East Africa Strategy Summit 2019/Outcomes

Date and Location

Date: 07 - 08 September 2019
Location: Protea Hotel Kampala, Uganda

Participant List

No	First Name	Last Name	Country	Affiliation
1	Abel	Lifaefi Mbula	Kinshasa, DRC	Usergroup
2	Yves	Sefu Madika	Kinshasa, DRC	Usergroup
3	Fidel	Liesse Otolau	Kinshasa, DRC	Usergroup
4	Marie-Louise	Aembe Nzale	Kinshasa, DRC	Usergroup
5	Faith	Mwanyolo	Nairobi, Kenya	Wikimedian Leader
6	Mary Anna	Sadimba	Nairobi, Kenya	Wikimedian - New volunteer
7	Teri	Wanderi	Nairobi, Kenya	Wikimedian - New volunteer
8	June	Akhwale	Nairobi, Kenya	Wikimedian- New
9	Winnie	Kabintie	Nairobi, Kenya	New
10	Carole	Theuri	Nairobi, Kenya	CC Committee lead
11	Antoni	Mtavangu	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Usergroup
12	Elizabeth Joseph	Kaduma	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Usergroup
13	Pellagia	Njau	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Usergroup
14	Fortunate S.	Kayuni	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	CC Leader
15	Emmanuel	Malongo	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	CC Global Council
16	Clement	Makangabila Masele	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Usergroup
17	Ebenezer	Mlay	Kilimanjaro, Tanzania	Usergroup
18	Aristarik H.	Maro	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	CC Chapter Lead
19	Brenda	Geofrey	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Wikimedian - New
20	Gilbert	Ndihokubwayo	Bujumbura, Burundi	Wikimedian (volunteer)
21	Ghislain	Favina	Bujumbura, Burundi	OSM Leader
22	Ella	Mahoro	Bujumbura, Burundi	OSM Leader
23	Derrick	Ndahiro	Kigali, Rwanda	Wikimedian - Newer
24	Boris	Bahire Kabeja	Kigali, Rwanda	CC Leader
25	Jane	Umutoni	Kingali, Rwanda	Wikimedian - Newer
26	Juliette	Karitaniyi	Kigali, Rwanda	Wikimedian - Newer
27	Jeannette Rebecca	Nyinawumuntu	Kigali, Rwanda	OSM Leader
28	Grace	Nyakanini	Kigali, Rwanda	Women empowerment; ICT4D
29	Iddy	John	Dar es saalam, Tanzania	Usergroup
30	Nebiyu	Sultan	Addis, Ethopia	CC Leader
31	Felix	Nartey	Accra, Ghana	Special invite - WG member
32	Bwanika	Veronica	Kampala, Uganda	Translation/Usergroup
33	Steven	Bukulu	Mbarara, Uganda	Usergroup
34	Ivan Matthias	Mulumba	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup
35	Erina	Mukuta	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup - WG member
36	Alice	Kibombo	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup
37	Geoffrey	Kateregga	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup
38	Sandra	Aceng	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup
39	Kwagala	Primah	Kampala, Uganda	CC Chapter Lead
40	Brian	Ssennoga	Kampala, Uganda	CC Global Council
41	Ivan	Ssenkungu	Kampala, Uganda	Usergroup
42	Doreen	Mwesigye	Kampala, Uganda	Facilitator/WMF
43	Esther	Owido	Nairobi, Kenya	Facilitator/WMF
44	Douglas	Ssebaggala	Kampala, Uganda	WMF
45	Kelsi	Stine-Rowe	United States	WMF

Program Agenda

Linked here

Event Summary

Friday, September 6, 2019

The Friday evening activities offered an important opportunity for early-arriving participants to meet one another in an informal setting for icebreakers and personal introductions. Participants shared their name, volunteer organization affiliation, favorite media program, and hopes for the event.

