Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Kashmiri Wikimedians UG October 2024 - March 2025 Activity Plan (ID: 22752145)/Final Report

Kashmiri Wikimedians UG October 2024 - March 2025 Activity Plan

Rapid Fund Final Report

Report Status: Under review

Due date: 31 May 2025

Funding program: Rapid Fund

Report type: Final

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General information

Applicant username: 511KeV
Organization name: N/A
Amount awarded: 2330.25
Amount spent: 1471.59 USD, 125776.65

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)

In accordance with our activity plan, we conducted several impactful activities during the grant period from October 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025. These activities include Offiline meetups, Workshops, Edit-a-thons and Photowalks among other activities.

Edit-a-thons

For further information, see Kashmiri Heritage Edit-a-thon.

The Kashmiri Heritage Edit-a-thon was held online from 24th January to 15th February 2025 to enrich Kashmiri Wikipedia with content related to the region's heritage, culture, language, and history. The event encouraged contributions on notable figures, institutions, and cultural topics. The culturally relevant theme motivated contributors to engage with related topics enhancing content related to Kashmir in Kashmiri language.

Photowalks

We organized a photo walk in Kashmir aimed at documenting the natural beauty, architecture, and everyday life of the region. The event brought together local users who collectively captured 63 high-quality photographs. This field based activity encouraged contributors to actively capture the locality and upload images on commons.

Offline Meetups

For further information, see Community Meetup & Wikidata 12th birthday celebration.

We hosted two offline events in Anantnag, one celebrating Wikidata's 12th anniversary with a focus on Wikidata, and the other highlighting various Wikimedia sister projects.

On 31st October 2024, the Kashmiri Wikimedians joined the global celebration of Wikidata's 12th birthday. During the event, participants were introduced to Wikidata and its role in supporting projects like Kashmiri Wikipedia. The session demonstrated how structured data from Wikidata can be used to enrich Kashmiri Wikipedia through dynamic infoboxes and data-driven elements.

On 16th February 2025, the Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group organized a community meetup in Anantnag, Jammu & Kashmir, themed Connect, Collaborate, and Contribute. The event brought together Wikimedians and language enthusiasts to discuss the digital growth of the Kashmiri language. The day featured sessions on Wikimedia platforms, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, along with a community roundtable and unconference. The in-person format created an environment for open discussion and deeper engagement within the community.

Workshops

For further information, see Kashmiri Wikimedia Workshops.

Between 31st October 2024 and 15th April 2025 we organized a series of workshops to enhance community skills and participation. The events began with an Introduction to Wikidata workshop on 31st October 2024, followed by a Wikipedia basics session on 17th November 2024. On 29th December 2024, we organized workshop on content translation and article creation. Introduction to Wikimedia Commons was held on 19th January 2025, and a Translatewiki workshop was organized on took on 23rd March 2025. The series concluded with a session on Wikipedia administrative tasks on 15th April 2025. These workshops provided hands-on training to the Kashmiri Wikimedia community.

User Group Website

We successfully launched official website as part of this annual plan to strengthen community engagement and outreach. The website serves as a central hub for sharing updates on activities, events, and initiatives, offering resources and collaboration opportunities. This online presence will enhance communication within the Wikimedia movement and establishes a point of contact. We believe this is an effective way in outreach activities.

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

We conducted offline meetups, workshops, an edit-a-thon, and a photowalk to increase community participation and improve content related to the Kashmiri language on Wikimedia platforms.

Offline meetups facilitated direct interaction and community engagement. Workshops provided structured training, enabling participants to develop editing and content creation skills. The edit-a-thon focused on expanding articles related to Kashmiri heritage, resulting in increased culturally relevant content. The photowalk contributed visual media to Wikimedia Commons.

Project Page links:

Dashboard Links:

Outreach dashboard

Gallery

An Old House in Kadipora, Anantnag
Flower of Dandelions
Parking Bay, Mughal Road
Shrine of Faqeer Khan Fida, Anantnag

Social Media Posts

Social media posts

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

The following are some key resources that we created and utilized during the implementation of the project:

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)

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups	Strongly agree
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community	Agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups	Agree
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives	Strongly agree
E. Encourage the retention of editors	Agree
F. Encourage the retention of organizers	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: Through this project, our goal is to gain insights into effective community engagement strategies within the Kashmiri Wikimedia community. We hope to learn how to optimize outreach efforts to engage new contributors, and increase participation of existing members. We aim to assess the impact of our activities and determine effective ways to support volunteers in sustaining their efforts in the future. This evaluation will allow us to refine our approach for optimal effectiveness.

During the implementation of our project, we learned that there is limited awareness about Wikimedia projects within the Kashmiri speaking community. Majority of our contributors were unfamiliar with other sister projects or how to get involved. We also encountered significant technical challenges related to the Kashmiri language, including limited support for input tools and font rendering, which created barriers to their effective contribution.

