Grants talk:Conference/Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda/WikiIndaba Conference 2021

WMF comments

Dear Erinamukuta and the WCUGU team,

Thank you very much for submitting a proposal to host the WikiIndaba 2021 conference! Despite this very complicated year, we are so happy and grateful to see communities encouraged to have community gatherings which are such an important and impactful part of our movement. Thank you for taking on the challenge and we are happy to explore the opportunity of supporting the WikiIndaba 2021 conference.

I reviewed your proposal and have a few comments and questions:

Community input:

• 14 is a very low number of responses to the community engagement survey. Was that a recent survey you created specifically for the remote event? Did you had positive responses to the virtual format of the conference? I strongly recommend you will keep the survey open throughout the planning process so you can gather more input.
• I see the community survey indicate the most needed goals to focus on are topics related to continental projects and regional challenges, but I don't see those as a high priority or goal on your table. Do you intend to include those when designing the program?

Participation

• WMF support for translation and transcription - This is not something we do in-house. I also see you already budgeted almost $5K for translation and transcription. For what purpose do you need the extra WMF support? If you wish to add more translation options or methods (which I'm not sure you need) that are not already covered, you can also ask for volunteers who are willing to do that.
• We do not offer in house videoconferencing support. But again, I see you already asked for funds to cover a Program technician for the Zoom broadcasting. Why do you require the extra videoconferencing support for? Same for the facilitation support - I see you are hiring a facilitation service.
• We'll be happy to help you with understanding and managing the challenges of virtual events. As a start, I encourage you to look at our remote events resources such as the Remote events guidelines, and the Movement Strategy Global Conversations Lessons Learned report.

Scholarships

• Can you please update the correct number of participants? You asked to provide 100 scholarships, but you indicated 70 participants to the event.

Budget

• Platform - Eventbrite,Spatial.chat, zoom,stream yard - do you have quotes for those services? if you do, please send those to me by email. Those are much higher rates than we know for those kind of services. Also, I understand that you took those budget items from the NA proposal, but I'm not sure you actually need so many platforms for an event of this scope (70-100 is not considered very large scale event). Most similar events use Zoom alone. Please explain the rationale and requirements for each of the platforms.
• Facilitation - I see you budgeted facilitation services for 5 days, but the event is 3 days long. Can you please clarify?
• Awards - Can you please clarify who will be awarded and for what? We do not encourage Cash rewards in general, and a $200 price per person is much more than we can allow. Please try to replace it with another form of recognition such as a t-shirt, a bag or something similar.
• Merch to participants - what kind of items are you going to send? I ask that you will limit swag to low cost items like stickers while being environmentally mindful. Regardless of the specific items, $70 per person only for merchandise, strikes as much more than we usually approve even for an in-person events.
• Translation - 2 hours/day x $40/hr x 2 ppl for three days x 3 languages is $1,440, and not $4,000. Can you walk me thorough the calculation you made? It's also worth including a question on what are the most used languages as part of the engagement survey.
• Banners - I don't really see why you would need banners for an online event.
• Post-event video production - Can you please share your plan for the Post-event video? What will it be used for and how will you produce such a video for a remote event? Also, please share the quote from the local vendor who will produce the video.
• Are you sure you want to allocate 400 hours of work for Administration? 400 hours of work are around 3 mounts of work. I'm not sure it's needed for an event in this scope, given most of the services are outsourced. I do support you hiring a professional event manager/coordinator so you have a good use of the volunteering capacities, I'm just very surprised by the number of hours.

I have noticed that you have taken budget lines directly from the Wikimedia North American Conference and copied them to your own proposal. I am glad to see that you are using their conference as a reference for what types of expenses you might request, however there is no "one size fits all" budget template. We will only be able to consider and approve grant proposals that are built for specific events, their specific needs, and based on research that organizers have done around amounts that vendors in your area are charging for specific services. In order for us to be able to begin the process of reviewing and considering this proposal we will need your organizing team to create a budget that is specific to your event and not a copy past from another grant request. Thank you so much for your understanding, and we understand that researching and planning your budget can be time consuming, but we need to ensure that we are managing donor dollars appropriately and that your proposed spend will align with your actual spend.

