Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Ghana User Group 2025/26 Projects Grant

Feedback regarding your application

Dear Wikimedia Ghana team,

Thank you very much for your application and we appreciate that your grant application focuses on welcoming and retaining contributors, addressing gender and language gaps, and supporting low-income editors with free internet access. The WMF Community Resources team and the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Funds Committee have convened to review your application and we have the following points for feedback before reaching a final decision. Upon reviewing your application, we would like to bring your attention to a number of points:

• The Committee would first like to acknowledge the promising initiatives in your proposal, such as regional nodes, a national Wikimedia award, and advocacy for Wikimedia’s role in national digital policy.
• We noticed that your request this year represents a 63% increase from your previous grant. This increase is unclear to the Committee, and we would greatly appreciate a clarification considering that in the past there has been underspending, which had raised concerns about Wikimedia Ghana’s ability to manage its grant financially.
• May you also share the rationale for having bi-weekly edit-a-thons? This, in addition to retaining 1,300 editors per year, appears overly ambitious, risking volunteer burnout.
• May you also explain how you have decided on staffing for your user group? The Committee sees that many of the paid roles can be volunteer contributions or contractor roles.
• The Committee would greatly appreciate a detailed breakdown for all of the programmatic costs, ensuring that all budget items and expenses are explained.
• We also noticed that Wikmedia Ghana has not submitted a strategic plan, and this may limit the group’s ability to demonstrate to the Committee and to others the long-term strategic direction of the group, or allow others to understand how as a group you are making decisions or where you are with regards to your organizational growth. Kindly share a strategic plan so that it may allow us to better understand your rationale for choosing your annual activities.
• May you please clarify some of your costs, specifically membership souvenir costs, in addition to “internet and meeting snacks reimbursement for board”?
• May you further clarify how decisions were made within your user group, as well as how your community is engaged for the planning and preparation phase to inform your grant application?
• The Committee also recommends that Wikimedia Ghana participate in “Wiki Loves” campaigns, as it will help in broadening engagement.
• How do you coordinate with other groups in Ghana on Twi Wikipedia, given that other groups are also developing activities in this area as well?
• Regarding the policy advocacy component of your proposal:
  • How do you plan to promote discussions with government agencies, civil society organizations, and media partners? Will you organize panel events or attend existing conferences (such as Ghana IGF or Africa IGF), or have you perhaps been invited to join expert groups that the government consults? If there are no existing opportunities, how will you create these for yourselves?
  • Regarding your objective to, “Advocate for the recognition of Wikipedia as a Digital Public Good and ensure national digital policies promote open knowledge”...
  • Wikipedia has already been recognized as a digital public good internationally. How do you plan to leverage this recognition to gain more relevance nationally?
  • What national digital policies to promote open knowledge are you referring to? Please provide specific bills that you will target.
  • How, if at all, do you plan to work with Open Foundation West Africa and Global Open Initiative in order to reach your public policy advocacy goals?

Thank you very much, and please feel free to share your feedback in this discussion page by Wednesday, May 14 at 12 PM UTC.

Wishing you the best of luck.

On behalf of the WMF Community Resources team and the SSA  Regional Funding Committee, FElgueretly-WMF (talk) 13:05, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

Responses to questions asked in the feedback

Hi FElgueretly-WMF,

The Committee would first like to acknowledge the promising initiatives in your proposal, such as regional nodes, a national Wikimedia award, and advocacy for Wikimedia’s role in national digital policy.

We noticed that your request this year represents a 63% increase from your previous grant. This increase is unclear to the Committee, and we would greatly appreciate a clarification considering that in the past there has been underspending, which had raised concerns about Wikimedia Ghana’s ability to manage its grant financially.

We appreciate the committee’s feedback regarding the 63% increase in our current grant request and the concerns around past underspending. We would like to share the steps we have taken to avoid underspends by refining our program choices.

Firstly, each project proposed in this grant cycle is either an initiative we have already successfully implemented in the past or one that we have piloted during the current grant year. We have a good idea of expected outcomes. By narrowing our focus to proven and internally manageable projects, we aim to minimize uncertainty and strengthen execution.

Secondly, we are no longer pursuing the development of our multi-year nimble project, which was previously dependent on the Wikimedia Foundation’s product development cycle. Nor any other work that is overly dependent on the availability of new independent stakeholders without prior notice of our collaboration.

We are also planning to bring on dedicated roles such as an Executive Director and a Communications Manager to ease the workload on our current staff and board, thus amending capacity deficits. This year, an HR consultant and a Data Protection Consultant are also on our payroll (we have further discussed the roles below). These hires are part of our broader effort to professionalize our structure and ensure we meet our operational goals and statutory expectations.

The regional roadshow and bi-weekly workshops have been expanded, making it one of our high-budget expenses.

