Grants:PEG/Grant Advisory Committee/Candidates/Archives/Archive 4

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Candidates November-December 2014[edit]

Candidate: Adethya Sudarsanan[edit]

Statement: I am an Wikipedian on English Wikipedia. I have fair knowledge on editing Wikipedia. My association with Wikipedia started in early 2008. I have been an on-field volunteer whose primary responsiblities include assisting & organizing Wiki events, collaborate with other Wikipedia/external volunteers to provide necessary support. I have also been a speaker at WikiConference India in 2011, where I provided a talk on how to make Wikipedia more accessible on the Internet. I have been associated with other not-for-profits in leadership positions where my responsibilites have been driving initiatives across the organization, drive IT related initiatives to better productivity & engage the community in my activities. Enable the common man to understand our mission and derive the benefit of crowd effort for the betterment of the society As a part of my contribution to GAC, I would love to join the committee as a someone who would bring value to the committee and be just in awarding grants!
Hi Adethya. Thank you for your interest in the GAC. We have closed this round of GAC recruiting, but will leave your candidacy up for our next round - most likely in Fall 2014. We'll be in touch then to see if you are still interested. Please also note that all community members are welcome to comment on PEG proposals. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 11:56, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: rubin16[edit]

Statement: Hi! I know that new candidates will be reviewed in Fall 2014 but am applying in advance :) I am the bureaucrat of Russian Wikipedia, sysop at Commons, OTRS-volunteer, member of Wikimedia Russian and member of IEG committee. I know English, I am aware of Wikimedia movement and have enough time and willingness to participate not only in IEG, but also GAC. rubin16 (talk) 05:30, 10 July 2014 (UTC)
Thanks, rubin16! We'll be in contact during the next round of GAC recruitment. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 15:51, 10 July 2014 (UTC)
I confirm that I still want to be considered as a candidate rubin16 (talk) 03:38, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
I would also like to expand my statement: I am an active member of Russia Wikipedia, the oldest bureaucrat there and the person responsible for financial reporting of Wikimedia Russia. I've been a member of IEG for two rounds and my real life job is connected with audit, governance, finances. I have good technical skills (my bot is one of the most active in ru.wiki), speak English at En-4 level and have some spare time to participate in GAC rubin16 (talk) 11:22, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive[edit]

Statement: Hello! I am Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive, from Bangladesh. I am active in Bengali Wikipedia, Wikisource, English Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Meta since 2008. Now i am a Sysop at Bengali Wikipedia, member of Wikimedia Bangladesh and member of IEG committee. Beside that i am also Bangladesh Ambassador of Open Knowledge Foundation. I am an initiator of Wikimedia Bangladesh chapter. I've involved with online initiatives such as "Photo collection for Wikipedia by emails". Also involved with "Offline Wikipedia editing" programs. I've organize, conduct and coordinate many outreach programs such as workshops, meetups, seminar in different area of Bangladesh. I've successfully lead and coordinate the events on the occasion of "First Bengali Wikipedia Unconfernce" in Chittagong on 2012. Now involve with 10th year of Bengali Wikipedia Celebration program as lead organizer. I've experience in open source community building and have relations with other similar communities like Mozilla, Open Knowledge, Open source network etc in Bangladesh. Also have experiences of working with non-profit organizations in Bangladesh. I involve with lot of projects related with Wikimedia movement. Those ideas was related with community, local and tech development of new ideas with low budget. As a non-english speaker and an active member in WM-BD, I helped to evaluate the local projects and trying to improve the goals of every idea and reviewing the budget of the communities. So I hope I can help GAC. --Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive • talk • 11:21, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Violetova (talk) 12:28, 20 November 2014 (UTC) - Zana[edit]

