Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Iraqi Wikimedians 2024 plan/Final Report
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Part 1: Understanding your work
[edit]Per the recent update on the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy process, Wikimedia Affiliates that are General Support Fund grantees will fulfill their affiliate reporting requirements through their final or yearly grantee report.
If you are a Wikimedia Affiliate, you will use this form for your affiliate reporting and to address the affiliate health criteria. You do not need to submit a separate report to AffCom. Follow the guidance in the green boxes to report on how you met the corresponding affiliate health criteria.
If you are not a Wikimedia Affiliate, aligning your responses with the affiliate criteria is optional and not required.
1. Please share to what extent your programs, approaches, and strategies contributed to addressing the challenges you shared in your proposal. If they did not contribute as you believed they would, please share what obstacles you faced and what, if anything, you learned from them? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 1.) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 1.1 (Goal delivery). Describe how you actively delivered on mission goals, e.g. content creation.
One of the main objectives of this grant was to revitalize the Iraqi Wikimedians User Group, and this is exactly what we worked on. We reached out to institutions that had previously organized programs to attract new Wikipedians, specifically MiCT and IBB, and they provided us with participant data from their past programs. From the very first month, we began contacting them via email, inviting them to the group's activities, which officially started on July 1, 2024.
Although these institutions had trained hundreds of participants, their engagement dated back more than two years, making it difficult to reintegrate them into the Wikimedia community. Despite this, we successfully reconnected with several individuals who started engaging with Wikimedia Iraq again. However, we were surprised to find that their experience with Wikimedia projects was very limited—some, for instance, were unfamiliar with how to use Wikipedia properly.
This presented a new challenge: designing training programs for beginners and newcomers, whether they had previously participated in training with other institutions or had been directly recruited through outreach on Iraqi youth platforms. To address this, we started training sessions for each Wiki project before launching its corresponding event. For example, prior to announcing the Wikimedia Iraq competition, we conducted a three-week workshop called "Junior Wikipedian" to train beginners. We applied the same approach to activities related to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.
These training sessions had a significant impact, empowering beginners to participate in Wikimedia Iraq’s initiatives. Beyond that, we successfully built a dynamic Iraqi community by helping users obtain editing privileges on Wikipedia and integrating them into broader Wikimedia activities within the Arabic-speaking community. Through these events and training programs, we prioritized content related to Iraq, enriching Wikimedia projects with valuable information about our country. Notably, the Iraqi user group transitioned from being largely inactive to a vibrant and engaged community, contributing 16% of the content created on Arabic Wikipedia in the second half of 2024.
Ultimately, we found that the Iraqi group is now strengthening the Arabic Wikimedia community by providing dedicated and active contributors. This not only ensures the sustainability of the group itself but also supports long-term engagement among new members and supports the broader Arabic community.
Due to the additional beginner training sessions, we faced scheduling constraints that required us to extend the grant period by one month. This extension allowed us to smoothly complete all planned activities.
What we have truly learned from this is that Ideas don't come out fully formed, they only become clear as we work on them, we just have to get started.
2. Is there a plan to build on the key successes you had? If yes, please describe the plan and if no, please share the limitations to do so. For instance, did the activities lead to any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future? (required)
As we succeed in empowering newcomers and make them engaged with the whole arab community. The next steps will be
1- insure their contunusity in wiki projects, and this may achieved by continuing our usergroup activities.
2- bring new contributors through supporting the newcomers leading activities in their hometowns and on the internet through wikimedia iraq.
3- Connect the user group members through offline annual meetup for the user group.
3. Please provide a link to reports that detail the activities that took place in the last year. This can include an annual report, Meta pages, and websites. If there are no links available, briefly describe the implemented activities and programs below or upload any files. (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 3.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.1 (Affiliate health & resilience), 4.1 (Internal engagement), 4.2 (Community connection), and 4.3 (Partnerships and collaboration):
- Describe your activities engaging new users, new members for your decision-making body(ies), and developing leaders and organizers (2.1).
