Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Morocco - Annual Grant 2023

Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal

Dear User:Reda benkhadra, User:Anass Sedrati, User:Rachidourkia, User:Farajiibrahim, User:Mounir NEDDI , User: رشيدة رقي, User:Ideophagous , User:Bonnjalal00 and User:Taloubant,

Congratulations on completing your second edition of Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom and embarking on the next chapter of growing your user group community and organizational capacities. We recognize the goal to achieve sustainability and stability in terms of user group growth and overall experience. We found the proposed projects to be clear and pleased to see continue to pursue partnerships with local organizations such as the Moroccan Reading Network and the Regional Delegation of Education - El Hajeb Region to advance your projects.

To support us in our next phase of reviews, please share comments or responses to the following;

• The rationale and basis for the costs related to the roles indicated; we see the huge differences in suggested pay between the coordinator and the other roles and are keen to learn on the basis applied.
• We wanted to learn more about the roles in relation to regional-focused projects. How do you plan to support the regions role-wise [ human -resource-wise]?
• In the metrics table, would you say more than you mean by 150 articles in Wikipedia? Are these articles to be created? Can they be more?
• As you continue to grow we are keen to understand your plan for leadership development and nurturing robust structures for healthy governance including financial management systems in your organization. We would like to know what you have put in place so far and where you envision the organization heading and the plan to get there.
• Lastly, we encourage you to review the metrics section to also align with the learning questions you have indicated. What metrics can you use to help you capture what you need to support your learning?

We highly recommend you get in touch with the regional program officer to support you in understanding the questions raised or if you find it useful to meet with the committee as well, please them know and they can organize a conversation meeting.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your responses to support us in the next steps. On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee and Staff--VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 15:29, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Response from grantee

Dear Committee,

First, we would like to thank you for reviewing our application and for your kind words and congratulations. We are excited to continue growing our user group and working on projects that will positively impact our community. We would also like to thank you for your valuable insights, comments, and recommendations. Having discussed them in detail with our MEA regional officer Veronica Thamaini, as well as after understanding your observations.

Here are our responses to each of your questions in detail below:

1. The rationale and basis for the costs related to the roles indicated; we see the huge differences in suggested pay between the coordinator and the other roles and are keen to learn on the basis applied.

The proposed budget for staffing reflects the varying levels of responsibility, workload, and expertise required for each role. It is based on the assumption that the coordinator role is full-time, while the other roles are part-time. This is reflected in the proposed salaries for each position as described in the budget file. Moreover, some roles operate throughout the year, while others are for a limited period (3 months - 6 months, etc.). This can also explain the difference in the total amount.

The coordinator role is a full-time position, with more responsibilities towards managing the overall annual grant activities, including the budget, while the other roles are part-time and dedicated to a specific project. The coordinator role requires more hours and responsibility, so the pay is commensurate with the time commitment and level of responsibility.

In addition, the coordinator is responsible for the overall management of the user group, including developing and implementing strategy, coordinating activities, reporting and writing grant applications, which are activities where other staff are mostly not participating. This role is a more demanding and time-consuming position. Therefore, the coordinator role is the most senior and highest-paid in this annual Grant.

2. We wanted to learn more about the roles in relation to regional-focused projects. How do you plan to support the regions role-wise [ human -resource-wise]?

As mentioned in our initial application (see question “S”), our project is local and not regional, meaning that its scope is within the borders of our country (Morocco).

If by region, you mean the different regions of Morocco, then yes, we have an elaborate plan to support the regional-focused projects:

1. There is a dedicated budget for transportation so that the organizers can travel to the regions in question during the project implementation.
2. The regions were chosen depending on the location of the organizers. Organizers living in different parts of Morocco will be able to cover their regions, especially for the education and documentation projects.
3. Part of our budget can be allocated for participants who would like to organize themselves (for example, teachers who have participated in the education program and can organize a contest for students in their region).

Through these measures, we can ensure good support for the different regions in Morocco so that we have better coverage and align with diversity and inclusivity goals.

3. In the metrics table, would you say more than you mean by 150 articles in Wikipedia? Are these articles to be created? Can they be more?

In Fluxx, the question is about new content contributions. We understood that it was only about creating articles. Our plan for this year is to have 150 new articles created in Wikipedia (created in community events such as edit-a-thons), which is what we wrote. In addition to that, we are expecting around 300 editions of articles in different languages.

