Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Community Malta Simple Annual Plan 2022/Final Report

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Final Learning Report

Report Status: Accepted

Due date: 2023-02-17T00:00:00Z

Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund

Report type: Final

Application Midpoint Learning Report

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General information[edit]

This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving Wikimedia Community Funds or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their final results. See the midpoint report if you want to review the midpoint results.

  • Name of Organization: Wikimedia Community Malta
  • Title of Proposal: Wikimedia Community Malta Simple Annual Plan 2022
  • Amount awarded: 36809.64 USD, 32460 EUR
  • Amount spent: 26467.22 EUR

Part 1 Understanding your work[edit]

1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.

Our main strategic goal throughout the year was to further cement our presence within the local community by consistently being active and producing activities to encourage greater participation and engagement, both at a local and international level. We believe that this has broadly been achieved, as we were able to hold several activities throughout the year, including some that had never been part of our program previously.

Our implementation strategy broadly built upon what we had done in previous years, namely identifying and developing activities that may encourage further engagement and working with key partners to maximize their reach and impact.

This grant enabled us to develop our program far more systematically than we previously did, as it allowed us to dedicate further time and resources to the planning and implementation stages of our activities. A key element enabled by the grant was the employment of a program coordinator, which ensured we didn’t solely rely on the kindness of volunteers to organize and deliver our planned activities. This allowed us to build stronger links with partner organizations and prospective partners, which augurs well for our ongoing work to promote Wikimedia activities in Malta.

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?

The presence of a dedicated project coordinator was crucial in achieving our goals, as it enabled us to manage our time in a more efficient and effective manner, working towards both short and medium-term goals simultaneously. Our experience over the past year has taught us the benefit of dedicating specific resources to the different aspects of the organization’s running, including the organization’s day-to-day administration, the implementation of activities, and the longer-term strategic development.

Having a project coordinator on board also helped us to strengthen our relationships with key partners as well as explore the possibilities of developing new partnerships over the coming years. One example of this is a new partnership with the University of Malta which has developed into a study-unit about Maltese-language Wikipedia to be delivered in 2023.

3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?

4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.

Our active community members attend regular meetups and we share information and ideas freely regularly with them there. We regularly pick up new active community members from these gatherings.

Our broader community is kept informed through our social media channels, mainly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Without such outreach, we would struggle to keep people informed about our activities and community news. The general public in Malta receives information about us through occasional press releases and mainstream media coverage, such as this: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=347634260458711 We’ve also had some media coverage, which can be seen here: http://wikimalta.org/wiki/Press_coverage#2022

Members of the Wikimedia Movement are informed about our work during meetings and events, such as Celtic Knot. We’ve also delivered a similar presentation at the CEE Meeting in Ohrid, which enabled members of the CEE Hub to get a better sense of what we do in Malta.

5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Here's a presentation we gave in English at Celtic Knot about our story and impact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffFNylWE6v

And these are the slides as we used them for a presentation we gave at the CEE Meeting in Ohrid: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Malta%27s_presentation_slides_for_CEE_Meeting_2022.pdf

This presentation (both the video and the slides) outline both our story and impact over time.

This is an article in Maltese written by Toni Sant for one of the most popular magazines in Malta: http://encore.com.mt/Issue31/#fb0=13

This was related to our participation in the Malta Book Festival, where our stand was also visited by the President of the Republic of Malta: https://www.instagram.com/p/ClgZb_1osXg/

6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups Neither agree nor disagree
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community Agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives Agree
E. Encourage the retention of editors
F. Encourage the retention of organizers Strongly agree
G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. Agree

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?

N/A

Part 2: Your main learning[edit]

8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?

One of our key ambitions for this grant was to upscale our activities and learn how to manage the greater logistical and administrative workload that comes as a result of this. We have generally succeeded in this goal, with many of the activities we organize taking a step forward in terms of their ambition, reach and impact.

We also hoped to develop a stronger understanding of how to implement core metrics and use them in our planning and implementation. While we have partly succeeded in doing so, we still feel that there is ample room for growth in this area and hope to develop this knowledge further in the coming years.

9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?

Three unexpected and surprising things happened when implementing our activities:
1. We were approached by a computational linguist from the University of Malta who has asked our help to develop a study unit on Wikimedia projects, which will now be delivered in 2023.
2. As part of our language project, we met the President of the Republic of Malta who was very pleased to learn about the efforts of the Wikimedia Community Malta members to improve the Maltese-language Wikipedia and work on other Wikimedia projects to improve Malta’s visibility.
3. We had not planned to take on Wiki Loves Earth in 2022 but had made plans for WPWP instead. Through the efforts of community members we switched from WPWP to WLE and received an amazing response from contest participants. This has encouraged us to make sure we plan to organize WLE in Malta properly in 2023.

10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?

The work with the computational linguist from the University of Malta has also provided us with an opportunity to consider the development of Maltese language lexemes in Wikidata, following on from a workshop on this subject by Asaf Bartov members from our community attended at the CEE meeting in October 2022. This will now be a major part of our language project in 2023.