One of our most resourced initiatives is the Regional Roadshow, which allows us to reach contributors beyond Accra and engage with communities and our nodes nationwide. The roadshow involves extensive logistics, including transportation, accommodation, venue arrangements, and outreach, all of which require adequate funding. However, its impact on awareness, editor recruitment, and regional inclusivity has made it one of our most valuable programs.

We have also expanded our Bi-Weekly Edit-a-thons, a consistent and popular engagement format that helps us retain contributors by offering regular opportunities to participate. These sessions are flexible and responsive to current affairs, Wikimedia campaigns, and thematic celebrations. To ensure accessibility and inclusivity, we also provide data stipends to volunteers who would otherwise be unable to join due to connectivity limitations.

Additionally, we have added the Ghanaian Language Meetup to our programming. This event brings together editors working on indigenous language Wikipedias to collaborate, learn, and share strategies. As a national convening with participants from across Ghana, it requires significant logistical planning, travel support, and event management, all contributing to the increased cost.

We believe that these adjustments, focusing on proven programs, securing a physical base of operations, and expanding our core team, all contribute to a stronger foundation for growth. They also justify the increased funding request, as we scale our efforts to meet our national goals more effectively and transparently.

May you also share the rationale for having bi-weekly edit-a-thons? This, in addition to retaining 1,300 editors per year, appears overly ambitious, risking volunteer burnout.

First, we would like to note that our target is to retain 200 editors per year, not 1,300. We believe this might be an oversight.

Regarding the bi-weekly editathons, our rationale is to provide a space for contributors to maintain active editing and support them to edit at least twice a week.

As per stats.wikimedia.org, a user is considered active if they make at least 5 edits in a month. With our model, if an editor joins just two sessions a month and makes an average of 3 edits per session, they meet this threshold.

These sessions also serve as placeholder opportunities and are nimble enough to be repurposed around various global themes and celebrations that align with our movement and can have editathons fashioned around them. From breaking news and current affairs, to global celebrations such as Literacy Day or Mother Language Day, an impromptu request for a workshop, we quickly convert.

We piloted this model at the beginning of our 2024/25 grant year, and its impact has been clear as volunteers are excited that it gives them an opportunity to edit weekly. To date, we have retained 322 editors through this activity, making it one of our most effective strategies for editor engagement and retention.

May you also explain how you have decided on staffing for your user group? The Committee sees that many of the paid roles can be volunteer contributions or contractor roles.

Paid roles

• Executive Director (vacant): The Wikimedia Ghana User Ghana Executive Director holds a crucial leadership position, acting as the bridge between the board of trustees, the organization's staff, volunteers and community. The responsibilities are broad and varied, encompassing strategic leadership, operational oversight, and external relations.

• Communications Manager (Vacant): The Communications Manager is responsible for developing and executing communication strategies. He or she also manages external relations and media engagement and promotes programs, activities, and outcomes through various channels. We deem this role very important in ensuring that we carry the messages of our affiliate to the various platforms we engage with the public and community.

• Data Protection Supervisor/ Contractor/Consultant (vacant): The data protection supervisor will ensure compliance with data protection regulations and monitor data handling processes to safeguard participant privacy. We are currently ranked as a medium data processor since we process up to 800 contacts within a year. As such, the laws of Ghana require us to have an in-house Data Protection Supervisor. These are regulatory hires that are linked to our licenses being renewed.

• Finance/Accounting Consultant: The Finance/Accounting Consultant is responsible for preparing financial reports and budgets. He oversees financial compliance and transparency with our tax obligations to the revenue authorities in Ghana.

• Human Resource Consultant (vacant): The board needs support with hiring best practices, navigating labour laws, handling staff transitions, developing an employee handbook to guide day-to-day activities, determining how to foster career development and progression.

• Auditors: The auditor conducts regular audits to ensure accountability. He reviews financial statements and grant expenditure reports and also provides recommendations for financial management improvement. This is a legal obligation we must always adhere to.

Volunteer roles

• Facilitators: Facilitators lead workshops, training sessions, and events.

• Regional Node Leads: The regional leads coordinate activities within their respective regions in a volunteer capacity and serve as a bridge between the central team and regional communities.

Both paid and volunteer

• Program Specialist(s): These are traditional program officers, but we prefer to call them Specialists. They will be engaged as needed on a contractual and volunteer basis to provide expertise for specific projects or activities. It depends on the task. Not all specialists are paid contract fees.

1. A typical example is a specialist who we hope will focus on the growth of Twi Wikipedia editing. This individual should be well-versed in working with the growth, quality, and visibility of indigenous language wikis, as they are more challenging to support than English. Their responsibilities typically include a mix of strategy, community support, partnerships with other affiliates, and working with volunteer facilitators for incubator events.

