Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Iraq Annual Fund 2026

statusUnder review

Wikimedia Community Fund

Wikimedia Iraq Annual Fund 2026

Fluxx IDR-GS-2602-22071

proposed start date2026-06-15

proposed end date2027-06-15

amount requested (local currency)61078750 IQD

amount requested (USD)52160.06 USD

grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)

funding regionMENA

decision fiscal year2025-26

funding program roundRound 2

applicant and people related to proposal[[User:|]] ([[User talk:|talk]] • accounts • contributions • edit count)

organization (if applicable)Iraqi Wikimedians User Group

Friendly Space Policy

Universal Code of Conduct

Application Privacy Statement

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds, where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant information

Organization name or Wikimedia Username for individuals. (required)

Iraqi Wikimedians User Group

Do you have any approved General Support Fund requests? (required)

Yes, I have already applied and received a General Support Fund

You are applying as a(n). (required)

Wikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)

Are your group or organization legally registered in your country? (required)

No

Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

Yes

Fiscal organization name.

Kiwix

Please provide links to the following documents if they are available

These documentation can be provided in your local language(s), no translations required.

• Organizational website
• Detailed financial reporting and/or audits
• Documentation of the governance structure, board list, governance processes
• Documentation of the general assembly decision on your plan

- https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians/Administration

Main proposal

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required)

Wikimedia Iraq Annual Fund 2026

2. Do you want to apply for the multi-year base funding for 3 years? (required) (only for returning applicants)

No

2.1. Provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan? (required)

N/A

3. Proposed start date. (required)

2026-06-15

4. Proposed end date. (required)

2027-06-15

5. Does your organization or group have an Affiliate or Organizational Annual Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required)

Yes

- https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians/Administration#:~:text=Annex%202%E2%80%A4%20Annual%20Plan%20(2026%E2%80%932027)

6. Does your affiliate, organization or group have a Strategic Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required)

Yes

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians/Administration#:~:text=Annex%201%E2%80%A4%20Strategic%20Plan%20(2025%E2%80%932028)

7. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)

Iraq

8. What are your programs, approaches, and strategies? What are the challenges that you are trying to address and how will your strategies support you in addressing these challenges? (required)

In 2026, Wikimedia Iraq will build on the achievements of the previous annual plan while strategically addressing the gaps and challenges identified during implementation. Our programs focus on two core pillars: Content Quality Enhancement and Community Strengthening & Expansion.

1. Content Strategy Challenge: Over the past two years, Wikimedia Iraq has successfully focused on generating new content across Wikimedia projects, including the creation of articles on Wikipedia and items on Wikidata. However, monitoring and evaluation revealed that a significant number of articles related to Iraq remain short, underdeveloped, and lacking reliable references. Similarly, many Wikidata items require enrichment through the addition of structured properties and improved data completeness.

Strategy and Approach: This year, we will primarily focus on content improvement and enrichment by:

• Organizing thematic edit-a-thons dedicated to expanding and referencing existing articles.
• Launching improvement contests targeting priority topics related to Iraq.
• Conducting Wikidata training sessions focused on adding properties, references, and improving data quality.

This strategy will ensure stronger knowledge representation about Iraq, improve reliability, and increase the long-term impact of previously created content.

2. Community Support and Regional Engagement

Challenge: While Wikimedia Iraq has developed a growing community, participation remains geographically concentrated. Contributors in regions such as the Kurdistan Region and Mosul require more localized engagement. Additionally, photographers and contributors to Wikimedia Commons have expressed the need for greater technical capacity-building support.

Strategy and Approach:

• Hosting the annual Wikimedia Iraq meetup in Erbil to increase regional participation and support stronger engagement with contributors in the Kurdistan Region and nearby cities.
• Strengthening collaboration and alignment with the Kurdish User Group to work toward shared strategic goals.
• Conducting targeted regional activities that “meet the community where they are”.
• Delivering specialized workshops focused on Wikimedia Commons tools, licensing, and upload processes.

