Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/WikiConvention Francophone 2024/Final Report

Conference Fund Final Report

Report Status: Under review

Due date: 30 January 2025

Funding program: Conference Fund

Report type: Final

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General information

Title of proposal: WikiConvention Francophone 2024
Username of applicant: Louis Germain (WMCA)
Name of organization: N/A
Amount awarded: 148927.01
Amount spent: 181329 USD, 260880 CAD

Part 1: Understanding your work

1. Did your event have any impact that you did not expect, positive or negative?

Our event had several positive impacts. One of the most significant was the strengthening of local engagement in the Wikimedia movement in Canada. While we anticipated a strong turnout, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of participants who expressed a desire to stay involved beyond the convention, whether through local meetups, editing workshops, or new collaborations. For exemple, in February, the WikiClub Quebec City will meet at the University Laval, for the 1st time in a very long time.

Another unexpected outcome was the level of media interest. A local radio station covered the event, increasing awareness of Wikimedia projects among a broader audience.

Overall, the impacts were overwhelmingly positive, reinforcing our belief in the importance of such gatherings for community growth and engagement.

2. What do you think will be the long term impact of this conference?

The event fostered new connections among Francophone contributors from different regions across the World, encouraging long-term collaboration. Many participants expressed interest in continuing discussions, organizing local initiatives, and mentoring new contributors, which will help sustain and grow the movement. Also, the convention sparked renewed interest in Wikimedia projects within the province of Québec, leading to potential long-term initiatives such as local edit-a-thons, partnerships with cultural institutions, and greater advocacy for free knowledge. For exemple, our annual wikithon in March will be held not only in Montreal but also in Quebec City, this year.

The discussions and workshops equipped attendees with new tools, skills, and strategies that they can apply in their local Wikimedia communities. The impact of these learnings will extend beyond the event as participants implement and share them over time. We organized a complete thematic day on artificial intelligence and a group from the French-speaking world has already been set up to continue thinking on this subject.

3. Would you say that your work improved participants’ ability to apply new skills and knowledge?

Yes

3a. If yes, please describe how and why you think this was successful. Please describe why you think this is the case.

One of the key objectives of the WikiConvention was to equip participants with practical skills and knowledge that they could apply in their Wikimedia projects and local communities. This was achieved through a combination of interactive workshops, hands-on sessions, and discussions led by experienced Wikimedians. Our main objectives was to fostered a collaborative learning environment where participants exchanged experiences and best practices. This informal knowledge-sharing helped attendees gain insights into new tools, strategies, and workflows that they could implement in their own Wikimedia activities. We're absolutely certain that participants left the WikiConvention with better knowledge than when they arrived.

4. Please use this space to upload media and other files that help tell your story and impact. You can also provide links to them.

Field to type in URLs.

N/A

5. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community	Strongly agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives	Strongly agree
E. Encourage the retention of editors	Strongly agree
F. Encourage the retention of organizers	Agree

6. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).

Upload Documents and Files

Here is an additional field to type in URLs.

N/A

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?

Scholarships were offered to participants who might not have been able to attend otherwise, ensuring a more diverse representation. We also tried to offer scholarships not only to old time contributors but also to newcomers.

The French-speaking indigenous communities were well represented, with representatives of these communities both as participants and as speakers.

Part 2: Your main learning

8. Were there any major challenges or things you found difficult that you would like to share? What would you do differently next time?

We still have the same problems for participants who need a visa. This is a very complex process, and 58% of our participants who needed a visa got a refusal from the authorities.

Another challenge : refunding visa applications is a real nightmare. We feel this is something the Foundation should take in charge. We're not equipped and we don't have the resources to take on this task. When you want to refund a participant, the only way is to use something like Western Union or Moneygram, but quickly, as we make several reimbursements, there are suspicions of fraud, which is very complex to manage. For example, as the issuer of the payment, you need to provide sensitive identification such as a photocopy of your passport. The procedures are long and nightmarish.

9. Was there any non-financial support that the Wikimedia Foundation could have provided that would have better supported you in achieving your goals?

No, we received a lot of help from Chen and Cornelius.

10. What would you recommend on a local and/or regional level as the best next step to leverage your success and momentum?

Unlike other linguistic Wikimedia communities that may be concentrated in one region, the Francophone community is spread across multiple continents. This makes in-person meetings even more crucial to maintain cohesion and ensure collective progress. A regular gathering provides a unique opportunity to reinforce our shared identity, build trust, and work on common goals despite the distance. The Wikimedia movement faces different realities depending on the linguistic and cultural context. By meeting regularly, we can collectively strategize on issues such as content gaps, accessibility of resources in French, and local policy challenges affecting free knowledge. For exemple, we had a lot of discussion on what are the acceptable and authoritative sources, from one region to another?

11. Please add any 3 operational recommendations for future events organizers.

Part 3: Metrics

12. Open Metrics reporting

In your application, you defined some open metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with your metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in.

