Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016 round 2/The Centre for Internet and Society/Progress report form/Bridging gender gap

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Purpose of the report[edit]

This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their results to date. For progress reports, the time period for this report will the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). For impact reports, the time period for this report will be the full 12 months of this grant, including the period already reported on in the progress report (e.g. 1 January - 31 December of the current year). This form includes four sections, addressing global metrics, program stories, financial information, and compliance. Please contact APG/FDC staff if you have questions about this form, or concerns submitting it by the deadline. After submitting the form, organizations will also meet with APG staff to discuss their progress.

Global metrics overview - all programs[edit]

We are trying to understand the overall outcomes of the work being funded across our grantees' programs. Please use the table below to let us know how your programs contributed to the Global Metrics. We understand not all Global Metrics will be relevant for all programs, so feel free to put "0" where necessary. For each program include the following table and

  1. Next to each required metric, list the outcome achieved for all of your programs included in your proposal.
  2. Where necessary, explain the context behind your outcome.
  3. In addition to the Global Metrics as measures of success for your programs, there is another table format in which you may report on any OTHER relevant measures of your programs success

For more information and a sample, see Global Metrics.

Metric Achieved outcome Explanation
1. # of active editors involved 35 Including 10 Wikipedians engaged in the research interview
2. # of new editors 117
3. # of individuals involved 187
4. # of new images/media added to Wikimedia articles/pages 0
5. # of articles added or improved on Wikimedia projects 52
6. Absolute value of bytes added to or deleted from Wikimedia projects 2.951MB
  • 2.77MB Added
  • 0.181MB Delete


Telling your program stories - all programs[edit]

Please tell the story of each of your programs included in your proposal. This is your chance to tell your story by using any additional metrics (beyond global metrics) that are relevant to your context, beyond the global metrics above. You should be reporting against the targets you set at the beginning of the year throughout the year. We have provided a template here below for you to report against your targets, but you are welcome to include this information in another way. Also, if you decided not to do a program that was included in your proposal or added a program not in the proposal, please explain this change. More resources for storytelling are at the end of this form. Here are some ways to tell your story.

  • We encourage you to share your successes and failures and what you are learning. Please also share why are these successes, failures, or learnings are important in your context. Reference learning patterns or other documentation.
  • Make clear connections between your offline activities and online results, as applicable. For example, explain how your education program activities is leading to quality content on Wikipedia.
  • We encourage you to tell your story in different ways by using videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g.), compelling quotes, and by linking directly to work you produce. You may highlight outcomes, learning, or metrics this way.
  • We encourage you to continue using dashboards, progress bars, and scorecards that you have used to illustrate your progress in the past, and to report consistently over time.
  • You are welcome to use the table below to report on any metrics or measures relevant to your program. These may or may not include the global metrics you put in the overview section above. You can also share your progress in another way if you do not find a table like this useful.

Gender Gap Interventions and Research[edit]

A progress infograph of CIS A2K's gender gap research on Indian Wikipedias

Ever since the well-received edit-a-thons of Lilavati's Daughters in 2013, CIS-A2K has continued to support gender gap initiatives. This grant year, the gender gap issue was placed under the lens of the team's focus area in order to closely monitor progress. In the current grant period, CIS-A2K has collaborated with various human rights organisations and feminist groups, as well as with several institutions (see tables below), to carry out awareness campaigns and interventions to bridge the gender gap. Additionally, in June 2016, an independent researcher working on the gender imbalance issue in open source projects joined the CIS-A2K team to further her analysis and conduct focused action research on the gender gap situation in Indic language Wikipedias and its communities.

