Grants:Conference/WikiConference India 2023

statusfunded

WikiConference India 2023

WikiConference India 2023 is a national conference in India for Wikimedia users, language communities, affiliates, and other stakeholders from India and other South Asian Countries as well. The conference will be hosted in Hyderabad, India, in April 2023.

targetWikimedia projects in all Indic languages, which include (but not limited to) -- Assamese, Bengali, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Doteli, Goan Konkani, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, and Urdu. In addition to these, English language Wikimedia projects and also multilingual projects such as Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.

strategic priorityCapacity development

amount-local₹9,181,521.25

amount$115,411.92

typeGroup of Wikimedians

nonprofitYes (IIIT Hyderabad who is a co-organizer)

creator• Nivas10798

contact• nivas10798

gmail.com• kasyap.p@gmail.com

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Event overview

Purpose and vision

WikiConference India (WCI) aims to bring Wikimedia community members across India and other Indic communities from the South Asia region to improve cross-community connections and exchange knowledge and experience. Though the various Indic communities are conducting various outreach and growth activities, there is a need to come together as a nation and a region to strategize and take the movement forward. In the past, we have had the first WikiConference in 2011 in Mumbai, followed by 2016 in Chandigarh, and the next one is proposed to take place in 2023 in Hyderabad. Since 2016, communities in India have grown in various ways, such as the number of contributors, diversity of contributors, content on Wikimedia projects, governance, movement organizers, and regional and national projects/events. All this has contributed to significant learning by various community members, communities and affiliates, which now need to be brought together into a single platform, to share and learn from each other. WCI is the platform that we are proposing to connect and consolidate the links between a diversity of learning and sharing experiences.

The broad goals of WikiConference India 2023 are:

to promote, develop, strengthen, and support the collaboration between Wikimedia users, projects, communities, affiliates, and stakeholders in the region.
to support sharing the knowledge, experience and best practices among participants, and offer a space to improve their skills, discuss persistent issues and cherish each other’s work.
to support the growth of smaller communities by connecting them with experienced Wikimedians, established communities and affiliates.
to document the learning from various activities, which include projects, campaigns, events, etc. by various community members in the past four years, for later use.
to strategize for the next few years, on how we can together shape up the movement in India and contribute to the growth of the South Asia region at large.

The specific goals of WikiConference India 2023 are:

To bring our community together after a gap of over 5 years to connect, celebrate and collaborate on our achievements and plans for the future.
to lay the foundation to make WCI a sustainable practice for Indic Wikimedians, which would take place at least bi-annually.
to engage communities by conducting a content creation campaign, towards the conference months, focusing on producing quality local content rather than quantity.
to initiate, facilitate, and materialize conversations that would help form a sustainable cross-community platform, which would serve as a support and advocacy group for Wikimedia in India.
to well document A-Z of planning and execution of the entire project, to serve as a substantial resource for future organizers of WCI or any other major conference in the movement.
to understand the specific technical needs of Wikimedians contributing to Indic and other relevant multilingual projects, and post-prioritization, make sure that these are addressed through a robust hackathon plan.
to introduce and welcome external stakeholder groups aligned with Wikimedia's vision to the movement activities and communities in India, for further collaborations.

Do you consider this to be a Regional; Thematic or Growth event? You can read more about each category.

Regional

Is it a Remote, or in-person event?

In-person event (with hybrid participation)

Important details

Please add key information to the table below. The dates, location and number of participants can be estimates and do not need to be finalized at this time.

Proposed date(s)	28, 29, and 30 April 2023
Proposed location	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Number of participants	200-250
Event page	TBD
Primary contact person	Nivas Ramisetty Kasyap

Background

Community input

	Description	Priority
Strategic discussions: What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person?	Creating awareness about Wikimedia projects through better outreach efforts Forming a central platform to support and advocate for the movement’s needs in India Ways to involve other stakeholders related to the Wikimedia movement in India such as GLAMs, internet communities, etc.	High
Capacity development: Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn?	Building sustainable partnerships Outreach and Awareness Activities. Leadership Development Research literacy; quality content creation Technical skills Writing user scripts and gadgets Developing bots Developing Lua-based templates	High
Working groups: Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person?	Creation of a central platform/structure for India, which will support community growth and function according to the movement’s needs in India.	Medium
Community building: Are there other in-person activities are important for community building?	Forming long-lasting connections with Wikimedians from other communities, for further collaboration. Sessions and group work to boost community collaboration and team building	High

Survey analysis:

1. How many people did you send the survey to? How many people responded to the survey?

A total of 58 community members participated in the survey, of which 45 (77.6%) were males and 11 (19%) were females, while one respondent was from LGBTTQQIAAP+ and one member identified themselves as non-binary. All the respondents answered all the quantitative questions. It is observed that very few have skipped open-ended questions; however, such respondents are insignificant in number.

