Grants:Conference/WMCL/Iberoconf 2019

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Iberoconf Santiago 2019
Iberoconf Santiago 2019
Iberoconf 2019 will be the sixth annual meeting of Wikimedians from Ibero American region (Wikipedia and similar projects). The meeting will take place in Santiago, Chile, in February 2019. The main objetive of the meeting will be to improve the skills of the organizations participants on project management (reporting, storytelling, impact etc), fundraising and strategic planning as well as, strengthening our relationships and work together.
targetAll organizations and communities from Ibero American region and involved as partners in Iberocoop
strategic priorityIncrease reach, improve quality, increase participation by professionalizing affiliates, design common projects, apply the movement strategy to the region.
event dates8-10 February 2019
amount-local37,000,000 CLP
amount55,220 USD
typeorganization
nonprofitYES
creatorWarko
contact• marco.correa(_AT_)wikimediachile.cl• osmar.valdebenito(_AT_)wikimediachile.cl
organizationWikimedia Chile


Event overview[edit]

Purpose and vision

Please give a brief description of the event you are planning. What do you hope to accomplish during the event? Why is this event important for your community?

Established in 2010, Iberocoop (Initiative of Cooperation for the Ibero-American Region) is currently one of the more stable and longer-lasting regional cooperation networks within the Wikimedia movement. It is aimed at linking together the affiliates (chapters and user groups) and communities from Ibero-America, thus fostering collaboration and experience sharing.

Iberoconf is a biannual event to stimulate and develop this partnership. The main goals of the 2019 edition are:

  • Promoting, developing, strengthen and maintaining the cooperation among organizations at a regional level.
  • Building capacities for the organizations belonging to Iberocoop, through:
    1. Reporting & Storytelling
    2. Fundraising (internal and external)
    3. Strategic planning
  • Discuss and apply the 2030 Movement Strategy at a regional level.

Important details

Please add key information to the table below. The dates, location and number of participants can be estimates and do not need to be finalized at this time.

Proposed date(s) 8, 9 & 10 February 2019
Proposed location Santiago, Chile
Number of participants 40-45
Event page Iberoconf 2019
Primary contact person Marco Correa

Background[edit]

Community input[edit]

Use the results from the community engagement survey to fill in the table below. Since you cannot cover all topics or meet all needs at one event, prioritisation is important. Please rank the priority of each topic, skill, project or problem as high, medium or low. Finally, please answer the questions below the table.

Description Priority
Strategic discussions:

What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person?

Affiliates professionalization, community growth, 2030 Strategy impact at a regional level, adressing movement gaps (gender, geographic), partnership promotion High
Capacity development:

Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn?

Community creation and growth, affiliates management and funding, strategic planning. High
Working groups:

Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person?

Joint projects (edit-a-thons, contests, education, GLAM), affiliates coordination, new users training, knowledge sharing, regional partnerships. Medium
Community building:

Are there other in-person activities are important for community building?

Story and knowledge sharing, thematic meetings. Medium

Survey analysis:

  1. How many people did you send the survey to? How many people responded to the survey?
    The survey was shared in the Iberocoop mailing list. We asked that 1-2 representatives from each organization to fill the survey in order to have geographic diversity. 18 Wikimedians responded to the survey.
  2. Did you see consensus around shared goals that this community wants to focus on in the next 12 months? What were the top 2 goals?
    Yes, even considering the big diversity and different development stages of the Iberocoop organizations. The two main goals are:
    • Regional adoption of the 2030 Strategy direction
    • Building capacities and professionalization of the affiliates
  3. Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve those goals?
    The participants consider that knowledge sharing is key in order to help communities to achieve growing and professionalization. Some methods mentioned are: mentoring, learning workshops and building a more fluid interchange among affliates.

Context[edit]

Wikimedia Chile organized Iberoconf 2012.

It is helpful to get an understanding of why this event is important to your community, and what experiences you have had in the past. Please answer the applicable questions below.

