Grants:PEG/WM AR/Iberoconf 2014

Funded

This submission to the Project and Event Grants Program was funded in the fiscal year 2014-15. This is a grant to an organization.

IMPORTANT: Please do not make changes to this page without the explicit approval of Project and Event Grants Program staff. They will be reverted.

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Report: Please visit Grants:PEG/WM AR/Iberoconf 2014/Report to read this report, comment on this report, or review its status.

Basic information

Grant details

Project details

Official project name: Iberoconf 2014 - Fourth Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit.
Project start date (include month, day, and year): November 21st, 2014
Project completion date (include month, day, and year): November 24, 2014
Please describe the project in 1–2 sentences: The Fourth Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit will be a meeting of delegates from the chapters and chapters-to-be affiliated to Wikimedia Iberocoop.

Financial details

Currency requested: USD
Amount requested in currency requested: 25,801.56 USD (See Budget and resources)
Equivalent amount in US$ on the date of this submission: 25,801.56 USD (See Budget and resources)
List the exchange rate used to calculate the amount listed in US$: AR$8.05 per USD (quoted from bna.com.ar on July 15th 2014)

Grantee details

See the eligibility requirements for more information.

Are you an organization, an individual, or an individual submitting on behalf of a group?: Organization, Wikimedia Argentina A.C.
Non-profit corporation
Are you a for-profit entity?: NO
Are you able to provide local proof of nonprofit status within your country?: YES
Does your organization currently employ any fulltime or part-time staff or contractors?: YES

Contact information

Primary contact name: Galileo Vidoni / Ana Torres Adell
Primary contact username or email: presidenciawikimedia.org.ar, dewikimedia.org.ar
Primary contact title (position within the organization): President / Executive Director

Goals and measures of success

Project goal

Iberocoop, the Regional Cooperation Initiative for Ibero-America, has become since its creation the space chosen by its members to exchange experiences and sharing views regarding how to implement projects and the steps to follow towards their success. Iberocoop encourages its partners to re-think their position: to work regionally and locally through the chapters’ cooperation as a response to show our way of being in the global context.

The annual conference of Ibero-American chapters –Iberoconf– represents the perfect field for Iberocoop members to take strategic positions and make their voices heard –in their own languages. As a space of cooperation and collaborative work environment, Iberoconf can’t be defined just as an "annual meeting". Chapters, users groups and working groups gather together horizontally, honoring Wikimedia values, in order to give an appropriate answer to the global context needs through a work structure based on cooperation and team work. Past editions of Iberoconf have been keystone in solidifying the Wikimedia movement’s presence in Latin America and helping each group’s particular needs through crowdsourcing.

Iberoconf 2014 aims to be the orderly continuation of the agreements established in previous editions of this regional conference. We want to strengthen the role and capacity of Iberocoop affiliates not only as individual entities but as part of an integrated cooperation network. Iberoconf 2013, was the ideal field to awake the chapters and groups regarding the “re-thinking” of some projects and programs, but since this matter has been done, Iberoconf 2014 aims to not just define the strategic lines in order of co-designing Education and GLAM programs from a regional view, but to be the perfect space to review all the outcomes achieved by the chapters this year, discuss the results and design a more effective evaluation plan including all the parties involved.

Goals achieved: Regarding the Executive Summary of Iberoconf 2013 the goals achieved since last year’s discussion and agreements, and the expected outcomes of Iberoconf 2014 are following:

Subject	Iberoconf 2013	Iberoconf 2014 (expected)
Metrics	Every chapter of Iberocoop has to define its own list of priorities and achievements as markers that can define and meassure their own growth	Analyse the metrics used by the chapters to measure the impact of its programs or projects and design though the experience and the results presented, a monitoring and evaluation plan within Iberocoop. Training on qualitative measurement indicators.
GLAM Activities	Discussions about abandoning or readapting the WLM model	Venezuela, Chile and Argentina have developed local versions of the WLM initiative (WikiViajes/WikiTour) after some deliberation in México. The Argentine contest was based on the Chilean initiative. We aim to expand the WikiTour model into a regional contest.
Coordinator	There were discussions about the establishment of a Secretary-General, Coordinator or “whip” to keep track of common projects	We intend to advance on this idea defining common mechanisms to track and measure results of common projects
Education Activities	Strengthen the chapter's work related to educational activities	We're looking forward to improve our skills in project management in order to design a regional strategy on education
Comunication	Coordinated communication regarding Iberocoop activities. See what has been done here	We aim to improve the involvement of all the chapters on a monthly report, and a frequent communication with the general public through a blog and the different social networks (Facebook, Twitter, et al)
Strategic Planning	Working guides to professionalized Iberocoop and their chapters	We're planning to finish this documentation during the conference working sessions
Education Program	Individual Activities	Regional Educational Program already designed
		WMF Educational Program translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
		Establish a working relationship with regional education stakeholders. Transform WMAR’s relationship with the Regional Network of Educational Portals (RELPE) into a regional effort
		New Outreach material already designed

Even though in the last few years Iberocoop has grown as a non-bureaucratic institution and has become the fertile field of working meetings for the groups involved, this year we want to make a difference and take a step forward. Iberoconf 2014's main target is to move forward to establish specific agreements and draw detailed roadmaps. Its tentative agenda is strongly focused towards sharing and building capacities among the attending organizations, paying comparatively less attention to the "philosophical" discussions held up in previous years.

