Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Dagbani Wikimedians User Group 2023 Annual Programs/Final Report
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 2024-07-30T00:00:00Z
Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Final
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General information
[edit]This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving Wikimedia Community Funds or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their final results.
- Name of Organization: Dagbani Wikimedians User Group
- Title of Proposal: Dagbani Wikimedians User Group 2023 Annual Programs
- Amount awarded: 74859.51 USD, 838950 GHS
- Amount spent: 848057.69 GHS
Part 1 Understanding your work
[edit]1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
Content Creation and Improvement One of the primary goals of the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group is to promote and make the 16 Mabia languages available on Wikimedia and the internet at large. Having this in mind, we prioritized content creation and improvement in the quality of existing articles on the Dagbani, Gurene, Dagaare, Kusaal and Moore language Wikis. To achieve this, we organized a series of editathons and article writing contests, which proved to be effective in encouraging the creation and improvement of articles on our various language Wikipedia projects. These events were strategically planned and executed, bringing together volunteers and local experts to ensure that the articles were of high quality. Through these initiatives, we significantly increased the number of articles available in the various language Wikipedias, thereby enriching the digital repository of our cultural and linguistic heritage. Additionally, the 2023–2024 community support fund helped us achieve yet another great milestone, which is the approval of both Dagaare and Kusaal Wikipedias from the incubator, making them the 3rd and 4th languages to be approved under the Dagbani Wikimedians user group. We are excited to share that our last incubator project, the Moore Wikipedia incubator, is also pending approval after it has met all the requirements by the language committee, but due to some technical challenges related to the English Wikipedia name space Manual of Styles (MOS), which is conflicting with the Moore Wikipedia sub domain, mos.wikipedia.org . We achieved these milestones by focusing on improving our strategies as well as developing innovative approaches towards team capacity building, volunteer retention techniques, and partnerships with academic institutions such as Tamale College of Education. Bagabaga College of Education, and the College of Science at Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology.
Community Engagement and Capacity Building Building the capacity of our community members was another crucial aspect of our strategy. We conducted a series of workshops and training sessions aimed at equipping members with the necessary skills for editing, sourcing, and utilizing Wikimedia tools. These sessions were complemented by mentorship programs, where experienced editors provided guidance to newcomers. This not only fostered a supportive learning environment but also ensured that new members contributed effectively to our collective efforts. As a result, we saw a great improvement in the skill levels of our contributors, which translated into better quality content on our Wikipedia projects.
Partnerships and Collaborations Recognizing the importance of collaboration, we established partnerships with educational institutions, and like-minded organizations. These partnerships were instrumental in promoting the Dagbani language and introducing the use of Wikipedia in senior high schools. Through a partnership with the Dagbani Teachers Association (DTA), we successfully piloted a 'Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom' where we trained language teachers from different schools on using Wikipedia as a teaching tool to facilitate teaching and learning in Ghanaian languages. They gained vast knowledge on how to access, evaluate, and retrieve content from Wikipedia for teaching purposes. By working closely with these partners, we were able to reach a wider audience and garner greater support for our initiatives. This collaborative approach also provided us with valuable resources and expertise, further enhancing our capacity to achieve our goals.
Outreach and Awareness Campaigns To raise awareness about the significance of the Dagbani language in digital spaces, we continued with season 3 of our flagship program, dubbed Dagbani Wikipedia Saha, a tele-education aired on Sagani TV, a digital channel on Multi-TV Satellite. We achieved the goal of the program and also leveraged its prowess to promote Wikipedia and its sister projects. Generally, these campaigns utilized various media platforms, including social media, local radio stations, and community events. We created promotional materials and conducted outreach activities designed to attract new members and volunteers. Our efforts in this area were highly successful, resulting in increased visibility and awareness of our cause both locally and internationally. It also helped us recruit more Wikipedia editors across the northern regions of Ghana.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
We put in place different strategies and approaches that proved to be successful in achieving our objectives. Such tactics made the community participate actively, and this provided fertile ground for the development of the Dagbani language on digital platforms such as the Khaya app, an AI translation application for text-to-text and automatic speech recognition (ASR).
One of the most successful strategies was community engagement through meetups and workshops. The community members were trained on various Wikipedia editing skills and the use of different Wikimedia tools to effectively contribute to Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. This practical approach imparted values to volunteers and instilled a sense of ownership and participation among participants. By giving individuals the power to contribute, we fostered an active community of different language groups who are committed to providing a digital infrastructure for the Mabia languages.