An info-graph on the expected research work in 2017

Challenges and Solutions[edit]

5 main challenges are identified for conducting gender gap bridging events:

Challenges Proposed solutions
1. Low participation in gender gap bridging events due to insufficient outreach
  • More social media outreach and utilisation of partner institutions' networks
  • Provide agency for potential participants to be part of the event-planning and event-management process to increase their sense of engagement
2. Finding (gender-related topic) resources in Indian languages is more challenging; hence, most events are conducted for English Wikipedia
  • Collaborate with more regional institutions, libraries, and archives to gain access to locally available resources
  • Conduct translation workshops and events
3. Male participation in gender gap bridging events is relatively low; conversations mostly involved the women present or a small number of very active male editors
  • Conduct gender gap awareness sessions in events with greater participation, notwithstanding the gender composition of the event
  • Invite male Wikimedians as tutors, volunteers, and participants for gender gap bridging events in March, a significant month for women
4. Some articles created during the edit-a-thons have been deleted for notability issues

See a learning pattern here

  • Organisers must prepare notable topics and verifiable sources for participants
  • Regular checkups should be undertaken during an event to make sure participants' chosen topics and writing are in line with Wikipedia policies and guidelines
  • Rules of notability and verifiability should be explained clearly in the session (and preferably have participants read the guidelines in advance)
  • When planning future events, negotiate with the local language communities and the Wikipedia admins to loosen the policy enforcement for acceptable resources and postponing the deletion process to allow the pages to grow and expand into standard quality articles
5. The multiple gender gap bridging events are unconnected and do not share common follwup themes
  • Organisers should keep username details of participants (with consent acquired) for followup event invitations
  • Advanced skill building events should be conducted for participants from previous events
  • Invite participants from previous events to plan outreach or social events in their circles (ex. followup edit-a-thons, meetups, etc.)
  • Create active social media groups (ex: WhatsApp/Facebook/Telegram) for event participants
  • Integrate Wikipedia volunteers with the larger Open Source network to connect interests and skills

Scope for Improvement[edit]

  • Diversify gender gap bridging activities: Explore different forms of engagement and consult women Wikipedians' preferences, interests and willingness to plan and carry out a wider variety of gender gap bridging activities, such as photo-thons, writing contests, and workshops in other Wikimedia projects. This would help attract women participants with different interests and balance the gender gap issue with regard to content in multiple Wikimedia projects.
  • Expand research interview target groups: While we had interviewed some of the most active community members conducting gender gap bridging activities, a majority of these interviewees contribute only to(or mainly to) English Wikipedia. Tracking and engaging with female community members from regional languages and newly registered female editors who participated in the activities has proven to be difficult. However, it is crucial to proportionally represent the research's sample size to include diverse feedback on the activities conducted and the Indian community culture in general.
  • Communication with partners for event documenting: While we had established valuable partnerships with institutions and organisations who have been actively coordinating gender gap bridging events, events organised by these partners(and supported by CIS-A2K) did not see the creation of a meta event page or record an exhaustive list of participants' usernames. CIS-A2K must clearly communicate and emphasise on the need for documenting events conducted with its support.
  • Expand focus from "events" to ongoing community inclusiveness strategies: So far the research has focused on events conducted in the communities, but less attention was paid to the ongoing efforts to include and encourage women's engagement. The following areas should also be investigated:
    • Enforcement of community policies on gender equality - such as the community event's Code of Conduct, Committee on Gender Equality to handle any untoward incidents related to women at the event, women representatives in decision-making and consultation, as well as women's support network in the communities
    • Mentorship - the lack of post-event mentoring is a key reason behind the discontinuity of executed gender gap bridging initiatives. An ongoing mentoring program can help understand how to incentivise and guide women in becoming active community members. Tutors' gender should also be taken into consideration.
    • The "socialising" aspect in the community - Some female members of the communities feel that making new friends who share a common hobby is a key reason they enjoy editing and staying in the Wikipedian communities. Thus, incentives of "socialising" should be taken into consideration and utilised in community strategies, such as holding regular Wikiwomen Meetups in different regions, women's welcoming, and women mentor programs.