Open Metrics Summary
Open Metrics	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
Sujets à fort impact	Comme il s'agit de l'un de nos principaux objectifs, nous souhaitons savoir combien de participants continuent à s'engager et à contribuer aux activités relatives aux lacunes en matière de connaissances après l'événement, plus particulièrement sur les sujets en langue française. Nous espérons que les groupes de travail et le renforcement de la communauté favoriseront les contributions sur des sujets à fort impact. Après l'événement, notre objectif est de voir 80% des contributeurs s'intéresser et contribuer à ces sujets. Qu'ont-ils appris et comment peuvent-ils appliquer ce qu'ils ont appris ?	80	N/A	N/A	N/A
Participation	Nous analyserons plusieurs segments de cette métrique : les tranches d’âge représentées, la représentation géographique enregistrée, la diversité des contributeurs selon les projets Wikimedia, les affiliés francophones présents, les partenaires, les autorités locales. Les différentes listes d'inscription et de présence aideront à effectuer ces segmentation.	N/A	N/A	We are able to know how many people were there, their gender and where they were from.	N/A
Mobilisation institutionnelle	Comme mentionné plus haut, nous voulons mobiliser les institutions (GLAM, universités, gouvernements, etc.) et les soutenir afin qu'elles puissent contribuer à la connaissance libre et aux projets Wikimedia, en particulier en ce qui concerne les projets francophones. Dans sa Stratégie 2030, le Mouvement Wikimédia vise à identifier des sujets à fort impact dans le but d'améliorer la couverture des sujets prioritaires, identifiés collectivement, qui ont un impact sur le monde et peuvent améliorer la vie des gens. Nous pensons que les institutions peuvent nous aider dans cette tâche. Après l'événement, nous aimerions savoir combien d'institutions présentes à la convention continuent à contribuer à Wikimedia. Comment notre convention les a influencées pour qu'elles continuent à travailler sur nos projets en français ?	N/A	N/A	Several institutions took part in the Quebec City WikiConvention (BAnQ, INRS, CRIHN, etc.). We believe that the links established between Wikimedia and these partners will enable us to pursue our mission and promote the development of free knowledge in the French-speaking world.	N/A
Compétence renforcée	Cette métrique vise à identifier les compétences des participants qui ont été développées durant la Wikiconvention, notamment par l’apprentissage entre pairs. Il s'agira aussi d'évaluer le niveau de satisfaction des participants quant au renforcement de leurs compétences. Nous ciblons au moins 75% des participants estimant avoir développé leurs compétences durant l'événement. Elle sera collecté via les déclarations des participants dans les formulaires d'évaluation.	75	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fossé des genres	Nous savons que seulement 18 % du contenu de tous les projets Wikimedia, y compris les biographies sur Wikipédia, portent sur des femmes. En outre, seuls 15 % des contributeurs de Wikimedia sont des femmes. Il existe évidemment, aussi, une sous-représentation des femmes dans les projets francophones de Wikimedia. Nous avons l'intention de mettre en œuvre des stratégies pour encourager la participation des femmes à la convention : communications, activités spéciales dédiées, panels, etc.	N/A	N/A	We have encouraged the participation of women by awarding them a larger number of grants than usual. In so doing, we have encouraged their presence and ensured better representation. In designing our program, we have also worked to ensure that women are well represented in conferences and panels. In fact, two women chaired the program committee.	N/A

13. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?

Yes

13a. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future. Also mention why you felt you had to change some metrics.

It's difficult to measure what skills have been reinforced. Just like it's difficult to see if our participants kept working on high impact topics. However, we firmly believe that it's the case, knowing how diverse our program was.

14. Here are the templates of registration and survey tools that the Wikimedia Foundation has developed so that you can use in your conference fund work.

3. Follow-up (3-month) participants’ survey

14a. Please share the result(s) with us, provide the link(s) or summarize the main result(s) and insight(s) from them.

The survey will be sent in the next few weeks. We will try to gather information regarding the metrics that we couldn't collect before.

14b. If you used other forms, please share them with us, as these forms might be useful for others to use.

Part 4: Financial reporting and compliance

15. & 16. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

260880 CAD

17. Please state the total amount spent in USD.

181329 USD

18. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

Upload a financial report file.

Please provide a link to your financial reporting document.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LCGoyvLcvd0wsmrPtTPnTGh-zTJrHwJ6bzI7BQ1dZ1U/edit?usp=sharing

As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.

19. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.

In addition to the funding received from the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Switzerland and Wikimedia Canada also invested funds to ensure the success of the event. In addition, we received a $5,000 grant from the Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes.

In addition, due to a problem with a scholarship holder on his return to his home country, we had to pay his expenses (transport, accommodation and food) for a week while we sorted out the situation. This cost us $4,142 CDN (included in the budget deficit).

20. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?

No

20a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

N/A

20b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?

N/A

20c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.

N/A

21. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?

Yes

22. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?

Yes

23. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.

Yes

24. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.