Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Establishing a Community (ID: 22830550)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
The first Meetup on "Establishing a Community" was held on 11th January 2025 attended by 22 participants from diverse background. The event was graced by the two Wikimedian Experts from West Bengal, India. During the event, the experts shared how the West Bengal Wikimedia community grew and how successful were today. It was so encouraging to have them during the event. The following activities were carried out during the Meetup: 1. Establishing a Community; 2. Creating User account amongst the participants; 3. Networking within the participants; 4. Advocating how to create articles, upload and editing the articles; 5. Nominations of Editors.
The 2nd and 3rd Meetups were also held during which the follow-ups were done, the Meetup also nominated 6 Editors where they have been further trained on how to edit the articles with fair and justice without any bias.
In addition, another meetup was also conducted from the budget savings and in accordance with the approval from the SA PO. The Meetup had drawn additional of more than 15 participants excluding organizers. The project had helped Bhutan to established a Wikimedia Community and had reached out to more than expected figures. The latest free event which took place on 30th April 2025 was attended by 10 participants, however, no editors were selected from the event.
Besides, the customized Dzongkha Wikipedia Mugs and Dzongkha keyboards were also distributed to offices/institutions/communities in various location to reach wider audience for larger interest in order to advocate the presence of Wikimedia Community in Bhutan, sharing the free knowledge and inviting more volunteers to the Wikimedia community in Bhutan.
During the entire Rapid Fund Project period, a total of 47 participants have participated out of which 9 editors were nominated. Major chunk of the articles contributed during the entire meetups were not uploaded since it has to undergo edits and complete reference sources.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
News in Diff: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/01/22/forging-a-wikimedia-community-in-bhutan-connecting-people-connecting-countries/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569613195830
Articles examples: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherubtse_College,_Bhutan_at_2.19.59_PM.jpg https://dz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Tshering_Nidup https://w.wiki/DfuT https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Homepage&source=personaltoolslink&namespace=0 https://w.wiki/Dfua dz.wikipedia.org - https://w.wiki/DtsZ Meta Wiki - https://w.wiki/Dtsn
Certification:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gJV2kKis1DK2E5oKA_yt5ah_28Sy97hLMnRv2tImxQA/edit?tab=t.0
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Resources : https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_s1kul-YY11RiV7G9sdPLAbiv48q5V_VRcqouEzE1Zs/edit#slide=id.g32886bc40de_0_1266 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsCi1oSWyQI
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122126078426653773&set=a.122122345880653773
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Not applicable |
| 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 |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: The team expect to learn several key things like collaboration and community engagement to understand how diverse communities come together to contribute knowledge, resolve disputes, and build consensus on content which is a tool for both improving Wikipedia and fostering a sense of shared ownership and responsibility and maintain information accurately, concisely, and neutrally. We also expect to learn to manage or contribute to Wikipedia projects which involves organizing tasks, setting goals, and tracking progress and improving digital literacy and open Knowledge sharing and understanding Wikimedia’s policy and laws.
The Community Establishment Meetup was really a starter to bring communities together to realize the important of volunteerism in contributing to Wikipedia, collaboration and building consensus to foster sense of responsibility were also developed. This meeting not only offered valuable insights into the local Wikimedia initiatives but also strengthened our collaboration in advancing the digital preservation of Bhutan’s unique cultural heritage and biodiversity. We believed it marked a significant step toward fostering a vibrant and thriving Wikimedia community in Bhutan and a possible future collaboration with the user group. We have also bridged connections with some training institutions for inclusion of small sessions for Wikipedia advocacy and awareness.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
When implementing our activities, we encountered several unexpected situations that provided valuable learning experiences. One positive surprise was the high level of community engagement and interest, which exceeded our initial expectations. Participants showed enthusiasm not only in attending events but also in contributing to Wikipedia beyond the planned activities. This demonstrated the potential for sustained engagement when provided with the right support and resources.
On the other hand, a challenge we faced was related to technical issues, such as inconsistent internet connectivity, power disruption during the sessions. This occasionally disrupted the workflow and affected the pace of certain activities. From this, we learned the importance of having backup solutions in place, such as offline resources and alternative communication channels, to ensure continuity despite technical setbacks.
Additionally, we discovered that some participants required more time and guidance to familiarize themselves with Wikimedia platforms than we anticipated. This highlighted the need to adapt our training sessions to be more flexible and to provide additional follow-up support where needed.
During the sessions and demonstration, we could not create more users due to restriction imposed (max 6) and the participants were requested to create on a later date, sometime forgetting to do so.
Overall, these experiences taught us the value of being adaptable and responsive to participants' needs while reinforcing the importance of planning for both technical and logistical contingencies. Recommendations for future Meetup for a longer duration was also raised by the participants.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
Plans to share project learnings and results with other community members includes multiple approaches to ensure broad reach and meaningful engagement. First, we will document our findings in a detailed project report, which will be shared on Wikimedia platforms, such as Meta-Wiki, to ensure accessibility to the global community. Additionally, we plan to present key takeaways in local and regional Wikimedia community meetings, allowing for direct discussions and feedback. We will also take some opportunity to present about the Meetup during other meetings and workshops so the participations for Wikimedia is strengthened and advocated. We will also organize follow-up workshops or meetups, either online or in person, to share insights with new and existing contributors who can benefit from our experiences. Social media channels and messaging groups were established. We have already shared our learnings through social media platform. By using these methods, we aim to ensure that our experiences contribute to the broader Wikimedia movement, helping others improve their own initiatives and foster the volunteerism engagement. We also have plans to visit Institutes and attend social gatherings to present on Wikimedia advocacy which will be updated in Diff news.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 20 | 47 | 15 participants have participated during the additional Meetup held with the consent from the SA, PO. The meetup was sponsored from the un-utilized budget. Additionally 3 more editors have been identified and trained. Thereby, totaling to 9 editors from the entire Meetups. |
| Number of editors | 5 | 9 | 3 more editors were nominated from the additional Meetup amongst 15 participants. |
| Number of organizers | 6 | 4 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 850 | 180 | 50 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 5 | 5 | |
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | 1 | 1 | |
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
192536
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2252.41
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Upload the financial report
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
A. Propose to use the underspent funds within this Fund period with PO approval
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. 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
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)
The organizing team would like to thank the WMF for such a wonderful opportunity to bring together the volunteers and in establishing a community in Bhutan. We look forward for similar assistance in the future.
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A