Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc- Annual Activities 2022

Regional Committee Recommendations

Dear Wikimedia Nigeria User Group,

Thank you for submitting this grant application. The Middle East and Africa Regional Committee has reviewed your application and they have some follow up questions and requests. We kindly request to respond to these questions by 2 December 2021:

• The proposal budgets differ: the budget on the spreadsheet is different from the one in the application, we have USD 217,619.2 and in the spreadsheet, we have  $207,469.95. Kindly clarify.

Yes, the discrepancy in the budget has been fixed. The new budget is now, $205,619.20 ( after the removal of the travelling cost for conference- $12,000.00)

• Considering the new normal of working from home and being nomadic, did you consider this way of working (or maybe a coworking space) instead of the $55k budget for an office with a small team? Why it’s important to have an office. We recommend exploring other options for space and also taking into consideration that you are supporting communities from different parts of Nigeria.

1. Initially, we thought of the idea of a co-working space. After a series of consultation, we finally concluded that such an arrangement will not align effectively with the corporate image of our Foundation  in Nigeria. Also, considering the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on our staff and our community members; a co-working space will impose a health threat to our members and staff because it is a public space where no one can control the movement of people in and out of the place, and the nature of people that might visit such facility at every point in time. However,  we will have control over who comes in and out our office  and the nature of people that might host events at every point in time in the facility.
2. Statutorily, all Incorporated companies in Nigeria must have a Registered Office. As of now, our foundation operates from a borrowed registered office which doesn't speak well of our corporate name and image in the country and it could lead to violation of the provision of the Corporate Affairs Commission and subsequent withdrawal of our operating license.
3. Our budget estimates were prepared on the assumption that all the in-person events that will take place in Lagos state and some parts of South-West that are very close to Lagos and overall community management will take place at the proposed corporate office. So, the cost of rental and related expenses were not estimated for these line items.
4. 95% of all Wikimedian activities in Nigeria take the form of an in-person event. We need a structure that can support the diversity from the centre whereby any of our members across the nation can walk in to learn about Wikipedia and its sister projects and also serve as support for the more than  50% of the applicants proposed for the micro-grants.
5. Since mid-year 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria has fully opened up the economy for business.In this regards,the Federal Government of Nigeria, the largest employer labour has directed all civil servants in the country to resume work.'  
6. 'Right from inception, we had partnered with several strategic partners in Nigeria, oftentimes, we had lost and could not retain most of the relationship due to our lack of corporate office.
7. In some cases, the corporate office can also support events that could not take place at their original designation e.g. whenever there is a strike or unrest in our institutions.
8. $55k budget for an office.... According to the submitted budget estimate, the total cost of our “ Office Set-up” is $17,989.20. The majority of the cost components here relate to office equipment and materials that are Fixed Assets in nature and would last for more than one year.

• Costs related to Wikimania and international travel should be removed as there are still restrictions on the same by the Foundation.

Done. This costs have now been removed.

• We are interested in the measures you have put in place to ensure equitable distribution of the proposed micro-grants and overall transparent and accountable financial management.

For the micro-grant, we will set up an ad-hoc committee of experienced members of our community that would be responsible for reviewing applicants' proposals and recommend them for funding approval. We will continue to maintain and keep good financial records. All our expenditures will be well documented by an experienced accountant and financial statements of all expenditure would be published on a monthly basis. This would include the balance sheet and cash flow statements. To this end, our grant has included the cost of recruiting an experienced accountant that will be responsible for managing all accounting transactions, financial records, handle monthly, quarterly and annual closings and timely publish financial statements.

• What is the plan coordinating with other user groups in the country to avoid overlap in the work while identifying spaces for collaboration?

