Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/WoALUG 2022 Annual Plan of Activities/Final Report
Report Status: Accepted
Due date: 2023-01-31T00:00:00Z
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. See the midpoint report if you want to review the midpoint results.
- Name of Organization: Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group
- Title of Proposal: WoALUG 2022 Annual Plan of Activities
- Amount awarded: 31726.97 USD, 30595.95 EUR
- Amount spent: 27970.05 EUR
Part 1 Understanding your work[edit]
1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
- For 2022, we implemented strategies and activities to involve and engage more contributors and partners based on the Wikimedia Movement strategies recommendations.
In the second part of 2022, we focused on some of the recommendations to disseminate free knowledge in Kosovo and Albania to support the development of our program pillars: Education, GLAM and Outreach. In strengthening the collaboration with the school partners, GLAM institutions, and organizations, we wanted to develop the activities with nuances in Equity and Empowerment, and Contextualization. In our activities, we tried to come up with different options and tools to approach the needs and possibilities of people. Some schools or institutions have no internet access, and as a Group, we had students work on tablets or phones. Another thing we used was the information sessions, which put more emphasis on underrepresented communities in Albania and Kosovo.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
- Yes, we feel we have been effective in achieving our goals, especially when we created wikiclubs or when we took advantage of speaking to professionals that participated in previous activities and edit-a-thons, due to the prior information sessions. Teachers, students, and librarians were informed about the Wikimedia Foundation, programs, platforms, and much more which helped them be part of our User Group’s projects. Raising awareness through information sessions is the key to being effective in achieving some of the goals. In this process, we have experienced that when we approach newcomers, for example, there is a stumbling block between our Group and the audience. So, we keep insisting on iterating our information sessions, persistence, and giving space to let the audience make decisions on details, work objectives, and being patient.
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?
- In 2022, we made it possible to incorporate Wikipedia as part of the curricula program with the Arianiti Non-Public School. We are training a group of 25 students on how to use Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata to create their first articles and do edits for their school projects on Wikipedia.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
- Throughout 2022, we informed our community about our projects through the impact Wikipedia has on people’s lives and how it supplies people with encyclopedic and cultural, geographical, and historical multimedia information on different topics. People from different communities shared their knowledge by participating in school projects (wikiclubs), edit-a-thons, and activities. In all these activities, we wanted people to participate in an easy way, trying to make our projects smooth and give time to them to contribute. Prior meetings with people of different interests made them join most of our edit-a-thons even though they feel that such projects are quite defying at the beginning. We took our time to discuss in a group and involved everyone in sharing their ideas, what their expectations were, and how well they see themselves engaged in Wikimedia projects.
Based on the nature of edit-a-thons or activities, we use several forms of outreach to reach editors, contributors, and newcomers. So, for example, we use ads to reach newcomers or communities that are not part of the Wikipedia community yet.
We create events on Facebook where we attach google forms or links to the wiki articles about an event/ edit-a-thon so people can join and get to know about the Wikimedia projects in Albania and Kosovo. On the other hand, we also use Village pumps, sq wiki banners and posts on sq wiki as tools to connect with our existing community on Wikipedia.
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.
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 | |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly 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. | 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?
- This year, we worked towards the inclusion of underrepresented groups in writing articles on Wikipedia. We had a successful collaboration with LGBT community in Albania. The LGBT community participated in the EuroPride edit-a-thon in September 2022, was interested in collaborating with our Group.
On the other hand, we have not been successful with other organizations from the Roma community. We came across stumbling blocks, for example, the organizations that approached to support us with the Roma Day edit-a-thon withdrew at the last minute to participate in the projects. Therefore, we tried to develop the edit-a-thons in Albania and Kosovo ourselves by opening the registration forms online or activating the participation of current contributors and students from wikiclubs or school partners. Some of the barriers we notice most of the time are: people are not ready to contribute, writing articles is time-consuming for them, the timing of participation in events is not appropriate, and they are not confident and do not give opportunities to themselves.
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?
- In the second part of 2022, we worked towards increasing the number of contributors, combining Education and GLAM events meeting up with students at the GLAM institutions to experience what the outcomes would be or if this would impact the contributors’ interests. We utilized important historical dates or thematic topics to have our audience focused on where and how to get the information to cite articles on Wikipedia.
This year, we focused even more on aligning and combining Wikimedia strategies with the organization's and schools’ goals to promote the use of Wikipedia at the educational and outreach levels by being more visible to our community and partners.
On the basis of what we learned, we also learned to center on developing more editing edit-a-thons and workshops at a national level in the next year, trying to reach more people and retain our experienced contributors.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
- Yes, sometimes we face inconsistencies on the side of the collaborators which is a little frustrating for our User Group. Also, it has happened several times, after everything is settled and nicely arranged, some of the institutions we have worked with where we have developed events or edit-a-thons, do not offer internet.
We are still challenged by the lack of computers on the side of students and people, and there is no commitment from newbies. What we have learned is to ensure the situation, place, venue, and source of materials and people. We always try to have a backup plan if we do not find partners or the partner withdraws at the last minute.
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?
- Our priorities are to raise the number of contributors and retain our editors to raise the number of qualitative and quantitative articles on different platforms. To accomplish these priorities, we will work towards building the capacity of community members, such as expanding wikiclubs, involving individual students to participate in our activities, individual librarians through Wikimedian in Residence projects, and experienced contributors.