The evening program wrapped up with a Q&A session led by WMF staff member Kelsi Stine-Rowe, who gave a brief introduction to the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia movement. Participant questions focused on capacity building, movement communication opportunities, affiliate structures, audio/visual content translation, interfacing with Creative Commons, and Wikimedia 2030. This session also included a brief presentation about the new Wikimedia Space platform. Afterward, participants enjoyed dinner at the hotel buffet and prepared for the following day’s program.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Saturday morning began with late arrival participants introduce themselves to the group, and participants sharing their hopes and expectations from the event. Common themes included bringing together the East African region, spreading awareness of Wikimedia and free knowledge in East Africa, learning about Wikimedia and Creative Commons projects, and community growth. Participants came eager to participate and build new relationships over the course of the weekend.

After an icebreaker where participants were randomly split into groups (with the exception of French speakers) who sat and discussed what the concept of “free knowledge” meant to them. Each group shared their conclusions, which focused on understanding “free” in terms of cost, access, neutrality, and creation.

The group then came back together for an all-conference session led by Kelsi Stine-Rowe about the Wikimedia movement and the Wikimedia 2030 movement strategy process. Staff and volunteer leaders from around the room, including working group member and former Wikimedian of the Year Felix Nartey, WMF staff member Douglas Ssebaggala, Tanzanian volunteer leaders Antoni Mtavangu and Iddy John, and Uganda volunteer leader Geoffrey Kateregga.

Following this, participants undertook a “See, Hear, Feel” activity where they were asked to envision what this vision of free knowledge would tangibly look like in their country in the year 2030.

The final activity for the day brought participants into small groups of each country, who then worked on identifying what changes would be needed in their country to achieve this vision. As a wrap up, Douglas Ssebaggala presented more information about the Wikimedia 2030 movement strategy timeline and thematic areas. Participants reflected to one another that they felt both happy and exhausted to have done so much shared thinking and to have had the opportunity to connect with one another across countries and toward a shared purpose. Dinner took place at Khana Khazana, a local restaurant for Indian food, where participants were joined by representatives from local partner organizations.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

On the last day of the summit, participants took a deep dive into the various thematic areas of the 2019 strategy process. The morning began with a “RadioWiki” energizer led by Iddy John and volunteer event photographer Steve Bukulu before transitioning into a review of the themes by Douglas Ssebaggala. Then it was time for an activity to build “strategy canoes”, what should our priorities be as East African Wikimedians under each thematic area? Where do we need to focus and grow, and what should be deprioritized?

Over the course of the afternoon, participants then focused on a few high-priority thematic areas and rotated between four hosted tables for a “World Cafe” to learn more about the current state of movement strategy recommendations under Partnerships/Advocacy (Douglas Ssebaggala), Roles & Responsibilities/Diversity (Erina Mukuta, working group member), Resource Allocation/Revenue Streams (Felix Nartey), and Capacity Building (Kelsi Stine-Rowe). At each table, facilitators led discussions around likes, dislikes, gaps, fit with the strategic direction, and impact on the East African community.

At the end of the day, reflections were shared back with the group and participants returned to in-country groups, where they developed commitments for after the summit and reflections to share with the group. Participants were tired, but in high spirits and eager to carry forth their visions for free knowledge in the region. A dinner with local partners took place at nearby BBQ restaurant The Lawns.

Key Activity Summary

Strategy Canoe Activity

Theme	Strategy Canoe Idea (s)
Diversity	Desire for representation in terms of different languages, heritage, performative arts, audio and knowledge within Africa Exchange programs, conference calls between communities to improve diversity
Roles and Responsibilities	Local and regional representation, defined structure of governance consideration on global committees/levels, and WMF Election of leaders, assigning roles based on strengths
Community Health	Inclusion, diversity: consideration of minority groups.e.g. Persons With Disabilities Participatory decision making, transparency and having an insured health environment to speak Having a structure and rewards system for volunteers for mentorship of newcomers and guiding them on the right path Collaboration between communities should be instituted and increase e.g. schools, cultural institutions
Product and Technology	Algorithms/AI, improvement with software to ease accessibility Creating tech for newbies, people with special needs, easy to use software, Mobile and offline editing
Resource Allocation	Allocating resources for awareness about the resources that exist, capacity building, access. People don’t know what’s out there and how to access them, advocate for open government data set initiatives Allocate resources for global priorities (such as an oral citation project for Africa) Transparency and trust: Financing of local groups who should be encouraged to have a well laid out plan of the activities the resources are intended for so there is no conflict arising when it comes to priorities/activities
Capacity Building	General STRONG desire for monitoring, recognition, capacity building support, recruitment & training of trainers, self assessment
Partnerships	Partnerships with Academia, media, government, and information institutions/organisations/diplomatic missions (GLAM)
Revenue Streams	Allow User Groups to do their own fundraising If WMF supports free knowledge platforms, but it prefers to partner with internet service providers to get Wikimedia for free (Wikimedia Zero). Increase these partnerships and revenue, through ads.
Advocacy	Global media exposure Funding to support national advocacy, public trust, WMF legal support, formulating and implementing laws

