Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/WikiActivate Loves Women -SheSaid (ID: 22660411)

Rapid Fund Request : Not Funded

Dear @Chukydyk

Thank you for submitting your application. After a thorough review of your proposal, we have made a decision not to fund your proposal. See the notes speaking to the rationale of the decision below;

• It is unclear on the plan for sustained engagement of participants beyond their intervention espeically given that participants are relying on hired laptops for participation. What happens after? What was the strategy in the first place?
• Also in comparison with other projects from Nigeria the budget is inflated and does not align with the requested resources.

Thank you. VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 14:01, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Good Day @VThamaini (WMF)

• The hired laptops are specifically for our physical training for those who don't have or who didn't come with theirs to the venue.
• What happens after is that we follow up participants by adding them to our Telegram and WhatsApp group where we still update, answer their questions and put them through.
• The budget is never inflated but as a result of the high cost of living and inflation rate recently in the country the cost of items might differ. We can adjust this Budgets by reducing the number of quantities.
• Lastly, this issues you pointed out are things that can be explained and be adjusted for the proposal go through knowing fully well I carried you along while making this proposal as you suggested.

Thank you Chukydyk (talk) 15:02, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Dear Chukwuma,

Thank you for your questions on the African Wikimedians Telegram group. Please find the response and let us know if you need any further information;

1. Are there criteria that are beyond the ones stated on the rapid grant meta page that they're using to accept grant applications?

The criteria has not shifted remains the same. Here is the detailed review framework we use;

Clarity:

• Is the proposal clear and coherent in terms of the change it wants to make and what it thinks will help bring about that change?

Impact potential and strategic alignment

• Does the proposal indicate value/impact potential?
• Is the proposal viable?

Individual / Organizational capacity

• Does the applicant have the experience (technical / organizing) capacity to implement this project?
• If the applicant is a newcomer, is it clear how they are going to account/cover for the lack of capacity?
• Has the applicant accounted for risks related to the project?

Community engagement

• Does this proposal have support from Wikimedia community members?
• Has there been sufficient and meaningful engagement of community members through the endorsement and feedback process?

Budget alignment

• Does the proposed budget adequately reflect the investment needed to achieve the proposed goals?

Learning and evaluation

• Does the applicant show clearly what they hope to learn from their work given the change they are hoping to achieve?

2. Are there focused groups, persons, organizations, community that grants are meant for now. If there are they should make it open so we all will know.

The community fund is available to all Wikimedians and while that is the case, the applicants must be compliant with the eligibility criteria.It is also important that the Wikimedian is an active Wikimedian and holds substantive experience and engagement to support others - especially when working with newcomers.

3. Thirdly, why are there no any chance of corrections or remediation like before for your grant applications to pull through?

Our expectation is that before submitting your rapid fund request you have thoughtfully reviewed it against the criteria especially since it is a short-term project.We are also keen on prioritizing impactful projects and those whose resource request aligns with the anticipated and planned impact outcomes.

4. What measures or tools are they using to measure the performance of a project because it seems Veronica doesn't believe in what the Outreach dashboard is saying from the conversation I have had with her

The outreach dashboard is a useful tool to learn about the impact of your work and we use it as part of proposal and report reviews. However as mentioned before and in specific project proposal feedback, we look at different aspects of a project to inform the funding decision.

5. It almost looking like we are in a military regime where Grant applications are declined over simple issues that could be corrected and explained at a glance.

We are unclear about the term used here ‘ military regime’ and how it compares to the Wikimedia Funding programs. Further elaboration might be helpful especially because the implementation all our funding programs aligns and adheres to the Wikimedia Movement principles and values.

Thank you for your questions and we hope the responses shared are satisfactory.

Veronica. VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 14:48, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Dear Veronica

1. I have read your replies and I must say that you are not being consistent and fair to our growing Community (WikiActivate) on the way you keep on declining our grant applications. Starting from our General Support Fund application to now Rapid grants, which you advised us to go for.

2. There is nothing you mentioned above we don't meet up with.

Our last application aligned with #SheSaid project which already passed all the criteria you mentioned in your reply and you declined it with minor reasons that could be fixed

3. Lastly, due to this several rejections of our grant applications, we have not been able to organize any project/event since this year, which is crippling the activities of the group. I don't think that is the idea of Wikimedia Movement Strategy.

Best Regards

@chukydyk Chukydyk (talk) 00:45, 6 July 2024 (UTC)