Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Yoruba Wikimedians User Group - Annual Activities 2023-2024
Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal edit
Hello , Yoruba Wikimedians User Group,
Thank you for submitting your application for this round of funding. We found your proposal to be well structured and with a clear indication that you have an experienced team supporting the implementation of the projects. To strengthen your proposal and support us in the next stage of decision making please see our comments and questions below; We are keen to understand the rationale of the increased costs compared to last year's annual grant award. We see the need and opportunity to include new members to the project - is there a plan to include new people in the leadership team.
We noticed that in some activities and taking into consideration your organizational capacity and past experience, you have lower metrics than we would expect. For instance in the retained contributors category. Kindly have a review.
Additionally in the metrics section, kindly align them to the strategies / programs for us to understand expected impact per program. Remember to align with the learning questions as well.
Would you comment on how you are going to ensure for your photo focused programs, on how you will ensure high-quality and reduced duplication of the photos.
As always we recommend meeting with the regional program officer to support you in providing any clarity needed with the feedback shared here. The committee is also available to meet and join the call if that would be meaningful for you - just let the program officer know.
Thank you so much and we continue to appreciate your work and role in advancing the mission of the movement.
On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee and staff , Azogbonon (talk) 07:10, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal edit
Hello , Yoruba Wikimedians User Group,
Thank you for submitting your application for this round of funding. We found your proposal to be well structured and with a clear indication that you have an experienced team supporting the implementation of the projects. To strengthen your proposal and support us in the next stage of decision making please see our comments and questions below; We are keen to understand the rationale of the increased costs compared to last year's annual grant award. We see the need and opportunity to include new members to the project - is there a plan to include new people in the leadership team.
We noticed that in some activities and taking into consideration your organizational capacity and past experience, you have lower metrics than we would expect. For instance in the retained contributors category. Kindly have a review.
Additionally in the metrics section, kindly align them to the strategies / programs for us to understand expected impact per program. Remember to align with the learning questions as well.
Would you comment on how you are going to ensure for your photo focused programs, on how you will ensure high-quality and reduced duplication of the photos.
As always we recommend meeting with the regional program officer to support you in providing any clarity needed with the feedback shared here. The committee is also available to meet and join the call if that would be meaningful for you - just let the program officer know.
Thank you so much and we continue to appreciate your work and role in advancing the mission of the movement.
On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee and staff , Azogbonon (talk) 07:10, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
Response from Yoruba Wikimedians User Group edit
Question from Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee - We are keen to understand the rationale of the increased costs compared to last year's annual grant award.
We want to sustain the partnership we secured last year and implement some pragmatic programs with these and new partners. We expanded the scope of our existing work with some new initiatives highlighted below:
- Wikimedia in Residence Program
This year, there will be a Wikipedian in Residence at the International Center for Yoruba Arts and Culture. This was not part of our program last year, and the estimated budget for the program is USD 27,671.80. We secured this partnership last year and it was widely reported in the national newspapers including The Guardian Newspapers as well (see here.
- Audiovisuals of Yoruba indigenous vocations
Last year, 20 audiovisuals were created, and the audiovisuals were donated to major academic institutions, including the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan. We want to sustain this effort, and this year we are creating 30 audiovisuals (50% increase). This increases the previous budget for the program by USD 10,000.
- Internet Support Program
This year, we are implementing an internet support program to support our volunteers' access to the internet. See a link to the program page. The budget for this is estimated at USD 3,468.
- Activities with Partners
We are also organizing activities with other partners such as Egbe Akomolede (Association of Yoruba Teachers and Lecturers), The John Randle Center for Yoruba Culture and History, and Atelwo, and we are providing funding support for the Yoruba Wikimedians Fan Club at the University of Lagos to organize weekly meetups, edit-a-thons, and trainings. We are also establishing at least two Yoruba Wikimedian fan clubs at other universities. We have budgeted USD 20,000 for all these activities.
- Conference Travel
We also set aside a budget of USD 5,000 for conference travel.