World Cafe: Community Recommendations

Sessions to gather more in-depth participant feedback in the highest interest thematic areas by a walkthrough of the existing recommendations and then gathering participant input by Theme

WG Recommendations		Community Feedback
Partnerships	#1 - Link	A Framework that Supports Partnerships
	The recommendation aligns with the Strategic Direction, but there needs to be coordinated and clear memorandum of understanding between partnering organisations. Can lead to positive results of community health to implement projects better, and can help different free knowledge players join the effort for free knowledge.
	#5 - Link	Define priorities for partnerships to cover key aspects of building the free knowledge ecosystem
	More focused on large institutions as opposed to smaller ones, and does not define a legal framework, long or short term partnerships. The recommendation gives direction on who to approach, and why
	#6 - Link	A single point of entry for partners to engage with Wikimedia
	Locks out opportunities for localisation, decentralisation, and implementation of policies. Simplifies on boarding of strategic partners, and eliminates repetitive administration work for local groups so they can focus more on implementation
Advocacy	#2 - Link	Community actively seeks and provides a good environment and tailored pathways that attracts more people (professionals and volunteers) from a variety and diversity of languages and cultural backgrounds to engage in advocacy for Wikimedia on a local or global level.
	The recommendation doesn’t go beyond culture and language. It should emphasise free knowledge and not Wikimedia. It’s community driven, and recognises the integration of diverse people, can be easily prioritised by affiliates.
Revenue Streams	General Input
		Independent funding and less reliance on WMF Funds to have more relationships, partnerships, skill building, local ownership of brands . Misplaced priority for Africa, as many African communities are focused on community development and sustainability.
Resource Allocation	#E - Link	Build Thematic hubs – to provide services to the free knowledge movement long term
	Lots of people felt that WMF is disembodied, or sets an agenda that ignores local context (thematic hubs would increase active participation and allow people to set local agendas) A clearly defined agenda with support will help faster development of emerging communities, and ownership of implementation. There might not be good metrics to evaluate impact, and management where hubs exist
	#H - Link	Allocate resources to new types of partners/organisations (essential infrastructure of the free knowledge ecosystem)
	There are limited resources and programs within the movement. Other people can make use of these limits to do better than the movement. There will be an expansion for the pool of people, resources, skills and capacity building from the synergies created out of this recommendation. General concerns about how the design of implementation will be, without any pitfalls.
Capacity Building	#1 - Link #2 - Link #6 - Link	Building Capacity for Capacity Building Matching human assets and online knowledge resources with capacity building needs Mentoring and leadership development
	Need for a well developed curriculum for the training of trainers. Supportive, especially when mentorship is grounded in exchange visits, feedback and in-person awareness. Generally supportive of these three recommendations
	#7 - Link	Online Training
	Supportive especially for communities interested in starting User Groups, and having training resources in local languages, translation, subtitles. It’s also assumed to be cost and time effective. Suggestion to combine online training with in-person coaching, mentoring and certification to avoid cultural, technology, and other accessibility limits like hardware, bandwidth, disability limitations.
	#9 - Link	Recognizing and Supporting Individuals
	General interest in recognition and rewards system to involve hardware, data, endorsements, besides cash. And should be individually determined not Country based.
	#10 - Link	Independently governed Capacity Building ‘Unit’
	We need a centralized body that prioritizes different capacity building needs and figures out how to build the structures. Less emphasis given on the need for independence from the Foundation
	Other general comments and gaps
	GAPS Need to address capacity building needs of people with disabilities. Belief that you need to have a User Group establish before WMF moves in with capacity building efforts so that you have something to build on (it’s difficult for individual users to advance without an existing User Group. Want to get a user group started, but the interested volunteers don’t always meet the editing requirements. Maybe this should change - you will have the volunteer base but just not the edit count. Maybe there are useful ways to leverage partnerships to help with capacity building Broad support for a curriculum, and ranking for people to self-assess and build skills. GENERAL All these capacity building activities would increase awareness of wikimedia, which is strongly prioritized and desired in East Africa Developing curriculum, certification, membership, etc. could really help drive volunteer numbers in some countries (culturally salient approach in East Africa) People really like seeing their own ranking, progress and doing local challenges Not all tech functions from English Wikipedia work in Swahili Wikipedia, like templates and toolbox. There should therefore be specific capacity building activities to train developers in Swahili, local languages to develop it. (maybe can make standardized tools? Better customizing?)
Diversity	#3 - Link #7 - Link #8 - Link	Redesigning the platforms for more diversity of people and content experiences Decentralized administrative structure for resource allocation Bridging different local contexts and Wikimedia projects' notability and verifiability policies
	Content diversity metrics and guidelines: Marginalized groups should be specified better in the recommendation Sometimes statistics are not the best indication of what is missing and what gaps there are Digitization and resource prioritization of marginalized groups The oral aspect is important so marginalised groups are not left out Quotas for governing bodies How these quotas should be filled is not quite clear. Even if you do 40/40/20, where should the 40/40/20 come from, regional bodies? and how to define it. Notability and reliable sources Difficult to find sources for some of the information because its not covered online. The policies put in place here would be very beneficial for the African community BUT it should be done by regional hubs because globally, someone say in Russia might not know what is notable in my area (so notability should be defined regionally, Create country specific reviewers of articles, work with education institution and give authentic information amidst what is received. WikiOral Awareness about the project is low. It’s something that can help protect undocumented languages, so generally welcomed idea Some felt that this was a tech solution and not something that needs to have a lot of volunteer time/resources
Community Health	#1 - Link	A joint set of rules we all agree to live by (a.k.a. Code of Conduct)
	Code of Conduct would really help bring commitment and professionalism. It would make what someone should/should not do very clear. Good to have ground rules as a point of reference for action. Unclear who the custodian for the CoC should be: Community Consultations should be done around how to do this well and who is accountable.