Another goal for the future is to focus on sustainable development. From all the activities we have carried out so far, we have learned to create an environment that will develop especially the new community members using the tools how to contribute to Wikimedia projects. We believe this goal will help create spaces and activities upon gender roles, needs, assessment of the community and our Group as well as trying to develop resources and materials through community preparation and follow-up. For example, we want to share materials with partners before we meet up with different groups. This will help review our work to adapt to support the community/partners’ development.
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.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Case_Studies,_How_instructors_are_teaching_with_Wikipedia_(Wiki_Education_Foundation).pdf https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=rast%20studimi https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11O8I1QrDiwVzvn80ldwIkYSwz7xgNSqmZ3mPBqnB_Aw/edit?usp=sharing https://www.youtube.com/@wikimediansofalbanianlangu6065 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FFPquJx46F3R2_CT1cnPrfpVPwcTlZ0g https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qU5niM9GDN7-2ad5NRiLxj-BXZWVX_xK
Part 3: Metrics[edit]
13a. Open and additional metrics data
| 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 | 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 | 410 | 319 | Outreach Dashboard, google forms | ||
| Number of editors | 300 | 206 | Outreach Dashboard and goolge forms | ||
| Number of organizers | 5 | 5 | Outreach Dashboard ang goolge forms |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | N/A | 1070 | 555 | Wikipedia | Outreach Dashboard |
| Wikimedia Commons | N/A | 870 | 782 | Wikimedia Commons | Outreach Dashboard, activities and pages on Wikimedia Commons |
| Wikidata | N/A | 400 | 128 | Wikidata | Outreach Dashboard |
| Wikivoyage | N/A | 50 | 55 | WikiVoyage | Outreach Dashboard |
| 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.
Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships[edit]
17. Organizational Capacity
| A. Financial capacity and management | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| 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 capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| 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 capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| 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 is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| K. Communications, marketing, and social media | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| 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 has grown but it should be further developed |
| 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), Using capacity building/training resources online from sources WITHIN the Wikimedia Movement
17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Lack of volunteer time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of training that fits contextual needs and interests, Lack of knowledge of available capacity building opportunities
18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?
- With the existing 2 staff members, our capacities to organize events and reach possible partners have increased significantly.
Nevertheless, we see the need to have at least one part-time staff focused on advocating GLAM contributions from public institutions.
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 | Agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach
19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Lack of interest from partners, Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships, Local policies or other legal factors
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
- The strategies we have used to build partnerships with institutions and groups are:
- Organizing information sessions and networking with students, teachers, and senior contributors.
- Liaising with people that have access to the community, such as teachers, librarians, and directors that work with other external partners.
- Reaching out to external partners to align with their projects’ goals, trying to build a two-way collaboration.
- Developing resources for people and partners to inform partners about Wikimedia platforms, our organization, and work.
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?
- For us, belonging is the feeling of being supported when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity. In general, we feel supported and included by the wider community. Also, Our Group tends to be part of inclusive of the large Wikimedian community to share ideas and experiences by participating in major conferences, online meetings regarding GLAM/Outreach and Education pillars, training as in Reading Wikipedia in the classroom.
However, when it comes to resolving conflicts between UGs, we realized that not so many people wanted to get involved or even Affiliate itself to clarify, accept or deny certain situations or reports that were made.
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?
- Somewhat increased
23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
- Being able to afford 2 staff people and all the logistics to organize events, to travel to institutions with which we can have a possible collaboration, travel to different cities to organize events and meet new people, buy gifts for participants, rent a space to organize events instead of going to a bar, have increased out reliability and of course has changed for better our overall results and goals we have.
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.
- We reconsidered our projects to stay on track with the needs, and approach to collaborators, and complied with GLAM/Outreach and Education interests. So far, we have collaborated with the National History Museum in Albania, the public library, Albania, and the National Gallery in Kosovo to celebrate historical dates and milestones. Also, we are flexible in developing our projects according to the seasonal calendar. So, we changed the practices of activities. When we developed the Wikimedian in Residence in Albania last year, we learned to change the timing because workers are on summer leave. Investing in the Wikimedia Movement made us invest in our long-term objective to promote the participation of diverse communities by strengthening them based on the Wikimedia approach.
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.
- This year we are driven by the Wikidiversity projects and historical topics we are committed to contributing to Wikimedia projects through Wiki Loves Monuments or Photowalk projects, underrepresented communities in order to include the community in these activism spaces.
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?
- Yes, we have shared the results with both Wikimedia affiliates and community members by participating in international conferences, online calls, edit-a-thons, and the involvement of our community in making decisions together with us. With other affiliates, we shared mostly the Wikidiversity results, and how much progress we have had in the past year.
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
- We do this regularly (at least once a month)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
- We share our experience and activities throughout a few platforms and meeting such as:
GLAM and Education Newsletters for each country monthly on meta. We are part of different telegram groups (Glam-wiki global, WMCEEM, Crisis and GLAM/Outreach) as well as we take part in multiple meetings online where we stay in touch with members of different affiliates. Since the pandemic we have taken part in offline meetings and conferences that were held.
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance[edit]
30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
- 27970.05
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.
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ivcRjjg9Le9UZURah9_xIxcAQGvIHb4FQft1TZVZV4U/edit?usp=sharing
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.
- 2618.90 Euro
Some activities were not carried out.
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
- B. Propose to use them to partially or fully fund a new/future grant request with PO approval
34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
- As approved, the amount which is unspent from 2022 will be deducted from the next payment, which is our 2023 grant increase.
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.