2. Did you see consensus around shared goals that this community wants to focus on in the next 12 months? What were the top 2 goals?

Firstly, this is a convening moment for various communities who work on different projects, languages, regions, and focus areas to come together and shape common priorities for the future. But, we have the following themes that have emerged during various conversations and discussions.
- Quality Regional Content: Those who work on regional languages feel that there should be more emphasis on creating quality content on regional languages, rather than quantity, which has been in practice for a long time. Apart from this, the communities are also concerned about new editors and they want to learn and discuss recruiting new editors and work on capacity building of the groups, and want to learn about the Wikimedia projects from others.
- Newcomers Outreach and Experience: Also, onboarding new Wikipedians is important according to the Wikimedians and every Wikimedian has his/her/their own experience, one of the Wikimedian raised concern cum suggestion, “The communities in the subcontinents suffer from a lack of workforce but our youth are doing amazing in the other fields rather than Wikimedia. If we can tap into the unending power source of the youth, things may turn upside down”. This is important in the case of Wikipedians who contribute in regional languages as the number of contributors is less and the demand is huge due to the rapid increase in people’s access to the Internet, and the need for content in their native languages.

3. Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve those goals?

Based on the survey, capacity development and skill development should be prioritized more than any other aspects during the conference. It was felt by many that it would be good to learn such skills by meeting other Wikimedians and forming sustainable connections, which can later be followed up if needed. Apart from that, many editors who largely contribute content to Wikimedia projects felt the need to improve their technical skills, such as using the Phabricator and templates on Wikis. Also, community members have reported various aspects of various problems they face, be it while contributing online or while organizing outreach and being part of governing structures, the conference should be providing enough time and space for people to discuss more on these issues and brainstorm on potential solutions, which can later be materialized.

Context

Jimmy Wales at WikiConference India 2011

WikiConference India 2016

Hindi Wikisammelan 2019

1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?

First and foremost- It has been more than six years since the last regional conference. For a country like India, which has more than 20 language communities and thematic groups, cross-community collaborations are very crucial for skill sharing and thereby contributing to capacity building and community development. Through collaborations are made online, in a majority of the cases, cross-community connections are made during in-person events, which have Wikimedians from various languages and projects. The national conference for the Wikimedia community in India, WikiConference India (WCI) is important to facilitate and forge cross-community links. Also, there is a need for community members from across the diversity we have, to come together in person, learn, share and brainstorm on a range of topics. These discussions would not otherwise be possible given the communication barrier that on-Wiki conversations generally have. The last WCI happened in 2016, and there has been any national-level event of that scale since then. Apart from laying a foundation for many cross-community connections, WCI 2016 also groomed several leaders in the community, who have later led several activities across the country.
Initially, the idea had been discussed with other community members and language communities -- including the proposal that WCI 2020 be hosted in Hyderabad, Telangana. To get a primary understanding of the community’s interest and opinion regarding the idea, initial conversations were started. After substantial support, which includes 92 Wikimedians and 14 language communities (post having discussions on their respective village pumps) endorsing the idea, a national IRC was hosted in October 2019 to address concerns/doubts people might have had, which was followed by a formal resolution from Wikimedians of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to host the conference. All the above-mentioned discussions and proceedings are documented on this page and its talk page. Post conclusion of the initial conversations, which gave us the confidence that the community is quite interested and supportive of the idea, we have started proceeding with the actual planning of the event.

An ongoing group discussion at Train the Trainer 2018

Wikidata workshop by Asaf Bartov in Pune

2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?