Statement: I am Zana Strkovska, user name Violetova, sysop on WKMK, from 2008. Chair of Board of Shared Knowledge / WMMK.
  • Familiarity with the Wikimedia movement, and in particular at least one Wikimedia project - yes
  • Experience with Wikimedia programmatic work, either on- or off-wiki, possibly but not necessarily within a Wikimedia chapter – i.e. outreach programs, community events, partnerships, education, workshops, advocacy, etc. (not software programming) - yes, GLAM is my responsibility
  • Facility with editing a wiki (grant proposal reviewing is to be conducted entirely on the Meta-wiki) - yes
  • Reasonable working facility with English, for reviewing and discussing grant proposals - yes
  • Experience handling externally provided money and working with and within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context - yes
  • Experience with applying for grants - yes, several times
  • Experience with the Wikimedia grants program, or another grants program in the Wikimedia movement - yes, several times
  • Experience with non-Wikimedia grants (e.g. in the academic or wider non-profit world) - yes, in local area
  • Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance - yes, particular with documentation of finance
  • Experience with governance, due diligence, and accountability processes - yes

I hope I can help and be useful. Regards, Zana -- Violetova (talk) 12:28, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Derek V. Giroulle[edit]

Statement: I am Derek V. Giroulle from Belgium, 54 years ICT’er, and a regular contributor to Wikipedia since 2005, under this global ID since 2008. The Dutch Wikipedia is my “homebase” but I also contribute regularly on the English Wikipedia. My interest for the Wiki-movement is entirely based on the central vision expressed by J.Wales, “free access to the sum a of all human knowledge”.

I have fairly good knowledge on editing Wikipedia, and the dynamics of the Community. I have experience in organizing Wiki-events, and I have been acting as a Wikipedia-evangelist , often giving outreach and introductory presentations to potential users and I have a particular interest for projects involving institutional partners (content providing partners like libraries, museums etc) within the Belgian Chapter. I have been involved with other none-profits associations in sports- (olympic team support association), patient care (association for young survivors of chronic and rare diseases, patient advocacy) , and poverty fighting sector (association to help poor families with housing, survival and getting the public funded support they are entitled to) , assuming leadership positions where my responsibilities have been overall coordination, project-management, volunteer and staff-management, grants and public subsidy projects, the associations accounts and legal and fiscal reporting. I’m one of the founding members of the Belgian Wikimedia chapter (incorporated association), my function is obviously chapter treasurer. My professional life has been related to IT as a business process-analyst/architect and project manager, I have a large project management experience, driving change-management initiatives across the organization, and to engage the user “community” on the workfloor in my the change programs. My contribution to GAC would be both my financial and management experience, to evaluate projects on their merits and their relevance for the Wikimedia community, but also on financial feasibility in awarding grants!

Below my response to the criteria
Mandatory criteria
  • Familiarity with the Wikimedia movement, and at least one Wikimedia project  : ‘’’Check’’’
  • Experience with Wikimedia programmatic work, within a Wikimedia chapter – i.e. outreach programs, community events, partnerships, education, workshops, advocacy, etc. ‘’’Check’’’
  • Facility with editing a wiki (grant proposal reviewing is to be conducted entirely on the Meta-wiki) ‘’’Check’’’
  • Reasonable working facility with English, for reviewing and discussing grant proposals ‘’’Check’’’
  • Experience handling externally provided money and working with and within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context ‘’’Check’’’
Optional criteria
  • Experience with applying for grants (not yet with Wikimedia grants/ public grants ‘’’Check’’’)
  • Experience with the Wikimedia grants program, or another grants program in the Wikimedia movement - ‘’’ NO’’’
  • Experience with non-Wikimedia grants (e.g. in the academic or wider non-profit world) ‘’’Check’’’
  • Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance, legal and fiscal reporting , international accounts (accountant ‘’’Check’’’)
  • Experience with governance, due diligence, and accountability processes ‘’’Check’’’

I certify that I’m not involved in any unethical behavior, understakings or criminal activity I’m not subject to any police investigations, I have a clean bill without any previous convictions --DerekvG (talk) 12:56, 20 November 2014 (UTC) In his comments user Tony asked for clarification on following subjects :