- Administrative Costs
Others are USD 6,498.45 for administrative costs (local travel, internet, bank charges, stationery, etc.)
- Contingency
and USD 6,734.45 for contingency.
These accounts account for the increased cost this year.
Question from Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee - We see the need and opportunity to include new members to the project - is there a plan to include new people in the leadership team.
This is something we have considered and implemented before submitting this grant request. This year, we have included at least two new people in the leadership team. One of them is yo:Oníṣe:Marvelousola01 who was recruited through our Recruit readers as writers project last year and continues to contribute, including training other new editors. There was a blog post about this user] ( see the blog post on Wikimedia Diff) and how he became a valuable member of our community. This user has shown leadership in different capacities, including training other new editors, and has been included in our leadership team. We also included yo:Oníṣe:Àìná - TheSymbyat, a female member of the community who has helped to facilitate training. She was recruited through our training program at the University of Lagos last year as well. See the table of core team members on the proposal.
Question from WMF - We noticed that in some activities and taking into consideration your organizational capacity and past experience, you have lower metrics than we would expect. For instance in the retained contributors category. Kindly have a review.
- Thank you, we have reviewed it as suggested and the metrics have now been increased.
Question from Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee - Additionally in the metrics section, kindly align them to the strategies / programs for us to understand expected impact per program. Remember to align with the learning questions as well.
- This has now been fixed as suggested. Kindly see Section 21.1 (metrics).
Question from Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee - Would you comment on how you are going to ensure for your photo focused programs, on how you will ensure high-quality and reduced duplication of the photos.
To ensure that photo contributed to our photo-focused programs are of high-quality and reduced duplication. We will take the following measures.
- Training and other support: We will partner with professional photographers to design a photography guide and workshop that will help participants take high-quality photographs and contribute them to the photo programs without duplicates.
- Enforcement of the contest rules: We will set clear rules for each photo program and organize a session for participants, and the rules will be enforced strictly. We will design an audiovisual resource on how to participate in the contest without violating the contest rules while contributing quality photos without duplication.
- Strengthen the local jury. We will strengthen our jury to enable them to do a thorough review of the photos contributed.
By taking these measures, we believe that at least 90% of the photos contributed to our photo-focused programs will be of high quality without duplication. Thank you for your review and the kind words in your feedback. As always, we continue to value your support and the time invested in reviewing our application. Regards. Agbalagba T★C 20:30, 3 May 2023 (UTC)
Wikimedia Community Fund Approved in the amount of 60,500 USD edit
Dear, Yoruba Wikimedians User Group,
Thank you for submitting your application seeking General Support Funds - Wikimedia Community Fund. The Middle East and Africa Regional Committee and Staff have reviewed your application and approved funding in the amount of $60,500 for the period of July 2023 - June 2024.
As shared on email - After a thorough review and discussion on your proposal and based off the information you shared with us as part of responding to feedback and questions, we make the following notes and recommendations;
- We continue to see the importance of your work in the community and see the desire to grow the programs significantly. We recommend that you focus on consolidating the programs while pursuing gradual growth both from a programmatic and financial perspective.
- We also recommend that you review your partnership approach and identify opportunities for the partnerships to also contribute to the initiatives you are jointly pursuing.
- We see an opportunity to review the costs related to staff some of which we see can be engaged on a need basis instead of a full time basis.
- Lastly, we recommend establishing a volunteer led advisory board to support in ensuring healthy governance. We would hope to see more volunteers taking lead including on matters related to the governance of the community.
Upon your request, we have made a provision for the user group to use USD 5,500 to support their monitoring and evaluation capacity building and request that the documentation of the process takes place for sustainability of the knowledge and for sharing with others in the community.
We hope this feedback and recommendations are useful in guiding your work now and in the future. Thank you for your contribution to the movement ; we value you as a community and partner in the movement and remain committed to ensuring you are supported in your work.
On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee and staff , --Azogbonon (talk) 14:08, 29 May 2023 (UTC)