The first WikiConference India took place in 2011 in Mumbai and the second WCI, and also the latest one took place in 2016 in Chandigarh, and we are proposing the next one to take place in 2020 in Hyderabad. As mentioned above, considering the period from 2016, there has been substantial growth in many communities. A large number of activities had been organized by communities and individual Wikimedians, at the regional and national level. At regional and community level, we have witnessed annual community events such as Hindi Wikipedia Conference, Tamil Wikipedia Celebrations, Wiki-sangamotsavam etc. outreach and community development activities such as, Telugu Wikipedia Village Articles Project, Government of Odisha’s media donation, collaborations with organisations such as Gujarat Vishw Kosh Trust, Tamil Virtual Academy, Alva's Wikipedia Student's Association, Wikimedian in Residence at SEABA School, VVIT WikiConnect, and national/cross-community activities such as Wikigraphists Bootcamp, Women Train the Trainer, SVG Translation Campaign, Wiki Women for Women Wellbeing, Independence Day Wikidata Label-a-thon, to name a few, all of which have been organised by volunteers. There have also been activities as Asaf’s Wikidata Tour, in which Wikimedians and CIS-A2K took part to organize multiple regional events across the country, which had a significant impact on the Wikidata community in India. Apart from the ones organized communities, CIS-A2K also organized some notable activities such as Train the Trainer and Project Tiger (GLOW), by collaborating with communities wherever needed.
All these events, projects, and campaigns have helped the communities to grow, build their capacities, and content on various Wikimedia projects, and further replicate ideas to contribute to the overall growth. Though there have been several national-level events and projects that happened post-2016, most of them have limited participation, and in a majority of the cases, they are theme/topic-specific. Also, in the past six years, the community (in the South Asia region) and also individual language-based communities have witnessed notable growth in various aspects. There have been several new projects, campaigns and events community members explored over these years. All this collectively contributes to enormous amounts of skill, knowledge, learning, and experience, which are to be shared with others and simultaneously learn. To bring all of this together into a platform that would help to develop a dialogue at the national level, WikiConference India is the best way ahead.

3. Do you have any Thematic or Regional committee or group? (Such as WISCom, CEE, Iberocoop, etc.)

No, but we hope that one of the outcomes of this conference would be the creation of a South Asia/SAARC Hub.

Plan

Venue and Logistics

1. Do you have any proposed venue for the event? If so, please share details (such as: how far is it from the airport or transportation hub; how close is it to the hotel, do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?)

The venue city is going to be Hyderabad, and the major transportation hub from which we are expecting the majority of the participants to arrive is the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. For arrivals, we will be hiring a cab/bus service depending on the need to shuttle between the hotel and the airport or transportation hubs such as the bus and railway station. If any participant doesn’t arrive within a certain period, they can opt for private cabs which are available 24/7 in the city to reach the hotel. A similar practice would be followed during the day of departures as well. This will help to move people in batches, reducing the logistical efforts and the costs incurred on airport transfers.
We would like to have the venue and the accommodation at the same place, as we learned from the previous conference. This would minimize the commutation during the conference days. Also, in Hyderabad, as it is in many of the major Indian cities if both the accommodation and the food are booked with the hotel, banquet halls/conference rooms are provided free of cost.
Hyderabad as a city offers the best infrastructure along with a rich heritage and culture, it is also known for its food and hospitality- hence ensuring all the attendees will have a comfortable experience.
Though we initially thought of having institutional partners for venue support, the idea has later been dropped after learning from the organizers of WCI 2016, regarding complicated bureaucratic procedures organizations have, and also since we will be getting banquet halls/conference rooms free of cost, there is no point in opting for a different venue. However, we would be extensively looking for institutional partners in other aspects of the conference, such as sponsorships, subject matter expertise (ex: sustainable practices), etc.

2. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?

Yes, we will make sure that the hotel, which includes the accommodation and the venue is accessible for people with physical disabilities. Different teams are being formed in the organization structure, which will also include the Diversity & Inclusion team, which will make sure the necessary arrangements for such things are in place for the conference.

3. Are you planning to outsource some of the services? For example - a travel agency, an event production service?

We are planning to hire an event manager for the conference and also receive organizing support from IIIT Hyderabad. We will also hire a person for First-aid and medical services during the event

Friendly space policy

We would like to adopt Wikimedia Foundation’s Universal Code of Conduct for the conference proceedings and the larger project activities.

Participation

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.

The target audience we are thinking of as now could be primarily divided into three broad categories -- participants from the Wikimedia movement, participants from other stakeholder groups aligned with the mission of Wikimedia, and participants who do not fit in the first two groups but are interested to participate in the conference. Though they would attempt to accommodate the participation of the third group as well, the conference program and the budgetary expenses would primarily focus on the participation of the first two groups.
The first group—participants from the Wikimedia movement—include, but are not limited to, Wikimedians and staffers of WMF + affiliates/partners. The second group—participants from other stakeholder groups aligned with the mission of Wikimedia—include, but are not limited to, people from open-source communities such as Creative Commons, Mozilla, internet-based organizations companies such as Google, Quora, and cultural and educational organizations such as GLAMs and NGOs working on access to education. The Program Committee will strongly consider designing a program that would blend these two groups well for sustainable growth of the movement in India. All these groups would largely have people from India, who connected or have/had closely worked with Indian Wikimedia communities, or in the larger settings of open access, access to knowledge, or the internet.