3. University Engagement and Youth Participation

Challenge: Our engagement with universities has revealed a strong interest among students in participating in Wikimedia projects. However, this interest has not yet been systematically structured into sustainable programs.

Strategy and Approach:

• Organizing dedicated workshops within universities introducing Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons.
• Launching student-focused contests and editing campaigns to sustain engagement.
• Creating structured pathways for students to transition from workshop participants to long-term contributors.

By investing in university outreach, Wikimedia Iraq will cultivate a new generation of contributors and ensure the sustainability of the movement locally.

Expected Impact

Through this strategy toward quality improvement, regional inclusion, and youth engagement, Wikimedia Iraq aims to:

• Increase the depth and reliability of Iraq-related content.
• Strengthen regional representation within the Wikimedia community.
• Enhance contributor skills across projects.
• Build a sustainable and geographically diverse contributor base.

These approaches directly respond to the challenges identified in previous implementation cycles and position Wikimedia Iraq for deeper, long-term impact within the free knowledge ecosystem.

9. What categories are your main programs and related activities under? Please select all that apply. (required)

Category	Yes/No
Education	Yes
Culture, heritage or GLAM	Yes
Gender and diversity	Yes
Community support and engagement	Yes
Participation in campaigns and contests	Yes
Public policy advocacy	No
Technology (software development)	No
Other	No

Education

9.1.1. Select all your programs and activities for Education. (required)

Wiki Club, Editing Wikipedia Training

Other programs and activities if any: N/A

9.1.2. Select all relevant audience groups for Education. (required)

Vocational, tertiary, or higher education, Teachers or professors

Other groups if any: N/A

Culture, heritage or GLAM

9.2. Select all your programs and activities for Culture, heritage or GLAM. (required)

Introducing new approaches to underrepresented culture and heritage, e.g. decolonising or reparative work; oral and visual knowledge; outreach to communities of origin, indigenous and first nations self-determination

Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Gender and diversity

9.3. Select all your programs and activities for Gender and diversity.

Bringing in women and/or gender diverse participants and editors, Focusing on creating content about women and/or gender diverse groups, including biographies, intersectional topic areas and/or adding images, Focusing on creating content about marginalized (underrepresented) communities and their knowledge, Fomenting female leadership within the movement (either staff, members or boards)

Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Community support and engagement

9.4. Select all your programs and activities for Community support and engagement.

On-wiki training of community members, Off-wiki training of community members, Organizing meetups, conferences, and community events, Supporting community members' participation in events and conferences, Offering micro-funding and other financial support to community members , Offering non financial support and services to community members (equipment, space, books, etc.)

Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Participation in campaigns and contests

9.5. Select all campaigns that apply. (required)

Wikipedia Asian Month, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos, Wikipedia Birthday or Anniversary

Other programs and activities if any: N/A

10. Please include a link to or upload a timeline (operational calendar) for your programs and activities. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cw-3O7gVBd12zSx93fuGxghW_hohmiTu/edit?gid=1326704194#gid=1326704194

11. Describe your team. (required)

User: Alli Khalil (Project Manager) User: TeebaAW (Activity Based) User: Mohammed Qays (Activity Based) User: الدبوني (Activity Based) User: Abdulsalam Adabbag (Activity Based) User: ZheenSalih (Activity Based)

• More members could be joined based on availability.

Voluntary Support User: Mahmoudalrawi (Advisor) User: Luma Salman (Advisor) User: Ravan (Kurdistan Focal Point)

12. Will you be working with any internal (Wikimedia) or external partners? Describe the characteristics of these partnerships and bring a few examples of the most significant partnerships. (required)

- We will continue strengthening our collaboration with the American University of Baghdad and the American University of Sulaimani, building on the success and lessons learned from last year’s partnership. At the same time, we will explore new academic partnerships with institutions such as the University of Mosul, University of Anbar, and Al-Ashur University, with the aim of expanding Wikimedia engagement across additional regions in Iraq.

• We will also sustain our collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy, while proactively reaching out to other embassies to explore new cultural and knowledge-sharing partnerships that align with Wikimedia’s mission.