We also learned about broader societal trend contributing to the language’s decline. The growing preference for Urdu and English in schools and formal education, has lead to reduced use of Kashmiri in everyday life and limited its transmission to younger generations. However, a key insight was that a strong emotional and cultural connection to the language served as a powerful motivator for participation. Almost all participants cited their love for the language as the primary reason for engaging with the project.

Another major learning was the effectiveness of in-person events. These gatherings provide a valuable space for participants to openly discuss challenges, share experiences, and collaboratively explore solutions. In-person interactions help build trust, encourage the community, and allow for more immediate and meaningful feedback.

We also found that supporting the community with internet resources can be highly effective, especially since majority of our contributors are students, who face internet access limitations which hinders their ability to participate regularly. Providing internet support not only improves access but also encourages more consistent and meaningful contributions. This insight emphasizes the need to address digital accessibility as part of our overall engagement strategy.

We plan to use these learnings to guide our future activity plans, initiatives, and strategies. Additionally, these learnings will help us offer improved technical support for the Kashmiri language on Wikimedia projects, increase awareness through targeted outreach and education, organise more in-person community events, and design activities that center cultural pride and language preservation. These strategies will help us build a more connected, and resilient Kashmiri Wikimedia community.

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)

We came across several unexpected situations during the implementation of our activities. We had initially planned to visit the South Campus of Kashmir University for a photo documentation event. However, we were denied permission at the last moment. This experience taught us the importance of securing proper authorization well in advance when planning visits to institutions governed by official authorities. We would also like to recommend that the Wikimedia Foundation considers supporting local user groups in securing permissions from educational and governmental institutions. A formal letter of endorsement or recognition from the Foundation could help us establish credibility and facilitate smoother access when planning activities at such venues.

We were pleasantly surprised by the active participation of two assistant professors in our event. Previously, we had found it challenging to engage local academicians in our activities. The involvement of these professors has opened up promising opportunities to initiate discussions on integrating Wikimedia programs into educational settings in Kashmir and introducing it to students. We believe that these new connections will play a significant role in advancing our outreach efforts in the near future.

On a positive note, we received equipment support from the DCW group, who shared a projector for one of our events. This helped reduce costs and showed how resource sharing can optimize the use of assets within the movement.

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)

Moving forward, we will share a detailed summary of our project outcomes, challenges, and key takeaways through a Diff blog post to reach the wider Wikimedia movement. We will also share our learnings at future Wikimedia events and conferences, and continue engaging with other communities. For our native laguage participants, we plan to publish an on-wiki summary in kashmiri language.

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	18	Participants who were involved in our activities
Number of editors	15	14
Number of organizers	3	3

Wikimedia project	Target	Result - Number of created pages	Result - Number of improved pages
Wikipedia	200	1000	600
Wikimedia Commons	200	65	0
Wikidata	500	4	1100
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki	100	170	20
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
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)

One of the key difficulties we faced was being denied permission to visit the South Campus of Kashmir University for a planned photo documentation event. This occurred at the last moment, despite prior planning. In the future, we hope to overcome such challenges by initiating permission requests well in advance and building formal relationships with institutional authorities.

We would also like to recommend that the Wikimedia Foundation consider supporting local user groups in securing permissions from educational and governmental institutions. A formal letter of endorsement or recognition from the Foundation could help us establish credibility and facilitate smoother access when planning activities at such venues.

Part 4: Financial reporting

10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)

125776.65

11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)

1471.59

12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)

Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wvkEE6HXleKem_tqze19IpIi6k_UUad-1x_BXKsOH6c

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)

No changes

13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?

Yes

13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

We currently have ₹70,227.95 INR as unspent funds. This is primarily because the stipend for the month of October was not drawn due to a delay in the receipt of funds. The position of Event Manager was dissolved during the grant period, leading to cost savings. One of the planned edit-a-thons could not be organized as it coincided with the Feminism and Folklore 2025 campaign, which we prioritized in view of its significance in addressing the gender gap. Furthermore, only a few community members requested internet support, resulting in lower-than-expected disbursements under that category. There were no unforeseen or emergency expenses during the reporting period. Additionally, the Deoband Community Wikimedia shared their projector, which helped us reduce equipment rental costs. We also made conscious efforts to minimize overall expenditures to promote long-term sustainability. These factors collectively account for the remaining unspent amount.

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.

We propose to utilize the remaining funds to support the ongoing activities and operational needs of the Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group. One of the longstanding requirements of the group has been a dedicated laptop to facilitate coordination, documentation, and event management. Despite exploring several alternative avenues to acquire this essential equipment, we have not been successful. We therefore seek approval to use a portion of the unspent funds for the procurement of a laptop to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of our work. We plan to allocate part of the funds to organize edit-a-thons, which will further our outreach efforts and contribute to the enrichment of Wikimedia projects in the Kashmiri language. The current assets of the user group are listed on our resource page.

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)

Review notes

Review notes from Program Officer:

N/A

Applicant's response to the review feedback.

N/A