2. If your conference has an outreach component to also target non-wikimedian individuals or mission aligned institutions, can you explain your intention for this outreach (for example: how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects)?

The outreach component of the conference could be observed majorly in two aspects -- a content creation campaign that is to be organized leading the conference, and designing a program that would be quite welcoming and engaging to other stakeholders groups of Wikimedia.
The first component, a content generation campaign, will be based on the model of Punjab Edit-a-thon conducted during WCI 2016. However, the campaign for 2023 will encourage quality content by focusing on well-curated lists/categories for the campaign. For the second component, various stakeholders would be identified and the Program Committee will ensure that there would be at least a few sessions for people from these groups to participate in the conference. Besides, the Program Committee will include one or two experts from those groups to maintain a balance of opinion.
Regarding the post-conference plan, the content-generation campaign would be analyzed and reported upon. The option of regular IRCs (at least three iterations until six months of the conference) is being considered to engage the participants post-conference to understand how connections made during the conference are impacting their work. This would simultaneously be combined with two extensive surveys which are conducted two months and five months after the conference. These IRCs may also be kept open to other stakeholder groups so that they continue to engage with the movement.
Also, as mentioned above, one of the key goals of this conference is to facilitate the formation of a national platform/body, which would support and advocate for communities in India. If we are successful in achieving this, this group would be tasked to proactive follow up with ideas and projects that took birth as a result of this conference and support respective individuals in materializing those plans.

3. Are you thinking about collaborating with potential partners? Such as national; educational or thematic groups and organizations? If so, will this partnership be a financial one (such as sponsorship), or a visionary one (to collaborate in regards to the content of the event)? Please share some details if you have any.

IIIT Hyderabad will be a co-organizer of this conference.
We also plan to engage other FOSS organizations like Mozilla.

4. In which ways can Wikimedia Foundation staff support your event onsite? If you would like support, please list the different capacities in which we can support, or describe how you would like Wikimedia Foundation staff to be involved in the event. (Some examples of Wikimedia Foundation support or involvement might be: for outreach and communication efforts; to lead specific sessions; for legal or safety reasons, etc).

We would like all the WMF staffers (technical and non-technical) residing in India to participate in the conference. Many of the staff members in India especially the ones on the technical front are largely disconnected from the community, but their expertise will greatly benefit the community members’ work. We would like to bridge that gap.
Apart from the above mentioned, we would like to invite the following staff members. In areas that do not have specific individuals, we have mentioned the team names.

Individuals
- Maryana Iskander (WMF)
- 1 WMF Board of Trustees member
- Asaf (WMF)
- CSteigenberger (WMF)
- SSethi (WMF)
- MPaul (WMF)

~ 10 Wikimedia Foundation staff based in South Asia
Teams (apart from the above-mentioned)
- 1-2 members from Community Resources
- 2-3 members from Community Programs (distributed over GLAM, TWL, and Education)
- 1-2 members from Communications
- 1 member from Legal
- 2-3 members from Product/Technology (expertise on mobile platforms, tools.wmflabs.org, community wishlist

Scholarships

1. How many scholarships would you like to offer and what expenses will the scholarship cover?

The scholarships would be giving the following categories;

S.No.	Description	Number of units
1.	Wikimedians residing in the locations within 600 km radius of the event city(Hyderabad)	20
2.	Wikimedians residing in India	80
3.	Wikimedians residing in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka	10
4.	Invited individuals closely associated with the Indian Wikimedia community, but not residing in any of the above-mentioned regions	3
5.	Invited individuals working directly or indirectly with the Indic Wikimedia community and the wider FOSS movement	7

Apart from the scholarships awarded to Wikimedians, depending on the needs of the Program and upon consultation with the Program Committee, 5-10 individuals (experts, facilitators, etc.) nationally and internationally may be invited. This will also depend upon the budgetary constraints.