Naija Office Hours

1. We have a good working relationship with existing user groups in Nigeria and we have collaborated with them for many years without a rift or overlaps. We have collaborated on a wide range of projects and we will continue these collaborations. Let us give you some background information about our previous coordination with the existing user group. We have collaborated on several occasions as a more established organization provided training support to all the other user groups in Nigeria. In April 2021, we collaborated with the Yoruba Wikimedians User Group on our Oral History Documentation project and in November 2021, we collaborated with three other user groups in Nigeria (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba Wikimedians User Group) to organize the Naija Office Hour. Yoruba Wikimedians User Group in February 2020 invited us to help support the Follow-up training for Yoruba language students of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education. The Chair and the Secretary of the Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation participated in the event and it was successfully executed. In April 2020, we collaborated with the Igbo Wikimedian User Group on the Visibility Project, supported African Women in Media and sponsored by UNESCO.  We also collaborated with the Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania and the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda on the same project. The WikiGap 2018, 2019, and 2020 were organized in collaboration with the Igbo Wikimedians User Group. In 2018, the Hausa Wikimedians User Group invited the Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc. to help with facilitating their Outreach in Northern Nigeria. The workshop in Kano was supported and facilitated by the Chair, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation. In 2020, with the support of Goethe Institut, Lagos. We organised  Decolonise the Internet/Report - Meta Wikimedia with all the user groups in Nigeria ( Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa) to disturb Nigeria language contents on Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba Wikipedia.
2. We have a joint WhatsApp group where all the user groups (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) leaders and members are present. There is a unity among the user groups in Nigeria and this was evident in the recent Naija Office Hour . We have reviewed the Igbo Wikimedians User Group Simple Annual Grant 2022 and there are no overlapping activities. The Yoruba Wikimedians User Group and Hausa Wikimedians User Group do not have an annual plan grant and we have shared this proposal with them. This way, they can identify spaces for collaboration. However, we will continue our collaboration with the Yoruba Wikimedians User Group on our Oral History Documentation Project and we are open for collaborations with any user groups and chapters across the globe.

• Would you share how you are ensuring healthy governance of the user group?

Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc. organization chart

We are a structured organization, and we are legally registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a non-profit organization. We operate an open governance where members have the rights to  information and participate in our programs (and activities) without discrimination against age, ethnicity, gender, geography and sexual orientations. We do this through flexible policies that support accountability, transparency, advance and promote the mission of the WMF in Nigeria.

We do monthly meetups called “Naija Office Hour” where we brief community members about our activities, past and ongoing activities. All our activities are well documented and published for new and existing members to review at any time and we respond to inquiries, comments and suggestions timely to support community participation in our activities. And we are up to date with our annual reports. See (Wikimedia affiliates annual portal).

Please reach to the MEA regional program officer to support you in making the needed changes to your proposal which are due by the end of day, 2nd of December 2021. Looking forward to hearing from you. On behalf of the Regional Committee. CaliBen (talk) 07:24, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

CaliBen, thank you for reaching out to us, and we are glad to inform you that we have replied to all your queries to the best of our knowledge. Please feel free to contact us for clarification on any of the instances mentioned above.  Wikimedia Nigeria (talk) 12:26, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

Wikimedia Community Fund approved in the amount of 110,000.00 USD

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 110,000.00 USD, with a grant term starting 1 April 2022 and ending 31 March 2023.

We recognize the work you continue to do to support Wikimedians in Nigeria, including through collaborative initiatives with user groups in the region. We are excited to see the proposed work including campaign projects, community building programs and a continuation of the oral history documentation, education and advocacy. We learned about the different partners you plan to work with in the different regions of Nigeria who align and support the achievement of the planned objectives.

We hope that, with the availed resources towards staff capacity, you will consolidate and strengthen the programs. Additionally, we are pleased to see you embarking on coordination of community efforts in Nigeria by making a provision for community grants that will provide local access to resources. We hope these coordinated efforts will result in effectiveness and efficiency in resources within the region and towards amplifying the impact of communities.

We recommend strengthening your structures including those of governance, people and financial management; all these towards being able to support the continued growth we see in Nigeria.

We did not approve the requested costs associated with office space and continue to encourage you to take advantage of connecting with communities online and to utilize the current space-related resources you hold. We maintained last year's budget for the oral history project inviting you to build on the impact you are already seeing with the project. We recommend that you apply efficiency in cross-cutting costs such as communication, transportation, venue costs amongst others.

Overall we see this grant as one to support in consolidating your growth and in creating an opportunity to coordinate community efforts in Nigeria.

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) 18:15, 17 March 2022 (UTC)