Wikimedia Ghana User Group/Volunteer Welfare Program

Volunteer Welfare Program

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People are at the core of what we do.

For over seven years, in the absence of paid staff, volunteers have run Wikimedia Ghana User Group. Volunteers get reimbursements for expenses made, travel opportunities to conferences and also benefit from the Wikimedia Foundation's hardware program. However, there is no voluntary welfare program for volunteers in times of need like job loss, grief, robbery, illness and so on. We want to change that.

Volunteer Stories

This year alone, the user group recorded stories of volunteers in inopportune situations. Our facilitator for an event lost his gadgets which were key to organising his upcoming editathon. We have volunteers who are facing unemployment. A translator lost his sister who lived with him recently, and that difficult time was also the peak of our WikiProject Migration. He insisted on finishing his work regardless of the family emergencies because our partners were counting on volunteers to complete the project. We have a student who couldn't pay his fees, yet, ironically, he'll be leading efforts to bring Wikipedia to schools this year. And his fees are not even much.

While members will admit that there's a lot of pressure having any leadership or volunteer duties in this community of ours, we don't discuss the toll it takes on our mental health. These are the few instances of the life of the volunteers from whom we expect so much.

Welfare Program

We are proposing a welfare system for volunteers within this group. Some of the difficulty that volunteers face may have nothing or everything to do with the hours they donate to the group. Hence, we will decide its shape and form together. We can also pick inspiration from the movement on how Wikimedians help eachother.

In Ghana, welfare usually refers to efforts like making contributions to donate to a group member, attending funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies etc. We can consider those. However we can also push past the boundary of what a Ghanaian welfare system looks like, to one that works for a Wikimedian community.

Piloting Initiatives

These initiatives have been listen here to be able to use the talk pages for discussion. However, more information is available via wmgh.org.

Free Knowledge Free Data – Data Scholarships

As part of Wikimedia Ghana User Group's Ghana Edits Wikipedia (#GhanaEditsWikipedia) activities, we hold offline workshops and edit-a-thon to improve the content on wikis and also train and engage editors.

In 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to move our activities online. The move means volunteers and editors who would generally have access to free internet at events no longer have that incentive.

With support from Wikimedia Foundation grants team, currently, Wikimedia Ghana User Group will reimburse selected editors for their data expenses till Wikimedia lifts restrictions on offline events.

For more details on eligibility and Terms and Conditions please visit wmgh.org.

Local hardware program

Not available yet