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Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikipedia Asian Month 2025 - Uniting Asian communities Through Collaboration and Sustainability

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Follow-up questions on your application

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Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hello Wikipedia Asian Month team,

Thank you for submitting your general support fund application. The ESEAP regional funds committee has completed the preliminary review of your application and here are the consolidated responses, comments and questions.

As a next step, we would like to invite you to respond to the questions (and comments if you feel a response is needed) on the talk page. We require a response by 10 May 2025.

We'll also be reaching out to invite you to join a conversation with the ESEAP Funds Committee on 11 May 2025. More details to follow via email.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of the ESEAP Funds Committee

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A) Overall strengths of the proposal

1) The proposal continues an established event, which is seeking to expand geographically.

2) WAM focuses on addressing underrepresented topics and communities, contributing to the broader goal of knowledge equity.

  • 2a) The inclusion of Fountain Tool enhancements indicates a proactive approach to improving digital governance and user experience.

3) A unique affiliate capable of forming partnerships outside the ESEAP region, featuring content originally from ESEAP.

4) They have proven successful in implementing this campaign in previous years.

5) By expanding the Wikipedia Asian Month campaigns, strengthening community cooperation, and optimizing digital platforms, they demonstrate their ability for further growth in the upcoming years and also how they leverage technology especially on the use of the fountain tool.


B) Community engagement and community health

6) While the proposal demonstrates potential for scalability, forming partnerships with external organizations could enhance impact. Collaborating with regional or global entities focused on knowledge equity or community engagement could provide additional resources and expertise. Can you elaborate on any existing or planned partnerships with external organizations that could enhance the project's scalability or thematic impact?

  • 6a) The proposal could benefit from explicitly including mechanisms to gather feedback from regions beyond East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. This would ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the project's impact across the entire Asian continent and strengthen its inclusivity.

7) It's a bit unclear whether this applicant wants to maintain, grow the community or focus on just the Asian month campaign.

8) For their new application, has there been feedback from a wider community?


C) Budget, Scale and significance of project

9) The budget is somewhat high, especially as the application does not include clear deliverables of the previous grant (or other previous grants).

10) The proposal could benefit from explicitly including mechanisms to gather targeted feedback from regions beyond East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. This would ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the project's impact across the entire Asian continent and strengthen its inclusivity.

  • 10a) The proposal doesn't explicitly list partnerships with external organizations beyond its internal structure as the Wikipedia Asian Month User Group/ Asia-Pacific Open Knowledge Association. While the strategies and activities still demonstrate potential for scalability, transferability, and synergy, forming external partnerships could further enhance these dimensions.

11) The number of events and content they produced does not reflect the budget they are requesting. 12) It could be helpful to consult with the wider movement to learn about building partnerships/cooperation in Asia. 13) If you don’t receive full funding, which programs/event/strategy would you prioritize, and which ones would you put on hold? (You can list all your programs and indicate their priority as high, medium, or low.)


D) Other general questions

14) How does the proposal plan to ensure sustained engagement with volunteers and organizers beyond the project's timeline?

  • 14a) Are there specific strategies to involve communities from underrepresented regions, such as Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia?
  • 14b) Could you elaborate on how community feedback will be systematically collected, analyzed, and integrated into future planning?
  • 14c) Are there plans to collaborate with external organizations or institutions to enhance the project's impact and resource base?

15) How do you plan to maintain your community?

16) Could you provide more details about the ambassador program and the background of people that have been chosen for this role?


E) Overall recommendations or opportunities to explore

17) It feels like the tracking of the event should be improved.

18) While the proposal had outreach on East and Southeast Asia, it could include strategies to explicitly engage communities in Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. This would enhance inclusivity and broaden the project's impact. Establish robust mechanisms to systematically collect and integrate feedback from diverse communities, ensuring responsiveness and continuous improvement. I won’t encourage sending a communication via global mailing list and chats as it has not demonstrated a viable outcome with these targeted groups. I also observed there was no program presentation or presence at the recently concluded Central Asia WikiCon.

  • 18a) Have you/ would you consider collaborating with organizations outside the Wikimedia movement, such as educational institutions, cultural heritage groups, or regional NGOs, could provide additional resources and expertise?
  • 18b) Perhaps, develop clear indicators to measure the project's impact on knowledge equity, such as the diversity of contributors or the representation of underrepresented topics?
  • 18c) How about facilitating joint activities or campaigns with other Asian Wikimedia affiliates or user groups outside ESEAP to foster cross-regional collaboration.

