Grants:Project/MSIG/Usmanagm/Capacity Development For Women Editors

statusdraft

Movement Strategy

Usmanagm/Capacity Development For Women Editors

The proposal aims to support the implementation of the Movement Strategy Initiative cluster C Invest in Skills and Leadership Development to enhance capacity development for women editors from Northern Nigeria by identifying key barriers. This will be achieved through conducting research to identify obstacles, collecting data on volunteer needs and priorities, and facilitating knowledge sharing to map out plans to address the challenges.

targetWikimedia projects in English, Hausa and Fulfulde languages

start date15 June

start year2023

end date15 November

end year2023

budget (local currency)NGN 7,549,281

budget (USD)16,400 USD

grant typeIndividual

grantee• Usmanagm

contact(s)• adamugarkousmangmail.com

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Applications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.

Project Goal

What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative

What specific Movement Strategy Initiative does your project focus on and why? Please select one of the initiatives described here

This project will focus on initiative cluster C Invest in Skills and Leadership Development; 31. Global approach for local skill development - gathering data, matching peers, mentorship, recognition. We will work to:

• Develop a comprehensive methodology to map assets and needs, generating aggregated data that informs the deployment of leadership and skills development initiatives that address real needs. This methodology will enable effective decision-making and promote a culture of data-driven development.
• Establish a service that facilitates connection and matching of peers across the movement for teaching and learning skills. This service will leverage peer-learning, networking, and pooling of information from partners and allies, creating a supportive environment that fosters continuous growth and development.
• Encourage diversity in learning methods, including training, mentoring, consulting, online learning, peer-to-peer support, and events. This approach will cater to different learning styles and preferences and ensure that everyone has access to a range of development opportunities.
• Increase the number and diversity of women contributors on Wikimedia projects, with a focus on creating and improving content in English, Hausa, and Fulfulde languages. This approach will promote inclusivity and diversity, ensuring that the content on Wikimedia projects is representative of different perspectives and cultures.
• Raise awareness of the mission and work of existing user groups, ensuring that the target audience is informed about the global movement. This awareness-raising will encourage participation and engagement, fostering a sense of belonging and community.

By the end of the project, we aim to implement an effective leadership plan that enhances the capacity of women volunteers and promotes teamwork and productivity. This approach will empower women volunteers, enabling them to contribute more effectively to the Wikimedia movement's mission of providing free knowledge to the world.

Project Background

When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?

Start date: 15 June 2023 End date: 15 November 2023

Where will your project activities be happening?

The project will take place online and offline

Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.

Many women in Nigeria are aware of Wikimedia projects in their languages but do not know how to start contributing due to lack of skills. This is especially true for underrepresented communities, which has resulted in a low participation of women in most Wikimedia movements and projects, particularly in Northern Nigeria. This gender gap has significant impact on the goal of Wikipedia to become the ecosystem of free knowledge, and addressing it is a key priority of the Wikimedia Movement Strategy 2030.

To support this goal, the project seeks to partner with existing user groups such as the Fulfulde Wikimedians UserGroup and the Hausa Wikimedians UserGroup, as well as prominent women associations in investigating and identifying the challenges faced by women editors in Northern Nigeria, and develop a comprehensive modus operandi and recommendations to address them. Through these engagements, It will introduce the target language projects to women in the region and provide them with training, support, and mentorship to develop their skills and confidence as editors. By building the capacity of women editors in Northern Nigeria, the project aims to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Wikimedia community and advance the vision of Wikimedia to be the ecosystem of free knowledge.

What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?

The project aims to address the challenges hindering skills and leadership development among women editors in Northern Nigeria communities. To support the Wikimedia Movement Strategy 2030 goal of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion of contributors and content across all Wikimedia projects, languages, and regions, it will focus on the following objectives:

• Identify the challenges and barriers hindering skills and leadership development among women editors in Northern Nigeria communities in order to address them. This will help in developing a comprehensive modus operandi and recommendations to address the challenges and promote skills and leadership development among women editors in the region.
• Raise general awareness about the Wikimedia projects with target prominent women communities with more editors and the movement activities on open source and free knowledge projects. This will help us engage more women editors and promote the values and vision of Wikimedia as an ecosystem of free knowledge.
• Work to retain and regain the interest of unskilled and skilled women users who have left the projects due to lack of skills and understanding of the Wikimedia projects. This will help us build a more diverse and inclusive community of women editors and increase the retention rate of skilled editors.
• Tackle the negative perception about Wikipedia through outreach activities by reaching out to women who might have no idea what the projects are all about and to understand the objections and challenges that are keeping them away from editing and participating in the Wikimedia movement. This will help us address the gender gap and promote a more positive perception of Wikipedia as a valuable source of information.

Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?

Yes, this project has applied this example, Skill Development Needs Assessment.

Project Activities

What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.

