Grants talk:Project/Rapid/African Games and Sport Writing Contest

Comments from DSaroyan (WMF)

Hello Haylad, thanks for submitting this grant request. I think that the project focus is an important one, however, I have some concerns about the requested budget. Therefore, I have some requests regarding mainly the requested budget and proposed expenses:

• Please respond to question #6.

Budget:

• Internet subscription (For the team members during the project and post-project for report writing) - I think that this expense is high. We won't offer more than 50 USD per team member. Please reduce it to 150 USD maximum.
• Administration and Facilitation of online Trainings - we will not fund this expense. Please remove it from the budget.
• Branding and Social media promotion - reduce this to 150 USD maximum.
• Airtime for communication - what's the need for Airtime expenses if you also request internet expenses for the team and active participants?
• We will not fund 500 USD for prizes. Please reduce it to 250 USD maximum.
• Miscellaneous - please reduce it to 50 USD.
• Please update the total requested budget after making the updates.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 12:28, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Response

Hello DSaroyan (WMF),

1. I realised I didn't add the other team members and their responsibilities. I do not agree that the cost of Internet for team members is High, 50 USD will not be enough for a project that will run for more than four months. I have reduced the total cost to $500.
2. I do not agree with the removal funds for the facilitation and administration of Online training. I believe it's completely unwise to recruit people to contribute to the Wikimedia movement and not train them, I have done a breakdown of the cost if lumping everything together was not appropriate. The essence of organising the contest is to encourage and recruit New Nigerian Wikimedians and the existing ones to contribute to the local Nigerian Language Wikipedia. If the whole thing is removed, the contest shouldn't take place at all.
3. I also do not agree with the reduction of the branding and social media promotions cost, this is as important as the training, we plan on making promotional videos, digital fliers and Shirts for the facilitators and teams members.
4. We plan on calling the registered participant to discuss the difficulties they might be encountering during the contest as it relates to the creation of articles, the Nigerian language Wikipedia they will be contributing to. etc. Some participants are older, here in Nigeria, Some older folks don't find it appropriate to call via online channels.
5. I have reduced the prizes to $300.
6. Miscellaneous has been reduced to $50.

I will love to emphasize that cost of goods and services in the Nigerian economy is inflating, it is also difficult and complex to organise online training and campaigns in Nigeria. If you still think these costs are too high for a project that will cut across 200 million people. I will prefer to adjust the grant to a local event, where I will spend more for a 2-day event. Thank you.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Best Regards.Haylad (talk) 12:57, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Hello Haylad:

• In the future, please add all your team members when preparing the application and not during the review process. I still don't agree about the internet expenses, so I request that you provide the following information:
  • Confirm that your team members do not receive any internet support in terms of other Rapid Funds.
  • I think you plan to offer 100 USD per team member. In this case, please provide a link to the internet service you will be offering to the participants in Nigeria. Please note that we will cover only project-related internet expenses and we will not cover internet expenses for 6 months for all team members.
• Now, that you added more information about the Administration and Facilitation of online Trainings expense, it makes sense. The promotion and prize expenses can be 250 USD and 300 USD accordingly. Thank you!

Looking forward to hearing from you! Best, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 11:58, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Hello DSaroyan (WMF),

• I Will add all the team members next time.
• I can't confirm that my team members do not receive any other internet support in terms of other rapid grants, as I can't control all their activities.
• I don't think that each team member will spend up to 100 USD on data services as their responsibilities differ and they will be needing internet support differently, I have also reduced the cost of the Internet subscription to 400 USD. This was the amount spent during the last Rapid fund I applied for.
• I will be outsourcing the participant's Internet distribution to a data distributor company I am familiar with (they don't have a website), the participants do use different mobile network services providers, which is the reason for outsourcing. The mobile service provider I am familiar with has its link to its data offers here. Thanks.

Looking forward to hearing from you.Haylad (talk) 14:00, 10 March 2022 (UTC)