  • "Experience with applying for grants"—which ones?
    • I applied for several grants (many if not most succesfully) in the public sector (Belgian gouvernment , Flemish gouvernement, Provinical and City council of Antwerp. These grants were for non-profit organisations like sportsclubs, and social organisations like Vrouwenstem (empowerment of women), Sobrevivire (social support of families of adolescent cancer survivors, ), and for an archological association. I worked for a University study center for poverty research as a community liaison (fixer) with grants for help against poverty "like a roof first", food distribution, basic clothing and linnen distribution, and a migration study center as a community liaison (grants program manager) working grants for 4th pillar development cooperation programs in the field of education, health care and Local economic development.
  • "Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance - yes, particular with documentation of finance"— but where?
    • I've studied and graduated as a certified accountant, I didn't work in that job, however I was cost-comptroler/auditor for a transatlantic container ship operator based in the Gulf for 3 years. In my work with grants (as a volunteer or a staff member) i was involved in making the applications, accounting and paying invoices and expenses, reporting especiialy financial reports of the grant spending , but also about the content of the project.
  • "Experience handling externally provided money and working with and within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context ‘’’Check’’’"—which ones?
    • I worked for small non profit associations (sports clubs, patient organisations etc) that depended on public grants for their work, the taxoffice oversees annual reporting by those associations and rpoerting of the correct spending of grants money.
    • I also worked for a large association that had acquired grants to hire staff to do multi-year projects for the gouvernement, and for the university who received grants both form gouvernement, EU, and other authorities to do long term work, reserach and activate community programs. Such grant programs often ahve stringent requirements about spending, overspending and adhering to head-count, planned activities and pre-established budgets and time-frames. as a program manager I was overseeing these activities.

Hope this clarifies sufficiently my experience in the grant matters as per your request.--DerekvG (talk) 22:01, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Candidate: Dry Martini[edit]

Statement: Hi! I am Dry Martini, sysop on it.wikipedia since 2012 (verify); my contribution focuses mainly on tutoring new users (I was one of the first subscribers to it.wiki's Progetto:Accoglienza and contributed to build a lot of its present structure) and on several other backstage issues, such as:
  • accessibility to new users, recently a core priority of WMF
  • accessibility to sight-impaired
  • legal compliance, e.g. investigating copyright violations, image licences, etc
  • general maintenance
My volunteer work on-wiki (tutoring) as well as off-wiki gave me invaluable experience in giving advice on ideas (e.g. new articles both for wiki and for small non-profit magazines), establishing their compliance to guidelines and feasibility and finally giving feedback.
I was also involved in some outreach activities, such as co-founding it.wiki's "Schools Project", which aims at giving a common framework for professors willing to use Wikipedia as an educational resource, providing them with dedicated tutoring and help pages. I was a juror for "Autori in Wikipedia" prize, a contest organized by WMItaly: each school (or, better, class) had to write or improve articles on it.wikipedia and the jury would then assess the outcome compared to it.wiki's and Wikimedia's policies and best-practices; every article was evaluated by a Wikipedia user (I, in my case) and a professor. I have, before getting involved in "Schools Project", provided in-person tutoring to a high school class briefly editing on la.wikipedia and it.wikipedia.
Off-wiki, I served as a treasurer for a small non-profit magazine. I can understand Italian (native), English (near-native), French (intermediate, self-taught), Swedish (lower-intermediate/basic). As far as it can matter, I'm graduating in Economics, Management and Finance. --Dry Martini (talk) 17:43, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
Thanks. I know the user because we are colleague in administering Italian Wikipedia. He would be a good member. --Ilario (talk) 19:36, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
Answering to Tony's concerns about infrequent or "one-line support/oppose" contribution: I'm rather active on it.wikipedia (edit count with detailed stats), although I'm not in the - say - top 10 highes-ranking editors; I usually manage to ensure a regular presence - crucial in outreach and support projects as those I'm involved in - at least on a weekly basis. Of course, I had a few less active periods recently, but I didn't cut off completely (I would read messages and answer with no terrible delays) and had I been involved in a more compelling (and scheduled, as GAC appears to be) project it would have been easy for me to give it attention and the time it needed. I can't give any reassurance but my edit history and a self-certifying statement, so that's what my comment is all about :)
Now for the "one-line support/oppose problem": it's difficult to give evidence of this, so I'll resort to another self-certification. I'm rather on the "detailed analysis" end of the spectrum - as this addendum shows :) -, whether on- or off-wiki (the first is probably the easiest, given just a little proficiency in Italian, to verify: just see 1, 1b, 2. 3, 4 and 4b). And that's also why I didn't really think of providing you with the checklist of requirements: I'm not used to use checklists as main instruments of decision-making (but that's just a personal preference that influenced how I wrote my candidacy), especially if the object of the decision is a person, because it could lead me to take a decision on quantitative rather than qualitative grounds, so it just didn't come to my mind. Of course, if such a checklist is believed to be useful to you guys I'll be more than happy to produce it. --Dry Martini (talk) 20:46, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Candidate: Vinod Tiwari[edit]

