Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Documenting Provincial Members of Nepal (ID: 23099155)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
PANKAJ DEO
- Organization
Maithili Wikimedians
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
I'm a board member or president of a Wikimedia Affiliate or mission-allied organization.
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
- Bijay Chaurasia - Co-Secretary
- Biplab Anand - Co- Chair
- Sanjog Dev - Secretary
- Tulasi Bhagat - Co-Treasurer
- Nilam Karn - Treasurer
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Documenting Provincial Members of Nepal
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-11-10 - 2025-02-15
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Nepal
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
The change we are aiming to bring is the creation of a comprehensive, structured, and visually enriched digital record of the members of the members of the Madhesh Provincial Assembly within Wikimedia projects, primarily focused on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.
Currently, there is a significant lack of accessible, structured information and publicly available images of these provincial assembly members of Madhesh Province, Nepal. This gap limits public access to reliable data about their elected representatives and undermines efforts toward transparency and civic engagement.
The main challenges we are trying to solve include:
- The absence of structured and verified data on ‘’’Wikidata’’’ about the provincial assembly members of Madhesh Province, Nepal.
- The limited availability of photographs of these individuals on ‘’’Wikimedia Commons’’’.
- A general lack of engagement and awareness among local communities and government bodies about the importance of open knowledge documentation.
To address these issues, our approach includes:
- Data Collection & Structuring: We will collect accurate, verifiable information about the provincial assembly members and systematically input it into Wikidata and also in Wikipedia.
- Photographic Documentation: In collaboration with local photographers and photography team, we will capture high-quality portraits of the provincial members and upload them to Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licenses.
- Community Engagement: We will work closely with the local communities, new Wikipedians, and relevant government bodies to ensure participation, transparency, and sustainability of the initiative.
- Verification & Quality Control: All data will be reviewed and verified to ensure accuracy and reliability before integration into Wikimedia projects.
This project aims not only to fill a critical content gap but also to build stronger ties with the local community and government, promoting awareness and participation in the open knowledge ecosystem.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
This project is aimed at the documentation of the provincial assembly members of the 2nd Madhesh Provincial Assembly through structured data and freely licensed images. The key activities planned for the project include:
- Initial Research and Data Collection: We will begin with initial research to collect accurate and up-to-date information about all provincial members of the Madhesh Provincial Assembly. At present time, there are 107 provincial assembly members in the house. The data collection includes verifying members' names, date of birth, home address, constituencies, and other relevant biographical details from official government sources, election commission data and reliable public records.
- Photography and Image Collection: We will collaborate with a local photography team, which will help us to capture high-quality, freely licensed photographs of the provincial assembly members. Where direct photography is not feasible, we will contact the CMO officials for the provincial house meeting or any other gathering.
- Wikidata Integration: Verified data will be systematically added or updated on Wikidata, ensuring each provincial member has a complete and structured profile with relevant properties (e.g. term start, party affiliation, position held, etc.).
- Uploading to Wikimedia Commons: All collected photographs will be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licenses, following Wikimedia guidelines and ensuring proper categorization and description.
- Community and Government Collaboration: Throughout the process, we will collaborate closely with local communities, government leaders, public officials, and photographers. These partnerships will help ensure data accuracy, build trust, and facilitate smoother access to the subjects.
- Training Sessions and Capacity Building: We will organize two training sessions for local volunteers, photography team, new Wikipedians, and interested college students. These sessions will cover topics such as:
- What is Wikimedia project
- How to edit Wikidata
- What is Wikimedia Commons
- Basic knowledge of image licensing
- How to archive digital data on open source platforms
- What is Wikimedia project
This will help empower the participants to contribute to and sustain the effort beyond the project period.
- Image Integration and Wikidata-a-thon Events:
To further engage the community and ensure integration of the content across Wikimedia projects, we will host an online image integration event. These collaborative events will focus on linking images to relevant Wikipedia articles and Wikidata items, improving metadata, and ensuring better discoverability of the content.
Through these coordinated activities, the project aims to significantly improve the visibility and documentation of provincial-level leadership in Madhesh, while fostering a sustainable culture of open knowledge contribution in the region.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
Maithili Wikimedians team members profile can be seen here.
- Volunteers MW Team members
1. Pankaj Deo, Coordinator - Responsible for completion of this project on time, ensure that the project goals are met within the given budget.
2. Bijay Chaurasia, Photography Manager - Responsible to click the portraits of the Provincial Assembly members.
3. Nilam Karn, Communication Manager - Arrange online meetings and present the overview of the project.
4. Biplab Anand, Partnership Manager - Establish connection with the office of the Chief Minister, Secretariat and Assembly.
5. Sanjog Dev, Partnership Manager Establish connection with the office of the Chief Minister, Secretariat and Assembly.
- Salaried
We will publish an employee hiring notice in a local newspaper to hire the 2 local employees for the 3 months. They will closely work with the project and help with the administrative, finance and logistics related work.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The primary target participants are members of the Maithili Wikimedians User Group, along with local photographers, existing Wikimedia contributors, and new volunteers (college students) from the Janakpur region. Additionally, we will work closely with members of the Madhesh Provincial Assembly and government employees to collect accurate and verifiable data.
Before the activities, we will engage participants through targeted community outreach, including social media announcements, direct invitations to local Wikimedia contributors, and partnerships with local photography organizations and college students. We will also conduct pre-event orientations and coordination meetings to align expectations and responsibilities.
During the activities, participants will be actively involved in:
- Gathering and verifying personal and biographical data of provincial assembly members.
- Capturing and uploading photographs to Wikimedia Commons.
- Creating and enriching Wikidata items with structured information.
- Participating in training sessions and image integration events.
We will ensure an inclusive and collaborative environment, providing technical support and mentorship to participants throughout the process. After the activities, we will maintain engagement through:
- Follow-up training sessions to strengthen skills.
- Ongoing online support channels (such as group chats or forums) to answer questions and encourage continued involvement.
This approach will help build a sustainable community of contributors and ensure the continued growth of open knowledge in Janakpur, Nepal.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
Yes
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
We will follow Friendly Space Policy.
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
We have arranged a virtual meeting on March 1, 2025 with the Maithili Wikimedians and made unanimous decision to run this project and now we have posted a community discussion at Maithili Wikipedia VP.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Other Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context)
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Digital Access
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
We hope to learn that how the documentation of the members of Madhesh Provincial Assembly can improve representation on Wikimedia platforms, especially on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.
1. What are the best approaches for engaging communities in contributing to the documentation?
2. How can we connect to the government officials and retrieve the data of the Provincial members?
3. What impact does this project have on community engagement?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 30 | |
| Number of editors | 20 | |
| Number of organizers | 7 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 150 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 175 |
| Wikidata | 800 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open 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 |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
Dashboard and other Wikimedia tools.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
633740 NPR
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
4620 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
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).