In this sense, all the chapters attending to the meeting have been involved in the development of Iberoconf’s 2014 agenda to ensure both their expectations and their possibility to contribute to the program. Since the beginning, several surveys (see for instance here or here) were submitted by Iberocoop's chapters and groups -and coordinated by WMAR- in order to develop an appropriate meeting agenda regarding the attendee’s interests.

The active participation of the representatives of every group has been a qualitative improvement we want to point out. The introduction of the “Participatory Action Research” methodology since the moment we started thinking on the meeting agenda has been active in fostering the involvement regarding what we think Iberoconf should aim at this year’s meeting. The result of the surveys can be considered successful; all the chapters that may attend the meeting took part and answered according to what they think not just about which matters Iberoconf has to reach but in which way they want to participate.

In this sense and according to the results of the surveys, the Logical Framework methodology and taking into account the strategic priorities 2015 of the WMF:

Encourage diversity by conducting outreach among groups that have the potential to bring new expertise to the projects, as well as by supporting leaders from underrepresented groups in their efforts to cultivate new members from within their communities.

Support offline and social events to increase community cohesion and commitment to the projects.
— Wikimedia Movement Strategic Plan Summary/Increase Participation

The main goals of Iberoconf 2014 can be summarized in the following points

Overall Objective: Improving cooperation and collaborative work environment within Wikimedia affiliates and working groups that are part of Iberocoop by giving to chapters training in the main skills needed to achieve Wikimedia development goals in their geographies.
Project Purpose: Producing working spaces within Iberconf 2014, in order to improve the knowledge of the chapters, as well as to develop relevant agreements and create and co-create projects to be launched collectively.
Results:

Training on project management to improve affiliates' knowledge of this matter.
Sharing projects implemented over 2014 by Iberocoop affiliated, evaluating outcomes and good practices
Developing Iberoconf’s own projects regarding GLAM and Educational programs.

Activities: Please consult the Tentative Agenda. Proposed activities includes different training and strategy sessions, as well as presentations from relevant WMF staff and outside experts from GLAM and Education partners.

Additional information on the decision to host Iberoconf 2014 in Argentina

Over the course of the evaluation of this grant proposal, WMF staff has contacted Wikimedia Argentina asking for more information about the reasons Wikimedia Argentina couldn’t include Iberoconf as part of its annual planning for 2014. Wikimedia Argentina would have included Iberoconf as part of its annual planning process and would have included the necessary provisions for it in terms of both financial and non-financial resources if it had known that Iberoconf 2014 would take place in Argentina. However, this was only decided months after Wikimedia Argentina submitted and was granted its current APG. We'd like to provide more context and detail on this subject.

Iberoconf is meant to be a rotating conference. All previous editions of the regional meeting were organized by different participating organizations: Wikimedia Argentina organized Iberoconf 2011 in Buenos Aires; Wikimedia Chile did so in Santiago in 2012; and Wikimedia México hosted the third edition in México City in 2013. Each edition of the conference was proposed after careful review of the previous year's results, aiming to adapt the program and expected outcome to the stage of development of Wikimedia organizations in the region, and to deal with their needs in terms of experience sharing and training. The fact that every year a different group organizes the conference is part of this very idea: Iberocoop wants to empower all Wikimedia organizations in the region. Organizing the conference is, in itself, an important challenge that involves training in terms of managing resources, defining a program, presenting and defending a grant proposal. It also requires a certain level of organizational development to ensure that the responsible organization is ready to cope with all of these aspects.

Last year, in México, Uruguay proposed (amid informally) to organize Iberoconf in 2014. As WMUY does not participate in the FDC process, they were free to ask for a specific grant later on the year, as had been the case for Argentina (in 2011), Chile and México. When Iberocoop met during the Wikimedia Conference to discuss the viability of Iberoconf 2014 and draft the main lines of its agenda, Uruguay communicated that they were not mature enough to take this responsibility as an organization. We believe they had solid reasons to take that decision: The official incorporation of Wikimedia Uruguay was delayed for a long time, way behind schedule, which affected their capacity to carry on a series of projects and growth measures as planned. Uruguay didn't reject the idea of organizing Iberoconf, but asked to be considered for 2015.