The Committee would greatly appreciate a detailed breakdown for all of the programmatic costs, ensuring that all budget items and expenses are explained.

You can find the link to the detailed breakdown here.

We also noticed that Wikmedia Ghana has not submitted a strategic plan, and this may limit the group’s ability to demonstrate to the Committee and to others the long-term strategic direction of the group, or allow others to understand how as a group you are making decisions or where you are with regards to your organizational growth. Kindly share a strategic plan so that it may allow us to better understand your rationale for choosing your annual activities.

Find the link to our strategy document here.

May you please clarify some of your costs, specifically membership souvenir costs, in addition to “internet and meeting snacks reimbursement for board”?

Regarding internet and meeting snacks reimbursement for board members, some of the board members also act in regulatory and compliance matters of the affiliate. For example, board members are in charge of working on our renewal of our non-profit status, license and other statutory affairs with the Ghana Revenue Authority, Non-Profit Secretariat, Data Protection Commission, Registrar of Companies, to name a few. These reimbursements are in place to cater to errands that the Wikimedia Ghana user group doesn’t have any compensation for, also due to the sensitivity of personal information bound by our grant agreement status. This is not work done by paid staff and other volunteers. Additionally, monthly meetings are attended by a minimum of 3 members (for quorum). At those meetings, board members are requested to bring their own water, coffee, pastry or meal, depending on the time of the day and are reimbursed later to avoid having to serve or provide catering. In relation to membership souvenirs, these are Wikimedia-branded swags, stickers, etc, produced and distributed as part of outreach and awareness.

As is the process during all our grant applications, we send out forms to the entire Wikimedia Ghana community asking them for input and suggestions for our grant application. After that, the board member who represents the community on our board also does some rounds of consultation after the board agrees to any suggestion from the community.

The Committee also recommends that Wikimedia Ghana participate in “Wiki Loves” campaigns, as it will help in broadening engagement.

• In response to the committee’s recommendations, we are pleased to share that Wikimedia Ghana User Group has actively taken steps to broaden engagement through participation in “Wiki Loves” campaigns. As outlined in our grant proposal, we are implementing the Wiki Loves Places campaign, which focuses on improving location-based entries on Wikidata using geo-tagged images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In addition, we have recently signed up for the Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos campaign to broaden and encourage community engagement.

• We are also participating in the Coordinate Me Wikidata Competition, which is focused on geo-locatable content. This is an international Wikidata competition that involves content with geodata, from villages and hospitals to public art and natural monuments.

How do you coordinate with other groups in Ghana on Twi Wikipedia, given that other groups are also developing activities in this area as well?

We are currently working on a Ghanaian Languages Consortium where all organisers are working on the languages found in the southern belt of Ghana, and the Twi Wikipedia is one of the language Wikipedias we are working with. That way, when we have events, the Twi community, which we have invited to join the consortium, can learn of the event and enable their members to join. When we also recruit Twi Wikimedians, we enable them find their home community with the Twi group.

Regarding the policy advocacy component of your proposal: How do you plan to promote discussions with government agencies, civil society organizations, and media partners? Will you organize panel events or attend existing conferences (such as Ghana IGF or Africa IGF), or have you perhaps been invited to join expert groups that the government consults? If there are no existing opportunities, how will you create these for yourselves?

We are currently in conversation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German governmental agency, on their International Digital Dialogue platform. We will be one of the key players in ensuring we advance policy and advocacy conversations in Ghana. Since the Government of Ghana is an important partner in the Digital Dialogue platform, engaging them and other civil society organisations is easy.

Regarding your objective to “Advocate for the recognition of Wikipedia as a Digital Public Good and ensure national digital policies promote open knowledge”. Wikipedia has already been recognized as a digital public good internationally. How do you plan to leverage this recognition to gain more relevance nationally?

Over the years, we have built great partnerships in media and other sectors within the Ghanaian digital space. As such, we will be using that leverage to promote the recognition of Wikipedia as a digital public good nationally. We want to engage the different media organisations and stakeholders to promote that aspect of Wikipedia, like we did during the Global Digital Compact working group work.

What national digital policies to promote open knowledge are you referring to? Please provide specific bills that you will target.

We are currently focusing on our GDC Policy Paper and continuing other works we have started around Freedom of Panorama, which directly affects the copyright laws of Ghana.

How, if at all, do you plan to work with Open Foundation West Africa and Global Open Initiative in order to reach your public policy advocacy goals?

When we start working on the GDC policy paper, we will formally contact both affiliates to get their ideas for our policy and advocacy plan of action. Our goal is to ensure that anything we do is truly representative of our national affiliate status.

On behalf of the Wikimedia Ghana User Group, --Owula kpakpo (talk) 19:51, 14 May 2025 (UTC)