Grants:PEG/WM RS/Capacity building project for the first half of 2012/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Project and Event grant approved in FY 2012-13 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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Compliance[edit]

Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?Yes

Activities[edit]

  • First Capacity building event

First Capacity building event was held on February 24th, 2012. in cultural center REX in Belgrade. The event was organized in the form of a cocktail. Between 50 and 70 people attended. The idea was to present the mission and vision of Wikimedia and free education to the guests. The program consisted of two parts: panel discussion and video projection. Two short movies were screened: "La Sierra" and "La Selva", and trailer for the movie "Truth In Numbers". After these short movies, speakers addressed the audience. Among the speakers were representatives of "Razmene veština" ("Skill Exchange") organization, who shared their view about the importance of free education. The speakers also talked about the public protest against ACTA, that was planned for the day after in Belgrade.

Among the guests were several representatives of Wikimedia chapters from region who visited Belgrade because of the GLAM conference, and used the opportunity to attend first CB event.

  • Second Capacity building event

About two months after the first CB event, on April 7th, 2012 another event was held at the same venue (cultural center REX), with the goal of informing people about Wikimedia and attracting new users and members. Documentary movie "Truth In Numbers" was was screened, and visitors were able to get information about Wikimedia at our information desk. In the second part of the program, DJ Galeb Nikčević played music.

In comparison with the first event, the second one had more entertaining nature. Between 40 and 50 people attended.

  • Third Capacity building event

The third CB event was organized in the cultural center "Grad" and like the previous ones it has been well attended. The event had three parts.

First short movies La Siera and La Selva were screened. Unfortunately, because of technical problems with the projector, the movie reproduction was of very poor quality.

After the movies, former president of Wikimedia Philippines, Josh Lim, talked to the audience about his experiences with Wikimedia, and current projects which he is participating at the moment.

A party with DJs followed the Josh's speech, and it lasted for few hours.

The attendees were each given a short survey about Wikipedia and Wikimedia, where they were able to give comments about the event, Wikipedia and Wikimedia.

  • Fourth Capacity building event

Fourth CB event was organized on October 10th in the office of Wikimedia Serbia. Instead of attracting new members, this event was primarily focused on existing members. The plan was for members to visit the new office, get informed about planned projects, and meet our first employee. This was an opportunity to reconnect with some of our old members that were inactive for a longer period.

The events were promoted via Facebook and in some Serbian media.

Project goal and measures of success[edit]

Project goal[edit]

Measures of success[edit]

  • Between five and ten new and active people in Wikimedia Serbia.

During organization of four CB events, WMRS attracted around 10 new members, which is in accordance with projected goals. Several new members joined the existing projects and some of them ignited new projects. Since the number of held events was less than the number of planned events, proportionally, goal number of new activists should be decreased.

  • Wikimedia Serbia restarts to function organizationally.

It can be said that CB events were a test for WMRS. Besides the capability to organize a specific event targeted at attracting new members, it was needed to devise a set of tasks and engagements for potential new active members, and to manage them. Since this was the first time WMRS organized specific capacity building activities, these events were good in getting the picture about what attracts people and what doesn't work so well, and where we should direct capacity building activities.

Beside attracting new members, this project helped in homogenizing the structure of WMRS. WMRS attracted several new members that brought their enthusiasm and ideas. Thanks to the "new blood", WMRS got to be an organizer for local WLM competition, and project leader for work with marginalized groups.

Lessons learned[edit]

What lessons were learned that may help others succeed in similar projects?

This project certainly had its successes and contributed to the development of Wikimedia Serbia. Besides obtaining new members, we learned a lot about what kind of member and person profile is fit to be a project leader and manager. Better engagement in monitoring and realization of projects is needed by WMRS governing structures (both in cases when the project manager is a member of these governing bodies or comes from regular membership).

Did anything unexpected happen?

The first unexpected obstacle appeared at the very beginning of the project. The coldest winter within the last 50 years in Serbia (the state of emergency was declared) forced us to postpone the date of the first CB event, which further postponed other planned activities. During the implementation of the project, members responsible for event organization were changed several times. Another unexpected situation was the departure of the main project manager, which resulted in the backlog in both reporting and in activities.

Would you do anything differently if you planned a similar project? It would be good to have more precise statistics and better documented results.

What impact did the project have on WMF mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation? A total of 200 people attended our CB events, which was good promotion for Wikimedia and its projects. By attracting new members, WMRS increased its capacity and with attained experience, grew our organizational ability to function and answer challenges. Our new members made it possible for WMRS to successfully organize WLM 2012 in Serbia.

Reporting and documentation of expenditures[edit]

Documentation of expenditures has been received by WMF.

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

Did you send WMF documentation of all expenses paid for with grant funds?

Yes

Details of expenditures:

No Items Requested (USD) Spent (USD)
1 Venue 1,250.00 1,387.18
2 Catering 2,500.00 729.97
3 Legal fees 450.00 366.82
4 Travel 125.00 13.13
5 Printing auxiliary materials 150.00 191.33
Total Approved: 5,000,00 Spent: 2,688.43 Surplus: 2,311.57

Will you be requesting re-allocation of remaining grant funding? Yes

Will you be returning unused funds to the Wikimedia Foundation?

We would like to ask for re-allocation and use unspent amount for promotional material and operating costs of the WM RS's office. Due to increased activity, we would like to print extra promotional material in the amount of USD 1,311.57. Also, we would like to use USD 1,000.00 for annual budget.

Reallocation[edit]

This re-allocation is approved. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 13:43, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Additional requests and related proposals[edit]

Will you be requesting an extension or were you granted an extension? No