Statement:I am a software engineer with ~10 years of experience. I am an active contributor having created 200+ new articles with around 1500 edits. I'm also founder of JBoss User Group Delhi, Member - Product Advisory Council, Mcafee and Member, McKinsey Executive Panel. I have been a Child Jury at 11th International Children Film Festival, Hyderabad 1999 and hold 'A' Certificate (Air Wing) from National Cadets Corps, India. I participated in Republic Day Parade, 1996 and Nationl School Games, 1996 in India. I am an NTSE scholar and represented my school in Mathematics Olympiad. I run an active blog and have volunteered for World Wildlife Foundation. I'm currently volunteer for a social group that in working towards providing free and quality education to deprived section of society. I am Right to Information and consumer right activist.
I'm member of British Computer Society and ITILv3 Foundation certified. I have good understanding of Financial Markets, Telecom Industry, Ecommerce / web portals, Software development/support, Open Source/FOSS, Assitive Technology, Military, Generic editing and am fluent in speaking, reading and writing in English and Hindi with working knowledge of Panjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Khadi Boli, Urdu, Braj Bhasha, Bagheli, Bhojpuri and Awadhi languages.
Key Skills: Community vanguard and outreach, Blogging, Social media engagements, Application Development, Product/ Project/ Programme Management

Candidate: Rebecca Cotton[edit]

Statement: Until recently I was an employee at Wikimedia Germany and part of the volunteer support team 'Team Communities'. For two years I helped plan, review and realize volunteer projects. I would enjoy to keep on giving that experince back to the community, now as a volunteer, for all the things I learnt from the community in my two years at Wikimedia Germany. (It was and continues to be a lot!)

I have done some lightweight editing on Wikibooks.

Before Wikimedia I have done some volunteering on the student council for 4 years (organizing a campus cinema, a 4 day conference for 150 people, mentoring for undergrads, etc.) and in a political party for 2 years (political work on participation and discrimination - including a 2 day conference and regional arbitrator for internal party issues.)

I am currently continuing my physics degree and working as a data scientist.

I am familiar with lean methods and rapid prototyping and developing and measuring project KPIs to find out quickly if ideas are working in the real world. I meet all of the mandatory and optional criteria.

Key skills: project conceptualization and management especially in an online crowd/community enviroment, project evaluation and review, fluent in English and German

I hope I will be able to help people along with some great projects as a GAC member! :-) --Rebecca Cotton (talk) 00:37, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia[edit]