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 22:49, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

WCUGU Feedback

Thank you for concerns raised above . Below are the responses

Community input:

• we carried out two surveys . One was carried out at the point of the first time grant application and a second one was made at the point of application for a virtual event. We can keep the survey open towards planning and get more feedback.

• We will include them in designing the program

Participation

• WMF support for translation and transcription; the issues raised above are noted.
• When we request wmf support in the fields listed, its interms of support on how to work with these vendors or hired persons. considering the links you sent i see this need will best be covered by the training on how to host virtual events.

Scholarships i have asked for 70 scholarships but the event will be open to 100 participants . Not everyone will require a scholarship to attend the event.

Budget

• Platform -Eventbrite will be used for registration for the event . As no fees are being collected it will be free. I have excluded the other platforms and included only ZOOM as recommended with an included cost for additional cloud storage. The rational was to have several options of meeting platforms with out Banking on one depending on how the planning later unfolds.

• Facilitation - Please note 3 days are the active conference days and depending on the planning and program , two learning days will be included.

• Awards - These would go Active Wikimedians , it would not be cash but a voucher .I have excluded the item all together , if it seems a bit much.

The shipping costs of items such as bags could be higher than the cost of the item and in turn will still be about 100 to 150 dollars.

• Translation - most languages are French , Arabic, Portuguese and English but we will also include said question in the engagement survey. The translation costs are $4000 for the three days.

• Merch to participants - we were thinking of a T-shirt and another smaller item but to also consider that these would have to be shipped and hence the cost. I have removed this item from the budget as i consider the cost of posting or sending stickers to participants across the continent

• Banners - please note this item is under marketing and branding . To be specific these are online banners which would include the design of the item , then its use in marketing .

• Post-event video production - Zoom sessions are to be recorded during the conference and will be compiled and shared in a video

• these Hours cover about 2months of planning (320 hours). Administration has many facets; in person meetings of the user group, meeting with vendors and service providers, different committees(which includes people from across the continent ), Managing of the event manager. This also has implied costs in terms of Data, venue, transport , voice calls etc . In my opinion two months is not too much time to plan for the event. People volunteer their time to organize but may not want to volunteer said resources like Data, in such cases we should not loose out on valuable volunteers. Am open to your recommendation to this matter.

Please note, that even if i used NA budget as a template . These budget items are specific to this event. As this is a budget , the costs inquired could change at the point of acquiring the vendor given the time space of budget and actual event. Please note some of the item listed in the budget, the vendor may not necessarily come from Uganda based on our research and these prices are also based on past events we have hosted e.g the East African Summit.

Please note this budget is not a copy paste it has the same items listed in your shared link excluding training (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference/Remote_Event_Guidelines#Potential_expenses_eligible_for_funding_(specific_to_virtual_events)

In regards to requested invoices , these will be sent one week from this date as i give time to vendors to send them in.

BestErinamukuta (talk) 07:49, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Grant approved

Dear Erinamukuta and the WCUGU team,

Thank you for your work on the grant request and responding to our comments. I’m happy to tell you that we've reviewed the final proposal and are happy to support it! You received an email earlier this week with more instructions and next steps. Please let me know if you have any questions. I will circle back soon to schedule our first meeting. Looking forward to working together CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 06:42, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

Request for grant extension

• We would like to understand the rationale behind this request?

in the initial budget we had targeted 100 attendees and as we have gone through the preparations we have come to over 300 registrations. In the original budget we had also looked at using zoom as a streaming platform but considering the structure of the program we decided on using an event platform to better support the objective of the conference which led to a 3000 dollar cost versus the original 823 dollar cost for the platform. This led to a reduction in the administrative expenses to handle the cost of a command center for the three days of the event and also cushion logistical costs in regards to keynote speakers and unforeseen entertainment and showcasing cost of ugandan culture as the host.

