Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/WikiIndaba Conference 2025 in Tanzania
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Applicant details
[edit]- A. Are you applying as a(n)
Wikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
- B. Full name of organization presenting the proposal.
Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania
- F. Do you have an account on a Wikimedia project?
Yes
- F1. Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.
Jadnapac
- F2. Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.
User: Bobbyshabangu, User:Ceslause, User:Olimasy
- G. Are you legally registered?
No
If you are applying as an individual or your group is not a legally registered nonprofit in your country, we require that you have a fiscal sponsor.
- I. Fiscal organization name.
Wikimedia ZA
Objectives and Strategy
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal.
WikiIndaba Conference 2025 in Tanzania
- 2.1. When will the event begin? Please enter the event start date.
2025-11-21
- 2.2. When is the last day of your event?
2025-11-23
- 3.1. When will you begin preparing for your event?
2025-04-10T00:00:00Z
- 3.2. When will you expect to complete your last event payment?
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z
- 4. In which country will the conference take place?
Tanzania
- 4.1. In which city will the conference take place?
Dar es Salaam
- 5. Is it a remote or in-person event?
Hybrid event
- 5.1. What will be the total number of participants at the event? (including scholarship recipients + organizing team + other guests + self funded guests) (required)
152
- 6. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope.
Regional
- 6.1. If you have answered regional, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.
This conference is for affiliates and Wikimedians on the African continent and those in diaspora.
- 7. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.
Meta:meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Tanzania Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Wikimediatz
- 8. Do you work with any thematic or regional platforms such as WISCom, CEE, Iberocoop, etc.
Yes
- 8.1. Please describe what platforms and your work with them.
Yes.We are part of EARTHub and have been engaging with other platforms such as the Afrika Baraza. We will use the Afrika Baraza platform, a virtual platform for African Wikimedians to connect, collaborate and have meaningful conversations. Some of the volunteers in this conference Core Organizing Team are members of WISCom, and they will be handling communications, scholarships and the programme.
- 9. Please describe the target participants for this event.
Our target participants are African Wikimedians and Africans in the diaspora. We aim to have 60% experienced editors and 40% new editors split for the attendees of the conference. Our definition of a newbie is an editor who has created an account within 12 months before the conference and has at least 50 edits in any wikimedia project. Contrary to the 300 edits basic requirement for voting within the Wikimedia space among other things, we believe that those who need to be motivated through this conference are dabbling around 50 edits as they barely know what the Wikimedia mission in Africa represents, neither do they know how to stay motivated and committed to the open movement mission in Africa. Practicing in the conference could easily motivate them into becoming active contributors within the shortest post-conference period possible. The editor retention plan of Africa Agenda implementation will cater to this group beyond the conference. We also aim to invite mission aligned local organisation partners and stakeholders. It will be beneficial to have more Africans not only attending but also contributing to moderating the sessions, leading in such spaces where the African agenda is being discussed and planned.
- 10. Please provide the link to the event's page if you already have one.
Event page construction is in progress, once ready the content will be put to meta page.
The following questions (11-14) will refer to the Community Engagement Survey which is required in order to submit a proposal. Here is the survey form that you can copy and use (if the link does not work): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ieEI8EFf2vxjD9wN_h8-srYeRCp4fhSp7_1_wiR2jh8/edit. This survey is required to access a Conference grant.
- 11. How many people did you send the community engagement survey to?
300
- 11.1. When did you conduct the survey, and for how long?
January 18th - January 31st 2025
- 12. How many people responded to the survey?
102
- 13. What are the main objectives of the event?
WikiIndaba 2025 aims to bring together African Wikimedians to collaborate, discuss challenges, and showcase successful projects in the region. This conference that will be held in Dar es Salaam - Tanzania, will focus on advancing the Africa Agenda for Wikimedia projects through promoting growth and sustainability. It will feature networking, training, and mentorship opportunities for in-person attendees, and a host of online-participants, with the goal of inspiring future contributors and leaders. This conference will also incorporate pre-conference aiming at creating space for Wiki functionaries who work to maintain African wiki projects (admins, stewards, bureaucrats etc), as well as create a room for people to network ahead of WikiIndaba conference.
- 14. Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve these objectives?