Goals and upcoming activities[edit]

Gender gap awareness session in ALC 3
  1. Three gender gap introduction session will be held in FLA communities' regular Wikipedia/media events by the end of March to raise general awareness.
  2. One Indian language gender gap bridging event per FLA will be held by the end of April.
    1. (Planned participation in global initiative) Editing Contest: The Women You Never Meet
    2. (Planned participation in global initiative) Art+Feminism
    3. (Planned local event) 100 Women Edit-a-thon in Odisha
  3. One advanced skill building session will be carried out for event participants as a followup by the end of June.
  4. To increase the variety of gender gap bridging activities, two events, other than edit-a-thons, will be proposed and carried out in the FLAs by the end of June.
  5. Reach the sample size targets of the gender gap research data collection (in interviews and surveys) to understand more women members' experience and opinions.
  6. If the FLA communities do not have clear strategies for women engagement, activities and strategies will be revisited for the FLA to create more gender inclusive plans.
  7. Inspired by the anti-systemic bias workshop kit, a gender-gap-bridging initiative toolkit in the Indian context will be drafted (by the end of January) and shared among local communities to further develop on.
  • All events coordinated and support have to include and emphasise a Code of Conduct in their planning and execution.
  • An optional mentorship program should be provided to all participants in conducted gender gap bridging events.

List of Edit-a-thons conducted or supported (June 2016 - December 2016)[edit]

Date Theme Partners Language # of participants # of female participants # of articles created/improved Other links
11 June 2016 Indian Women Writers Breakthrough English 2 2 2 Facebook
8 October 2016 Indian Women Poets and Authors Breakthrough, Feminism in India English 12 10 11 Facebook
18 October 2016 Feminists in India Breakthrough English 12 8 12
5 November 2016 Indian women judges and lawyers Breakthrough, Hidden Pockets English 4 3 5 Facebook
19 November 2016 Queer Feminists Breakthrough, Feminism in India, Nazariya English 14 6 12 Facebook
27 November 2016 Wikipedia Asian Month/Asian Women Month on-site editathon Breakthrough English, Kannada 14 9 11(2 specifically about women)
1-2 December 2016 Women in struggles Breakthrough, TATA Institute of Social Sciences English 24 11 15
10 December 2016 Human Rights Activists in India Breakthrough, Feminism in India English 5 5 5 Facebook
23 December 2016 Women and Environment Shivaji University Marathi 26 26 5
TOTAL 113 80 78

List of other activities organized or supported (June 2016 - December 2016)[edit]

Date Activity Partners Language # of participants # of female participants
27 August 2016 Mangalore Wikiwomen Meetup -- Kannada, Konkani, Tulu 8 8
11-12 November 2016 Workshop in Delhi National Law University, Delhi Hindi, English 21 ?
19 November 2016 Wikipedia gender gap awareness session at ALC Andhra Loyola College English, Telugu 30 30
29 November 2016 Marathi WP awareness & training session at Jnana Prabodhini Women Empowerment Division Jnana Prabodhini Marathi 15 15
TOTAL 74 53+?

Media mention[edit]

Revenues received during this period (6 month for progress report, 12 months for impact report)[edit]

Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.

Table 2 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.

  • Please also include any in-kind contributions or resources that you have received in this revenues table. This might include donated office space, services, prizes, food, etc. If you are to provide a monetary equivalent (e.g. $500 for food from Organization X for service Y), please include it in this table. Otherwise, please highlight the contribution, as well as the name of the partner, in the notes section.
Revenue source Currency Anticipated Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative Anticipated ($US)* Cumulative ($US)* Explanation of variances from plan
A B C D E F G H I J K

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


Spending during this period (6 month for progress report, 12 months for impact report)[edit]

Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.

Table 3 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.

(The "budgeted" amount is the total planned for the year as submitted in your proposal form or your revised plan, and the "cumulative" column refers to the total spent to date this year. The "percentage spent to date" is the ratio of the cumulative amount spent over the budgeted amount.)
Expense Currency Budgeted Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative Budgeted ($US)* Cumulative ($US)* Percentage spent to date Explanation of variances from plan
A B C D E F G H I J J2 K
TOTAL B C D E F G H I J J2 N/A

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


Resources[edit]

Resources to plan for measurement[edit]

Resources for storytelling[edit]

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