Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Documenting the folk songs sung during Shama Chakeva, a festival celebrated in eastern Nepal’s southern plains (ID: 22596971)

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statusUnder review
Documenting the folk songs sung during Shama Chakeva, a festival celebrated in eastern Nepal’s southern plains
proposed start date2024-06-21
proposed end date2024-12-23
budget (local currency)660000 NPR
budget (USD)4890.6 USD
grant typeIndividual
funding regionSA
decision fiscal year2023-24
applicant• s_chaudhary
organization (if applicable)• N/A

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Applicant Details[edit]

Main Wikimedia username. (required)

s_chaudhary

Organization

N/A

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)

N/A

Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)


Main Proposal[edit]

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.

Documenting the folk songs sung during Shama Chakeva, a festival celebrated in eastern Nepal’s southern plains

2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.

2024-06-21 - 2024-12-23

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)

Wiki Loves Folklore

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 Shama Chakeva festival dedicated to the relationship between brothers and sisters lasts for a week. Every night the sisters would sing different songs including the birth of Shama, a princess and her demise at the hands of an evil minister’s wicked plans. Her brother comes to her rescue but can’t save her from the fire. However, both of them are reborn as Shama Chakeva, ruddy shelducks.

The songs, sung for a week, are on the verge of disappearance and acculturation. The migrants to the Nepal’s southern plains too have started celebrating the festival. However, in the process, the original songs are in the danger of losing their authenticity.

As most of the young people head to cities for higher education and in search of jobs, the tradition, carried out by old generation no more interests them. Thus, we face the danger of losing the tradition and songs.

Not only the songs but also the skill to make beautiful clay figurines of different characters in Shama Chakeva’s story is disappearing.

We plan to document the songs, record and make videos, and produce a book of illustrations with story of Shama Chakeva.

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.

Methodology 1. Suman Chaudhari and I will work with a group of women singers and artists who will make the clay figurines and sing the songs. 2. We will record the songs, transcribe them and upload the videos with sub-title to Wikimedia Commons. 3. We will work with an artist to illustrate the story of Shama Chakeva and produce a children’s storybook.

Dissemination plan 1. We plan to work with cultural conservation groups to raise awareness of the festival’s original songs. 2. We will work with schools and share the children’s storybooks to raise awareness of the festival.

Commercialization plan 1. We will work towards turning the clay figurines into papier-mache souvenirs (gift items) that can be sold at major art shops in Kathmandu. 2. We will work with women artists to portray the story of Shama Chakeva on paper with local motifs. The art pieces will be kept on display for sale.


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.

Sanjib Kumar Chaudhary: Coordinator, Wikimedia Username: s_chaudhary (volunteer) Suman Chaudhari: Project Manager, volunteer

Group of women led by Shyam Kumari Devi Chaudhary, Rampyari Devi Chaudhary, Shanti Devi Chaudhary, Madhupatni (nickname) and Ram Narayan Chaudhary (volunteers)

Illustration: Purushottam Chaudhary/ Lavkant Chaudhary (volunteers)

Publishing House: GrowInnova/Art.Ink (consultant)

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)

Tharu community from eastern Nepal's southern plains are the main target audience.

We will hold conversations with community members including the women group about raising awareness about the Shama Chakeva among a wider audience.

As mentioned earlier will work with cultural conservation groups to raise awareness of the festival’s original songs. We will work with schools and share the children’s storybooks to raise awareness of the festival.

We will work towards turning the clay figurines into papier-mache souvenirs (gift items) that can be sold at major art shops in Kathmandu. We will work with women artists to portray the story of Shama Chakeva on paper with local motifs. The art pieces will be kept on display for sale.

We will make a WhatsApp group of the participants and follow up with them on a regular basis.

10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)

No

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.

N/A

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 talked with the Tharu women's group along with a man who have been actively participating in the Shama Chakeva festival and singing the songs themselves. We have also recorded some songs with their help which have been uploaded in the Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Eastern_Tharu,_Folk_Song,_Tharu_Culture).

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)

Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial

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)

Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background

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)

I would like to learn about the process of documenting the going-to-be extinct folk songs and popularising them once again among the young generation. Also, I would like to learn whether it is feasible to monetise the whole process by not only popularising the characters mentioned in the story but by also making papier-mache souvenirs and selling them.

18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
Number of participants, editors, and organizers
Other Metrics Target Optional description
Number of participants 25
Number of editors 2
Number of organizers 12
Number of content contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project Number of content created or improved
Wikipedia 2
Wikimedia Commons 10
Wikidata
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks 1
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 Data
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)

I am not sure about how to measure each metrics and would need support on this.

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)

660000 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.

4890.6 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).

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