Another important strategy was partnering with educational institutions. Raising awareness through partnerships with schools, universities, cultural organizations, etc. also ensured new contributors who would come in on a regular basis. These alliances often enabled Dagbani Wikipedia activities to become part of the school curriculum or extracurricular programs, thus guaranteeing continuous involvement from both students and teachers.
The use of social media and online platforms played a major part in expanding our scope globally, thereby engaging younger generations who are more technology-oriented. We used social media for event promotions, to share success stories, and to highlight the importance of Dagbani and its sister Mabia languages on the internet. This approach brought into existence an interactive platform for community members to connect and collaborate.
Capacity building was also crucial to our success. We provided continuous support and resources to contributors, including guides, tutorials, and one-on-one mentorship, which empowered community members with the necessary tools and knowledge to sustain their involvement and improve the quality of their contributions. This ongoing support ensured that contributors felt confident and capable in their efforts.
Recognizing and celebrating the contributions of active members through awards, certificates, and public acknowledgment served as a powerful motivator. This recognition not only encouraged existing contributors to continue their efforts but also inspired new members to join and participate actively. For example, we used shopping gift vouchers to award winners in our contest activities. Certificates were issued to successful participants of the 'Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom' project.
Seeking feedback and adapting strategies based on community input was another key element. This iterative approach ensured that our efforts remained relevant and effective. By being flexible and responsive to the needs and suggestions of the community, we maintained a strong and positive relationship with our contributors.
Incorporating multimedia elements such as photos, videos, and audio recordings into our events and workshops and posting them on social media made our activities go viral, keeping the general public updated about our work in a pictorial form.
Lastly, highlighting the importance of preserving and promoting our cultural heritage through digital documentation connected deeply with many community members. This motivated individuals to contribute their knowledge and skills, knowing they were part of a larger mission to preserve their cultural heritage for future generations.
By implementing these strategies, we effectively engaged our language communities, increased contributions to the various language Wikipedia projects, and promoted the language on Wikimedia and other digital platforms such as the Mozilla Common Voice in Dagbani, the world's largest publicly accessible text and voice dataset. The success of these approaches demonstrates the power of community-driven initiatives and the importance of cultural preservation in the digital age.
3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?
The Dagbani Wikimedians User Group, in collaboration with our sister language communities, organized quarterly meetings to strengthen the spirit of teamwork and togetherness and ensure synchronized work progress. These meetings brought together team members from the various communities to review the programs and initiatives we have embarked on. During these sessions, which are usually virtual, we review the programs in each community, identify challenges, and share best practices.
Furthermore, we prioritized capacity-building workshops as a cornerstone of our strategy to enhance community engagement and effectiveness. These workshops were designed to share knowledge, ideas, and innovative practices among community members. By bringing team members from different communities together at a physical location.
We have effectively utilized the Wikimedia Diff and our newsletter platform, along with social media, to keep the global community informed about our programs and initiatives. These platforms have provided diverse and accessible sources for people to stay updated on the activities and progress within our community. By regularly posting updates, sharing stories, and highlighting achievements, we have created a dynamic and transparent communication strategy that engages a wide audience.
In addition to formal training sessions, these workshops feature interactive activities such as group discussions, problem-solving exercises, and hands-on projects. These activities encouraged active participation and fostered a collaborative spirit among attendees.
Lastly, we adopted a robust feedback-driven mechanism. Regular feedback sessions with community members allowed us to continuously refine and improve our strategies. This approach ensured that our initiatives remained relevant and effective, as we were able to promptly address challenges and concerns raised by the community.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
Our community has stayed well-informed and up-to-date about our projects and activities through newsletters and our active social media channels. We regularly use the Wikimedia Diff platform to post updates about our community initiatives.
We announce upcoming projects on our mailing list, Telegram channels, and on our Meta Talk page.
To involve like-minded organizations in our activities and projects, we send official invitation letters.
We also adopted collaborative and project management tools to streamline our work process. This approach allowed us to involve more members, especially when working on projects that required smaller groups.
Prominent digital platforms such as City News, Sagani TV, and various radio stations have featured and published information about our projects and activities.
5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- Here is a link to our 2022/2023 Campaign dashboard that contains all the dashboards to our programs.
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/campaigns/dwug_2023_annual_programs/overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmp9kClYNuI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV6IGWnNPFY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lX_w-B4UdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v9Px843C2w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt0VdfiAz34
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. | Strongly agree |
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
We prioritized advocacy, diversity, and inclusion, always welcoming diverse perspectives within our community and the broader Wikimedia movement. We strive for greater representation by engaging with Wikimedia Foundation initiatives and conferences to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our community.
We made our community WhatsApp and Telegram groups open for anyone interested in learning about Wikimedia projects, further extending our reach.