According to the survey, the most important topics that communities wants to discuss are: Leadership and Capacity Building (Article and Editor Retention, Lack of African Admins and Stewards, Lack of a learning culture, Lack of understanding of the policies) - 79.4% Community Trends and Innovations - 72.5% Equity in Representation (WMF Board of Trustees -voters education, Participation in Global Events/ Dialogues, Leadership and Community Building, Regional Hubs) - 65.7% Areas they think need to be focused on during the WikiIndaba Conference are: Networking and Mentorship Programs - 90.2% Roundtable Discussions on Global Collaboration - 70.6% Innovation Labs for Technology integration - 55.9% The most important goal, problem, or obstacle they think the African community should focus on in the next 12 months are: Enhancing collaborations - 76.5% Supporting new initiatives - 70.6% Expanding Wikimedia awareness - 62.7%
- 15. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.
Content Gender gap, Geography, Language, Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context), Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 15.1. In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge. (optional recommended).
It is common knowledge in the movement that coverage of Africa as a region in Wikimedia projects is very low compared to Europe and North America (e.g less than 5% of All content in English Wikipedia is about African topics). All affiliates and community members working in their countries and in their local languages are directly involved in bridging the content-gap about Africa and by extension addressing Knowledge Equity.
- 16. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.
Education, Advocacy, Human Rights, Public Policy, Culture, heritage or GLAM , Open Technology, Diversity, Climate Change and sustainability
- 17. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities?
Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Geographic , Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Linguistic / Language, Digital Access
- 18. Do you intend to invite or engage with non-Wikimedian individuals or organizations? If so – can you explain your intention for this outreach?
Yes, we would like to invite a few non-Wikimedian individuals / organizations for the purpose of enhancing visibility to other free knowledge stakeholders on what Wikimedia does so as to create a robust trust to Wiki projects by now Wikimedia organizations, which will potentially attract more partners. This is essential for the sustainability of the movement as the future of Wikimedia movement.One of the non-Wikimedia community that we intent to invite are Creative Commons Tanzania chapter.
- 19. What will you do to make sure participants continue to engage in your activities after the event?
We will continue to engage participants through our existing Wiki social media platforms (WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and Facebook). We will also use monthly newsletters that will keep participants updated on success stories and on how they can continue to engage with our activities.
Regionally, one of the ongoing efforts to bring people together in the EAST region is the EARTHub initiative. Through scheduled update emails, social media groups (Telegram), we will keep the region informed on how they can build up on what they learnt during the WikiIndaba conference.
Continentally: We will use the Afrika Baraza platform to ensure participants continue to engage with activities after the event. This will be done by way of group discussion, interviews and following up on some cases to see how the conference influenced their work.
- 20. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of THREE options that most apply.
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Improve User Experience, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Manage Internal Knowledge, Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge, Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt
Logistical Aspects
[edit]- 21. Do you have any proposed venue for the event?
Yes, JOHARI ROTANA HOTEL is where we plan to host this conference. Rationale: After doing some extensive research around Dar es salaam on the potential venue, at least 13 hotels were shortlisted where we started evaluating one by one to find the suitable one. Some criteria that we looked at includes its ability to host all attendees at the same place, easier reachability from Julius Nyerere International Airport, capacity to accommodate all attendees at the same place and availability of important facilities for the conference such as adequate plenary room, availability of break out rooms as well as the presence of live interpretation facilities such as live interpretation booths. Johari Rotama was seen to be the best choice as it has those affore mentioned criteria. Additionally, the punctuality and responsiveness to our hotel quotations inquiries was an added advantage.
- 22. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
Yes
- 23. How many scholarships would you like to offer?
We aim to offer a total of 126 scholarships as follows: 83-international full scholarships 5-Micro grants for satellite event 10 Virtual scholarships 15 Local scholarships 13 Local organizing team
- 24. What expenses will the scholarship cover?
Full Scholarship: Covers flights (round trip), visas, accommodation, meals, conference access, and social events. Partial Scholarship: Covers everything except flights. Virtual/Micro Grant: Covers local ground travel, snacks, childcare, and venue hire. Local Scholarship (Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania members only): Covers ground travel, flights, accommodation, meals, conference access, and social events. Organizing Committee: Receives full scholarship benefits.
- 25. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
Scholarship recipients will be selected according to the Wiki Indaba Guidelines and based on: Affiliate representation Gender parity (As much as possible), 60% Experienced vs 40% Newbie split, Proposal for speaking at the conference.
- 26. In which ways can Wikimedia Foundation staff support your event onsite?
We would appreciate the following support from WMF Staff: Legal and Safety support, Outreach and Communications support, Community resource & Grant making support, Partnership support, Affiliate recognition support, Community Strategy support, Media training.