Mandatory criteria
  • Familiarity with the Wikimedia movement, and in particular at least one Wikimedia project
    • Yes. I have been editor of Bulgarian Wikipedia since 2006, sysop of BG Wikipedia, BG Wikiquote and Wikimedia Commons, also active on Meta and Translatewiki.
  • Experience with Wikimedia programmatic work, either on- or off-wiki, possibly but not necessarily within a Wikimedia chapter – i.e. outreach programs, community events, partnerships, education, workshops, advocacy, etc. (not software programming)
    • Yes. I'm researcher in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, PhD, with experience in teaching, scientific publishing, organization of scientific conferences and preparing scientific project proposals and project administration. This experience I have further employed for the benefit of the Wikimedia movement, locally in Bulgaria, mainly in the form of university wiki projects, one WMF funded project and media outreach.
  • Facility with editing a wiki (grant proposal reviewing is to be conducted entirely on the Meta-wiki)
    • Yes.
  • Reasonable working facility with English, for reviewing and discussing grant proposals
    • Yes.
  • Experience handling externally provided money and working with and within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context
    • Yes. In my capacity of researcher, since 2009, I have actively participated in preparing scientific project proposals and budgets, as well as in the administration of a total number of 5 approved projects funded by the National Science Fund of Bulgaria (total amount of 250 000 EUR) and 1 approved project funded by the Royal Society. I do not have experience in for-profit projects.
Optional criteria
  • Experience with applying for grants
    • Yes.
  • Experience with the Wikimedia grants program, or another grants program in the Wikimedia movement
    • I have written the project proposal, budget, and reports of the WMF funded project "Sofia Zoo Powered by Wikimedia". I have also contributed to a relatively big share of the project activities. The project faced certain difficulties, like inadequate time management and mistakes in human resource planning, but in general it was a successful project, and in terms of finance it had been well developed and didn't require additional funding despite the much longer period for implementation.
  • Experience with non-Wikimedia grants (e.g. in the academic or wider non-profit world)
    • My experience with grant application is mainly with: (1) National Science Fund (Bulgaria), (2) Royal Society (UK), (3) Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (European Commission), (4) EEA Grants (Iceland/Lichtenstein/Norway). The (successful) project proposals before funds (1)-(3) have been in the areas of mathematics, mathematical modelling and optimization, computer science and related topics, while the proposal before fund (4) on the behalf of the NGO "Linux for Bulgarians" was (unsuccessful) project aimed at the introduction of open source software in public administration of Bulgaria. In almost all of the project applications, I have taken a leading role in generating the project idea, linking it with the specific funder's requirements, budgeting, and -- in case of approval -- administering the project and preparing interim and final reports.
  • Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance
    • I have experience in preparing draft and final budgets, as well as preparing drafts of the interim and final financial reports. I don't have in-depth experience in auditing or controllership.
  • Experience with governance, due diligence, and accountability processes
    • I have experience in basic, non-profit accountancy processes. I don't have experience in due diligence or governance. However, I will be happy to learn something new. :)
Statement
As I mentioned above, I was involved in the preparation of the WMF funded project "Sofia Zoo Powered by Wikimedia", and hence responsible for the problems of inadequate time management and mistakes in human resource planning in it. However, I believe that these issues were actually very helpful to me, as they have raised my awareness about the reasons that have lead to them, and how to detect them early. I wouldn't like to see my own negative experience repeated in other projects. :) On the other hand, I believe that I will be also able to transfer my positive experience and expertise to other project applicants, by reviewing the grants proposals and providing advice on their improvement in support of better and more efficient ways of accomplishing the mission of the Wikimedia Movement.
Signature
→Spiritia 22:32, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Wertuose[edit]