Country Commitments

Country	National level	Regional level
DRC	Hosting our upcoming Strategy Salon to talk about Diversity. Implement the same projects in a different way, Same model as has been done in this Summit	Increased partnership in East African communities to help share knowledge, information, and strategies in a sustained and continuous way. Based on lessons learnt from the East Africa strategy summit, share ideas with different people in different countries to see each community rise.
Burundi	Create a Wikimedia community Usergroup Reflection - before coming we were not connected with one another. Now we are and this is something to build on. We will talk to the people and different organisations around us about Wikimedia to help grow our group. We will actively create awareness for Wikimedia and its projects and thus bring new volunteers on board, and help them understand the benefits of writing articles to schools. We can also go to lectures and clubs for writing articles together. Acknowledge that each person can contribute in a different way and will be encouraged to contribute according to their strength(s) and skills - leaders, writers,software engineers, etc.	Propose an annual meeting such as this for interaction, regional development, sharing experiences, and cooperation. Try and keep abreast of events within the region to contribute meaningfully.
Uganda	Build more collaboration with other Open Knowledge communities in the country. ICT Association of Uganda: make sure open knowledge and our activities become part of their agenda. One member has committed to this specifically. Make longer term goals as a group: 5-10 year plans, not just annual. Increase local content about Uganda and by Ugandans on Wikipedia and other projects See Wikipedia developed in other local languages beyond Swahili, Luganda, KiliRwanda (and also promote these last three) Trigger a meeting between all open communities in Uganda (open data, CC, linux, etc.) for collaboration	More regular East African meetups (annual or biannual), an online monthly meetup “East African Hour” using Zoom or Skype with rotating hosting, teaching, presenting, so other countries can learn from each other. Last Saturday of every month at a set hour. Greater East African representation at Wikimania and WikiIndaba Commitment to support the development of more User Groups in the region Promote the growth and contribution to local language Wikipedias in the region (Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Swahili) to promote adequate access Extend a helping hand to emerging communities especially in capacity building
Ethiopia	Building a usergroup back home and a community (we met and connected together here for the first time, got to know about other Wikimedians in Ethiopia) Will focus first on other active Wikimedians, university students, training those interested (GLAM is a potential first focus topic)	Support for East African monthly meeting idea
Tanzania	Share lesson learnt from the summit Increase capacity building (new regions, schools, other parts of the country that are not in Dar-es-Salaam Increase new domestic partnerships (institutions, Government agencies) brainstorm new projects, be innovative for our own projects to cover missing content in Tanzania (existing projects are just being supported and not owned)	Collaborate with other User Groups and Wikimedians to create a strong East African Usergroup/Community