Apart from Wikimedia Uruguay, and excluding those organizations who had already organized Iberoconf in the past, no other chapter was ready to organize the conference this year. And we agree with them it's not desirable to allocate all of a group's resources (talking mostly of volunteer time) to organize an event that is meant to strengthen their capacity, not to drain it. We prefer smaller Iberoconf chapters and groups to focus on programmatic work than organizing the conference. On the other hand, all participating representatives agreed that Iberoconf 2014 had to take place somehow, somewhere: we wanted to advance on common projects and to build upon the successful experience of Iberoconf 2013 —where, it should be noted, attendees rated the conference 4.8/5 when asked how useful was it for their chapter or group. We wanted to transform the revisited photo contests into a coordinated initiative, we wanted to integrate our separate educational programs and to put participating professors in contact, we wanted to continue help developing working groups in the region with a conference strongly focused on training sessions.

Two organizations then expressed they were ready to organize Iberoconf 2014: México and Argentina. We told our Mexican fellows to forget about it: Wikimedia México can't commit its time to Iberoconf when they have Wikimanía 2015. Why did Wikimedia Argentina propose to organize Iberoconf? For the following reasons:

Wikimedia Argentina is only one of the two of all Iberoconf organizations (the other is WMIT) to have paid staff. This gives us extra capacity in terms of organizing the conference without taking all time from the volunteers. Our staff was consulted previously to this decision and expressed their willingness to organize the conference. Punctually, WMAR ED Anna Torres, who replaced Osmar Valdebenito in March, saw this as an opportunity to share her professional knowledge with other organizations and, most importantly, to create a direct working relationship with other Iberocoop entities;
Wikimedia Argentina has organized international conferences in the past: Wikimania 2009, Iberoconf 2011, WikiWomenCamp. We know the workarounds of logistics for this kind of events, which represents an intangible resource in terms of experience and capacity. We have experience in dealing with hotels, securing a venue, etc;
Wikimedia Argentina has a close working relationship with both the national and Buenos Aires city government, allowing us to guarantee a venue in the short term. We had already signed the agreement to count with a marvelous venue before proposing this PEG, as a previous condition.

There was an important drawback, however: Wikimedia Argentina is a FDC grantee and the FDC framework calls on them to plan their annual activities in advance, which means they apply for APG and are excluded from regular grants. We knew this condition and this is why, in Berlin, we asked WMF Anasuya Sengupta for a meeting. Anasuya revealed to us (we didn't know it before) that FDC grantees could still ask for a PEG for movement-wide international events as was the case for Iberoconf. Had we known we would organize Iberoconf this year, obviously we would have made it part of our annual planning. But unfortunately it wasn't until April this year that we could define where would Iberoconf 2014 take place, making this PEG a one-time exception by nature.

Why do we believe Wikimedia Argentina can effectively organize this meeting even if it was not part of our annual plan? Wikimedia Argentina has provided the Wikimedia Foundation with a financial report estimating budget execution and expenses at the end of this year. More than 90% of programmatic funds are to be executed, this despite an unforeseen change in leadership at the beginning of the year and the fact that the Wikimedia Foundation decided to hire our then Communications manager in April. The working lines outlined in our annual plan are advancing smoothly and our reports document this fact.

Measures of success

The outcomes of this summit will be published on Meta. According to the results expected we identify as relevant Objectively Verifiable Indicators and Sources of Verification, the following items:

Ex-ante evaluation

R1: Collecting information regarding the main interests and needs of the attendees to Iberoconf 2014.
- OV1: 2 [two] previous-event surveys conducted among the chapters to analyze the interests and needs to be developed during the Iberconf’s 2014 workshops and trainnings.
- SVI:
  - Survey results
- SVII:
  - Tentative agenda.

R1: Training on project management to improve chapter’s knowledge of this matter.
- OVI: 1 [one] full day training on project management taken by the 95% of the Iberoconf’s attendees.
- SVI:
  - Attendance lists
  - Material provided
  - Photographies
  - Surveys
- OVII: At least the 75% of the participants express evident improvement of their knowledge regarding project management and understand how to implement the tool in their chapters working environment.
- SVII:
  - Workshops analysis
  - Material provided
  - Direct Observation
  - Surveys regarding Iberocoop’s workshops
  - Photographies
R2: Sharing chapter’s implemented 2014 projects; outcomes and good practices
- OVI: 5 [five] Ibero-American chapters share their projects and outcomes as a way to improve better practices on other chapter’s projects, in fields related.
- SVI:
  - Workshop slides
  - Material provided by the chapters
  - Final Survey
- OVII: At least the 75% of the attendees to the Good Practices Workshops declare to have new ideas, better comprehension and feel supported to implement on their chapter new projects.
- SVII:
  - Interviews
  - Final Survey
R3: Developing Iberocoop own projects regarding GLAM and Educational programs.
- OVI: 25 people attend to the collaborative working meetings to strengthen Iberocoop movement and projects.
- SVI:
  - Attendance lists
  - Material provided
  - Photographies
  - Surveys
- OVII: 2 [two] new agreements signed towards a regional Educational and GLAM program.
- SVII:
  - Agreements signed
  - Work plan signed
  - Visual documentation

Post-conference evaluation and tracking

R.1: Designing working guidelines regarding Monitoring and Evaluation to implement this matter within participating affiliates.
- OVI: 2 [two] guidelines to be designed by all the attending affiliates. One related to monitoring and another to evaluation in order to develop a common and a coordinated strategy to be applied in the same way on regional projects and programs
- SVI:
  - A survey conducted among the attendees during Iberoconf meeting and worked out during the Iberocoop workshops
  - Designation of at least three representatives from different affiliates to coordinate the wording and the enrichment of the guidelines during the next month after Iberoconf 2014.
  - Guidelines to be published on Meat two months after the conference at the latest.

