Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania/Movement Strategy-Priotization Discussion

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Grant review and feedback[edit]

Dear Antoni, thank you for submitting a grant to the movement strategy program to have movement strategy conversations with Tanzanian and Swahili. We received more applications than initially anticipated and as a result we were not able to process all the applications in timely manner to support prioritization conversations in some of the communities. Following the prioritization work it has taken us some time to create clarity regarding the timeline for the next steps in the conversations, which is why we are only getting back to you now regarding the grant application.

We have restarted the global conversations around the prioritized initiatives in January and following these conversations we will develop a draft implementation plan to be shared with the communities and the Board of Trustees of Wikimedia Foundation. It seems that there is high value of having community discussions happening around possible engagement of different groups in these conversations and, as a result, we would like to have the conversation around this grant proposal to reshape it to meet the current plan of the movement strategy conversations and the expectations and needs of your community to participate in it. Are you interested in reshaping the proposal to support the conversations in your community for the current stage of discussions?

If yes, then I have some feedback regarding the proposed plan that might help to improve it and create more clear understanding for us regarding the planned scope of the activities:

  • The event seems to be proposed as a hybrid model between in-person gathering and online discussions. It seems that the COVID19 situation has changed in Tanzania during our lengthened review process. Under current circumstances I would advise against holding the in-person part. Would this make sense to you? Could you reshape the meeting and proposal to be only a virtual event?
  • The design and scope of the planned conversations is somewhat unclear and would need a better presentation in the proposal. It might also have shifted, because the movement strategy conversations have advanced. What is the number of the meetings you plan to hold? What are foreseen discussion topics for them?
  • There are translation costs included in the proposal, at the same time it is unclear what are the exact translation plans. Would you be able to elaborate which documents do you plan to translate to support the communities in the discussions?
  • I would also like to understand the outreach plan better. The focus seems to be on the social media and individual outreach. Does this mean that the wiki outreach will not be used? How do you plan to ensure awareness of the communities regarding these discussions taking place?
  • Regarding the budget breakdown, I would appreciate having more clear calculations regarding the budget items. This means that I would like to have the estimated number of work hours and hourly cost for each item included for the budget.

Thank you so much for your kind attention and your ongoing support in working with communities in East Africa on movement strategy. I am available for any questions or specifications. --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 10:26, 2 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Response to Grant review and feedback[edit]

Hi KVaidla (WMF) , thank you for your response on this proposal and I am sorry to hear there were alot to deal with due to many applications, but on other hand is a good thing that more people participated on the prioritization process. Hence find my inline answers to your feedback questions.

  • Are you interested in reshaping the proposal to support the conversations in your community for the current stage of discussions?

If yes, then I have some feedback regarding the proposed plan that might help to improve it and create more clear understanding for us regarding the planned scope of the activities:

Yes, following that the time has passed and somethings changed compared to the time we applied for this, I am interested in reshaping the proposal to meet the conversations in my community for the current stage of discussions. Hence please find my inline response to your questions.
  • The event seems to be proposed as a hybrid model between in-person gathering and online discussions. It seems that the COVID19 situation has changed in Tanzania during our lengthened review process. Under current circumstances I would advise against holding the in-person part. Would this make sense to you? Could you reshape the meeting and proposal to be only a virtual event?
Yes, by the time we were applying for this, our plan was hosting both inperson and an online meetup. Although we don’t have the exact figures about the situation, I agree that the situation has changed and hence we will drop the in-person part and do only the online part.
  • The design and scope of the planned conversations is somewhat unclear and would need a better presentation in the proposal. It might also have shifted, because the movement strategy conversations have advanced. What is the number of the meetings you plan to hold? What are foreseen discussion topics for them?
Sure, this proposal was designed to fit the needs of community converstations before the global convestation events.Due to the delay of this program, there might be some areas that will need changes in order to cope with the global converstations that already happened. I have already redesigned the proposal to fit the current state.
  • There are translation costs included in the proposal, at the same time it is unclear what are the exact translation plans. Would you be able to elaborate which documents do you plan to translate to support the communities in the discussions?
Despite that the global conversations has already happened, Our user group didn’t get much chance to provide an opportunity for everyone to discuss the recommendations (due to the delay of a rapid grant to facilitate this), as well not all were able to participate in the global conversations. Hence the need to host a follow up event that will focus with both, raising awareness to all about the recommendations, prioritization process in relation to the already happened global conversations. For that to happen, we need a translation of the materials related to the 10 Recommendations, the principles and the initiatives from English to Swahili so that more people can undertand the prioritization process.
  • I would also like to understand the outreach plan better. The focus seems to be on social media and individual outreach. Does this mean that the wiki outreach will not be used? How do you plan to ensure awareness of the communities regarding these discussions taking place?
Ofcourse Wiki Outreach will be available, but due to the challenge that not many people are so active in engaging themselves in an onwiki discussions for providing their opinions, we will use both methods Wiki outreach and Social media. Social media will be used both as a medium to reach out to people and let them know about the existence of this discussion, send the reg. Form for attendance then we will have a zoom call for the discussion. During the discussion there will be a note taker and people will be allowed to add their inputs directly to the meta page.
  • Regarding the budget breakdown, I would appreciate having more clear calculations regarding the budget items. This means that I would like to have the estimated number of work hours and hourly cost for each item included for the budget.

Thank you for this, its done and please note that this proposal was the hybrid of Wikimedia community user group Tanzania as well for facilitation activities of East Africa communities to participate on the prioritization process. let me know if there is anything else I should do.

Thank you KVaidla (WMF) , please let me know if there is anything more i should do.

Approved[edit]

Dear Antoni, thank you for answering the clarifying questions and again for your application to fund a movement strategy event through a rapid grant! I am sorry for the delays in processing this grant, yet I am happy to inform you that the application and the answers have been reviewed and we have decided to support the Tanzanian Movement Strategy discussions in the full amount of $1,690.00 USD, i.e. 3,896,730.00 TZS.

We hope that you will have successful conversations that will have a strong effect on both Tanzanian and East African communities and their participation in movement strategy. I look forward to reading your discussion report. If you have any questions or specifications regarding the grant, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your contribution to the global movement strategy conversations! --KVaidla (WMF) (talk) 14:07, 4 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]