1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?
Since 2011, Iberocoop promotes a conference called Iberoconf. In the beginning, this conference was organized annually from 2011 to 2014. Then, it was decided that it should become a biannual conference, in order to improve our regional work, to strengthen local organizations and to plan the conference with a focus on generating results and learnings for the participating organizations. The previous versions of Iberoconf were: Buenos Aires 2011, Santiago de Chile 2012, Mexico City 2013, Buenos Aires 2014, Buenos Aires 2017.
Wikimedia Chile is organizing this year's conference considering the capacity the chapter has built in the past few years. WM-CL has been able to carry successful conferences in the past, including Iberoconf 2012 and local conferences like Glam Wiki 2012, Wikimedia Chile Conference 2015 and Jornadas 2018. Wikimedia Chile will have its first stable staff member in the next months, who will help us to organize the conference.
WMCL has also been one of the leading chapters in the discussion of the Movement Strategy, specially in the first round of discussions, hosting one of its local events. Considering the experience of Wikimedia Chile, as the second Wikimedia chapter founded in Latin America, the organization of Iberoconf 2019 seems reasonable.
2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?
In the past, the conference has allowed the different groups to improve their abilities to implement projects. In particular, the participants have learnt how to apply to grant, manage projects like edit-a-thons and design regional initiatives.
In the case of Wikimedia Chile, we expect the event to be an opportunity for our new staff member to engage with other staff members and volunteers to learn about our projects and share experiences.
3. Please list the priorities identified in the report from the last conference organized by this community. What progress have you made in those areas?
Some of the advances in the goals proposed for Iberoconf 2017 are:
  • Supporting and promoting learning spaces that help the participating organizations to acquire new skills to strengthen their professionalization at a local and regional level.
  • Wikimedia Chile and Wikimedia México has improved their access to grants, receiving Simple APGs for 2017 and 2018 that will allow them to professionalize and have better impact.
  • Promoting, developing, strengthen and maintaining the cooperation among organizations at a regional level.
  • Attendants wrote and signed the Buenos Aires Letter regarding participation in the movement.
  • Some projects like Bridges across Cultures were first proposed, and then implemented on a regional basis in late 2017.
4. If your community has hosted a similar conference in the past, what key lessons were learned, and what would you like to improve on?
One of the main problems last Iberoconf was that we spent a lot of time in the logistic aspects of the event (specially regarding the venue and the accomodation), while other aspects like the definition of the program, didn't have enough time. This is one of the reasons we expect to organize the conference in a hotel where most of the logistic aspects are already defined.

Plan[edit]

Venue and Logistics[edit]

The conference will be hosted in Santiago or Providencia communes, the main commercial areas of the city.
1. If the venue is more than 1 hour away from a major airport or transportation hub, how will participants travel to the event venue?
The venue will be located along Santiago's city centre, in the commune of Santiago or Providencia. Most of the hotels are located within those communes, along the main avenue Alameda/Providencia and close to the main line of Santiago Metro.
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) is located closer than 20 Km from the area where the venue will be located. Using a taxi (approx. CLP 20,000; 30 USD), it will take less than 20 min to arrive to the hotel; using the bus services, connecting directly to Lines 1 and 5 of the Santiago Metro, it will take around 1 hour (CLP 2,700; USD 4).
2. Is the event venue within walking distance from the hotel? If not, how will people travel between the two locations?
Our budget considers the conference to be held in the same hotel where most of the participants will be staying.
3. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
Most of the evaluated hotels consider access for people with physical disabilities according to Chilean law.
4. Do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?
There shouldn't be any challenges after confirming the realization of the conference with the chosen hotel.

Friendly space policy[edit]

Please link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.

All Wikimedia Chile events are ruled by our Friendly Space Policy, based on the Wikimedia Foundation Friendly Space Policy. Other Iberocoop members also have similar versions (e.g. Wikimedia Mexico's policy.)

Participation[edit]

It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.
The audience of this conference is composed by Wikimedia volunteers involved with the local chapters and user groups that form part of Iberocoop. Also, we expect some members of the Wikimedia Foundation, its volunteer committee and other parts of our movement to participate as guests.
2. If your conference has an outreach component, how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects?
We are not considering people outside of the movement to participate in the event - with some potential exceptions of some experts to participate in some talks.
3. Are you thinking about inviting WMF staff to attend or participate in the event? If yes, please list individuals or teams who you may want to invite, or describe how you would like WMF staff to be involved in the event.
We expect some members to participate in the event, including the Executive Director, the Regional Manager for Latin America, staff members from the Community Engagement, Community Resources and Movement Strategy teams, to name a few.

Scholarships[edit]

1. How many scholarships would you like to offer?
For this conference, we expect to have Wikimedia volunteers from chapters and user groups representing 11 countries within Ibero-America. Also, members from user groups affiliated to Iberocoop, participants on the Strategy Working Groups and guest volunteers will have an special invitation.
Participating countries (2 representatives per country)