R2: Designing and implementing a common regional program regarding GLAM. Such program would contain approach strategies for GLAM partners adapted to regional traits and customs regarding organizational culture and funding of cultural institutions.
- OVI: 1 [one] GLAM program to be designed at the end of the meeting and enriched during the following 3 months
- SVI:
  - Regional GLAM program to be agreed by participating affiliates and published on Meta
  - Survey conducted among the attendees after the meeting to continue enriching the project.
  - Reports regarding monitoring and evaluation of the included activities by participating affiliates
  - Publication of the results regarding GLAM and the program impact in the LATAM region before Iberoconf 2015.
- OVII: 1 [one] photography contest carried out by the Iberocoop members during the following 6 months after the event.
- SVII:
  - Survey conducted among the participants 2 [two] months after the meeting
  - Regular meetings within the participating affiliates to determine the basis of the contest
  - Common communication strategy developed by participating affiliates
  - At the latest 1 [one] photography contest carried out on the following 6 [six] months.
  - 1 [one] International Jury composed
  - 1[one] International Prize to the best photography.
- OVIII: Regional (transnational) edit-a-thons carried out during 2015.
- SVIII:
  - Publication regarding how to implement an edit-a-thon from a regional view: to be published on Commons and Meta during 2015.

R3: Designating one Iberocoop Coordinator in order of helping to develop, monitor and implement regional programs. This figure was introduced in Iberoconf 2013 and is to be transformed into an official position with well-defined responsibilities.
- OVI': 1 [one] Annual rotating coordinator designated by the chapters at the end of Iberconf 2014.
- SVI:
  - Final decision to be made by delegates during Iberoconf 2014. Discussions are already taking place within Iberocoop.
  - Publication of periodic reports every 3 months in terms of following-up implementation of regional programs and common activities during 2015.
  - Reports published on Meta.

R4: Improving and developing new communication channels for regional work.
- OVI: 1 [one] common and participative blog developed on Iberoconf 2014
- SVI:
  - New Iberocoop blog and social media platforms designed during the next 4 months after the event for the purpose of giving voice not just to the Wikimedia leaders but the fellows and volunteers as a key component of the movement.
- OVII: Empower the current communication Iberocoop strategy by encouraging affiliates’ involvement and participation.
- SVII:
  - Survey conducted among the attendees
  - 1 [one] affiliate representative designated as communication liason
  - On the following 3 months, 1 [one] common communication strategy defined, published on Meta and open for discussion.

R4: Improving the main strategic lines in terms of annual planning of Iberocoop as a movement and its programs and projects.
- OVI: 2 [two] work guidelines regarding the Education and GLAM program designed as a response to implement the coming projects in a proper way.
- SVI:
  - Report : Program and Glam projects main strategic lines designed during Iberoconf 2014
  - Report: Scheduled activities to defined on Iberoconf 2014
  - Report: Communication strategy to be defined on Iberoconf 2014

R5: Designing and implementing a common regional program regarding Education
- OVI: Empower knowledge and analysis of the WMF Education Program
- SVI:
  - Material provided regarding the WMF’s Education Program during the Project Management training sessions.
  - 1 [one] traslathon carried out during Iberoconf 2014, to make available the Education Program of WMF in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
- OVII: 1 [one] regional Education Program designed by Iberocoop affiliates
- SVII
  - Survey conducted previously among the attendees to Iberoconf 2014.
  - Program designed and published on Meta: main common and strategic working lines from a regional view.
  - Report: Schedule activities defined
  - Monthy meeting during 2015
  - New Outreach material in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese developed during 2015.
  - At least 4 [four] education activities defined and implemented during 2015 from a regional point of view.
    - Regional Workshops in order to increase the knowledge of Wikimedia projects.
    - Regional Workshops to increase the number of new Wikipedia editors.
    - Regional Publication of Cases of Studies in LATAM region
    - Establishment of a network-to-network (Iberocoop-to-entities) relationship with regional education stakeholders.
  - Report regarding activities’ monitoring and evaluation, during 2015.
  - Publication of the results regarding Education and the program impact in the different countries before Iberoconf 2015.
  - Survey conducted among the chapters to enrich the program after its design and during 2015.

Project scope and activities

This grant is intended to cover the participation of two delegates from the chapters and one of the chapters-to-be involved in Iberocoop, including their travel to Buenos Aires*, accommodation for four nights (Thursday 20 November to Sunday 23 November) and full catering costs for the conference. See Budget and resources.