The relative success of Wiki Loves Earth in Malta in 2022 has greatly encouraged us to approach this established photo contest as a regular activity in Malta. It’s evident that there’s an audience for such photo contests in Malta. This will also work well within a program that also has Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Folklore within its annual activities.

11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?

12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
N/A

Part 3: Metrics[edit]

13a. Open and additional metrics data

Open Metrics
Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
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 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
Additional Metrics
Additional Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of people reached through social media publications N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of activities developed N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of volunteer hours N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

13b. Additional core metrics data.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants
Number of editors
Number of organizers
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
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 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

14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?

No

15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.

We need help understanding and implementing core metrics, ideally through appropriate support that makes for realistic targets rather than random numbers. However, we understand that qualitative assessment is becoming equally relevant within the Wikimedia Movement. We are greatly heartened by this development, especially given the relatively small size of our community.

Meanwhile you can view our general metrics from previous activities on this Google document to aid with this consideration: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NUEuU2g_A__xk1TtemF3c3TH_s0Xyk6p1fnCdzRQi6Y/edit?usp=sharing

16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
N/A

Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships[edit]

17. Organizational Capacity

Organizational capacity dimension
A. Financial capacity and management This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
B. Conflict management or transformation This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
D. Partnership building This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
E. Strategic planning This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
F. Program design, implementation, and management This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it
I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it
J. Governance This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
K. Communications, marketing, and social media This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
M. On-wiki technical skills This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
N. Accessing and using data This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
O. Evaluating and learning from our work This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it
P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders
N/A
N/A

17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Peer to peer learning with other community members in conferences/events, Peer to peer learning with other community members (but that is not continuous or structured), Formal training provided by a Wikimedia Movement organizing group (i.e., Affiliates, Grantees, Regional or Thematic Hub, etc.)

17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of volunteer time to participate in capacity building/training

18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?

Our organizational capacity has grown substantially now that we have an employee focusing on program coordination, even if part-time. We need support to ensure we’re able to grow this capacity going forward (beyond 2023) while we once again attempt to initiate a partnership with The Times of Malta, which is the newspaper of record for Malta.

19. Partnerships over the funding period.

Over the fund period...
A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) Agree
B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups Neither agree nor disagree
C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups Agree

19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Staff hired through the fund, Volunteers from our communities, Partners proactive interest

19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships, Lack of staff to conduct outreach to new strategic partners

20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?

Over the years we have learnt to be more selective of the partners we choose to engage with, focusing our time and resources on partnerships that we believe will truly add value to the work that we carry out. We have come to understand that a fruitful partnership needs to be mutually beneficial, so we are now nurturing partnerships that can flourish over a longer-term period, rather than focusing on the immediate gains that a partnership may bring.

Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration[edit]

21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?

We define “sense of belonging” as feeling included in activities & decision-making across the Movement, as we gradually move towards our goal of growing into a recognised chapter.

International activities like those by the CEE group have helped greatly in this regard. Over the past year or so we have been more active in terms of attending and participating in international meetings, gatherings and conferences, such as the CEE Meeting in Ohrid earlier this year. We hope to also participate in Wikimania over the next years, as we believe this is an important step in further integrating ourselves within the broader global movement.

By contrast, we felt excluded from Wikimedia Summit 2022, even if we had the option to join remotely. As we see it, meaningful interactions take place between formal meetings and while socializing. The informal aspect of such interaction is essential for our “sense of belonging” particularly because we are a small affiliate, which can easily be overlooked.

22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Stayed the same

23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

N/A

24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Somewhat increased

25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

The main reason is that we now have an employee working with us, even if part-time.

26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.

N/A

Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration[edit]

We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.

27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?

Yes

27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?

Our active community members attend regular meetups and we share information and ideas freely regularly with them there.

Members of the Wikimedia Movement are informed about our work during international meetings and events. We’ve delivered a significant presentation relating to most of the work covered during this grant period at the CEE Meeting in Ohrid. Here are the slides for this presentation: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Community_Malta%27s_presentation_slides_for_CEE_Meeting_2022.pdf

28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?

We do this occasionally (less than once a month)

29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?

Informal meetings and international gatherings, as well as regular engagement with the CEE Hub.

Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance[edit]

30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

26467.22

31. Local currency type

EUR

32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

  • Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
  • Report funds received and spent, if template not used.

33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.

N/A

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

34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

€5,955 was the total underspend amount for 2022.

Our partnership with The Times of Malta has been postponed to 2023; €2,500 were allocated for this in 2022.

We did not attend Wikimania 2022, owing partly to international travel restrictions. €2,500 were allocated for this in 2022.

We had an incidental general underspend of €955, which resulted, for example, from underspending on our bank fee/changes allocation and similar budget lines.

34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?

C. I am planning to send them back to the WMF

34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.

N/A

35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?

As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.

36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?

Yes

37. 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

38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.