Statement: Hi. I am Wertuose from Azerbaijan. I am a Wikipedian since 2008, my home wiki is Azerbaijani and I am a sysop there since 2009. I am also active in Russian, English and sometimes in Turkish Wikipedias and in other wikiprojects in that languages, also in Translatewiki and Meta. In August of this year, just after Wikimania, I encouraged our community members to create user group as it was advised me by Wikimedia AffCom members in London. As a result, Azerbaijani Wikimedians User Group was created by a group of our active users and successfully approved by AffCom in September. According to my proposals in past period of time we executed 3 thematic months, created Facebook group, accounts in Twitter, YouTube and Instagram for popularisation of Wikipedia in our country through social media and regularly sharing information about wiki-projects, mainly about Wikipedia. We have regular meetups with usergroup members for coordination of our actions and for developing of new activities.
I have more than 18.700 edits on 61 wiki-projects and more than 1.100 edits in Translatewiki. I can contribute with upper intermediate level of English, also I'm fluent in Russian and Turkish. I'm involved in non-profit organisations as a volunteer since 2001 and I am a deputy chair of NGO since 2007 and in this position I took part in spending of grant money for non-profit cultural/partly educational projects. Thanks to our NGO I have an experience in applying for grants, but I never applied for Wikimedia grants. After creation of Azerbaijani Wikimedians User Group we applied for a public grant, but didn't won due to latest taxation related changes to grant-making process, which we weren't aware.
I'm a public servant and work as an auditor last 7 years. So I'm familiar with auditing, accounting and financial reporting.

Candidate: Karthik Nadar[edit]

Mandatory criteria
  • Familiarity with the Wikimedia movement, and in particular at least one Wikimedia project: Yes
  • Experience with Wikimedia programmatic work, either on- or off-wiki, possibly but not necessarily within a Wikimedia chapter – i.e. outreach programs, community events, partnerships, education, workshops, advocacy, etc. (not software programming): Yes
  • Facility with editing a wiki (grant proposal reviewing is to be conducted entirely on the Meta-wiki): Yes. Have been editing English Wikipedia since 2010.
  • Reasonable working facility with English, for reviewing and discussing grant proposals: Yes
  • Experience handling externally provided money and working with and within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context: Yes, with Wikimedia India and for Wiki Loves Monuments
Optional criteria
  • Experience with applying for grants: Yes, for Wikimedia India and WLM
  • Experience with the Wikimedia grants program, or another grants program in the Wikimedia movement: Yes, in dispersing grant requests to conduct programs in India
  • Experience with non-Wikimedia grants (e.g. in the academic or wider non-profit world): Yes, during academic
  • Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance: Yes
  • Experience with governance, due diligence, and accountability processes: Yes
Statement
Hi, this is Karthik Nadar from Mumbai, India. It gives me immense pleasure for me to apply to be part of Grant Advisory Committee. I have been in Wikipedia since 2010, from where I have actively participated in on-and-off wiki activities in India and then globally with WLM. On wiki, I have 19,000+ edits globally. Off wiki, I have been part of various projects like photothons, workshops, Wiki Loves Monuments; both nationally and internationally. Have also been part of Scholarship Committee for Hong Kong Wikimania. Have been on board of the Wikimedia India Chapter for two years as Secretary, for which initially we had applied for numerous grants and submitted various reports, before we went for FDC last year.
Where I will also sound more helpful is in the fluency of the various Indian languages: English, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit (SA-can read and write). With the statement, I have just summarized my relevant contributions for the movement and explaining how I shall be helpful for the committee. -- ♪Karthik♫ ♪Nadar♫ 06:21, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Candidate: Matthias Wurtenberger[edit]

Statement: I am an Wikipedian on English Wikipedia. I have basic knowledge of editing Wikipedia. So far I have been, and still am, working with non-profit (non-gov. & gov.) organisations. The fields I am working in concern educational initiatives on topics such as developement policy, but also measures to improve governance in supra-state institutions through knowledge sharing and learning processes. To work with the WMF Grant Advisory Committee, I see it both as an opportunity to contribute my time an energy to an important and worthwhile project of the WMF community but also to learn from you.