2. How will scholarship recipients be selected?

As answered the first question in this section, we will be awarding scholarships in four different categories -- decisions regarding the award of scholarships will be made by the volunteer-driven Scholarships Committee, after duly reviewing the quantitative and qualitative contributions, participation goals, and potential future engagement of an individual to the movement. Due consideration will also be given to the Diversity & Inclusion criteria laid out beforehand. This will include criteria over, languages, gender, home Wikimedia project, new vs experienced, etc. These will be decided before the call for scholarships is sent out. Final decisions will be made post discussion and approval from the respective Program Officer at WMF.
It is also to note that the scholarships process for Wikimedians outside India (categories 1, 3, & 4) may be initiated earlier than the call for the Wikimedians residing in India -- also, decision-making for the former will be prioritized, as we would be needing to reach out to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, and Cyberabad Metropolitan Police, for obtaining necessary permissions for foreigners to participate in the conference.

3. Do you plan to target or prioritize specific communities or participants?

We are planning to prioritize veteran and active online or offline Wikimedians, Project coordinators, language-based editors, activists in Wikimedia, and so on.

4. How will you insure diversity and inclusion in your scholarship process?

While we will focus on the online and offline contributions of the scholarship applicants to finalize the awardees, we will keep gender, regional, linguistic, and technical background in mind to ensure diverse participation. Additionally, we will be directly inviting certain individuals to ensure we have diverse participation. We will have Wikimedians from different Indic languages, geographies & gender. We will also be focusing on bringing in developers and researchers.

Resources and risks

Describe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.

Resources

Organizing team

Team	User Names
Core Organizing Team	Nitesh Gill Nivas Ramisetty Neechalkaran Kasyap
Wikimedia Foundation Liaison	Nivas Ramisetty
Logistics	Kasyap
Conference Program	Satdeep Gill
Trust & Safety	TBD
Scholarships	Nitesh Gill
Communications	Nivas Ramisetty
WMF Advisors	Praveen Das Rachit Sharma Satdeep Gill
Other volunteer coordinators	Krishna Chaitanya Velaga

Risks

Anticipated Risk	Probable measures to minimise the risks
Participation of foreign nationals which includes, scholarship recipients from neighbouring countries, Wikimedians living internationally, WMF staff, and other invitees, is not allowed by default by the Government of India. There is a mechanism to obtain necessary permissions to allow their participation, however, it involves some uncertainty which could hinder their participation in the conference.	Making necessary decisions to build a consolidated list of all such individuals along with their details on priority and forwarding it to the respective government ministries to seek permissions. Early action can greatly minimise and even eliminate this risk.
Members of the organising team back out at the last moment or delay tasks to be finished, causing overload and strain on other organisers, thereby leading to the burning out of volunteers involved.	In addition to making the time commitment per week clear to a person who signs up to be an organiser, making sure that the organising structure is robust enough in terms of teams, numbers, workflows and diversity so that none of the organisers feels burnout. Also, outsourcing (paid) tedious tasks for event management services would reduce a significant amount of load on volunteers.
The Conference program is not welcoming to newcomers and external stakeholders[lower-alpha 4] of Wikimedia.	By including at least 1-2 members with expertise from external stakeholders groups in the Program Committee to plan collaborative sessions and making sure at least 30% of the sessions are good for newcomers.
Participants are not engaged enough before the conference, which would waste a lot of time during the conference days to align themselves with the goals WCI is trying to achieve.	Early scholarship decisions and finalisation of participants to at least two months before the conference, combined with interacting and engaging with them via instant messaging groups such as Telegram, creating discussions on Wikimedia Space, and also through the content-creation campaign that is being planned as leading towards the conference.
The conference proceedings, including the sessions’ resource material, discussions and brainstorming conversations etc. are not well documented for later use and synthesizing -- which will, in turn, affect the sustainability of WCI.	For the conversations/discussions part, professional facilitators and note makers will be hired. Regarding sessions, it will be ensured that we have at least two volunteers for each room where the sessions are going on, where one would be tasked to record the sessions and the other to transcribe the talks. We are planning to partner with an educational organisation in Hyderabad for volunteers, who would be put through formal training for their tasks at the conference. Also, we will start gathering sessions’ resource material such as slides and readings before the conference dates.
The Diversity & Inclusion criteria decided for the conference may be at risk due to lack of applications for scholarships or participation, from certain groups. We have already witnessed a similar situation for the Community Engagement Survey.	The Scholarships Committee will also be tasked to proactively tasked to reach out to from groups who are underrepresented by regularly monitoring the received applications. The Communications team will make sure all the communities and diversity of groups are informed about the conference and its updates.
The larger community feeling disconnected with the ongoings of organising the conference, which might lead to concerns and further into scepticism. We have witnessed slightly during the process of drafting the grant proposal as well.	By forming the complete organising structure at the earliest possible after the grant funding decision from WMF, and exclusively assign the tasks of sending out of monthly updates to the community and answer any questions in that regard to two individuals from the communications team.