Activities: Tentative Agenda

The following agenda is tentative and subject to the PEG being confirmed, and may suffer changes reflecting the participation of extra-Iberocoop experts or the inclusion of further sessions. These points were agreed by Iberocoop participating affiliates, but discussion is ongoing and some chapters and working groups may propose additional sessions. Wikimedia Argentina aims to invite WMF staff and external experts that can only be responsibly contacted once the organization of Iberoconf 2014 is secured.

Iberoconf 2014 Tentative Agenda
Friday 21.11.2014
09:00-09:15	Opening and presentations
09:15-10:00	State of the groups
Trainings
10:00-10:45	1- Project Management training
10:45-11:15	Coffee Break
11:15-12:15	2- Project Evaluation training
12:15-13:00	3-Metrics development for Project evaluation
13:00-14:00	Lunch
Good Practices
14:00-15:00	Educational Projects: University of Buenos Aires-WMAR	GLAM Competitions: WikiTour Chile and WikiViajes Venezuela
15:00-15:30	Coffee Break
15:30-17:00	The experience of an Educational Program: WMAR/WMMX	Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Argentine Schools: Ibertic-OEI-WMAR
Saturday 22.11.2014
09:00-09:15	Walk-in
Trainings
09:30-10:30	Strategic Planning
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break
Good Practices
11:00-12:00	FDC	Innovative educational experiences: FLACSO-WMAR partnership
12:00-13:00	GLAM Competion: ArcheoWiki
13:00-13:45	Lunch
13:45-14:30	GLAM Competition: WikiViajes Argentina and UNESCO: how to reach to primary and secondary students
Iberocoop cooperation workshops
14:30-15:30	Strategies for Regional Planification: Iberocoop - RELPE (Regional Network of Educational Portals)
15:30-16:00	Coffee Break
16:00-17:00	Strategies for Regional Planification: WMAR's experience
Sunday 23.11.2014
09:00-09:15	Walk-in
Iberocoop cooperation workshops
09:30-11:00	Iberocoop joint GLAM program
11:00-11:30	Coffee Break
11:30-13:00	Iberocoop joint Educational Program
13:00-13:30	Wrap-up

Dates

Iberoconf 2014 will take place in Buenos Aires from November 21st to November 23th. The dates have been agreed by Iberocoop participating chapters and groups in line with a proposal from Wikimedia Argentina.

The third week of November has been chosen for a variety of reasons:

An earlier date would have collided with the FDC process, either from the applicants’ or from the evaluation side;
November is a good month in terms of climate in Buenos Aires, with temperatures in the mid-20s and small probability of having rainy days;
November is in the low season for both hemispheres;
The final week of November and the first two of December coincide with the end of the educational and business calendar, making us prefer an earlier date;
WMAR has been able to secure a suitable venue during the proposed dates;
All Iberocoop stakeholders agreed to the date and find it feasible to send representatives to the conference during that dates.

The venue

Iberoconf 2014 will be held at the facilities of the Metropolitan Center of Design in Buenos Aires. Thanks to the collaboration of the City Government and specifically its Ministry for Modernization, we will be able to enjoy for free this magnificent place inspired by design and technology. Iberoconf has been allowed to use 2 big workrooms for the different workshops and trainings, as well as a covered terrace where the coffee breaks and lunches will take place. Wikimedia Argentina has already signed an agreement with the Buenos Aires City Government that secures this space for Iberoconf.

Budget and resources

All budget provisions save for air travel would be covered by Wikimedia Argentina from its 2014 FDC budget, taking profit of the existence of surplus funds per reasons explained here. The implementation of this grant would require WMF to grant new funds only to cover international transportation, amounting to USD 25.801,56 per the current budget, subject to airfare variations. The implementation of this grant request would require no wire transfer to Wikimedia Argentina.

Number	Category	Item description	Unit	Number of units	Cost per unit	Total cost	Currency	Notes
1	Flights	Round trip to Buenos Aires	1 round flight	22 round flights to Buenos Aires	*	25.801,56	USD	See Flights section for detail
2	Accommodation	Twin dorms at hotel	Cost per night	26 persons	75	3.900,00	USD	4 nights are considered
3	Catering	Coffee break service & daily lunch	Cost per person	25 persons	15	1.125	USD	3 days are considered
4	Daily transport	Daily transport to the venue	Cost per person	25 persons		820	USD	3 days considered/Cost estimated
4	Stationery	Flipchart, markers and sheets, blocks, board markers etc.				300	USD

Flights

Flight costs are estimated from each country's main airport to Buenos Aires International Airport Ministro Pistarini (EZE). Airfares were taken for reference from Despegar.com, consulted on June 2014.

