Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Global Open Initiative Strategy Meetup

Dear Emmanuel and Zita,

Thank you so much for working on this grant proposal to organize a movement strategy event with your communities and partners! This looks like a really exciting plan we would like to support.

• I really like to see well worked out agenda for the first event with clear distribution of roles.
• It is great to see engagement plan for partners, which will make the conversations really interesting - can't wait to read the report and their opinion on the path ahead.
• The communication plan feels to be sound for the engagement.
• I like the idea of translating documents that will inform well the conversation and might have a value not only for the event, but in a longer term (i.e. Universal Code of Conduct)
• The proposed costs seem to be generally well aligned with the scope of the planned events.

I do have a couple of follow-up questions for clarity before I am ready to make an informed decision regarding the grant:

• What is your expectation regarding the number of Twi / Akan Kasa and Dagbani / Dagbane participants at the events? How many people will the translations reach?
• Online tools and services has a really specific number attached to it. What are the planned costs for online tools and services?
• I would like to understand more about the coordination of the events. Could you please provide me the breakdown of this line item in terms of costs and work hours?
• Do I understand correctly that for data packages you plan to provide a 9$ data package for all (45) the participants?

Looking forward to your responses and working with you in making these events happen! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 11:38, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Response to WMF Staff, User:KVaidla

Thank you @KVaidla (WMF): for the feedback, kindly find responses to your questions below:

• What is your expectation regarding the number of Twi / Akan Kasa and Dagbani / Dagbane participants at the events? How many people will the translations reach?

We are expecting at least 10 participants each for each of the indigenous languages (10 for Twi and 10 for Dagbani). As to the number of people the translations will reach, we can not really tell, this is because the Dabgani Wikipedia is still in its incubation phase and we have been working on increasing it's content and volunteer base. The Twi Wikipedia which is live currently has 746 articles and 10 active users. We expect the volunteer base of these two indigenous wikis to increase over a period of time as we keep organising projects to recruit and partner with the language departments of the various Universities in Ghana.

That makes sense, thank you for specifying! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 08:49, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

• Online tools and services has a really specific number attached to it. What are the planned costs for online tools and services?

The amount budgeted for this item will be used in paying for social media ads to promote the event and to attract new participants outside our community. It will also be used to cover internet usage in designing the flyer for the promotion.

This is clear, thank you for specifying! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 08:49, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

• I would like to understand more about the coordination of the events. Could you please provide me the breakdown of this line item in terms of costs and work hours?

8 hours ( 2 hours for preparation and 6 hours for the actual two events) * $62.5

Thank you for clarifying! I do have a follow-up question regarding this one. I understand the hour structure, but I would really like to understand what is the hourly rate per person. Hourly wage of $62.5 is irrationally high for Ghanian context, so I presume that this is a wage for several people. I would like to know for how many? Looking forward to this clarification to proceed with the approval. --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 08:49, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

@KVaidla (WMF): sorry for not clarifying this earlier, the cost covers for the three facilitators outlined in the agenda. The hourly rate per person is $20.83. -- Kinvidia (talk) 10:35, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Dear Kinvidia, thank you for trying to clarify this! Unfortunately, your response is making me even more confused. For the facilitation you already have a budget line item for $200.00, which generally makes sense regarding the scope of the events. However, it does not make sense to have additional facilitator fees included in the coordination budget line item. I would kindly request you to clear this up and ensuring coherence between the facilitation and coordination line items, possibly also reducing the cost for coordination. I am available for any further clarifications.

Thank you for your work on this application! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 13:21, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@Celestinesucess:, maybe you can help to clarify the cost distribution between facilitation and coordination for this grant! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 13:22, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@KVaidla (WMF):, thank you for giving us the chance to clarify things. 11 of our team members will be working on this project. Out of this number aside the facilitators and those who will be leading the translations, 1 person will be in charge of reaching out to our partners via emails, calls and texts and an additional two other persons will be in charge of calling and emailing our community members. The amount budgeted as coordination line item, will be used to cover for the airtime and data usage of these three people. Kindly let us know how much you will like us to reduce this amount to, thank you.Celestinesucess (talk) 14:06, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@Celestinesucess:, thank you so much for such a swift reply! That makes much more sense now and does away my concern of possible duplicates in the budget. Reduction was mainly requested because there seemed to be an overlap between the facilitation and coordination. At the same time, I am still struggling a bit with mapping the potential work hours and general wage levels in Ghana against the projected estimate. At the same time, you are much better aware regarding the needs for delivering successful events and ensuring sufficient level of community engagement. If you confirm that this is indeed what you need for the events and is well compatible with general salary rates of similar work in Ghana, I am happy to move forward with the approval. Otherwise, please adjust the budget accordingly. I am available for further specifications! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 14:19, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@KVaidla (WMF): We have reduced the amount from $500 to $400, this I believe should be enough to help us do a good job, once gain thank you.Celestinesucess (talk) 14:36, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@Celestinesucess:, thank you for the adjustment and so swift correspondence here! We will move forward with the approval process and notify you once we have formal approval to this grant request. --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 14:38, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

@KVaidla (WMF): thank you too! We look forward to the next steps.Celestinesucess (talk) 14:41, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

• Do I understand correctly that for data packages you plan to provide a 9$ data package for all (45) the participants?

Yes please, this $9 dollars is to cater for the two events.

This is clear, thank you! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 08:49, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

--Kinvidia (talk) 18:52, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Dear Kinvidia, thank you for a swift reply! I have provided my responses in-line. Generally it all makes sense, but I would like to have a specification for the coordination line item. Namely, for how many people this cost is calculated for. --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 08:49, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Hello KVaidla (WMF), thank you for getting back to me, I apologise for not clarifying that earlier. Please find my response to your question in-line. -- Kinvidia (talk) 10:47, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Grant approved

Dear Emmanuel and Zita, thank you for your application to fund a movement strategy event through a rapid grant!

We have reviewed your application and also considered your follow-up clarifications on this talk page I am excited to inform you that we have decided to support the Global Open Initiative Strategy Meetup in the amount of $1,724.90.

We hope that you will have a successful event and look forward to reading your discussion report. If you have any questions or specifications regarding the grant, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your contribution to the global movement strategy conversations! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 22:36, 17 November 2020 (UTC)