So to summarize, our metrics are to have 150 newly created articles in Wikipedia and 300 edits. We consider this a minimum, but we will try our best to outperform it and reach higher numbers.

Also, we have plans for bot-generated articles, but we have another metric for them (the ones mentioned here are human-made).

4. As you continue to grow we are keen to understand your plan for leadership development and nurturing robust structures for healthy governance including financial management systems in your organization. We would like to know what you have put in place so far and where you envision the organization heading and the plan to get there.

The Wikimedia Morocco User group was first created in 2015. Since its creation, it has developed naturally from a hobby volunteer group to a more professional structure. In this regard, the orientation that the group is taking is to set up a (volunteer) strategic piloting unit (i.e. the UG board members), serving as a steering committee for the group’s programs, with reliance on several (paid) staff who take care of the implementation of projects and benefit from opportunities to enhance their skills and capabilities; for example, handbooks for project management as mentioned in the grant application as well as benefiting from several trainings and workshops.

In our program, we have put in place a leadership development program that includes training and mentorship for our members (for example, a local WikiCamp conference to exchange knowledge, skills and experiences). We are also working on developing robust governance and financial management structures, as this is required to have successful projects and reports. We aim to continue growing the user group and expand our reach to more people and regions.

Finally, the user group constantly encourages its members to participate in courses and development programs that provide training and mentorship (for example, Organizer Lab, Training of Trainers, a regional hub/committee representative, etc.). All members interested in a specific project/program or wanting to take on more responsibilities are very welcome to take them so that they can also grow and become the future leaders.

5. Lastly, we encourage you to review the metrics section to also align with the learning questions you have indicated. What metrics can you use to help you capture what you need to support your learning?

The metrics we have proposed will help us track each project's progress and evaluate its impact. They include, among others, the number of articles created or improved, the number of new editors, the number of teacher training sessions conducted, the number of teachers completing the program, etc.

Following your recommendation, we have decided to use the following metrics. We strongly believe that they will help us capture the information that we need to answer our learning questions:

• 1000 reached professors sending their application to the program
• 80 trained professors in-person
• 50 certified professors in-person
• 220 trained online professors
• 100 certified online professors
• 20 conference participants
• 50 Edits-a-thon participants
• 100 contests participants
• 175 Contributors in Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons
• 10 Wikimedia MA user group members organizing events and leading projects during 2023
• 2 strategic partnerships that contribute to longer-term growth, diversity and sustainability
• 1000 automated articles in Wikipedia Darija
• 150 created articles on Wikipedia
• 300 edited articles on Wikipedia
• 700 pictures in Wikimedia Commons
• 1000 created items in Wikidata
• 500 entries in Wikimedia Incubator (for Wiktionary)
• 2 bots developed on Wikipedia in Darija and Tachelhit
• 35 bot tasks developed on Wikipedia in Darija and Tachelhit
• 12 published podcasts

Thank you again for your feedback and observations and for allowing us to clarify our plans. We sincerely hope that these answers and explanations will give you a clearer picture of our application and help you to make your final decision. We are, of course, available for any questions or additional information.

We appreciate your guidance and support as we progress in our journey to achieve sustainability and stability and continue to grow our user group and projects impactfully.

Thank you!

Rachid (Rachid OURKIA (talk) 8:52, 05 November 2022 (UTC)) on behalf of the Wikimedia MA UG team.

Wikimedia Community Fund approved in the amount of 67,500 USD

Hello Wikimedia Morocco UG ,

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 67,500 USD, with a grant term starting January 2023-December 2023.

We are excited to see the user group move to annual - general support funding and believe that this will be beneficial to longterm planning and development of the user group and community and especially after a successful completion of the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom [ 2nd edition] project. We hope with this grant it will support more programming as part of your annual plan including growing partnerships with local organisations such as the Moroccan Reading Network and the Regional Delegation of Education - El Hajeb Region.

We recognize that a significant part of your budget was going towards a team that would implement the projects including those that you planned to scale further and also towards professionalizing the user group. We are in support of this goal and encourage you to adjust the scope of the projects and the roles of the team to align with the budget without jeopardizing the impact you desire to achieve. We would hope you would adjust the proposal accordingly.

We wish you the very best in your project and look forward to learning about the impact of you achieve.

Best regards from the MEA Regional Committee and Staff --Aristidek5maya (talk) 12:06, 1 December 2022 (UTC)