Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Ghana User Group Project Grant 2022-2023/Final Report
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 31 July 2024
Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Final
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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.
- Name of Organization: Wikimedia Ghana User Group
- Title of Proposal: Wikimedia Ghana User Group Project Grant 2022-2023
- Amount awarded: 56000 USD, 379170.4 GHS
- Amount spent: 728569.25 GHS
Part 1 Understanding your work
[edit]1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
The outcomes, including quantitative targets and key learnings, have been successfully achieved. Our methodologies and approaches encompassed the following strategies:
National Workshops: We organized workshops across the country to increase the number of Wikipedia editors in Ghana, focusing on expanding our editor base.
Weekly Editathons: To engage and retain existing editors, we held weekly editathons, providing a regular platform for contributors to stay active.
Free Knowledge Free Data Initiative: We offered internet data reimbursements as part of this initiative, initially to support and subsequently to motivate editors to participate in weekly editathons.
Current Affairs focused events: We maintained the relevance of Ghanaian Wikipedia content by updating current affairs topics through weekly editathons.
IP Block Exemptions: We assisted editors facing unfair blocks by handling their IP block exemption requests.
Leadership Development: A series of leadership workshops was conducted to cultivate a pool of community organizers and leaders for the long-term sustainability of the user group.
Local Partnerships: We collaborated with local hubs in cities outside of Accra to engage internet users affiliated with these hubs, aiming to recruit new Wikimedians in various locations. In the same vein of partnerships, we also worked with the Parliament of Ghana to learn about how to lobby or advocate for a change in copyright laws; learning from them as the final recipients of our advocacy requests for Freedom of Panorama.
African Games Coverage: We covered the African Games, generating freely licensed images of African athletes and sporting events. This effort aimed to address the underrepresentation of African sports on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons
Online WikiIndaba Event: We organized an online WikiIndaba event to address the challenge of limited scholarships and visas preventing broader participation, providing an opportunity for those who might otherwise be excluded.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
Firstly, the Free Knowledge Free Data Initiative, which provided internet data reimbursements, was instrumental. Initially designed to support editors, this initiative also served as a motivating factor, encouraging consistent participation in our weekly editathons.
Another successful approach was the organization of weekly themed events. By focusing on specific knowledge gaps, these events created targeted environments that allowed us to make significant strides in areas where content was lacking.
Intentional recruitment campaigns also played a key role. We found that without proactive outreach, recruiting new contributors was challenging. Therefore, campaigns were essential for expanding our editor base.
Finally, partnerships were highly effective in our strategy. Collaborating with local hubs and organizations provided access to new potential Wikimedians through their various communities.
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?
What we deem as innovative would include:
Our strategic investment in the community through budget allocation for data reimbursement for online events. This initiative not only supported editors, but also motivated active participation, enhancing editor engagement significantly.
Another unique aspect of our approach was the initiation of IP block exemptions requests. This effort addressed specific challenges faced by editors, improving their accessibility and participation in editing Wikipedia. Currently, newcomers in our community don’t have to grapple with blocks by themselves as before.
Some of the things we did differently:
We also created dedicated spaces for regular weekly meet-ups, which fostered a consistent and collaborative environment for our community members. This regular interaction was instrumental in maintaining momentum and building a strong sense of community.
We ventured into software development with Nimble. As a Sub-Saharan African affiliate, we aimed to create a tool tailored to our unique context, which reflects our commitment to developing solutions that address local needs.
Researching the usefulness of Ghanaian Language Wikipedias before making any further investments to their development or understanding which direction the investments should go or take was another new approach to how we initiate funded projects.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
The Wiki Hour initiative group which is not affiliated to the user group in any way was given financial support for their event.
The Free Knowledge Free Data (FKFD) program had a widespread impact, benefiting members across all Wikimedia communities in Ghana, not just user group members.
During the All Africa Games, we collaborated with Amuzu (user:Amuzujoe) from the GOIF community and David Horwitz (User:Axxter99) from Wikimedia South Africa. Their involvement highlighted our commitment to cross-community engagement and collaboration.
As the campaign partner for the Wikidata for Education project, we engaged both the Twi and Ga communities.
These communities were informed through a variety of communication channels. These included newsletters, project pages on Meta, and Telegram and WhatsApp groups, which are the most popular tools for community building in Ghana.
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.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h6ZuRGt1KecLdA9feCfr0qKOSOUZ1jQ2tglsasFTfJo/edit?usp=sharing
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:2023_African_Games
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.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| 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 | Neither agree nor disagree |
| 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 |
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?
By partnering with Women Tech Makers, we specifically focused on including more women in our Wikimedia activities, which contributed to a more balanced and diverse representation within our community.
Additionally, our collaborations with various organizations and local hubs across Ghana played a crucial role in broadening our reach. These partnerships helped us engage with underrepresented groups in various cities.
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?
1. Throughout the grant period, we learned that our Free Knowledge, Free Data program impacted editor participation and retention. By offering data support, we were able to enhance participation. Additionally, our strategic partnerships with local organizations and hubs were key in expanding our outreach and fostering a more inclusive community.
2. From organizing 52 events across nine regions in Ghana, we found that our efforts in event planning and execution were successful in attracting new editors, with a total of 500 unique participants signing up.
3. The recruitment of 500 new editors confirmed that in person events are still an effective way to recruit new editors.
4. Engaging 405 existing editors in multiple events in repeat participation, event facilitators coming with a theme or list of articles – some form of guidance on which topics participants will be tackling was very effective.
5. We reached 205 people on WhatsApp, 324 on Telegram, and 878 via our newsletter mailing list. The learning there is that WhatsApp and Telegram, both of which are IM, real-time discussion tools compared to talkpages are more effective and preferred.