Non-national Iberocoop user groups (1 representative per organization):
All affiliates must have a proven level of activity between January and August 2018. This will be checked reviewing their public reports on Meta or with the Affiliation Committee.
Strategy Working Groups (4 participants, invited directly by the Organizing Committee)
Guest volunteers (4 participants):
The Organizing Committee will invite active Wikimedia volunteers that have participated in different activities but are not formal part -staff or board member, currently or in the past- of an established affiliate. The OC will select the guest volunteers after volunteers proposed by local chapters.
In total, 32 volunteers will be invited to participate in Iberoconf 2019. In addition to them, we expect some members of the Wikimedia Foundation to participate, but are not included on the budget of the conference for accomodation and transportation.
2. What expenses will the scholarship cover?
For invited participants, the conference will cover accomodation in the same hotel of the conference (shared double rooms) and the airplane ticket from the closest international airport. The accomodation will consider, in general, three nights; depending on the time of their flight arrival or departure, an extra night might be included.
3. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
Chapters and user groups will select their representatives internally. In the case of country representatives, the selected person must be living in the respective country. Participants from Strategy Working Groups and guest volunteers will be selected by the Organizing Committee.
All the participants will have to sign an agreement where they commit to use the resources of the scholarship (hotel nights and both flights) for the purpose of attending the conference.

Resources and risks[edit]

Describe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.

Resources[edit]

Organizing team
Team User Names
Primary contact Marco Correa
Logistics Osmar Valdebenito
Rocío Consales
Conference Program TBD
Communications Patricia Díaz-Rubio
Volunteer Coordinator Carlos Figueroa
Other team members Claudio Loader
Dennis Tobar
Supporting Iberocoop members Anna Torres
Carmen Alcázar

Risks[edit]

Examples of risks, along with how you would minimize or overcome them, are:

  • Skill gaps in project leadership team (e.g. no financial management experience)
  • Components of the measurement process that are hard to quantify

Examples of how to minimize these risks include:

  • Recruiting volunteers with desired skills to project leadership team.
  • Working with the WMF Learning & Evaluation Team to develop an appropriate measurement and evaluation plan.

Budget[edit]

Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.

Event budget table
Item description Unit Number
of units
Cost
per unit
Total cost
(CLP)
Total cost
(USD)
Notes
Conference venue
Conference room Day 3 600,000 1,800,000 2,690 Room for max. 60 people, including sound and internet access
Catering Day 3 500,000 1,800,000 2,690 Service during conference (morning and afternoon) for 40 people
Lunch Day 3 800,000 2,400,000 3,580 Considering 40 people
Accomodation Room per night 22 x 4 85,000 7,480,000 11,160 Budget for 22 rooms - between 36 and 42 people.[1]
Total Conference Venue 13,480,000 20,120
Airplane tickets
Argentina / Buenos Aires 2 200,000 400,000 600
Bolivia / La Paz 2 350,000 700,000 1,040
Colombia / Medellín 2 600,000 1,200,000 1,790
Ecuador / Guayaquil 2 350,000 700,000 1,040
Italy / Milan 3 1,100,000 3,300,000 4,930
México / Ciudad de México 2 600,000 1,200,000 1,790
Perú / Lima 2 200,000 400,000 600
Portugal / Lisbon 2 1,000,000 2,000,000 2,990
Spain / Madrid 3 950,000 2,850,000 4,250
Uruguay / Montevideo 2 300,000 600,000 900
Venezuela / Caracas 2 1,200,000 2,400,000 3,580 Estimated flights considering potential issues.
Strategy participants 4 600,000 2,400,000 3,580 Considering average price ticket.
Guest volunteers 4 600,000 2,400,000 3,580 Considering average price ticket.
Total Flights 20,550,000 30,670
Other expenses
Closing dinner Person 40 20,000 800,000 1,200
Merchandise General amount 750,000 1,120 Banners, pens, booklets, t-shirts, stickers
Total Other expenses 1,550,000 2,320
Reserves 1,420,000 2,110 For unforeseen expenses (3,8% of the total)
TOTAL 37,000,000 55,220
  1. Most of the rooms should be double but we are considering some single rooms in case they are needed.
Total cost of event
CLP 37,000,000 (USD 55,220)
Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program
CLP 37,000,000 (USD 55,220)
In addition to this amount, we would like to request to the Wikimedia Foundation to support us in two main areas:
  • Health insurance for the attendees of the conference. As far as we know, the WMF has the possibility to have insurance for participants in their events, which will be more cost-effective than us buying insurance for foreign people.
  • Help from the Travel Department to issue the tickets for attendees of the conference. This way the WMF can save money and have better control, considering travel expenses represent most of the budget of the event.
Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded
There will be no additional sources, except time from staff and volunteers.
Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.
YES

Discussion[edit]

Endorsements[edit]

Do you think this project should be selected for a Conference Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

  • Support Support Wikimedia Chile already hosted a successful Iberoconf and I have no doubt they can do even better now. Raystorm (talk) 17:57, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

Report[edit]

Final report available at Grants:Conference/WMCL/Iberoconf 2019/Report