Country	Dep. date	Arrival date	Days of stay	Estimated price
España	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.670,00 USD
España	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.670,00 USD
Italia	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.250,00 USD
Italia	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.250,00 USD
Portugal	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.487,37 USD
Portugal	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.487,37 USD
Chile	20-nov	20-nov	4	362,57 USD
Chile	20-nov	20-nov	4	362,57 USD
Uruguay	20-nov	20-nov	4	160,53 USD
Uruguay	20-nov	20-nov	4	160,53 USD
Bolivia	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.670,58 USD
Bolivia	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.670,58 USD
Colombia	20-nov	20-nov	4	1.118,43 USD
Colombia	20-nov	20-nov	4	1.118,43 USD
Brasil	20-nov	20-nov	4	613,54 USD
Brasil	20-nov	20-nov	4	613,54 USD
México	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.268,12 USD
México	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.268,12 USD
Costa Rica	19-nov	20-nov	4	2.378,9 USD
Ecuador	19-nov	20-nov	4	2.378,9 USD
Venezuela	20-nov	20-nov	4	1841,48 USD
Venezuela	21-nov	21-nov	4	1841,48 USD
Spain (Barcelona)	19-nov	20-nov	4	1.600 USD
Total airfares				27.401,56 USD

Additional costs

Welcome meeting - 50 USD per person- 1.300 USD
Incidental expenses

Final result

Amount of the grant asked to the WMF:

Matter	Amount
Flights	25.801,56
Total	25.801,56 USD

Amounts in USD

Total cost of project: 25.801,56 USD (amount is subject to airfare variations)
Total amount requested from the WMF Grants Program: 25.801,56 USD

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this project, and amounts funded: Wikimedia Argentina would cover from its FDC budget all local costs, including the following:

Matter	Amount
Accomodation	3.900,00
Catering	1.125
Daily Transport	820
Welcome Meeting	1.300
Farewell reception	1.650
Other Expenses	300
Total	9095 USD

Amounts in USD. Proposal amended on 31 August, 2014, after consultation and advice from WMF staff.

Non-financial requirements

Participation of Wikimedia Foundation staff and volunteers from Board of Trustees and Affiliations Committee.
Support promoting the event of WMF official channels as blog and official press release.

Resources: What resources can WMAR commit to this event?

Financial resources

Our initial understanding was that it was improper to mix this proposal with our FDC budget, except for a provision we already had in place for Iberoconf, which is why the original proposal states that WMAR would reassign USD 1650 meant for Iberoconf travel to finance part of Iberoconf local costs. After learning from WMF staff that this was not the case, we clarify the following:

WMAR will have at the end of the year an important underspent amount from its FDC provision for staff. Financial details were already providen to WMF. There are two reasons behind this surplus: (a) the Argentine peso was devalued and, given that WMAR staff salaries are defined in pesos, they were reduced when measured in USD when compared with the amounts budgeted for 2014; (b) our FDC budget for 2014 included provisions for four staff members. Considering that WMAR had to undergo important staff changes after the APG was approved, WMAR's Board agreed with ED Anna Torres that it was not prudent to hire (per the sake of hiring) an administrative assistant at this point. This mean that WMAR has resources from where to fund the local costs for Iberoconf on its entirety without need for a further installment, and it implies a correction on the original proposal in terms that the new grant would only consist of the costs to cover international travel.

Financial aspects WMAR can cover

The costs that WMAR is able and ready to cover from its own FDC budget account for accommodation, catering, local transportation, stationary and any other costs thay may occur once the conference attendees arrive in Argentina.

Financial aspects WMAR can not cover

WMAR asks that as part of the viability of the Iberoconf 2014 proposal the Wikimedia Foundations accepts to cover air travel directly from San Francisco. Wikimedia Argentina commits to provide WMF with the relevant information on the attendees on whatever dateline defined by the Wikimedia Foundation. This implies that no wire transfer to Wikimedia Argentina is needed to implement this PEG proposal. Why can't Wikimedia Argentina cover the cost of air travel?

It would be imprudent to cover such a huge amount (which was estimated at USD 25,800 in July, though airfares are variable in time) from our FDC-funded budget, for it would mean having to reassign funds that are meant to be used in our planned programs or for staff/administration, and would leave our organization without further room for manoeuvre. The counterpart of the devaluation of the Argentine peso (and other economic constraints that are not the matter of this PEG) is high inflation and an important volatility in prices. This calls on us to have enough reserves to deal with any unforeseen situation regarding expenses. We can't cover air travel from our FDC budget, and we ratify the need for a PEG to organize this international event.

WMAR could still ask to be wired the funds to cover air travel by itself, as it indeed has done for Iberoconf 2011. However, currency regulations in place in Argentina mean that every purchase made abroad (air tickets count as such because companies don't operate from Argentina) is taxed an additional 35% on the net price. This means that booking airfares from Argentina would artificially increase the travel budget by 35%, something we believe would be improper misuse of movement funds. Given this exceptional situation, we ask WMF to accept to take this task directly from San Francisco, thus ensuring that the budget is kept as limited as possible.