Kenya	Create guidelines, templates, and tutorials (make them) so our edits won't’ be taken down so regularly. Increase awareness (through editathons, talks in schools) Identify successful contributors through #1-2 figure out permanent members, and build a meaningful relationship with them.. Create processes and structures that will eventually lead to application for User Group status. Apply for funding	session was highly necessary. Kenya is weakest as East Africa Wikimedia community. Good to see/learn examples from others in the region. Yes to a regional conference! Host such a conference, erase the past scandal.
Rwanda	Structuring an official UG by defining responsibilities amongst ourselves based on strengths (some are bloggers, editors, different strengths). Open different social media platforms (Facebook page, meta, etc.) Capacity building: beginning with us to get more knowledge and become trainers of trainers Initiative new projects that are focused on awareness raising about wikimedia beyond Wikipedia.	More organization of annual regional summits like this one, but rotating between country hosts. (Hosting you in Kigali 2 years to come) Organizations of online conference seminars between countries on specific topics Increased collaboration between member countries so none are left behind (help each other to grow together) Reflection: special thanks to uganda UG. We gained new knowledge about what wikimedia is/how it works. Have an understanding about the Foundation (Wikimedia vs Wikipedia, no confusion, a lot of knowledge was gained which will be shared with others in Rwanda. Summit helped us expand our networks and connections in the different countries.

Special Thanks

The Core Team would like to give special thanks to the following individuals:

Geoffrey Kateregga, our organizing partner from the Uganda user group, whose tireless efforts on all levels of planning and logistics were essential to the event’s completion and success.
Alice Kibombo and Sandra Aceng, both volunteers from the Uganda user group, for leading the vital and often exhausting task of capturing notes and key ideas throughout the event. Your work has helped document the thoughtful discussions and meaningful connections that the event produced.
Steve Bukulu, our volunteer event photographer, whose initiative and quick work enabled us to livestream much of the event on Facebook and capture the weekend’s activities in high quality photos that were edited and shared with a quick turnaround. His work was assisted by Tanzanian user group volunteer Iddy John, whose photography skills and organizational assistance helped the event move smoothly.
Doreen Mwesigye and Esther Owido, our excellent facilitators, whose thoughtful planning, energizing icebreakers, and skilled flexibility during the event helped carry the event forward gracefully and with a sense of community warmth.
Felix Nartey, former Wikimedian of the Year, WMF contractor, and participant on the Resource Allocation working group who travelled all the way from Ghana to guide, support, and inspire participants throughout the event.
Erina Mukuta, Ugandan user group member and participant on the Roles & Responsibilities working group, whose content knowledge and community leadership made a meaningful contribution throughout the event.
Country Wikimedia volunteer leaders who reached out to their members (Faith Mwanyolo (Kenya), Antoni Mtavangu (Tanzania), Abel Mbula (DRC), Ndahiro Derrick (Rwanda), Nebiyu Sultan (Ethiopia), Abdulahi, (Somalia - despite not making it to the event, thank you for the commitment and willingness to join the Strategy discussions)

Link to full notes

See

Link to images

Available on Wikimedia Commons.

Discussion on the priorities for Implementation in 2021

Some of the regional affiliates had a call on 21 October 2020 to follow up Movement Strategy, exchange ideas and share information for organising local community events to prioritise the recommendations for implementation.