Candidate: Isla Haddow-Flood[edit]

Statement:
Hello! I would like to put myself forward as a candidate for the GAC.
Since 2011, I have work mainly on English Wikipedia, Commons, and Meta. The main thrust of my involvement has been through the WikiAfrica project that I project manage at the non-profit organisation Africa Centre in Cape Town, South Africa - although it is difficult not to start editing personally once you start! As part of this project, I have been involved in activating and supporting new editors and Wikimedians, and partnering with GLAMs, across the continent. I have extensive knowledge of the following core areas: remote project management, fundraising and funding applications, reporting, accountability and evaluation, project-based research, and "global south" challenges and solutions that specifically relate to Wikip/media. I have been fortunate to be able to discuss the various aspects of the WIkiAfrica work at the last 3 Wikimanias (Washington DC, Hong Kong and London).
Over the last 18 months, the project has been funded through successful applications to the Orange Foundation, Prince Claus Fund, Creative Commons and the Wikimedia Foundation. The work we have been doing has involved intensive education, the creation of toolkits and the Incubator, outreach in 5 countries, GLAM partnerships, community partnerships through Kumusha Takes Wiki, community events, working with aligned communities and expanding existing communities through Kumusha Bus, conceptualising and running the Wiki Loves Africa competition (successfully applying for a grant from the WMF), and a host of other interconnected areas, intended to support and grow the Wikip/media base and usergroups across Africa. As part of WikiAfrica, I worked to support Wikimedia ZA, partnering with them on WLM 2012 and 2013. In my off-time for 2013/4, I was asked to volunteer as a board member for Wikimedia ZA and helped to organise the Wiki Indaba (including co-writing the grant application to the WMF), the first continental meet-up of Africa's Wikip/medians and aligned movement activists. I have since resigned.
I am currently a part-time Masters student at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town. Previous to discovering the Wiki-world, I worked as a writer who specialised in film and broadcast journalism and an editor of educational text books. I have also written many funding and project proposals for clients to assist in expanding the scope of their work.
This is an exciting time for the Movement and I look forward to learning about the many different approaches, ideas and activities relating to Wikipedia projects and working with people from around the world to make their ideas a reality. From my side, I have a lot of experiences to share, an understanding of what is probable, and what could be achieved, especially in Africa. All of this can significantly assist those who are starting out in their projects. I would also like to make it clear that while I am working with and very involved in the WikiAfrica project, any work done for GAC (should my application be successful) will be entirely voluntary. If I am too close to any application or there is any hint of a conflict of interest, I will recuse myself. Islahaddow (talk) 06:37, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
Fit to criteria:
Happy 2015! As per the request on the discussion page, here are the specific links to verify the narrative above.
Mandatory criteria
Optional criteria
  • Experience with applying for grants: yes, contributed to applications for Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa in 2012 and 2013 and co-wrote the applications for Wiki Indaba and Wiki Loves Africa.
  • Experience with the Wikimedia grants program, or another grants program in the Wikimedia movement: see applications above.
  • Experience with non-Wikimedia grants (e.g. in the academic or wider non-profit world): yes, successful applications to five grantmakers over the last 2 years.
  • Experience with auditing, comptrollership, and finance: yes, part of the intensive project management process outlined in narrative above.
  • Experience with governance, due diligence, and accountability processes: as outlined in the narrative above.
I believe that my motivation is covered in the narrative. If anyone feels there should be more detail, please feel free to ask. Islahaddow (talk) 17:56, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Candidate: Béria Lima de Rodríguez[edit]

Statement:

I'm an active editor since 2007, founding and board member of WMPT (since Oct 2009), OTRS member, sysop in wikimedia.pt (chapters wiki), Commons, Meta and test wiki. I'm also involved in Iberocoop. As part of my work in WMPT i helped organize a Wikipedia Academy in Porto and coordinate Portuguese Fundraising campaign in 2010, coordinated the 10th Anniversary celebrations in Lisbon, and also coordinated the Wiki Loves Monuments Portugal 2011, helped with the organizanization of Wiki Loves Monuments Venezuela 2013 and was a jury member for Wiki Loves Earth Brasil 2014. As a member of WMPT Fiscal Council, I did also participate in the request of the WMPT startup grant and took part of its reporting. I had previous been member of the GAC from it's beggining until mid 2014. A better wikibiography can be found in this link. Béria L. de Rodríguez msg 19:28, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

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