• Please provide more information about these 6 online activation events. What's the need for running these activities? Who will be the target audience? How will the WikiIndaba conference benefit from these activities?

This being the first virtual wikiindaba event , we needed to come up with a communication strategy to promote the attendance of the event . This led to the use of activation events to inform regional communities(west Africa, east Africa, north Africa, diaspora, south Africa and anglophone african countries) about the up coming wikiindaba. with every activation session we have had, we have seen dramatic increase in registrations but have also been able to capture and manage user expectations. The target audience are the above mentioned regional communities.

• How did you come up with this idea? Why wasn't it initially included in the plan?

We are currently outsourcing some functions IN regards to organization of the conference . Communication being one of them. The vendor selected , had suggested activation sessions in our communication plan. it was included in the plan as a communication item but we had not considered the compensation of data for attendees.

• Do you have enough capacity in the team to plan and run these activities only a few months prior to the main conference?

We have already had four of these events . As i mentioned we have outsourced a vendor who is handling all technicalities and on our part we are requesting for funds to support the cost of attendance of the community members.

• Your amendment request is for 10,000 USD. We would like to request a more detailed breakdown of expenses. For how many participants will you cover internet costs? How will you handle the logistics? Are there any other expenses to be covered with this amount?

Below is a breakdown of the requested funds which will also include other facets of the conference that were eaten up or not considered in original budget

• • Data for 6 activation sessions $750 X 6 = $4500
  • Core group command center = $3000
  • Keynotes and entertainment = $2500
  • Total = $10000
  • Total in UGX = UGX 35,480,300

Erinamukuta (talk) 13:20, 12 October 2021 (UTC)

Extension request approved

Hello Erinamukuta and WikiIndaba team, we are approving your extension request for 10,000 USD (35,480,300 UGX). Thank you again for running the WikiIndaba conference this year! Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 08:42, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

Request for post WikiIndaba events grant support

Hello DSaroyan (WMF),

• We are requesting for a conference grant support of USD 8300 to carry out post WikiIndaba events for the Africa Youth Month in November, and December 2021.
• The WikiIndaba Local organising team (partners and sponsors committee), with support from the Wikimedia Foundation partnerships department have been in discussion with one of the partners for WikiIndaba, (the African Union) who have held a joint session at the WikiIndaba conference.
• The African Union celebrates the Africa Youth Month in November, and we would like to hold events that involve the Wikimedia Movement, to showcase youth initiatives within the community such as Wikivibrance.
• We had community consultation from the organisers of the above Wikivibrance activities, we created a booth at the WikiIndaba virtual conference, and mentioned this initiative during some sessions at WikiIndaba.
• The end result has been interest from 6 communities in Africa, and the diaspora to hold activities post WikiIndaba.
• A breakdown of expenses is below;
  • Events/editathons
    • Two events per community in Africa 2*6=12 $200 × 12 = $2400
    • One event per community with the diaspora $50 x 6 = $300
  • Prizes - $2800
    • 4Es - $100 per E regionally × 4 = $400
    • Language Winners - $100 × 6 = $600
    • Top 3 contributors per community - $150, $100, $50 = $300 × 6 = $1800
  • Administration and coordination costs
    • Coordination of activities (Support for Internet/voice, transport, venue, meals, e.t.c) - $200 X 12 = $2400
    • Administrative costs - $400 (shipping costs, bank fees, FX fluctuation, etc)

Total - $8300

Total in Local Currency = UGX 29,405,000

Thanks. --Douglaseru (talk) 03:34, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Dear Douglaseru, thank you for posting this amendment request and for your plans to run post-WikiIndaba events. We have reviewed your request and we have a few clarifying questions:

• How many participants do you expect in each community event? What will be the estimated total number of participants?

• We expect 10 participants from each community event. The estimated total number of participants from the 6 communities will be 60.