Recognizing the importance of multilingual content, we embarked on translation efforts to make our content more accessible. By collaborating on projects with our sister language communities, we ensured that speakers of different languages could read the content in their native tongues.
We established mentorship programs to support and guide new contributors from underrepresented communities. By pairing them with experienced editors, we facilitated knowledge transfer, skill development, and a sense of belonging.
We collaborated with various organizations, forums, and social media groups to foster meaningful connections, helping us achieve the goals of our user group and Wikimedia at large.
To engage with underrepresented communities, we have implemented targeted outreach strategies. Our publicity drive included participating in radio discussions to inform the public about our projects and activities.
Part 2: Your main learning
[edit]8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
Access to the internet and high data costs is a major hinderance to the contribution and participation of community members in Wikimedia projects.
We reached out to more volunteers through TV broadcasts of the Dagbani Wikipedia Saha program and social media campaigns. Through this, we had a substantial number of people joining the community, and several others were retained.
Sagani TV, one of our partners, telecasts the Dagbani Wikipedia Saha program. This program has helped us recruit and retain more editors.
Through organizing training and capacity-building programs, team members and volunteers were empowered with new editing skills, which helped them create more articles and improve the quality of existing articles.
We learnt that low editing skill level of volunteers hinders the quality of articles created.
Most volunteers become inactive in contributing after events/activities. The common motivation for editors that continue to edit is the passion to put their languages on the internet space. High cost internet data is the main barrier for most of the volunteers and a few are limited in contributing due to inadequate editing skills. We have made our co-working space which have internet access open for volunteers to connect and contribute anytime they come to the office. We have also organized training sessions and workshops to equip volunteers with the needed skills to be able to contribute.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
Our collaboration with the Parliament of Ghana in partnership with Wikimedia Deutschland on our Wikibase project took a different turn as the various parliament departments, including the research department and parliament library, became busier ahead of the 2024 general elections. They recommended that we move the project to 2025 to allow more time. As a result of this, Wikimedia Deutschland's partnership team suggested a Wikibase for librarians project with the College of Science library at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This new move created a new opportunity for us to collaborate with the university library to enhance the organization and accessibility of the library's bibliographic records by setting up several Wikibase cloud instances for the different college libraries and implementing a structured and linked open data system at the university. More librarians expressed interest in joining the Wiki Club we established at the school last year. As academic librarians, they saw the need to contribute to Wikimedia and the open knowledge ecosystem in general.
The implementation of the 'Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom' project, in partnership with the Dagbani Teachers Association (D.T.A.), surprisingly drew the attention of more teachers of the other Mabia languages. Aside from recruiting more teachers, several senior high schools reached out to us to implement the initiative in their schools.
10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
Access to the internet and high data costs is a major hinderance to the contribution and participation of community members in Wikimedia projects:
One effective strategy is to promote offline resources and tools. For instance, Kiwix, a software that allows offline access to Wikipedia and other educational materials, can be a game-changer. By encouraging the use of Kiwix, we can enable community members to access and edit content without the need for a constant internet connection
Organizing offline edit-a-thons and workshops also play a crucial role in engaging the community. These events provide opportunities for members to come together and work on Wikimedia projects, even in the absence of a reliable internet connection. By providing the necessary materials and tools for editing, participants can make meaningful contributions that can later be uploaded when internet access is available. Furthermore, offering digital literacy training can equip members with the skills to efficiently use data and navigate offline editing tools, optimizing their participation in Wikimedia initiatives.
11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?
The Parliament of Ghana Contest series has successfully added substantial content to several language Wikipedias and increased the visibility of parliamentarians from Ghana's 7th Parliament. It involved translating biographies and Wikidata items of 220 parliamentarians.
Our flagship Tele-education program, the Dagbani Wikipedia Saha, has played a crucial role in addressing the knowledge gap challenge faced by Wikimedians by creating an opportunity for volunteers to learn how to edit Wikipedia from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, it has significantly contributed to creating awareness about Wikipedia in northern Ghana.
The Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program helped teachers develop vital media and information literacy skills for the 21st century.