Human resources

Staff: Wikimedia Argentina has three full-time staff positions. WMAR ED Anna Torres would be in charge of logistics and general program coordination. WMAR Education manager Melina Masnatta would be in charge of coordinating efforts with relevant WMF staff to develop a consistent educational agenda for the meeting. Both would also participate within training sessions, thus helping to put WMAR's experience and resources at the service of the broader movement. Masnatta is already working on some educational projects on the regional level, and it is our aim to use Iberoconf to facilitate the development of a working relationship between Iberocoop as a network of Wikimedia organizations and the existing regional network of education ministries/agencies, articulated through RELPE. WMAR's communication manager would coordinate press and, together with the volunteers, would help documenting the conference's sessions and agreements.

Volunteers: Wikimedia Argentina counts with a solid base of volunteers that has already enabled us to organize past conferences. Our chapter keeps incorporating new volunteers, including many new editors coming from Wikimedia projects who are aware of the Iberoconf proposal and willing to help making it a success. We plan to follow the model of past editions of Iberoconf in terms of securing volunteer documentation of sessions through an Etherpad platform.

Other intangible resources

External providers: Wikimedia Argentina plans to trust external responsibilities for Iberoconf to our long-time providers that have already demonstrated their reliability. For instance, in terms of catering or accommodation. We have trusted on Bauen Hotel to organize three past international events, and can benefit from business tariffs that are inferior to those offered to occassional customers. And, last but not least, we have already secured a first-class venue with comfortable and well-equipped spaces for Iberoconf sessions to take place. This is thanks to sponsorship from the Buenos Aires City Government.

External speakers: Wikimedia Argentina intends to invite to participate on specific Iberoconf sessions a number of external speakers. Some of them include WMF staff we would love to participate, to enhance the conference's contents on education and metrics, but we can't take that step until there is certainty about the viability of this proposal. But, on WMAR's side, we are also in talks with a number of our partners who are eager to take part of the conference. This includes, for instance, representatives from the Regional Network of Educational Portals (RELPE), the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and other education and GLAM partners.

Amendment: Additional information on funding

This text was incorporated before the proposal underwent a major overhaul and enhancement on August 31, as the result of talks between Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Argentina. Though still valid and left for the sake of coherence, this text may be reiterative with other already reworked sections of the proposal.

After this grant request was submitted, the Wikimedia Foundation's grants team contacted Wikimedia Argentina to ask for the possibility that Wikimedia Argentina covered part of the costs of organizing Iberoconf 2014 from its own FDC-allocated budget for 2014. The grants team asked Wikimedia Argentina to provide a financial report with an estimate of expenses at the end of the year to check if there would be available funds from where to finance Iberoconf 2014. Given this situation, Wikimedia Argentina would formally like to state the following:

Wikimedia Argentina ratifies the validity of asking for a PEG to fund an extraordinary international event that was not part and could not be part of its FDC-funded annual plan for 2014. We consider it would be an error to reassign funds aimed for local programmatic work or necessary for staff/administration. We ratify that extraordinary international events are a separate matter: the decision that Wikimedia Argentina was to host Iberoconf 2014 came months after our APG was approved, so we could not foresee these additional expenditures. Wikimedia Argentina offered to host Iberoconf 2014 after the group that was scheduled to organize the conference this year declined to do so, in order to put its capacity and resources at the service of other Iberocoop affiliates, and to secure the continuity of this annual regional conference.

WMAR accepts that participating on the FDC process prevents it from asking regular grants and has respected this rule ever since. International events such as Iberoconf are exceptional by nature and so is this PEG request. We were advised in this sense by senior WMF staff before going forward with this PEG proposal. Wikimedia Argentina considers that any discussion about its FDC-approved budget and expenditures needs to be processed within the FDC system separately from this PEG proposal.

While we don't agree with mixing an event-specific PEG proposal with the FDC process, we are open to all measures that could allow us to move forward with the organization of this important event for Ibero-American Wikimedia affiliates. In this sense, Wikimedia Argentina is able and would accept to cover all local expenses from its FDC-funded budget for 2014, which account for USD 7445 per the current budget (USD 9095 when including budget provisions WMAR already had in place for Iberocoop-related expenditures). This accounts for the costs of accommodation, catering, local transportation, stationary and any other expense related with the conference once the attendees arrive in Argentina.

We ratify the need that WMF accepts to manage air travel directly from the United States as part of the viability of this proposal and, ultimately, of the possibility of Iberoconf 2014 to take place. As we have already explained, currency regulations in place in Argentina mean that every air ticket would be taxed an extra 35%, which to our understanding would be unnecessarily costly to the Wikimedia movement as a whole. The cost of air travel would make it inviable and imprudent to cover it from Wikimedia Argentina's budget for 2014, for it would mean diverting funds that are meant to be used for local programmatic work or for staff/administration.