• Organizing the project team: We will first start with the making of the project team, these are people responsible with organizing of the project activities and also bring in experts that would be involved in the project activities.
• Identifying the target audience: this will include OnWiki engagement/social media platforms/face to face visitation and meetings will be conducted via online platforms like google meet, zoom etc. and an offline gathering.
• Pre-Program Survey: After organizing the team, we will then start with surveying the target beneficiaries in order to gather data which will help us understand the state of the problem and the needs of the task ahead.
• Defining and analyzing the data: Finding out the root causes of the problems through analysis of the collected data in order to develop the best methods of addressing the problems and analyze the objection that is keeping them away, what motivation they need and how we can tackle the problem and stop it from occurring in the future.
• Post-Program Survey: Another survey will be sent to identify and recruit potential volunteers who are interested in broadening their editing skills from the target communities and audience and integrate them into existing user groups in the region, activities and community forums and channels for pairing with mentors and special engagement.
• Translations: The surveys and reports will be translated into the target local languages and shared among the various communities and user groups and on the project page on meta.wikimedia.org.
• Prioritizing: Once the needs have been identified, we will conduct a general meeting with the community and a follow-up discussions OnWiki to agree on the chosen priorities. The priorities will be added to our final report for implementation process.

How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community

• In order to ensure effective dissemination of information regarding the grant request and to maximize its reach, we will leverage existing user groups and their planning activities, as well as other media and publicity channels, to widely announce the grant request to the target community. This will include targeted outreach efforts and tailored communication strategies aimed at engaging and mobilizing women editors from underrepresented communities in Northern Nigeria to participate in this initiative.
• To ensure transparency and accountability in our project activities, a comprehensive project documentation page will be created on MetaWiki. This documentation will serve as a central repository for tracking project outcomes and progress, including surveys, reports, and other important project-related materials. It will also provide stakeholders and the wider Wikimedia community with easy access to project updates, results, and learnings.
• As part of our commitment to community engagement and involvement, every milestone and development of this project will be shared across our various community channels, including mailing lists and social media platforms. These channels will provide opportunities for ongoing feedback, questions, and discussion about the project activities, and will allow us to maintain an open and transparent dialogue with our community stakeholders. This approach will help to build trust and support among our community members and ensure the project's success.

Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?

Considering the nature and magnitude of this project, the following roles and responsibilities are envisaged:

• Project Manager: This role will be responsible for overseeing the entire project from inception to delivery. The project manager will organize meetings, assign tasks, and ensure the timely completion of each activity.
• Outreach Coordinator: This role will be responsible for creating awareness about the project and promoting outreach activities. The outreach coordinator will also network with other organizations to create synergy and garner support for the project.
• Researcher: This role will design and administer surveys/questionnaires to collect relevant data that will help in analyzing the challenges and needs of the target audience. The researcher will also analyze the data and provide recommendations on the best approaches to address the identified challenges.
• Women Representatives: These roles are exclusively reserved for active women editors who will participate in the project activities, provide insights and feedback, and serve as mentors to other women who are new to the Wikimedia projects.
• Translators, Editors, and Writers: These roles are responsible for localizing the surveys and report materials into the local languages of the target communities. They will ensure that all project-related materials are available in the languages that are most accessible to the target audience.

Additional information

If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions.

The Wikimedia Foundation friendly space policy will be implemented during all the discussions.

If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.

Yes, Zoom/Google apps will be utilized for online meetings, etc.

Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.

Yes, we will translate the materials and reports of this project into Hausa and Fulfulde to be shared with all the communities:

1. User:Gwanki and User:Usmanagm translations to Hausa
2. Abdulbaqi Ahmed, Founder of Nigeria’s biggest FULFULDE initiative translations to fulfulde

Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information, that will give more context on your proposed project.

Outcomes

After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language, and is not required to be written in English.

In this report, you will be asked to:

• Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page
• Describe what activities supported the development of the plan
• Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.
• Report on how your funding was spent

Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:

• What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
• What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
• What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
• How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?

To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer the following resources to develop a logic model:

• Overview of logic models on Meta-wiki
• Example logic models for reference for other movement activities (such as partnerships and edit-a-thons)
• Blank logic model template on Google Drive

Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:

• Yes

Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:

Budget

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

• Research (time needed to prepare and review, or investigate any information needed to support implementation ideas or planning): 2700 USD (up to 180 hours, at a rate of 15 USD/hour)
• Interviews Distribution of questionnaires, survey materials, collecting data including field work and in person gatherings: 2000 USD (up to 100 hours, at a rate of 20 USD/hour)
• Facilitation/Coordination (facilitation time including facilitator preparation, meeting facilitation time, debriefing and to manage or support multiple workflows) 3000 USD
• Translation (translation costs for briefs and global materials, survey questionnaires and reports): 2000 USD
• Data Analysis and Documentation (document preparation, time spent documenting of discussion and post-meeting work/report writing: 2500 USD (120 hours, at a rate of 20 USD/hour)
• Communications and promotions (Communication needs and promotional materials): 800 USD
• Data (Internet access for organizers and participants to participate in activities): 700 USD
• Venue or space for meeting (costs of rent for in-person meeting space): 600 USD
• Transportation costs (costs of support transportation needs for organizers and participants to attend meetings): 600 USD
• Meals (costs related to refreshments, lunches, or other meals during in-person activities): 1500 USD
• Other:

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED USD:16, 400 USD

Completing your application

Once you have completed the application, please do the following:

• Change the application status from status=draft to status=proposed in the {{Probox}} template.
• Contact strategy2030wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.

Endorsements

An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!