Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Community Malta Simple Annual Plan 2022

Dear Wikimedia Community Malta,

Thank you for your application, the NWE Grants committee really appreciated the time and effort taken to define the project. We really liked your pragmatic approach, and have some additional elements to give you feedback:

• Your proposal is serious and grounded, targeting awareness with local non-wikimedia partners.
• You could revisit the funding request to stabilize the coordinating team and contribute to the sustainability of the program.

However, before we make the final decision, we would like to get further information about the following points:

• You already stated you "need help understanding and implementing core metrics", but do you have a general idea of the figures of interactions that are realistic in your current situation? The metrics attachment is interesting but covers different time periods.
• NWE Grants committee would also like to understand your plans to engage with the Maltese communities abroad?

Best wishes

On behalf of the NWE regional committee --Mmo (talk) 10:25, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

Dear NWE regional committee -

Thank you very much for your feedback on WCM's proposal. Here's our initial response to this feedback:

1. We're not sure what you mean exactly by "You could revisit the funding request to stabilize the coordinating team and contribute to the sustainability of the program". We've made a request to employ a part-time Program Coordinator to a level we think is appropriate for 2022, in a very conservative manner. We've also planned an allocation for accounting services, to ensure a professional approach to our financial stability. Should we consider increasing either of these allocation? As we understand things, the sustainability of our program depends in large part on having a non-volunteer handle the substantial administrative tasks associated with the program.
2. We have a good idea of core metrics within our current situation. This is based on both our experiences over the past 4-5 years, as well as a sense of where we are with audience engagement as we enter the coming year. Where we need help is with making sure that the metrics we have for previous years can indeed serve us towards our 2022 targets and that we're addressing the core metrics that matter as far as the funding request is concerned. Not sure how we address this within the proposal beyond what we're already indicated and this note about it.
3. The question about engaging Maltese communities outside Malta is very useful. We already have some engagement with two overseas Maltese communities. The first of these is based in Brussels/Luxembourg and involves EU translators and other European institution employees; this has been greatly enabled through our engagement with the European Commission's Language Office in Valletta. Two of the most active Wikimedians who regularly engage with WCM activities are from this overseas community. The other consists of a small number of Maltese Wikimedians based in other European countries. I am part of this overseas community as I live and work in the UK, where there is at least one other significantly active Maltese Wikimedian. Another such community member is based in Sweden. We all engage with WCM regularly via the online activities that have been organized as a regular occurrence during the pandemic-related restrictions period. We aim to grow both these communities slowly, mindful that quality of contribution is possibly more desirable than quantity of participants, in this instance. Are you recommending that we add some of this information about the Maltese communities abroad into the proposal as it stands, or does this comment satisfy the request for information before the final decision is made?

Thanks again for your feedback and we hope that some of this information addresses the key points you have raised. We will also be following up with an email to Tanveer and Dorra next week.

(On behalf of Wikimedia Community Malta...) ToniSant (talk) 12:25, 24 December 2021 (UTC)

Budget Approval

We are happy to fully fund the application 32,460.00 EUR.

The NWE Committee liked the approach and the pragmatism of the responses to the feedback given. The problem of the metrics is inherently contextual to this period, so your doubts are absolutely well placed, but the evolving context makes both evaluation and validation of those metrics complicated.

The NWE Committee would also like to support you on an organisational level regarding the aspects of program coordination.

On behalf of the NWE regional committee — Mmo (talk) 14:42, 12 January 2022 (UTC)