Given that this situation has been going on for some weeks, we respectfully ask the WMF grants team to reduce uncertainty and take a decision on this request as soon as possible. Airfares are not fixed and any further delays in resolving this request, in case our proposal for Iberoconf 2014 is accepted, would imply additional costs that could have been avoided. On another note, Wikimedia Argentina and all of Iberocoop participating affiliates need to have certainty on the effective organization of Iberoconf 2014 in order to move forward with pre-conference and program discussions, as well as the necessary local logistics.

This information has been added on August 27, 2014. --Galio (talk) 22:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Impact

Fit to strategy

According to the five movement priorities, our proposal fits to what WMF defines as affiliate priorities and specific challenges:

Stabilize Infrastructure: Iberoconf 2014 proposes to continue the consolidation of the regional network of Wikimedia affiliates, composed of chapters, WUG and informal user groups, that has been instrumental to strenghten the institutional presence of the Wikimedia movement in Latin America. Iberoconf 2013, for instance, was important for the proposal that would develop into the current Wikimedia Community User Group Brasil, and we intend to continue that road of mutual assistance. The program is strongly focused on training and capacity building as a way to help consolidating working groups through a collaborative environment, believing in the importance of the cooperation as the strategy to grow and get better outcomes in the nearly future.
Increase Participation: Sharing the expertise and the diverse results obtained by the different participating affiliates in the so-called Global South, will empower to develop new projects, programs and activities collectively in order to increasing the number of new volunteers and new audiences regarding Wikimedia projects. Iberoconf 2014 aims to include a new working group in the region (Costa Rica) and to continue building capacity among participating affiliates, going a step forward in terms of developing and implementing for the first time actual trans-affiliate, regional programs in the fields of Education and GLAM. We also aim to invite to Iberoconf important regional partners in the field of education.
Improve Quality: Working to build new work plans within the movement to obtain more relevant outcomes, and defining a main strategic framework through developing strategic action lines, will improve the way the programs and projects are designed, for the purpose of promoting a greater and more sustainable working estructure. Training in program design and metrics will enable Wikimedia affiliate in the region to conduct and report their work more effectively.
Increase Reach: Iberoconf goes in line with the Wikimedia Foundation focus on helping developing the movement in the so-called Global South. More so, it is a self-organized effort where different affiliates in the region put their resources (their specific capacities, their experiences, their success stories, their not-so-successful stories; and their staff) at service of other affiliates. Common work on Education and building a shared communication strategy will enable us to be more effective and able to reach new partners. Our main target aims to creating a strong institutional framework to channel the demands and to become a benchmark space for Global South geographies.
Encourage Innovation: A group of different countries, with local and specific contexts, working under the same roof and aiming the same targets within the movement, is considered a big step. As well, defining the main strategic action lines which will determine the way our work will be setting on the near future, implementing the same projects and obtaining relevant outcomes, positions Iberocoop, as an innovating work space where to design, create and co-create new and different projects. Iberoconf 2014 aims to build upon the agreements, lessons and experience of previous editions of the conference, but at the very same time to innovate with its training-focused program and with the inclusion of external experts to enhance its contents.

Benefits

Wikimedia Argentina believes that cooperative spaces, as Iberocoop, are the perfect place to work within the movement. We firmly believe on the inherent benefit of face to face meetings in terms of building trust, enabling volunteers from different countries to know more about each other and envisage the possibility of working together from there afterwards on different fields from cooperation. Iberoconf has a distinctive trait among movement-wide events in that representatives participate using their native languages —Spanish, Portuguese or Italian—, what is also helpful to incorporate and include further volunteers in global discussions.

That said, we understand that face to face meetings can't be a goal per se, but the continuation and conclussion of previous work. Iberoconf 2014 proposes a series of detailed goals and measures of success that can be trusted thanks to the previous track record from Iberocoop meetings and from Iberocoop as a regional cooperation network.

Key benefits the broader movement can expect from Iberoconf 2014 include, for instance:

Consolidating the growth of Wikimedia organizations in the region, particularly in the case of newly-recognized entities or newly-formed working groups, who will gain access to a series of resources and experiences to help them build their own organizations and programs;
Training for a within Iberocoop affiliates in terms of project planning and management, and metrics;
Establishing the framework for a regional Education strategy, enabling Iberocoop affiliates to relate with educational institutions on the regional level (RELPE, OEI, etc.);
Establishing common regional criteria for GLAM projects, including the creation of guidelines adapted to working with local GLAM partners, that are meant to foster the development of GLAM activities in the region.
Providing a unique opportunity for WMF, community committees and other Wikimedia affiliates to engage with movement representatives from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Past editions of Iberoconf have been helpful for Affiliations Committee business or for the WMDE Chapters Dialogue initiative, for instance.

These main lines were discussed and agreed by Iberocoop participating affiliates before the proposal of this PEG, which would mark the opportunity to continue and intensify our common work and bring regional cooperation to a further level of coordination. The specific means to achieve these results and the tools to measure and evaluate them are included under the goals and measures of success. Template:Project and Event Grant to an APG organization