Grants:Project/Rapid/OtuNwachinemere/Photowalk of institutions of higher learning in Abuja and Niger states/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2021-22 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

• To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/OtuNwachinemere/Photowalk of institutions of higher learning in Abuja and Niger states.
• You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
• You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

• Yes. There were a lot of surprises and unexpected events but, in all, i am happy to have successfully completed and gained loads of experience on this project.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Number of participants - 5	7	All 5 initial participants were unable to travel together on all trips as a result of rescheduled dates and clashing events. Hence, i had to recruit new participants to fill the gaps per time.
Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons - 300	467	Click here to see dashboard
Number of photos used on Wikimedia projects - 60	93	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Learning

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

• What worked well?

1. Plan. Plan. Plan. Having backup plans A-Z. The moving parts were so many such that having only one plan per time could spell doom for a time and resource bound photowalk. We resorted to making many plans with every possible eventuality in mind ranging from weather to participants availability. Thankfully, it worked out well.

• What did not work so well?

1. The weather in Niger and Abuja states ruined some of the outing dates. Had to visit some locations more than once meanwhile our budget only had room for 1 photowalk per institution.
2. Some of the participants were unavailable for rescheduled tour dates.
3. Some school managements developed some suspicion and thus became hostile towards us. I eventually realised the reason; there wasn't sufficient internal communication with regards to our permit to take photos.

• What would you do differently next time?

1. I would give more attention to weather forecast reports before and during every photowalk. Also, it may be best to embark on photowalks during the dry season (no rains). However, photos after a rainfall could be quite beautiful, so i am considering getting protective gear for such walks in the future (long run).
2. I would be fluid with participation; Maybe have less participants, longer tour durations and try to recruit participants from within the tour locations.
3. I would ensure administrative communications are properly disseminated across internal management and security by requesting same in my letters. Will also ensure to travel with my copies of correspondence.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

1. Renting of 4 cameras - $320 = NGN 131, 648
2. Payment of local transport fare to participants - $880 = NGN 362, 032
3. Food and Drink during each of the Photowalk - $550 = NGN 226, 270
4. Internet access for the participants during upload sessions - $120 = NGN 49, 320

Had to appropriate funds for branded shirts and ID to supplement extra transport, feeding and data costs incurred as a result of rescheduled tour dates.

Total = ($1870) NGN 769,318

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds? No, there are no remaining funds.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

1. This project was hectic. At first, i didn't fully appreciate its enormity (particularly with travel and administrative bureaucracy). However, I am super happy that i was able to pull it off (of-course, with help from the foundation and fellow participants). Thank you for trusting me with this.

Something of note, most of the subject institutions of higher learning knew either very little about Wikipedia prior, or how its content affected them. Today, they are willing to partner on trainings and educating both staff and students on how to contribute to Wikipedia. Its a great feeling for me!