12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Part 3: Metrics
[edit]13a. Open and additional metrics data
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New volunteer recruitment | At least 100 new volunteers will be recruited from Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare Wikimedia communities. | 100 | 150 | Most of our programs were characterized by community engagement and outreach campaigns. The Dagbani Wikipedia Saha project reached larger audience, The Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom project created teachers awareness about Wikipedia. Through these programs and others, we had more people joining the volunteer base as new editors. | Outreach dashboard |
| Number of teachers trained | At least 50 senior high school teachers will participate in our 'Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom' program. | 50 | 30 | The program was repurposed to have language teachers as its participants. Dagbani language teachers were selected and equipped with digital, media and information literacy skills. This served as a pilot for the Dagbani Language Teachers and we envision to replicate it with the other four languages that we work on. | Outreach dashboard |
| Capacity building programs | At least 20 trainers, volunteers, and language co-leads will participate in our capacity building training. | 20 | 20 | We deemed it necessary to have more representation of the language co-leads at the Capacity building workshops so that they can share the knowledge gained with their communities. All the five language communities had 5 members each who attended the program. | Outreach dashboard |
| Dagbani Wikipedia Saha TV program | At least 8 episodes of the Dagbani Wikipedia Saha will be aired on Sagani TV | 8 | 8 | 8 episodes were aired for season 2 of the Dagbani Wikipedia Saha program. | Pre-recorded episodes aired on Sagani TV |
| Content creation | Wikipedia articles = 900
Wikipedia incubator articles = 1,200 Wikidata items = 1,000 Lexemes created = 1,600 Media wiki translations = 5,000 Wikidata property translations = 1,000 Wikimedia commons uploads = 1,400 |
10000 | 14200 | We exceeded the set target by 4,200 due to the tremendous efforts put in by our editors in our editathons and contest. The Parliament of Ghana Contest was one of the programs that yielded great results. | Outreach dashboard |
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | At least 60 editors from our language communities will continue to participate/retained. | 60 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | Language community organizers = 10
Wiki Hub organizers = 6 |
16 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | Media organizations = Sagani TV, Radio Justice Tamale, Zaa radio Tamale
Academic institutions = Business senior high school, Tamale Senior high school and Tamale girls senior high school. Organizations = Ghanaian Pidgin Wikimedia community, Art+Feminism, Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub, Wikimedia Germany and Ghana NLP |
12 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | Feedback from strategic partners = 12
Feedback from participants = 50 |
62 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | Number of female contributors = 40
Number of students = 60 number of teachers = 100 |
200 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | Facebook = 100,000
Twitter = 50,000 Instagram = 30,000 LinkedIn = 50,000 YouTube = 10,000 |
240000 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of activities developed | Dagbani Wiktionary, Wikibase cloud project for parliament of Ghana, Wikidata lexicographical data for Gurene, Wiki Loves Africa and Wiki Loves Living Heritage. | 5 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of volunteer hours | Total number of volunteers hours from 5 language communities and Wiki hubs | 400 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
13b. Additional core metrics data.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | Number of new participants = 40
Number of returning participants = 20 From 5 language communities: Wiki hubs Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare Wikimedia communities. 3 Wiki hubs: Bagabaga college of education, Tamale college of education and Gbewaa college of education. |
60 | 150 | The five language communities collaboratively worked on common projects and also worked on projects that are unique to their communities. In all, the community implemented 18 programs. Participants were enthused and took part in those programs. | Outreach dashboard |
| Number of editors | Newly registered users: 20
Active users: 30 |
50 | 80 | We recorded a substantial number of editors who actively participated in our programs due to their special in in the programs. | Outreach dashboard |
| Number of organizers | Language co-leads = 5 language co-leads: Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare communities.
Facilitators = 5 language community facilitators. Campaign organizers: 4 Wikipedia editathon and Wiki loves contest organizers Advisors = 4 members from the advisory board Paid staff = 2 executive director and project manager Partners = 3 |
23 | 23 | We achieved our set target. Team members engaged in organizing workshops and ran several projects. | Outreach dashboard |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Number of articles created and improved on Dagbani and Gurene Wikipedias from our parliament of Ghana contests. | 500 | 1375 | We surpassed our target by 875 articles. The five language communities embarked on the Parliament of Ghana project. | Outreach dashboard |
| Wikidata | Number of Wikidata item created and improved/labels and descriptions added from our parliament of Ghana contest (Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare languages). Number of Lexemes and Wikidata property labels created/translated in Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare languages.
Wikidata items = 1000 Wikidata lexemes = 1000 Labels and descriptions in five (5) languages using quickstatements = 5000 Wikibase items created for Ghanaian parliamentarians = 3000 |
10000 | 12442 | We surpassed our target by 2,442. This include Wikidata items created/improved, labels added and Lexemes created/improved. | Outreach dashboard |
| Incubator | Number of Wikipedia incubator articles created from our parliament of Ghana contest in Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare Wikipedias. | 600 | 825 | The Parliament of Ghana Contest produced content for all the language communities involved including Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare Wikipedias. | Outreach dashboard |
| Translatewiki | Overall translation of media wiki messages for Dagbani, Gurene, Moore, Kusaal and Dagaare languages. | 3000 | 26905 | The Translate Wiki project yielded results that helped us to surpass the set target. All the five language communities participated in the project and translated several skins of the Media Wiki that resulted to the translation of a substantial number of messages. | Tool from Toolforge |
| Wikimedia Commons | Total number of photos uploaded from Wiki Loves campaigns, structured data contributed to Wikimdia commons with ISA tool | 600 | 246 | Our volunteers used 246 photos on articles during editathons and Contest. We did not embark on Wiki Loves Campaigns. The program was repurposed. | Outreach dashboard |
14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?