Budget

1 INR = 0.01257 USD (1 USD = 79.4041 INR); as on 15 September 2022 via https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/

Detailed budget table

Serial	Item description	Cost per unit	No. of units	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Category A: Travel
A1	Bus/train/flight charges for Wikimedians (scholarship recipients) residing in India	₹15,000.00	80	₹1,200,000.00	$15,084.00
A2	Flight fare for Wikimedians (scholarship recipients) residing in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka	₹30,000.00	10	₹300,000.00	$3,771.00
A3	Flight fare for Wikimedians (scholarship recipients) residing in regions not mentioned above - international	₹110,000.00	3	₹330,000.00	$4,148.10
A4	Bus/train/flight charges for additional invitees from across India	₹15,000.00	7	₹105,000.00	$1,319.85
A5	Bus/train/flight charges for members of the organizing team	₹12,000.00	16	₹192,000.00	$2,413.44
A6	Bus/train/flight charges for Wikimedians (scholarship recipients) residing in locations within a 600 km radius of the hosting city	₹2,500.00	20	₹50,000.00	$628.50
A7	Transportation and Venue charges for a cultural event	₹12,000.00	5	₹60,000.00	$754.20
A8	Other incidentals for scholarship recipients & organizers (local travel, food during travel, etc.) -- India	₹9,000.00	123	₹1,107,000.00	$13,914.99
A9	Other incidentals for scholarship recipients & organizers (local travel, food during travel, etc.) -- international	₹12,500.00	13	₹162,500.00	$2,042.63
A10	Travel booking agency	₹25,000.00	n/a	₹25,000.00	$314.31
A11	Visa charges for international scholarship recipients/invitees	₹5,000.00	10	₹50,000.00	$628.50
Total of "Category A: Travel"				₹3,581,500.00	$45,019.52

Serial	Item description	Cost per unit	No. of units	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Category B: Accommodation & Food
B1	Accommodation on a twin-sharing basis (for 4 nights)	₹24,000.00	70	₹1,680,000.00	$21,117.60	Total of 140 units include 80 scholarship recipients from India, 20 from neighboring states, 10 from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, 3 international recipients, 10 national invitees, and 16 organizers.
B2	Food and refreshments for scholarship recipients (3 meals & refreshments twice a day for all three days of the conference and one day of pre-conference)	₹6,550.00	156	₹1,021,800.00	$12,844.03
B3	Water dispensers and supply	₹6,500.00	5	₹32,500.00	$408.53
B4	Food and refreshments for volunteers from Hyderabad	₹5,550.00	20	₹111,000.00	$1,395.27	20 volunteers from the venue city Hyderabad to help guiding participants, assisting session leaders etc.
B5	Subsidization of food expenses for early bird and special registrations	₹5,550.00	50	₹277,500.00	$3,488.18
Total of "Category B: Accommodation & Food"				₹3,122,800.00	$39,253.60

Serial	Item description	Cost per unit	No. of units	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Category C: Event Logistics
C1	Rental of audiovisual devices (projectors, mikes, speakers, etc.)	₹5,000.00	20	₹100,000.00	$1,257.00
C2	Stationery (pens, charts, papers, printing, etc.)	₹5,000.00	n/a	₹5,000.00	$62.85
C3	Internet + WiFi Routers	₹45,000.00	n/a	₹45,000.00	$565.76	Though the hotel is expected to provide the internet, the participant count and the number of active devices on the venue may overload the network and slow it down. To avoid this, as the internet is quite crucial for many sessions, additional network support would be required for a smooth experience.
C4	Posters (for display by community members around the venue)	₹200.00	20	₹4,000.00	$50.28
C5	Souvenirs for presenters of cultural event and other related expenses	₹25,000.00	n/a	₹25,000.00	$314.25
C6	Standees (for poster session)	₹1,200.00	6	₹7,200.00	$90.50
C7	Cameras, session recording & live streaming devices	₹75,000.00	3	₹225,000.00	$2,828.25	We are expecting to have five session rooms; cost per unit is the rental of camera and recorders for 2-3 days, including a technical assistant
C8	First-aid and Medical services	₹10,000.00	3	₹30,000.00	$377.10
C9	Rapid Antigen Test kits/Masks/Sanitizers	₹250.00	250	₹62,500.00	$785.63
Total of "Category C: Event Logistics"				₹503,700.00	$6,331.62