In Mosul, we plan to partner with the Mosul Heritage Organization to co-host events that focus on documenting and preserving local heritage through Wikimedia projects, strengthening community-based cultural contributions.

• Regionally, we will collaborate with the Wiki Gulf Council to support stronger coordination and joint initiatives among Arabian Gulf user groups, particularly in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. This partnership will support cross-community knowledge exchange, shared campaigns, and regional capacity-building efforts.

13. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select all that apply. (required)

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Manage Internal Knowledge, Innovate in Free Knowledge, Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt

Metrics

Wikimedia Metrics

14. Please select and fill out Wikimedia Metrics for your proposal. (recommended)

14.1. Number of participants, editors, and organizers.

All metrics provided are optional, please fill them out if they are aligned with your programs and activities.

Participants, editors, and organizers

Metrics name	Target	Description
Number of all participants	200	N/A
Number of all editors	70	N/A
Number of new editors	50
Number of retained editors	5
Number of all organizers	8	N/A
Number of new organizers	3

14.2. Number of new content contributions to Wikimedia projects. (recommended)

Contributions to Wikimedia projects

Wikimedia project	Created	Edited or improved
Wikipedia	1200	600
Wikimedia Commons	800	500
Wikidata	500	250
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions / Abstract Wikipedia

Description for Wikimedia projects contributions metrics. (optional)

Other Metrics

15. Do you have other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required)

No

Other Metrics	Description	Target
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

Budget

16. Will you have any other revenue sources when implementing this proposal (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required)

Yes

16.1. List other revenue sources. (required)

In the previous annual plan, we were able to implement more activities than originally projected. This included contributions from the Indonesian Embassy in Baghdad and the Million Wiki Project. Through these partnerships, we secured funding exceeding 5,000 USD, which enabled us to expand our programming and increase our overall impact beyond the initial scope of the plan. For this year’s plan, we will continue leveraging this partnership-based approach to diversify our funding sources and expand our programmatic reach. We aim to secure additional external support that will enable us to scale our activities, increase community engagement, and deliver greater impact beyond the core grant framework.

16.2. Approximately how much revenue will you have from other sources in your local currency? (required)

0

17. Your local currency. (required)

IQD

18. What is the total requested amount in your local currency? (required)

61078750 IQD

Multi-year funding request summary

Year	Amount (local currency)
Year 1	N/A IQD
Year 2	N/A IQD
Year 3	N/A IQD

Requested amount in USD

52160.06 USD

Multi-year funding request summary in USD

Year	Amount USD
Year 1	N/A USD
Year 2	N/A USD
Year 3	N/A USD

19. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required)

Yes

19.1. How many paid staff members do you plan to have? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms.

1 Staff (Full Time) + 5 Contractors (Activity Based)

19.2. How many FTEs (full-time equivalents) in total? (required)

Include the total FTE of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include their FTEs with the terms separately.

1 Staff (Full Time) + 5 Contractors (Activity Based)

19.3. Describe any staff or contractor changes compared to the current year / ongoing General Support Fund if any. (required only for returning grantees)

Our current grant includes three staff members: a Project Manager, a Project Coordinator, and a Researcher/Trainer.

For the upcoming grant, we plan to transition to a more flexible structure. This will include one core staff member (the Project Manager), supported by 5–6 contractors engaged based on specific activities and needs.

As Wikimedia Iraq continues to expand across multiple cities, this adjustment was recommended by the User Group’s board members. The aim is to increase community participation in program implementation and ensure broader representation of local regions across Iraq.

20. Please provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. The budget breakdown should include only the amount requested with this General Support Fund (required).

Budget category	Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs	29553000 IQD
Operational costs	8454000 IQD
Programmatic costs	17816000 IQD

21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cw-3O7gVBd12zSx93fuGxghW_hohmiTu/edit?gid=1094787071#gid=1094787071

Additional information

22. In this optional space you can add any other additional information about your proposal or organization that you think can help us when reviewing your proposal. (optional)

---

By submitting your proposal/funding request you confirm that you have read and agree to the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy, and the Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Feedback

• Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.