Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand 2023 - 2026

Follow-up questions on your application

Dear WUANZ,

Thank you for providing your written responses to additional questions. See PDF document for more details. Thank you also for joining us on the call with the Committee on 13 May 2023. Your presence and participation was very well appreciated. Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 06:07, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

General Support Fund multi-year proposal approved in the amount of NZD 851,135 for 2023 to 2026.

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of NZD 851,135 with a grant term starting 1 July 2023 and ending 30 June 2026. The breakdown is as follows: Year 1: NZD 263,045; Year 2: NZD 294,045; Year 3: NZD 294,045.

The changes we see:

• In the last 12 months, we have observed that WUANZ has made considerable strides in incorporation and setting up internal policies to function as a professional organisation. The speed at which the core team and active membership base have come together to deliver on the quantity and quality of the initiatives (as detailed in your 2022 annual plan) has been remarkable. We also value and observe an increase in presence at the ESEAP regional level with many WUANZ members attending the ESEAP conference in Sydney in Nov 2022.

• We recognise the depth of experience that the Wikimedians from WUANZ bring together collectively from your professional backgrounds and the years of experience advocating for, navigating and contributing to the knowledge equity space within the Wikimedia movement.

• We value the thought and care that WUANZ has put into being on this journey with us to re-look at  learning, evaluation and sharing with fresh perspectives and appreciate your candid sharing of where you are at and where you see this evolving with more time and resources.  
  • Your learnings from the first grant (i.e. what worked, what didn’t work), balancing the amount of time invested vs the data collected and how it will be used by the User Group or WMF adds to the rigour of feedback. We also appreciate the qualitative approaches that WUGNZ is experimenting with. These retrospectives and facilitation techniques (when developed) could be circulated for wider learning for the ESEAP region.
  • We also value the significant effort in meeting the ESEAP Funds Committee in the middle by brainstorming and suggesting additional metrics that met your needs and at the same time met the needs of the Committee.

Snippets from the ESEAP Funds Committee::

• (AD): Strategies are well determined and are grounded in the actual situation of the community. There is an assurance that indigenous communities will benefit from the program.
• (YS): I found WUANZ’s application very clear in detailing the change it wants to make and what it thinks will help bring about that change
• (BB): I am curious if they have explored other potential organisations such as Creative Commons Aotearoa NZ, openstreet mappers in New Zealand. We appreciate their greater presence in ESEAP collaboration and meetings.
• (GS) I like the way they take the challenge to level up the journey in the movement. The preparation and analysis are good.  

Opportunities that we see:

• Willingness and capacity for WUANZ to take on a larger role at a regional or global level within the movement
• Repository of resources on professionalising the WUANZ setup, workflows, planning process - strategy/ activity planning, learning and evaluation journey, can be very helpful for peer learning if it can be hosted online and made available to a wider audience.

Snippets from WMF Staff (thematic focused)

• (FR): We hear anecdotally that there are plans in nurturing and collaborating with the Pasifika community. We understand that Wikimedia Australia is also working with First Nation People in Australia. As part of their strategic plan, Wikimedia Australia is looking to invite indigenous Australians to form a 'First Nations Reference Group'. This group will advise them on the challenges, issues and questions presented by Wikipedia and related projects. For example, Wikimedia projects don't have mechanisms that allow indigenous Australians to follow their cultural protocols and Wikipedia's policies regarding notability and reliable sources also create barriers. Wikimedia Australia has received a discussion paper from Dr Kirsten Thorpe and Nathan 'Mudyi' Sentance, and they have a First Nations Wikimedian in Residence at the State Library Queensland. If there is further interest in collaboration and peer sharing, we encourage you to reach out to Wikimedia Australia or other affiliates who are also doing similar work.

Next steps

• Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Do set up a regular schedule to connect with your ESEAP Programme Officer based on your needs.
• The reporting requirements for the grant can be found here and templates are available here. Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.

Once again, Congratulations!

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on a new year of project implementation.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of ESEAP Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 06:10, 17 May 2023 (UTC)