19) Collaborate with wikis in Asia, not just ESEAP

20) Collaborate with institutions and explore other funding opportunities inside the ESEAP region to support the initiative.

21) One of the ambassadors presented at the Central Asia Conference. It would be useful if there is some diversity of feedback coming in from different Asian regions.

  • 21a) Art+Feminism and WikiForHumanRights Campaign also practice having ambassadors. Consider studying how they have successfully executed it. There are other areas that could be explored aside from editing, contributing new content.

JChen (WMF) (talk) 04:31, 3 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

Dear @JChen (WMF): and reviewers,
Thank you for your valuable feedback and suggestions.
As this is my first time applying for a grant on behalf of the Wikipedia Asian Month User Group (WAMUG), I have gained a lot from this experience. ~~~~
The concerns you raised primarily focus on a few key areas:

1. Budget

>Compared to last year, the largest increase in our expenses is for the request to hire an additional staff. Currently, the WAMUG only has one salaried staff member. It’s clear that this individual is responsible for all administrative, accounting, documentary, promotional, communication, and Wiki-related tasks. I genuinely hope that the WAMUG can evolve into a team, rather than having one person carry the entire load. This would enable us to expand our operations and initiatives. Many affiliates have several staff to support various activities, and it is apparent that WAMUG is somewhat lacking in this regard.
From the results of our work over the past year, you can see that having someone dedicated to driving the project leads to higher participation, a more inclusive program, and gradually addresses the issue of regional underrepresentation (Please refer to the answer for question 7 below). We have already found ambassadors representing four regions (the list is provided below), and we are in the process of planning the Steering Committee. The selection of steering committee members has been completed, and we will be holding regular meetings to actively promote WAM through representatives from various regions.
Representative Area Ambassador
Southeast & East Asia Borschts
South Asia Santhosh Notagar99
Central Asia Batyrbek.kz
West Asia Avicenno

2. External Organizations Currently or Expected to Collaborate with

>Over the past year, we successfully established connections with Hong Kong AAA M+, India’s St. Aloysius (Deemed to be University), and Jordan's Digital Arabic Content. These partnerships, made possible through the initiative and dedication of our ambassadors, led to several successful offline events last year, with ambassadors playing a key role as intermediaries.
In India, our collaboration was even recognized by the Vice Chancellor of St. Aloysius. This clearly shows the success of our ambassador program. Building on this momentum, we plan to continue working with these organizations and hope to invite them to share their experiences and co-host events with WAM this year.

3. How to Gather Feedback from Communities, and What the Feedback Was?

>Over the past year, in addition to hosting online feedback sessions with organizers, we successfully recruited four ambassadors representing different regions of Asia. We also made contact with Central Asia and West Asia, where the ambassadors maintain close ties with their local communities.The feedback from different communities can be found here.
We’ve also recruited members for our Steering Committee. This soon-to-be-established committee will help us extend the reach of WAM’s development and community feedback gathering beyond ESEAP, connecting with other parts of Asia more directly.
Currently, we are tracking the status of each region through ambassadors and the international team. We have been discussing the progress through online meetings. Please refer to the meeting minutes.

4. Regional Representation and Inclusivity Issues

>We not only maintain close connections with East and Southeast Asia, but we also actively engage with Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. We have gathered a lot of feedback from offline event organizers and participants as you can see the answer in the question 3. In the future, we will expand our efforts by holding organizer calls and collecting feedback from all sides through the Steering Committee, ambassadors and the international team.

5. Future Plans for Community Engagement and Sustainability

>This year, although the WAMUG staff member has not yet had the opportunity to attend international conferences in various Asian regions, we have still organized multiple conversations and participated in regional community calls. These include the Steering Committee Info Session, the WAM Feedback Meeting, the Ambassador Recruitment Info Session, and more. Below are the some of presentation materials and minutes from several of these conversations:
In the future, we plan to keep promoting the WAM in each regional community call prior to the campaign. After the campaign, we will invite organizers to share their experiences and insights in each region. Through ambassadors and Steering Committee members, we will invite all participants to join the Telegram group, where they can exchange any questions and information. It will be managed like a community channel, where WAM-related updates will be posted, and various questions will be answered.

6. Future Direction: Focus on WAM or Expansion? How to Ensure Continued Participation from Volunteers and Organizers After the campaign ends?

