Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/SPOTONews:Promotion of Science Communication, Outreach & Advocacy (ID: 23465145)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
George Mahinda
- 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.
SPOTONews: Promotion of Science Communication, Outreach & Advocacy
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-09-01 - 2026-02-28
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Kenya
- 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 SPOTONews project aims at improving science communications, outreach and advocacy for evidence-based decision making and utilization of research findings, innovations and technologies.
Nairobi and Kenya is a popular scientific and conference hub hosting many local and international Research Organizations, Universities, United Nations and NGOs, however, the scientific results barely get to the public. They remain in the shelves without reaching the public for adoption and utilization. The scientist is happy to share results amongst colleagues and peers in conferences, seminars and peer refereed journals. However, largely, they don’t trust writers and journalists with the information as they complain of being misquoted and distortions. Few journalists are adequately trained and prepared to handle science news. Few Media Houses have dedicated journalists and columns for science news. Furthermore, Universities and Research Organizations mandates are limited in public communications and outreach. They remain barely open to the immediate public and private sector. This denies policy makers evidence-based policy-making. Subsequently Science suffers lack of adequate financing. Kenya Research financing is pegged at 2% of GDP but has been getting a measly 0.8%.
These challenges need to be addressed to achieve the desired results of adoption and utilization of scientific results. This can be done by scientist peers who are familiar with science communications. Those with capacity to bring together the scientist and the journalist, the policy-maker, the private sector especially the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to benefit from the public spending in research. This project aims to address the bottlenecks through capacity building, training interested scientists and communications/corporate affairs officials on Wikipedia content generation to boost articles written for wiki. Further, we collaborate with selected research organizations and scientists for policy-makers outreach through visits and engagement to improve on evidence based policies. This will target Parliament, the Executive and County Governments and County Assemblies. To build SPOTONews as a consistent source of science news, outreach and advocacy forum for sustainability.
- 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.
Planned Activities
- Recruitment of collaborating Research Organizations, Universities, UN Agencies.
- Recruitment and sensitization of NGOs that help in outreach, adoption and utilization of the scientific results.
- Sensitization and Edit-a-Thon for Scientists and Communications/Outreach Officers within the organizations.
- To attend scientific seminars and conferences for sensitization and generation of wiki articles.
- Engagement and sensitization of Parliament and Parliamentarians as well as County Assemblies and Members of County Assemblies about Research Findings and Technologies requiring promotion and policy development. Done through organizing visits to the institutions.
- To organize visits for National Government and County Government Economists/Planners for familiarization and adoption through the planning processes.
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
- Follow-ups
- 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.
George Mahinda: Team Lead; to invite and put together volunteers, select consultants to help in training the scientists, and in administrative duties. Gerald Muriuki: Administration Volunteers: to recruit Consultants: to recruit
- 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)
Target Participants
- Collaborating Research Organizations, Universities, UN Agencies.
- Scientists and Communications/Corporate Affairs officials – sensitization and Edit-a-Thon
- NGOs – organize visits to Research Organizations, to recruit them in helping in outreach, adoption and utilization of the scientific results.
- Parliament and Parliamentarians, County Assemblies and Members of County Assemblies.
- National Government and County Government Economists/Planners for familiarization and adoption of research findings through the planning processes.
SPOTONews as a facility will make contact, carry-out sensitization, organize for outreach visits, policy advocacy, make follow-ups, carry out the monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Will continue to pick stories for wiki uploads.
- 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.
N/A
- 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)
Other
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Not applicable
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Identify Topics for Impact
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
The project offers learning insights through implementation: 1. To find out and confirm that the selected scientists and indeed institutions have profound research findings ready for not just dissemination but adoption and utilization. 2. To confirm that the officials in corporate affairs and communications are supportive of the project. 3. To find out if the project as designed and after training is helpful to the scientists and willingness to generate wiki content. 4. To find out and appreciate if Government officials' first-hand exposure and learning of new scientific frontiers will help develop new policies and legislations supportive of scientific research. 5. To find out interest of NGOs in outreach of the research.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 100 | The various target publics with be not less than 100. |
| Number of editors | 50 | Scientists, Corporate Affairs/Communications officials and journalists. |
| Number of organizers | 10 | Team of volunteers, administrators and consultants to be put together and assigned suitable roles. |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 20 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 20 |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | 20 |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
Yes
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Government Officials | Government Officials visiting the research organization | 20 |
| Parliamentarians | Members of Parliament and County Assemblies and their teams visiting research organizations | 20 |
| NGOs | NGOs visiting research organizations | 20 |
| 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)
The numbers of participating institutions, individuals and articles uploaded.
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)
650000 KES
- 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.
5000 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).