Serial	Item description	Cost per unit	No. of units	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Category D: Event Management
D1	Salary for a professional Event Management personnel	₹40,000.00	6	₹240,000.00	$3,016.80	We would like to hire an event manager for a period of 6 months (4 months before the conference, and until 2 months after the conference) -- especially to handle the nitty-gritty of logistics and also make the travel and accommodation for required participants
D2	Press Conference a month before the main conference; for the purpose of media coverage of the event	₹10,000.00	n/a	₹10,000.00	$125.70
D3	Walkie-Talkies; for quick communication between key volunteers and organizers	₹500.00	10	₹5,000.00	$62.85
D4	Team meeting of some organizers post formation of the whole structure, from across the country	₹200,000.00	n/a	₹200,000.00	$2,514.00	Since it is a huge conference, there is a need for some of the key organizers to at least meet once midway through planning and conference dates. It would be a 2-day meetup with around 15-20 people.
D5	Expenditure for volunteer training	₹1,250.00	20	₹25,000.00	$314.25	Formal training event will be conducted for volunteers before they are asked about their respective tasks. This will include their orientation towards Wikimedia and the conference.
D6	Childcare	₹10,000.00	n/a	₹10,000.00	$125.70
D7	Site visits (travel, local commutation, food, and other expenses)	₹10,000.00	3	₹30,000.00	$377.10
D8	Organising expenses close to the conference dates (extensive local travel, accommodation for a few organizers to be on the ground, etc.)	₹50,000.00	n/a	₹50,000.00	$628.50
Total of "Category D: Event Management"				₹570,000.00	$7,164.90

Serial	Item description	Cost per unit	No. of units	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Category E: Merchandise
E1	ID cards	₹50.00	250	₹12,500.00	$157.13
E2	T-Shirts	₹350.00	250	₹87,500.00	$1,099.88
E3	Printouts (flyers) of the Conference program	₹10.00	250	₹2,500.00	$31.43
E4	Stickers	₹10.00	250	₹2,500.00	$31.43
E5	Notepad	₹50.00	250	₹12,500.00	$157.13
E6	Pen	₹15.00	250	₹3,750.00	$47.14
E7	Water bottles	₹200.00	250	₹50,000.00	$628.50
E8	Certificates	₹10.00	250	₹2,500.00	$31.43
Total of "Category E: Merchandise"				₹173,750.00	$2,184.04

Summarised Budget

Serial	Category	Amount (INR)	Amount (USD)	Notes
A	Travel	₹3,581,500.00	$45,019.52
B	Accommodation and Food	₹3,122,800.00	$39,253.60
C	Event Logistics	₹503,700.00	$6,331.62
D	Event Management	₹570,000.00	$7,164.90
E	Merchandise	₹173,750.00	$2,184.04
F	Unforseen Expenses	₹395,087.50	$4,966.25	5% of sum of all the above expenses(Category A to F)
T1	Total	₹8,346,837.50	$104,919.93
X	Institute Developement Fee	₹834,683.75	$10,491.99	Charges (10% of T1) by the - IIIT Hyderabad
T2	Total Budget for the conference	₹9,181,521.25	$115,411.92	T1 + X

Total cost of the event: ₹9,181,521.25($115,411.92)
Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program: ₹9,181,521.25($115,411.92)
Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded: None
Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.: Yes

Discussion

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Conference Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

Here is a link to the initial conversation with endorsements from 34 Wikimedians who are residing in the South Asian region and contributing to various Wikimedia projects.