>Our primary focus will remain on executing and strengthening the Wikipedia Asian Month. However, we will also explore opportunities to collaborate with other Wikimedia projects and external organizations when resources allow. If the budget is limited, we will prioritize the development of WAM and treat external collaborations as secondary.
To ensure continued engagement from volunteers and organizers after the campaign, we rely on regional ambassadors who actively participate in local community calls and promote WAM within their areas. On the international level, we host periodic calls to keep the global community connected and involved.
We are currently recruiting members for the Steering Committee to bring in more regional perspectives and strengthen leadership. Our long-term vision is to evolve WAM beyond a one-month event into a year-round initiative. A step toward this goal was the successful launch of the WikiVoyage Special Edition in December and January, which marked the expansion of WAM into new project spaces.
Looking ahead, we also plan to collaborate with external partners—such as AAA and M+, with whom we have already established contact—to host online experience-sharing and learning sessions. These partnerships will help enrich the WAM program and broaden its impact. Ultimately, we aim to transform WAM into a sustainable program that supports ongoing promotion of open knowledge throughout the year.

7. Concrete Outcomes of Past Grant Projects

>As this year’s project is still ongoing, the progress report is currently being drafted and has not yet been completed. Please refer to this document.

8. If full funding is not secured, how would you prioritize the activities or strategies in your plan? (Please list all activities and indicate their priority as high, medium, or low.)

> Please find the priority list here

9. Do Not Recommend Using Mailing Lists as the Primary Communication Channels

>We’ve found that, for the upcoming budget year, we will focus more on managing the Telegram group, inviting all potential participants of WAM to join, and sharing updates on WAM development through Diff. Thank you for the kind suggestion.

10. In the recently concluded Central Asia WikiCon, the proposal team did not have any presentations or participation.

> WAMUG had two members who applied for travel scholarships for the conference but unfortunately did not receive scholarships. As a result, the Central Asia Ambassador and the organizer of last year’s offline events were the only ones who presented the WAM and received much recognition. Please refer to the details here. We also sent the South Asia Ambassador, Santhosh Notagar to this year’s Wikisource Conference, where he shared about WAM and connected with more communities in Indian languages. Betty2407 (talk) 05:35, 10 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

Your application has been approved

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Latest comment: 24 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hello Wikipedia Asian Month,


Thank you for your responses to the follow-ups questions and for joining the conversation with the ESEAP Regional Funds Committee. Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of TWD 1,380,151 from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Please provide a revised budget based on the approved amount and share it on the talkpage when ready.


Here are some comments from the review team that were captured from the final deliberation round

  • a) Suggestions for prioritizing programs that are marked as high priority. [ii] Creating a full timeline-including preparation (such as proposal writing), reporting, administrative tasks, Fountain Tool development, and other key activities—and placing it somewhere on the WAM Meta page could be helpful. It would also help clarify that the affiliate runs multiple programs throughout the year, not just a single campaign. Eg: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Thailand/Calendar_2025
  • b) The proposed salary for the Executive Director could be reconsidered and possibly adjusted to a more modest level. Adopting a hybrid work model, such as three days working from home and two days from a café or co-working space, could also reduce the need for a dedicated office, resulting in further cost efficiency without compromising productivity.
  • c) Wiki Asian Month User Group was built on international collaboration, involving contributors from around the world who are passionate about Asian topics. To reflect this spirit and broaden perspectives, the committee may want to consider including members from outside Asia as well. Apart from improving the inclusion, many non-Asians also have a strong interest in Wikipedia articles related to Asia, and Asians living abroad can also offer valuable perspectives and support.
  • d) Conduct learning sessions with the recruited regional ambassadors so the larger part of Asia could be aware of the campaign and what the group do.


Recommendations

  • On this talkpage, we would like to flag questions/ responses for (14), (15) and (18) for inclusion into your implementation plan and take into consideration the comments from the review team. We also suggest that you provide regular updates on this talkpage when you have made progress in these areas with links to other relevant pages for further details, where relevant.
  • Please know that your programme officer is available to support you in reviewing and prioritising the funding outcomes into your revised workplan as well as for regular touch points throughout the lifecycle of your grant term.


Disbursement of Funds

To facilitate the funds disbursement process, we seek your prompt response on Fluxx and via emails with the WMF Grants Administrator team (grantsadmin@wikimedia.org). We highly encourage you to submit all supporting documents and endorse the grant agreements within the stipulated time frame. When in doubt, proactively reach out to the WMF Grants Administration team and copy your programme officer.


Change in implementation plan

We know even the best thought through plans may change.

In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to me about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage). There is also the option to have the unspent funds deducted against a future grant. More details here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Return_unused_funds_to_WMF


Additional resources which may be useful


We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project. Good luck!

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of the ESEAP Regional Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 13:13, 21 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

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