Grants:Project/MSIG/EARTHub Piloting implementation
gmail.com• douglasssebaggala@wikimediauganda.orgApplications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.
Project Goal[edit]
What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative
- Provide regional representation in the movement to ensure our communities are not marginalized or missing out on key decision-making processes in the movement.
- Provide localized and tailored capacity building for member communities.
- Create pathways for strategic regional partnerships.
- Enhance knowledge and the preservation of cultural heritage across the region.
- What specific Movement Strategy Initiative does your project focus on and why? Please select one of the initiatives described here
Initiative 25. Regional & Thematic Hubs, because hubs have been prioritized as one of the Movement Strategy initiatives for implementation.
Project Background[edit]
- When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?
- Start date: 31 July 2024, End date: 31 January 2026
- Where will your project activities be happening?
- The East Africa region is our main focus, and language (Swahili) connected communities will also be considered, due to past collaboration history with other communities coming from nearby countries beyond the East Africa region, we are planning to include and involve them in this project.
- Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.
- We are collaborating with 11 communities in the region. These communities/partners will work together through the formation of the EARTHub steering committee that will be responsible for further needs assessment, designing hub policies, governance mechanisms, values, resources, and engaging with communities in the EARTHub.
- What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?
- The EARTHub Core Team undertook a needs assessment research between August 2022 - June 2023. The research was tailored to our understanding of the community and sought to map out communities in the EA region, establish their knowledge of the Movement Strategy and finally identify the need for a hub.[[[diffblog:2023/06/14/east-african-regional-and-thematic-hub-research-findings-and-next-steps/|Read more about the research Objectives here]]]
- The research findings showed that the Wikimedia communities in Eastern Africa are growing rapidly with a lot of newcomers in the movement during the research phase, who had no information about the Movement Strategy and their role in advancing it. Community members that included Affiliates and individuals in the region were in favor of having a regional hub.
- Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?
Project Activities[edit]
- What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.
Core Team Needs Assessment and Stakeholder Engagement
- Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify key areas of support required by the Core Team and the community at large in the piloting & implementation phase.
- Engage Legal support for registration of the Hub
- Expand the Core Team and constitute the EARTHub Steering Committee, which will play an active role during the piloting and implementation.
- Map stakeholders including regional potential partner organizations.
Hub Establishment
- Identify the host location for the regional hub, considering accessibility, infrastructure, and cost-effectiveness.
- Establish administrative structures, including hiring staff, setting up governance mechanisms, and creating operational policies.
Capacity Building Initiatives
- Develop and distribute educational materials and resources tailored to the needs of African contributors.
- Facilitate mentorship and peer learning opportunities among our communities through existing initiatives like Let’s Connect and other new identified methods like the leadership development working group, Capacity Exchange platforms.
- Develop training programs to enhance the skills of contributors in content creation and curation.
- Content Localization Efforts into local Wiki Languages
- Launch content creation campaigns focusing on EA Africa-related topics, such as notable Africans' history, culture, geography, Education (Wiki4Universities project) and Biographies.
- Provide support for translating existing Wikimedia content into EA African languages.
- Forging Collaboration with local cultural institutions, universities, and community groups to source and verify content.
- Encourage the creation and improvement of articles, images, and media files representing East African culture, history, and biodiversity.
Community Engagement Activities & Events
- Organize regional conferences, edit-a-thons, and meetups to connect EA Wikimedians contributors and enthusiasts.
- Establish online forums and communication channels to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among our communities.
- Recognize and celebrate the achievements of EA African contributors through awards, spotlights, and appreciation events.
- Create Partnerships and Advocacy Initiatives
- Identify potential partner organizations, including government agencies, NGOs, educational institutions, and media outlets.
- Collaborate with partners to advocate for policies and initiatives that promote open access to knowledge, freedom of information, and digital literacy.
- Seek funding opportunities and grants to support the activities of the regional hub and its partner projects.
Sustainability Planning:
- Establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress towards strategic goals and assess the impact of the regional hub's activities.
- How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community
- We will be using diffposts, social media channels (facebook, instagram, telegram and twitter)
- Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?
- Core team members will work together with the steering committee from the 11 communities, the Hub coordinator and other staff to be hired, as well as volunteers to deliver on this project.
- Detailed roles and responsibilities will be fleshed out in the first three months of the pilot implementation.
Additional information[edit]
- If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions.
- We will be having facilitated discussions with note-takers to ensure that outcomes and action points from these community discussions are shared with the community. The WMF Friendly Space policy will be followed during this project.https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Friendly_space_policy
- If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.
- We plan to use paid G-suite facilities to ease our communication workflow as well as a paid zoom account (incase we don't manage to find a free offer from the community) for online calls and engagements that will be helpful to record the sessions.
- Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.
- The translation will be basically done in Swahili and French
- Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information, that will give more context on your proposed project.
- This project is being carried out as a continuation to the concluded research phase.
Outcomes[edit]
After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language, and is not required to be written in English.
In this report, you will be asked to:
- Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page
- Describe what activities supported the development of the plan
- Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.
- Report on how your funding was spent
Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:
- What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
- What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
- What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
- How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?
To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer the following resources to develop a logic model:
- Overview of logic models on Meta-wiki
- Example logic models for reference for other movement activities (such as partnerships and edit-a-thons)
- Blank logic model template on Google Drive
Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:
- Yes, a draft implementation plan document will be prepared by the end of the grant.
Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:
- Community Growth - new number of affiliates /communities in the region.
- Number of partnerships established with local/national/regional organizations.
- Number of community members trained in leadership roles.
- Regional engagement and representation in decision-making (in the movement).
Budget[edit]
How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!
The requested budget and budget breakdown should be in your or recipient’s local currency. We send grant payments preferably in your local currency. In some exceptional cases (e.g. hyperinflation), we allow grant payments to be made in US dollars. If you are requesting a grant in a currency other than your local currency, please reach out to your Program Officer to discuss.
EARTHub Pilot Budget breakdown
TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED IN LOCAL CURRENCY: 285,500 USD
Completing your application[edit]
Once you have completed the application, please do the following:
- Change the application status from
status=drafttostatus=proposedin the {{Probox}} template. - Contact strategy2030
wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.
Endorsements[edit]
An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!