Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/LUCG Wikimedia Community Annual Project

Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal

Dear User:LUCG Community and User:Sunkanmi12,

Thank you for making the submission for the general support funding program. We have taken a thorough review of the proposal and shared with you the following comments and questions for your consideration and response;

• We observe that the LUCG community has been receiving support through the rapid fund program and are interested in learning about your motivation for applying to general support funds and not continue accessing rapid funds.

→We applied for a general support fund as a result of the new development given by the Student Representative Council. It was mentioned that we must organize our activities for an academic calendar year before the SRC can incorporate them into their plan. We've also seen a decline in participation due to the gaps between the conclusion of the previous approved rapid fund and the approval of the next, which limits us to a few activities.

• We also observe that the leap in resource access is from $4315 [ from one of your recent rapid fund requests ] to $47,776 [ current requested budget. Would you share with us the rationale for this leap and your assessment of the capacity needed to absorb and manage the grant of this scale?

→We organized editathons as a result of our rapid fund request and learned that we needed to add more activities like Wiki Loves Folklore, Wiki Loves Earth, and community engagement to our project. Furthermore, other institution leaders who have attended or heard about our work have expressed interest in it. We have been working on ways to expand the mission to other institutions, which is why we began organizing editathons at another institution (Islamic University College) and wanted to consolidate all of our efforts into a single proposal, which explains the increase in resources.

• We also wanted to request for you to share with us detailed information on how the university club is organized, and its relationship with the university and leadership structure. Additionally please share more about the club activities and members. What is the plan for when students graduate from university?

→We are an independent group that is affiliated with the Student Representative Council of each institution. We submit our annual activities to the council so that they can incorporate them into theirs. Most current council members are active participants/editors in our community. We have only planned editathons in response to our rapid fund requests, which explains why we are adding other activities to keep our members engaged and entertained.

→In terms of leadership, the club was created by an alumni to introduce students to the Open Knowledge movement through training on Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Commons. We have four graduates and four current students on our team. The four alumni take on the most difficult and time-consuming activities in order to relieve the students of their responsibilities and ensure timely and productive delivery. The students, on the other hand, serve as mentees for newcomers, developing pleasant and interpersonal relationships with the new participants that have served us well ever since.

• We noticed that you included salaries for the students and were keen on understanding the rationale behind the costs and the time assessment for the roles, recognizing that this is a school club and the indicated staff are students.

→The compensated members mentioned in this proposal are graduates and will take on responsibilities that will require them to spend extra hours throughout this project. We have given a breakdown of each person’s responsibilities and working hours in the proposal and budget, respectively.

• From our review so far, we see an opportunity and possibility of you continuing to be supported through rapid funds or for you to coordinate with Global Open Initiative to support your activities. What are your thoughts on this suggestion? Might we be missing any limitations or context-related information?

→I believe it is a great suggestion and I totally understand the reasoning behind it. We have operated under the wings of the Global Open Initiative Foundation since (2019). Through the various programmes organised by the Global Open Initiative Foundation for our community, we were able to build a strong, enthusiastic, and committed community. Through our affiliation, we were able to build capacity not just for the community but also for the team. Two leaders of the community (Oladipupo193 and Sunkanmi12) were members of the Global Open Initiative Foundation core team, and were active in executing projects for the organisation in myriad ways. Following our collaborations, the LUCG has been able to organise projects on its own through rapid grants (about two so far), and through these projects we have been able to build the skills and capacities of other team members. The previous rapid grant projects are a testimony to our abilities as a team, and we are very confident that we have the capacity to execute annual projects with bigger funds. Again, we understand the reason behind this suggestion and won’t be against working with Global Open Initiative on this project.

Upon receiving your responses we will review them in the next phase of our review process.

We highly recommend you get in touch with the regional program officer to support you in understanding the questions raised or if you find it useful to meet with the committee as well, please them know and they can organize a conversation meeting.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your responses to support us in the next steps. On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee and Staff--VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 17:43, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for responding, VThamaini (WMF) and committee. I've answered your questions and clarified where necessary. Please contact me if you have any further questions or need clarification. I and the Community are hoping for a great response from you all.—Sunkanmi12^✉️ 01:01, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Wikimedia Community Fund Declined

Dear Mustapha and the LUCG Community,

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 made the decision not to fund the proposal.

The decision is based on the following; We recognize that the college community is an outcome of the programs led by Global Open Initiative and while we understand your intention for impact, we established that the group is still young and could benefit from ongoing support from Global Initiative. Based on previous conversations between the regional program officer and the leadership team at LUCG, we know that this also an option that you are agreeable to. We also found unclear on how the group works especially seeing that while the target audience is college students and the group is positioned as a Wiki CLub, there are no current students in the leadership group. Additionally, there needs to be more clarity in how the university college is a partner of the Wiki Club. We invite you to also gain more experience in running activities and to also find ways to involve the Wiki Club participants in the programs with a vision for sustained impact.

We have already informed Global Open Initiative about the need for them to continue supporting you and look forward to seeing how that unfolds. We understand that you want to grow and hope with the support of GOI you will find a useful partner who can support that goal.

We understand that this news can be disheartening and glad you were able to have a conversation with the regional program officer , supporting you in understanding the funding recommendation.

We wish you the very best in your collaboration and supportive partnership with GOI.

Best regards from the MEA Regional Committee and Staff --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 12:10, 1 December 2022 (UTC)