- 26.2. Do you intend to invite any WMF staff members to your event? (please note that all WMF staff travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the foundation). Please indicate what is the limit number of WMF staff members you would like to welcome at your event.
We would like to have 10 Wikimedia Foundation staff.
- 27. Please outline the roles and responsibilities of the organizing team for the conference.
The organising team shall be responsible for: Drafting event proposal and grant request Co-Selection and awarding of scholarships with WISCom Soliciting suppliers for reasonable Venue and Conferencing facilities Working with a travel agent to book and coordinate flights Organising Accommodation and Airport transfers Co-designing conference program with WISCom Managing finances and payments General marshalling of conference participants Assess and provide support for safety and security during stay in Tanzania. Marketing and communication - increasing the visibility of the event in the media. Resource mobilisation - sourcing partnership and sponsorship for the event.
- 28. Do you have plans to co-organize the event with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates?
Yes
- 28.1. If yes, can you please explain how you are going to co-organize the event and what responsibilities each partner will have.
Yes, basically in Tanzania we have 2 WMF recognized Affiliates, Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania and Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili User Group. These two affiliates will take lead in the organization of this conference while extending the collaboration aspect by including other Wiki communities leaders/members to be part of the local organizing committee (LOC). This will be the first time for WikiIndaba to be hosted in Tanzania, hence we will be collaborating with other communities from within the country including Wikimedia communities from Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Tabora, Morogoro and Zanzibar. We are also looking to have WISCom taking responsibilities on some of the roles including the programme, Communications assisted by WMF, Finance/Logistics and Scholarships. We will then have subcommittees to assist the Core Organising Team (COT). Local logistics will be handled by Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania while the WMF handles flights and hotel bookings.
- 29. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these?
Tanzania being one of the peaceful and welcoming country in East Africa region, we basically don’t anticipate any risks, as good enough the conference dates 21st-13th November 2025 will be already post general elections date in Tanzania that will happen at end of October. Despite that fact, we will continue to monitor any indications for any civil unrest. We have access to emergency numbers, including police and relevant authorities. We will also deliberately provide the info about the conference to the relevant government authorities to ensure smooth workflow of the conference.
- 30. Friendly space policy - Please add the link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.
This conference will be a friendly space and will both in person and virtually adhere to https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Friendly_space_policies and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation
[edit]- 31. What do you hope to learn from your work organising this conference?
We see WikiIndaba 2025 as a conference that truly brings Africans together regardless of the language barriers. We would like for this conference to be truly inclusive for English speakers as well as Arabic and French speakers, despite happening in a Kiswahili-speaking country. For a change, we plan to introduce an interpretation kit to the in-person attendees to enhance their conference experience. We also hope to learn more about the challenges facing these diverse communities, including learning about strategies they use in building capacity in their communities, activating and retaining new users as well as strategies they use to support their existing communities and if they are able to raise funds outside of WMF how are they doing so. Finally, we would like to learn about how they are able to resolve conflict management.
- 32. Main open metrics
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Newbie Editor Activation | A percentage of Newbie editors who are motivated and activities to run initiatives in their communities/countries.
70% of newbies who attended the conference run their own initiatives 6 months after the conference |
N/A |
| Movement growth and regional cooperation | A percentage of invites from Countries without Affiliates, start plans to organise their communities Target (2) At least 4 more countries start affiliate set-up 6 months after the conference, and at least 2 affiliates collaborate in a project across geographic region | N/A |
| Regional leadership activation | Clarification of regional leadership and cooperation: 2 More community members volunteer to support WISCom | N/A |
| Raise Wikimedians awareness | Number of Wikimedians who have had their article tagged for speedy deletion, IP blocked in English, Arabic and French Wikipedia. What do they understand about policies in these languages
Target (4) 3 admin/stewards attend the WikiIndaba conference |
N/A |
| Gender equity | Ensure that different genders are represented in the conference, in an equal manner
Target (5) Minimum of 45% non-male attendees. |
N/A |
Financial Proposal
[edit]- 33. What is the amount you are requesting from Wikimedia Foundation? Please provide this amount in your local currency.
795843898
- 34. Select your local currency.
TZS
- Requested amount in USD
- 302420.68 USD [note 1]
- ↑ a b The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.
- 35. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JrgzJd-jxKzN-qmMbqKwErQQ79cmt8FHeeu2x5PuZfc/edit?usp=sharing
- 36. Do you expect to receive funding for this conference from other organizations to support your work?
No
- 36.1. If yes, what kind of resources are you expecting to get?
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
- Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.
- Other public document(s):
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).