review the labor laws and regulations and what policies have you put in place to be compliant?

: Yes we did take time to review the labor laws and as one of the responsibilities of the accountant we envision making sure that all the laws are followed as required and any misconduct will be reported immediately to the (WMF) for prio resolution before any further actions are taken.

Q7. Employees' experience in an organization is enabled by organizational culture and in thinking about the experience you hope the proposed staff would have, might you have thought about the organization’s culture and other organizational elements associated with hiring staff.

: We understand for better achievements in the project, it is best to have people who think and have the same vision. Taking a look at our team all of them are members of the community who understand what we are envisioned in the future and who had been volunteering in the past events. It would have been different if we had non-community members.

Q8. Additionally, who would the staff be reporting to and getting support from?

: Assistant Program Coordinator reports to the Program coordinator
: Account reports to the Assistant program coordinator
: Communication Officer reports to the Assistant program coordinator
: Logistics personal reports to Assistant Program Coordinator
: Facilitators report to Assistant Program Coordinator
: Club leaders report to Communication Officer

In case of emergencies and when required all the team members can directly report to the program coordinator.

Q9. Seeing that there will be a compensation/staff costs element, it would be financially appropriate that the payment is made from a legally recognized organization. Having mentioned that are you legally registered and if not, what is your intended plan of action.

: We understand the issue and plans have been put in place to be registered as of today (25th April 2022) the registration has started and we hope till November 2022 we will have a complete registration status as a non-profit organization in Tanzania. However, till then we will seek a temporary registration from the relevant authorities in Tanzania. Magotech (talk) 20:15, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Wikimedia Community Fund approved in the amount of $30,000USD

Hello Magotech,

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of $30,000USD, with a grant term starting 1 July 2022 and ending 30th June 2023.

We are excited about the proposed impact of the project to work with geographic and demographic diverse communities including young people and women in regions new to the movement in Tanzania. We observed that the project has a very clear target audience and project focus; collaboration and creating awareness among College and University Students also involve teachers and lectures.

While we see the ambition of doing more with potential communities in 3 regions [ [ Morogoro Region, Dodoma Region and Iringa Region], we reviewed the existing capacity to implement the current project successfully and recommend reviewing the project to fit existing capacities. We notice that there is a need for more team members with technical [ wiki experience ] and program implementation skills to enable you to implement the project at that scope. We, therefore, recommend that you reduce the scope of the project, and work towards developing a pipeline of experienced volunteers in the different regions and partner institutions. Please adjust your program plan to the approved budget.

We also recommend exploring partnership possibilities with the universities that can offer more support in things such as facilities and key support persons, so that the project has support from various team members and stakeholders. We encourage you to continue working with other communities in Tanzania such as Wikimedians of Arusha, led by Eben Mlay and Wikimedia Tanzania led by Antoni Mtavangu, who can serve as great mentors on how to grow and develop a community sustainably.

We recommend that you look into developing and strengthening your operational processes and structures. We understand your request for a multi-year grant and based on the details of the strategic plan you provided, we found them limited and recommend you seek support in the future to develop a strategic plan including engaging a consultant, where possible and consulting your regional program officer for thought partnership on this.

If you need any support in understanding the funding decision and adjusting your plan to the budget, please reach out to the regional program officer for support.

Overall, thank you for your work and all you do for the community and the Wikimedia movement.

Best regards from the MEA Regional Committee and Staff --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 17:59, 20 May 2022 (UTC)