• What is the expected outcome? How will you measure the impact of these activities?

• The expected outcome will include 30 new active editors, new content created on Wikipedia, Wikicommons, or Wikidata (90 in total). One of the ways that the impact will be measured will be on the outreach dashboard which will be created by (some of the) participating communities. Long term impact will also be measured when the target audience (Wikimedia Youths - Wikivibrance) are kept engaged to participate in future youth-related activities within or outside the Wikimedia movement. Additionally, this activity could become annual within the Wikimedia Movement in Africa. The participating communities will keep in contact with the Wikimedia Foundation, and partners to share more ideas on making this activity sustainable.

• Which 6 communities will host these post-conference activities?

• Wikimedia affiliates and Communities in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya will host the pre-conference activities.

• Could you please provide more information about what 'Events/editathons' expenses will cover? Will they cover the internet or other expenses?

• Event expenses will include space, internet, refreshments/meals, publicity, and other related costs.

• Would you also elaborate on your plan to engage participants and follow up with them?

• As mentioned above, the target audience (Wikimedia Youths - Wikivibrance) will be informed about future youth-related activities within or outside the Wikimedia movement. This activity could become annual within the Wikimedia Movement in Africa. The participating communities will keep in contact with the Wikimedia Foundation, and partners to share more ideas on making this activity sustainable. Additionally, an internal communication channel on whatsapp was created and will be used to engage and follow up with participants.

• What's the rationale behind the amount and number of prizes? Who will receive them? Why are there different categories of prizes?

• The rationale for the prizes is to appreciate efforts and motivate atleast 3 winners, the amounts were based on amounts used for the previous [Wikivibrance competition].

• Will 'Coordination of activities' costs support organizers? How many team members will organize these activities?

• Yes, coordination of activities will support organisers' costs on internet, phone calls, space, e.t.c, there will be 2 team members per community, making a total of 12 organisers from 6 communities.

• Finally, we would like to learn more about the estimated timeline of activities. What will be the total duration of activities? When do you plan to carry out each of the post-conference events?

• Most of the activities are planned to be carried out in the month of November, although there could be an overlap into the first and second week of December, but every community will be free to define actual dates when events will take place within the November - December timeframe.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 13:47, 11 November 2021 (UTC)

• Thanks. --Douglaseru (talk) 08:37, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

Amendment approved for 8,300 USD

Hello Douglaseru, thanks again for your response on the discussion page and clarifications offered during the call regarding the current set of activities. We are happy to approve your second amendment request in the amount of 8,300 USD with one recommendation regarding the prizes:

• We recommend keeping '4Es' and 'Language Winners prizes' but changing 'Top 3 contributors per community' prize. Instead of offering prizes to top 3 contributors in each community, we recommend sharing this budget (1,800 USD) among all active contributors from all communities. This will allow you to avoid potential overlapping prizes (same editor receiving prizes for different categories) and to offer appreciation to all the active participants. Additionally, given the importance of the mentorship component in these activities, we think that this change will help you to create an atmosphere of learning and working together, rather than a contest where participants compete with each other.

Once again, we thank you for your work on the WikiIndaba Conference and the post-conference activities. On behalf of the Conference Funds team. All the best, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 15:25, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Request for reporting extension

Hello, we kindly request for a reporting extension due to post conference activities to 31/05/2022 Erinamukuta (talk) 08:13, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

Hi Erinamukuta, Your request for an extension is approved. Your new report due date is 15 July 2022. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 10:16, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Request for extension on financial reporting....

Good day,,

As advised, this is to request for an extension on financial reporting up till 20 October 2022 in order to incorporate information that had not been included previously.20:37, 5 October 2022 (UTC) AKibombo (talk) 20:37, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

Hello, noting here that the final report submission date will be 20 October 2022. If you anticipate needing more time to complete the report, please post another request on this page, and contact conferencegrantswikimedia.org. Thank you, Morgan Jue (WMF) (talk) 13:10, 6 October 2022 (UTC)