Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Documenting the folk songs sung during Shama Chakeva, a festival celebrated in eastern Nepal’s southern plains (ID: 22596971)

Endorsement from Brahmavadini (talk)

The proposed project is a good initiative to preserve cultural heritage.

--Brahmavadini (talk) 14:40, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Follow-up Questions and Observations on your grant application

Hello @Sanjib Chaudhary and @s_chaudhary,

Thank you for putting in your grant application. Here are the consolidated questions, comments and observations from the reviewers. Would you be able to provide a response to them? Thank you.

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Feedback on activity proposed:

1a) Need to include at least 2 more senior wikimedians to strengthen the project.

1b) Inclusion of any local expert from the field of Culture or Anthropology,Socio;ogy is highly recommended for the better insights. If possible try to understand the similar Cultural folksongs from the other parts of the globe.For example in India, we have similar kinds of folk songs related with the same theme.Various state of India are having similar ideas of folklore and folk songs. If you are able to create a research article or comparative research article it will be a great contribution or impactful result of this project.( If you need any help for this I would love to be with you to share my expertise.)

1c) Many times folk artists need an appreciation or token of gratitude for their contributions.Try to provide them e certification for their participation in this project.

1d) If possible try to make videos with subtitles as well for better understanding of other people and try to make Wikipedia articles based on this concept.

Feedback on budget:

2a) Travelling expenses would be fine but stationary items and food expenses are on the higher side.Please rethink about it.

2b) After purchasing a good camera, after the completion of the project where and how you are going to utilise the gadget.Please explain.

2c) What is the basis of your cost estimation for staff related expenses? Would you be able to provide local cost for similar roles?

Feedback on community notification:

3a) Try to make awareness in colleges also to preserve this folk culture.May be you can get new wiki editors from this activity.

Merit of project

4) Good

Implementation team 5) Could you provide the past experience of your team in implementing similar projects and also in project management?

Things to change/ improve:

6a) As mentioned above please try to give answers to these feedback questions

6b) The costing can be reduced by reducing some of the activities. I would recommend they hire the camera equipment and not purchase since this is observed as a one-time activity.

6c) The dissemination plan could be made more open to the wider movement through the community spaces, calls and Diff Blogs.

6d) They could include photo documentation as well and increase the contribution of the project to commons archives and Wikipedia articles on the same cultural activity.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of SA Regional Funds Committee and WMF staff who have contributed to the review of your application JChen (WMF) (talk) 02:42, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Ping to respond

Hello @Sanjib Chaudhary and @s_chaudhary,

Hope you are well. Would you have time to respond to the follow-up questions?

We'll like to finalise all funding outcomes by 30 May 2024.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 02:37, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Publishing Responses from Applicant - Received via email

Hello @Sanjib Chaudhary and @s_chaudhary,

Thank you for sending through your responses via email. I am copying and pasting them here for documentation.

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Please find below my response:

1a) I have requested senior Wikimedians [[user:Amrit Sufi]] and Psubhashish to be a part of the project as advisors and they have agreed to it.

1b) I have requested researcher Uday Raj Aaley who has been crucial in revitalizing the isolated Kusunda language with only one fluent speaker to be an advisor of the project to which he has agreed. He has researched a lot about Tharu culture and traditions and has also edited a Tharu dictionary. He is known for his sociological and anthropological research.

1c) We have plans to provide certificates to the project participants.

1d) We will make videos with subtitles and also write Wikipedia articles about the songs sung during the festival.

2a) In case of the food budget we have calculated the amount as below:

Food for 5 people (artists) for 7 days, 2 times a day at the rate of NPR 150 per meal equaling NPR 10,500 plus two times meal in a day for 2 people (coordinator and manager) for 9 days at the rate of NPR 150 per meal equaling NPR 5400. Also, we have included meals for all participants including community members on the final day of the festival equaling NPR 8000. The total comes out to be NPR 23,900 which has been rounded to NPR 25000.

However, if we calculate based on 1 meal costing NPR 125 and the final gathering cost as NPR 5000, the total cost for food comes around NPR 18250 which is NPR 6750 (USD 51 @ 1USD = NPR 132).

In case of stationery, we have added the cost of making papier mache statuettes that has escalated the price. The papier mache statuettes would be sold and the money will go to the group preserving the culture. If it is a success, they would continue making papier mache statuettes thus monetizing their culture.

However, if it is done as a pilot, we can reduce the cost by NPR 30000 (around USD 227).

2b) If the project allows to purchase a camera, we will use it in the future for documenting more folk songs like songs sung during Jitiya festival and other folk songs and stories that are in the verge of vanishing.

However, we can hire a camera as well. In case we hire a camera, a good camera would cost around NPR 4000 per day and if we hire it for 10 days, it would cost NPR 40000 which is NPR 20000 less (around USD 152).

2c) I would volunteer as a project coordinator but we have kept a project manager as a paid staff for 4 months. The remuneration that an intern draws in a non-governmental organization per month in Nepal is around NPR 30000 and since the manager would need to coordinate and travel, we're providing NPR 40000 per month for 4 months. However, the manager would work for almost 6 months, from the start of the project to the end of the project and will also do the reporting.

3a) We will also take the awareness programme to colleges in Saptari and Siraha districts. As suggested we want to inspire new Wiki editors to take up the documentation work.

5) Our team recently organized a multi-media exhibition of Tharu stories. Here's the link: https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-tharu-story-by-the-tharu '

Our team has artists and designers who can take forward and complete the work in time. Also, we are in good contact with local artists who have already contributed to Wikimedia Commons funded Indic Oral Culture Project.

6b) We are okay with the revised costs as mentioned above if the Funding Team agrees to them.

6c) We will also do the blogs and widely disseminate the stories not only through social media, blogs and Wikipedia articles but will also take help of mainstream media to share the stories to a wider audience. '

6d) We will also include photo documentation and contribute to Wikimedia Commons archives and to Wikipedia articles.' JChen (WMF) (talk) 00:55, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

Your grant application has been approved

Hello @Sanjib Chaudhary and @s_chaudhary,

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of NPR 660,000 from 21 June 2024 to 23 December 2024.

Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Please let me know if you require support in any way or would like to share your experiences with a wider community through the Let's Connect Programme or on South Asia Open Community Calls.

Note on grant funding amount

In your award letter/email, you may observe that the USD equivalent may be different from that floating exchange rate on Oanda. I observed that there is a significant difference between the buy/sell rates of USD/NPR hence have adjusted the USD equivalent to USD 5,000 to ensure that you receive the full funding in your local currency where possible.

We know even the best thought through plans may change. In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to me about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage).

Additional resources which may be useful

• The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.
• Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx.
• Instructions for post award: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Processing/Grantee_Portal/Post_award/Individuals
• Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

Plug

We are actively recruiting community members to join the South Asia Regional Funds Committee and hope you can help spread the word and recommend people to apply. For more information, refer to Grants:Regions/South Asia/Committee Call 2024.

Future grants

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and we hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project. For future grant applications, we encourage you to get in touch with the regional programme officer early before submitting your grant application. This allows lead time to support you in putting together an application and also work through fiscal sponsor options (if required) with you. The timeline for future rapid fund grant rounds can be found here - Grants:Project/Rapid#Timeline

Regards,

Jacqueline on behalf of the South Asia Regional Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 01:04, 30 May 2024 (UTC)