6. The feedback we received showcased positive outcomes from our programs. With 70.4% of new editors expressing satisfaction with the training and support provided, while 29.6% were neutral. 62.5% of the satisfied editors were females while 37.5% were males.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
During the implementation of our activities, we encountered a few unexpected developments.
One of our goals has been to find ways of recruiting online editors, who may never get the chance to join an in person event.
Firstly, we had decided to create Nimble, a iframe tool on tool forge that guided new editors to create Wikipedia accounts and learn editing. Nimble was planned to have other features helpful for recruitment in the Ghanaian context. However we later discovered that the Wikimedia Foundation was building the Growth Features which overlapped with Nimble and would be better resourced and maintained since it was a Wikimedia Foundation tool.
While we contemplated sunsetting the Nimble project, we were even more surprised to learn that despite the foundation building a very viable tool, the tool would have to be accepted as per norm in a community process, so it can be deployed for use on English Wikipedia, our target wiki.
This meant we had to wait to see if Growth Tools would be deployed, to make any further investments into Nimble.
Consequently, we shifted our strategy from using Nimble as a recruitment tool to organizing events to meet our recruitment targets.
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?
We may want to spend time publicizing Growth Tools in Ghana. We still are committed to finding ways to invest in online contributors as much as we do the visible editors who remain part of the affiliate.
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)?
We would tell them about the profound impact our Free Knowledge, Free Data program had on our community and benefiting members across all Wikimedia communities in Ghana. By reimbursing data costs for editors, we removed financial barriers and sparked a new level of enthusiasm and commitment. This led to significant engagement and retention. It was incredibly rewarding to see that 83.6% of participants felt supported by this initiative.
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.
- In working on our grant one of the things we were so much looking forward to creating was a Freedom of Panorama road map detailing the work we have done and the next steps we are looking to take.
You can find our Freedom of Panorama roadmap at bit.ly/WMGHFoPRoadmap (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1asn8mZHBndgZznrobYARUQcOCTUxxFJKQFsB5ZUtEH8/edit#heading=h.qdxov8ynsm6k)
Here is a link to a Diff post about our participation in the 2023 African Games. https://diff.wikimedia.org/?p=131956
Part 3: Metrics
[edit]13a. Open and additional metrics data
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | Participation using Nimble is 500, and we want to reach another 500 in our outreach activities. Then our content creation drive should also give us 300 people. | 1500 | 1371 | We engaged 1371 participants during our grant year | Outreach Dashboard
Activity report |
| Number of editors | We seek to get 500 editors through the content creation drive, and if we are able to retain 90% of them that would be great. | 1000 | 681 | We engaged 681 editors during our grant period | Outreach Dashboard |
| Number of organizers | Since we would be starting on community grants, we want to do 20 across the various cities in which we have had partnerships. | 20 | 21 | We selected 21 volunteers and we selected 21 across various cities from a talent pool, equipping them to take on organizer roles in the future | Activity report |
| Number of workshops | The number of workshops and editathons to have across the country. | 35 | 52 | We organized 52 events across nine administrative regions in Ghana. | Outreach Dashboard |
| New Editors | Number of new editors we plan to have by end of yeah | 500 | 500 | We met our target by recruiting 500 new editors during our grant period | Outreach Dashboard
Activity report |
| 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 | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | Number of participants that continue to participate/retained after activities | 300 | 405 | We retained 405 editors during our grant period | Outreach Dashboard |
| Number of editors | The number of newly registered users and new editors through nimble. | 500 | |||
| Number of organizers | The number of organizers we want to train to start carrying out their own training. | 50 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | We want to improve 1500 content pages on Wikipedia comprising of both new pages and existing pages. | 1500 | 1795 | We improved and/or created 1795 Wikipedia pages | Outreach Dashboard |
| Wikimedia Commons | We are looking at 500 images from the programs we want to have in the year | 500 | 3946 | We added 3946 images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons | Wikimedia Commons category |
| Wikidata | We would improve 200 Wikidata items | 200 | 288 | We improved 288 items on Wikidata | Outreach Dashboard |
| 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.
N/A
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
| A. Financial capacity and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| B. Conflict management or transformation | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| 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 capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| 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 has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| N. Accessing and using data | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| O. Evaluating and learning from our work | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| 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 in community/ies of practice* (structured and continuous learning and sharing spaces)
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?
N/A
19. Partnerships over the funding period.
| A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) | Strongly agree |
| B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Board members’ outreach, Staff hired through the fund, 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, Limited funding period
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
We collaborated with ten different organizations and hubs across Ghana, which ensured that we reached a diverse audience and ensured broad participation in our activities.
Our partnership with organizations such as Women Tech Makers effectively increased female participation in our Wikimedia activities.
We learned that partnerships can be unstable. For instance, our plan to use Twitter Spaces to educate the Ghanaian community on Wikipedia was thwarted by changes in Twitter's ownership and the shutdown of Twitter Ghana.
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?
Having our efforts and contributions recognized and valued. This includes being actively supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and its affiliates.
Wikimedia Foundation and staff providing valuable support and insights for our projects, such as they do for our Freedom of Panorama initiative. Having access to important resources, tools, and funding, which are essential for increasing our impact and improving the quality of our contributions.
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?
Increased significantly
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?
Increased significantly
25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
N/A
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?
No
27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
We do this rarely (less than twice a year)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
We do so when we have common platforms to discuss issues that affect us grantees. Also, we usually share our stories on our blog, Diff and through mailing lists.
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance
[edit]30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
728569.25
31. Local currency type
GHS
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.
N/A
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
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.