Support As already mentioned during the initial conversations, after almost 6-7 years since the national conference, it is much needed. Thanks to the organizing team for putting this together and leading this massive project. KCVelaga (talk) 07:35, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support- Sangram Keshari Senapati (talk) 08:04, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support The national level confrence is going to take place almost after 6-7 years and this is much needed. Jagseer S Sidhu (talk) 08:10, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support Much needed conference after these pandemic years. Kudos to the organizers. -Soumendrak (talk) 08:54, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support --M. Selvasivagurunathan (talk) 15:37, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -- NehalDaveND (talk) 15:40, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support --Meghdhanu (talk) 16:44, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -J. Ansari Talk 17:11, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -- रोहित^{बातचीत} 22:51, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
Support It's been six years since we had a national-level conference. It is a very good time to have this conference. --Gopala Krishna A (talk) 04:20, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -- Pankaj Deo (Talk) 10:16, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support strongly as it is important to have such national and focused events considering the ever growing popularity and user/contributor base of Wikipedia. --Dhaval^Talk 11:37, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support - It is good to have a national level conference. --Vikas Hegde (talk) 13:44, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support - It is a long time when national conference was held. So it is necessary to have one.--Hindust@ni^{क्या करें? बातें!} 14:29, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support - I'm sure WikiConference 2023 will bring many communities together and help them collaborate better, which is phenomenal. Gopavasanth (talk) 17:20, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support-Manisha yadav12 (talk)
Support. As a part of Kashmiri Wikimedia Community, I feel such events would be really be helpful in attaining better progress of small Wikis as people would interact with other fellow Wikimedians personally. 511KeV (talk) 19:10, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -- Best wishes and support for WikiConference India. Aishik Rehman (talk) 14:17, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
Support great initiative, I totally endorse this grant. Nskjnv (talk) 14:49, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
Support స్వరలాసిక (talk) 00:59, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
Strong support Can't wait for the next WikiCon after the pandemic Innocentbunny TALK 04:51, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
Strong support - This would be a great opportunity for the different communities to share their experiences to take the movement in the region forward. --Sivakosaran (talk) 16:18, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
Support -- With Best wishes -- Nirmal Dulal (talk) 03:34, 25 September 2022 (UTC)
Strong support - The last WikiConference India was organized by Punjabi Wiki Community and we are extremely happy and excited to see that it is going to take place after a long time. The Punjabi Wiki community had discussed the conference in it's monthly meeting and the whole community is strongly supporting the initiative and I, Jagseer S Sidhu, endorsing WikiConference India 2023 on the behalf of entire Punjabi Wikimedia Community. With Best wishes. Jagseer S Sidhu (talk) 06:11, 26 September 2022 (UTC)
Support considering the post-pandemic time, we shall start doing such events for the betterment of the Wiki community. --Brihaspati (talk) 11:27, 26 September 2022 (UTC)
Support यह ज्ञान अर्जन का एक अच्छा स्रोत हो सकता है, जिससे दूर-दराज़ के क्षेत्रों में फैले कौशलयुक्त लोगों के जुड़ने से आगामी रणनीति निर्धारित करेंगी। -- कन्हाई प्रसाद चौरसिया (talk) 10:25, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
Strong support I strongly support this conference. I hope the event will be a positive one for all the different Indian langauges that are used on the Wiki-projects. Good luck! Mali Brødreskift (WMNO) (talk) 11:39, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
Strong support Hope this conference will help various language community to collaborate various Wikimedia projects. Akbarali (talk) 19:09, 13 November 2022 (UTC)

Strong support Indeed very much needed event Babitha Shetty (talk) 14:11, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
Strong support I strongly support this conference. User: Hibayathullah (talk)
I strongly support this conference. Bhaskarjyoti Bhuyan (talk) 17:41, 18 November 2022 (UTC)
Strong oppose For the languages of the Indian subcontinent, this conference is important for their progress, but for several reasons, some language groups will not benefit from this collective union. Discussion ongoing...WCI 2023 Theme Objectives and Its Importance to the Asian Region.Rsekanayake (talk) 03:14, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
Strong support I strongly support this conference.Rangan Datta Wiki (talk) 03:19, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
Strong support ᱱᱚᱶᱟ ᱡᱟᱨᱣᱟᱜ ᱨᱮ ᱥᱟᱱᱟᱢ ᱣᱤᱠᱤᱢᱤᱰᱤᱭᱟᱱᱥ ᱠᱚ ᱞᱟᱹᱜᱤᱫ ᱥᱚᱨᱚᱥ ᱟᱨ ᱵᱷᱟᱹᱞᱟᱹᱭᱟᱱᱟᱜ ᱜᱮ ᱦᱩᱭᱩᱜ-ᱟ, ᱤᱧ ᱱᱚᱶᱟ ᱠᱚᱱᱯᱷᱟᱨᱮᱱᱥ ᱤᱧ ᱵᱟᱹᱜᱥᱩᱛ ᱟᱜ ᱠᱟᱱᱟ᱾ Joy sagar Murmu (talk) 14:56, 5 December 2022 (UTC)
Strong support This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about WikiMedia and it's various functions. Raydann (talk) 16:03, 7 December 2022 (UTC)