No
15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.
We encountered no difficulties in collecting data to measure our metrics. Using Wikimedia data collection tools and Google products, we successfully gathered all relevant data without any issues.
We did not encounter difficulties in collecting data to measure our metrics. Using Wikimedia data collection tools and Google products, we successfully gathered all relevant data without any issues.
16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- N/A
Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships
[edit]17. Organizational Capacity
| A. Financial capacity and management | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| B. Conflict management or transformation | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| D. Partnership building | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| E. Strategic planning | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| F. Program design, implementation, and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| J. Governance | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| K. Communications, marketing, and social media | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| M. On-wiki technical skills | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| N. Accessing and using data | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| O. Evaluating and learning from our work | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Peer to peer learning with other community members in community/ies of practice* (structured and continuous learning and sharing spaces), Using capacity building/training resources onlinee from sources OUTSIDE the Wikimedia Movement, Using capacity building/training resources online from sources WITHIN the Wikimedia Movement
17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Lack of volunteer time to participate in capacity building/training, Barriers to access training because of connectivity or equipment, Lack of financial resources
18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?
Having two paid staff members has greatly enhanced our work. It has allowed us to onboard more volunteers, making it easier to support our communities. We now require assistance with capacity-building training for our team members.
19. Partnerships over the funding period.
| A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) | Strongly agree |
| B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach, Volunteers from our communities
19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships, Local policies or other legal factors, Limited funding period
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
We partnered with educational institutions, organizations contributing to the internet space, and groups dedicated to language preservation.
In building partnerships, we seek for mission-aligned organizations that can support our growth as a user group, such as Ghana NLP and Sagani TV.
Our Wikimedia outreach campaigns have effectively shared our story and established partnerships with various organizations. We often have the opportunity to use radio and TV programs to communicate and invite more volunteers to our projects.
We design our work to be relevant to all stakeholders in education, including parents, teachers, and education officers. This focus has made it easier for our partnership requests to be accepted by those involved in the education sector.
Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration
[edit]21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?
The Dagbani Wikimedians User Group strongly aligns with Wikimedia's core mission of providing free and accessible knowledge to everyone.
We actively engage in the collaborative process of creating and sharing knowledge. We consider ourselves a vital part of the community with individuals and groups contributing to the collective pool of free knowledge.
We benefit from a wide range of resources, tools, and indirect support provided by the Wikimedia Foundation and the larger community. Access to these resources enables us to enhance our impact and improve the quality of our contributions.
22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Increased significantly
23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
With the tremendous support from the Wikimedia Foundation and the community resource team, we have been able to develop more projects that expand content across five language Wikipedia projects.
24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Increased significantly
25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
Since last year, our community's volunteer base has experienced significant growth. This expansion is clearly reflected in the overall contributions of the User Group. The increased number of volunteers has led to a substantial rise in participation and output, demonstrating the positive impact of this growth on our collective efforts. As a result, we have been able to enhance our projects and achieve greater results, thanks to the increased engagement and dedication from our expanded volunteer network.
We also set up a community mentorship program, which helped participants develop their skills more effectively.
26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.
Yes. Feminism movement, We have participated in different Art+Feminism campaigns since 2020 to increase the biographies of women on our Dagbani Wikipedias.
Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration
[edit]We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.
27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?
Yes
27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?
We regularly share our project reports and metrics with different language communities and frequently update the broader community through our mailing list with our findings and progress.
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
We do this regularly (at least once a month)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
We share our learning through Wikimedia Diff, WhatsApp groups, Telegram groups, and at our community events, including 'Let’s Connect' meetings and other external Wikimedia gatherings. Additionally, we engage in personal interactions with those interested in learning and those who offer valuable knowledge
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance
[edit]30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
848057.69
31. Local currency type
GHS
32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
N/A
34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
GHS 25,738.43
We are wrapping up our last project. Wikibase for the College of Science Library, which had been delayed,
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
B. Propose to use them to partially or fully fund a new/future grant request with PO approval
34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
We will use the funds to continue our mentorship programs, providing guidance and support to new contributors, including data allowance for mentors and mentees.
35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
37. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.