- Describe your activities creating or hosting spaces to encourage greater collaboration and engagement among your members (4.1).
- Describe how you engage with the contributing community that you serve and/or support (4.2).
- Describe your partnerships with other affiliates or with non-Wikimedia entities (4.3).
4. Are you interested in sharing what you achieved or learned this year with the wider community through different peer learning programs (e.g. Let's Connect program, Diff)? (optional)
We always share our experiences on Diff, You can check the below articles and we have more to share next month:
Additionally, We have already talked with lets connect to be part of their learning session this year to share our experiences with the community.
5. Did you collect feedback from your community or target groups on how the activities implemented impacted them? If yes, please attach/provide information on the results (e.g. community surveys, stories, impact booklets/reports, interviews with partner institutions, etc). Did you collect other impact-specific data? (required)
For affiliates, the response to Question 5. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criteria 4.1 (Internal Engagement), 4.2 (Community Connection), or 4.3 (Partnerships & collaboration), where applicable.
Our members are the key to growth, after each session, we talk with the participants about their needs, learnings, and what we need to improve. Also we heard this month from the top 15 contributors about their ideas for the next round and how we can engage them more.
You can check the our 2024 to see the impact and data on our user group members.
6. During the fund period, did your efforts do any of the following? (required):
For affiliates, the response to Question 6. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criterion 2.2 (Diversity balance).
- 6.1 Bring in participants from the following groups: women, young people, speakers of minority languages, underrepresented geographical regions (ESEAP, LATAM, SSA, MENA, SA)
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women, speakers of minority languages, underrepresented geographical regions (ESEAP, LATAM, SSA, MENA, SA)
- 6.3 Support the retention of: Editors, Organizers, Partnerships
7. What, if any, effective tactics or approaches can you share that worked well when dealing with the programs under points 6.1-6.3 that you selected? (optional)
Supporting youth, increasing women's participation, and enhancing content about minorities were top priorities in our activities.
Supporting Youth:As we worked to revitalize the user group, we prioritized engaging young people passionate about contributing to our community. To expand our outreach, we partnered with The Khana, one of Iraq’s largest platforms for youth opportunities. Through this collaboration, we successfully promoted our activities to a broader audience interested in Wikimedia projects. As a result, youth now make up 75% of our user group, a significant increase from just two members at the beginning.
Women’s Participation:While targeting youth, we ensured a safe and inclusive space for women. Luma and Ravan, the only two women in our group initially, played a crucial role in supporting and encouraging female participation by sharing their experiences with new members. Over time, our focus on inclusivity led to women comprising 60% of our user group, surpassing our initial expectations.
Minority Representation:To enrich Wikimedia content about minorities, we engaged directly with communities where these groups reside. Notably, many of our most active contributors are from Nineveh, Iraq’s most diverse province, home to Christian, Kurdish, and Shabak communities, among others. Given Nineveh’s history—having suffered immense destruction during ISIS control—its residents are eager to reshape the online narrative about their city. We observed this firsthand as many contributors actively worked to highlight their heritage and culture through Wikimedia projects.
8. If you developed partnerships, which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors (optional):
Permanent staff outreach, Staff hired through the fund, Volunteers from our communities
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 100 | 112 | |
| Number of all editors | 16 | 16 | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Iraq/Iraqi_Wikimedians_Tracker |
| Number of new editors | 8 | 5 | |
| Number of retained editors | 8 | 8 | |
| Number of all organizers | 1 | 2 | |
| Number of new organizers | 3 | 3 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 8000 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 1000 | 100 | 2200 | 100 |
