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Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska/Wiki ambassador in Republic of Srpska

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Hello, Bojana! Thank you for your application for a WMF Rapid Grant. It is exciting that you want to address the lack of online resources available to your community, and that you want to draw in more editors through this project. We can tell that your group put a lot of effort into carefully planning a well-structured project. Congratulations on securing free space for your workshops from the school; it is good to know that they are supportive of this work.

We have a few questions about your application.

About the camera:

  1. Please describe your system for storing and lending out the camera you would like to purchase for this grant. For example, where will the camera be stored? How will community members access it when they need it? How will you show community members that the camera is available?
  2. The camera is included in your budget but is not mentioned elsewhere in your request. Would you please explain the link between the camera and the project you are proposing?
  3. Would you please provide some details about what type of camera you plan to purchase, and why?

About your project in general:

  1. Please provide a link to discussions you have had about this project within your community, or encourage some community members to endorse this application. For a project like this, it is important to show that many people in your community are supportive, and see the need for work like this.
  2. What do you mean when you say that "Wiki ambassador in the Republic of Srpska is a project which would be upgraded and expanded in the future"?
  3. When you say the amount listed under project management is to cover the expenditures of your members who are working on the project, do you mean that you are proposing to pay the three wikimedians who are working with each of the three partner institutions? How many hours will each paid person be working on this project? Why do you feel it is necessary to pay volunteers for this work? Do you believe this project could be completed without paying volunteers?
  4. Why are printed materials required for the creation of the articles?
  5. Please detail the items included in preparation costs. How much do you expect to spend on each item listed (phone, internet,bus card, postal costs, etc.)?

Thank you! We look forward to your responses. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:49, 8 February 2017 (UTC)Reply

Hello Winifred! Thanks you for your comments and question! Following are the answers to your questions.
About the camera:
  1. The camera would be owned by the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Serbian until the group exists. In the event of termination of the group, the camera would, like other tangible assets that the community owns, was addressed to the procedure in accordance with the Law on Citizens' Associations in the Republic of Serbian. Or, to be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the contract that was signed with the VMF. Since our community is currently in the development stage - we do not have an office in which our assets are kept. An agreement was reached within the community on the issue of these things - any material means necessary for the realization of the project, and achieve the objectives of the project will be owned by the person who will be working directly on the project and use a certain method to the next situation and the next project in which there is a need for given the subject matter. In this case, the asset manager of the project to the second and so on.Must keeping and taking care of the property of the community. In the event that the group fails to establish an office in the future, tangible assets would be kept in the office. The above rule applies to the organization and to the camera specified in the project. Regarding the notification, the community would be informed about it noting that it is available to everyone to use, in accordance with the stated policy of the organization, depending on the type of project and the need for it.
  2. Specifically for this project, a camera to take photos of activities, photo documentation we had planned to release in cooperation with the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage and video case studies that would be created in cooperation with the educational institution. In addition, we have always had a problem with photographs concerning any event were some of the project activities. Due to the poor quality of the photos often do not meet the criteria Wikimedia Commons. Sometimes not even put all the pictures because we lose a large part due to problems with bad cameras. The camera would in our case was used several times because this year we plan to deal with photo projects that need to have something better camera of our identity, which we have used often problem. To would have a positive impact on improving the quality of our work.
  3. Analyzing deals on the market and the quality that is offered for a price, we decided for the camera whose specifications and prices can be found here. Bearing in mind the rationalization of the budget and the fact that cameras are usually very expensive, we have chosen the cheapest of which we consider to meet our needs in terms of specifications. Also, the camera has the ability to create photo and video records of good quality. We selected based on research - action in the exodus of photo equipment and through visits to sites where they can find the catalogs. With selected intermediaries to have a positive shopping experience and therefore we decided for them. Prices cameras can be viewed at this link.
About project:
  1. Within the framework of the meeting which took place in East Sarajevo, on 6th of December, among other activities planned for 2017, idea for this project was presented. Wikimedians accepted it and selected project team worked on the preparation of project documentation via Skype. We invited other Wikimedians to support the project through Endorsements on the project page. Some have already done so. Due to the specifics of the project, we have not provided public with information and details about the project so far because we did not know whether it will be approved or not. Certainly we intend to, in addition to the site, social networks and blogs, share information on Wikipedia and invite broader Wikipedia community to support the project and share their ideas or propose articles and thematic areas that are underrepresented on Wikipedia due to lack of proper literature.
  2. We believe that this is one of the projects that can provide the elimination of variables variables and reduce the risks that may arise during the implementation (poor response of participants, etc.). We believe that in future we will be able to expand and improve the project so that we will include a number of institutions and a large number of participants in the realization, over a longer period of time. This would have a positive impact on the quality and quantity of content uploaded to one of the Wikimedia projects.
  3. Because of the poor economic situation and high unemployment, the culture of volunteerism in our country is not satisfactory. We invest a lot of effort to engage and motivate as many volunteers as possible. So far we've managed that, and we hope that it will be so in the future. This project is special because the ambassadors, in addition to direct work in an institution that will last up to 6 hours a day - twice a week, depending on the area to be treated, they will work on the project at home daily. We have listed the activities that will be carried out during two months and that activities takes a lot of time, from preparation to realization of concrete activities. We want to reward and motivate those ambassadors for the time and effort that will be inserted. The average salary in the Republic of Srpska is about EUR 500. We have listed the symbolic sum of EUR 100 per month. Administrators will have the dual responsibility - in addition to the contract with the VMF they will have certain obligations towards the institution where he will perform the above activities, in accordance with the requirements and regulations of the institution. Symbolic payment of this work will contribute to the awareness and administrators to the realization seriously and in the most professional way possible.
  4. Workshops will be implemented in the school, a workshop topics will be media yet that is hard to find online sources. School and city libraries will provide literature available in physical form, but they do not have a sufficient number of copies to all participants received the materials needed for the work. It will therefore be necessary to copy materials to use. On that occasion, shall take due account of copyright law.
  5. The monthly price packages in which they are contained and internet phone calls is 17 euros. Each administrator will have travel expenses during the implementation of the project up to 15E per month, for a period of 2 months, in addition, it will be necessary to formally communicate with the institutions, through a letter, for which postage cost up to 10 euros. We counted (17 + 15)х3 = 96 х 2(months)=192 + 10 = 202. We reduce the overall value of 24.75%, considering that we have so many telephone costs.--Bojana Wiki PG (talk) 20:04, 12 February 2017 (UTC)Reply

Funded at 792 EUR (no project management fees)

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Thank you for the detailed responses, Bojana. We appreciate how well thought-out your proposal is, and the work that you have put into planning this project. It is also great to see that the school is donating space, and is supportive of your work. It sounds as if you have made good provisions for storing and lending out the camera, and that your community will be able to make good use of this equipment. We encourage you to set up a category where you can record images that are captured by the camera, so that we can better understand the benefits of funding this equipment over time (beyond the duration of this project).

We rarely fund project management fees through Rapid Grants, and we will not fund them in this case. While we understand that you have some good reasons for requesting these fees, given the challenges with the local volunteer culture and economy, we are concerned about providing 600 EUR for three people to do project management for a project of this scale. We are also concerned about the precedent that funding this request would sets for small volunteer-run projects through Rapid Grants, most of which do not require paid project management. If you can still do your project without paid project managers, we can fund your grant at 392 EUR for project expenses and 400 EUR for your camera request, or a total of 792 EUR. If you do not believe you can complete the project without paid project management, you may prefer to withdraw your request.

Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 19:23, 13 February 2017 (UTC)Reply