| Wikidata | 2000 | 2000 | 500 | 500 |
| Wiktionary | ||||
| Wikisource | ||||
| Wikimedia Incubator | ||||
| Translatewiki | ||||
| MediaWiki | ||||
| Wikiquote | ||||
| Wikivoyage | ||||
| Wikibooks | ||||
| Wikiversity | ||||
| Wikinews | ||||
| Wikispecies | ||||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
11. Did you set other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): No
11.1. Other Metrics.
In your application, you outlined some other open metrics that you would like to measure. Please fill out the achieved results for each of the open metrics you defined.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Part 3: Skill Development / Capacity Building
[edit]12. Reflecting on your programmatic (external) and organizational (internal) work, did your grant support you to undergo any skill development that made a difference to your success? If yes, what skill was developed, and how did it lead to success? (e.g. received coaching on public speaking, attended training on nonviolent communication, hosted professional development conversations on leadership, learned and used a new tool for project management, etc.)? Can you share any materials? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 12.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.2 (Diversity balance) and 3.1 (Diverse, Skilled, and Accountable Leadership):
- Describe actions taken to prioritize gender balance in affiliate leadership, as well as any areas of diversity relevant to your affiliate's context (2.2).
- Describe the management, financial, or other leadership skills of your affiliate leaders. If you have a succession plan, please include it here (3.1).
- Describe any training or skill development (as outlined in the question above) (3.1).
- Incorporate into the annual report a disclosure of conflict of interests (if any) from the leadership (3.1).
When we reflect on our activities as a whole, it’s difficult to pinpoint a single skill that was specifically developed. However, the experiences we shared as the Wikimedia Iraq core team, along with the newcomers, have fostered a deeper understanding of one another. Through this, we have learned how to bridge the generational gap between veteran Wikimedians and newcomers, creating a collaborative community that keeps our work moving forward smoothly. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but with time, we are continuously improving.
13. What is one capacity/skill area that you would like to focus on for the next year? And how do you plan to achieve this capacity? (required)
The key skill we need to focus on is empowering newcomers to lead both offline and online activities. This requires strengthening their presentation skills and their ability to engage with audiences effectively. Developing these abilities is essential for us, as it will help cultivate more main coordinators for the user group, ensuring its continued growth and sustainability.
14. If you have additional information or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. Use the space below to upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your report.
For affiliates, also use this section (Question 14) to fulfill the Affiliate Health Criteria requirements.
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for affiliate governance, including affiliate leadership and membership with a breakdown of the demographics; how elections are conducted; how conflicts of interest are declared; and how decisions are made and communicated (2.2, 2.3, 3.1).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for activities incorporating, promoting awareness about, or enforcing the Universal Code of Conduct in your affiliate's activities (3.3).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for internal membership engagement, such as notes from your regular meetings and how you communicate to or involve your membership (4.1).
- Regarding Criteria 2.3 (Good governance & communication): As part of reactivating the User Group, we have been focusing on restructuring our community to better accommodate its growth and to re-engage our editors. We have set a timeline to finalize and announce all necessary structures by the end of 2025. A preliminary governance framework is already shared on our Meta page.
- Regarding Criteria 3.3 (UCoC compliance): The Universal Code of Conduct is consistently highlighted in our sessions and activities. We will ensure that these efforts are clearly documented in our next report.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]For affiliates, also use this section (Part 4: Financial reporting) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 3.2 (Financial & Legal Compliance).
| Description | Planned / received budget for this category (IQD) | Amount spent (IQD) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 5436500 | 6138000 |
| Operational costs | 6615500 | 2401300 |
| Programmatic costs | 1048000 | 7300700 |
| Total General Support Fund | 15542520 | 15840000 |
| Other revenue | ||
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | N/A |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
15840000 IQD
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 2401300 IQD
- Programmatic costs: 6138000 IQD
- Staff and contractor costs: 7300700 IQD
17. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): No
- 17.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): IQD
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): IQD
18. Provide a financial report document which will provide the details of funds received and spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
18.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
N/A
19. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding?: No
20. Final confirmations (required)
- 20.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement? You must be in compliance 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 Wikimedia Foundation mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
- Yes
- 20.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
- Yes
- 20.3. 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
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