Grants:Conference/WikiWomenCamp 2020

This Wikimedia Foundation grant has a fiscal sponsor. The Centre for Internet & Society administered the grant on behalf of User:Manavpreet Kaur.

statusDRAFT
WikiWomenCamp 2020
Women Camp is an international event where women (by sex or gender) come together to review our past activities and brainstorm for the future of women- their role and representation in the free knowledge movement.
targetGlobal Wikimedia Projects
strategic priorityCapacity Development, Increasing Reach and Participation
event dates02 October 2020 to 04 October 2020
amount-local7,980,357.00 INR
amount111614.94 USD
typeGroup
creatorManavpreet Kaur
contact• dr.manavpreetkaur(_AT_)gmail.com• chinumishra70(_AT_)gmail.com

Event overview

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Purpose and vision

Considering the current statistics of women in leadership roles and as affiliate representatives, it is important that the Wikimedians here get to learn from the Global leaders their struggles and experiences. Especially after observing the change in the involvement of women in leadership roles post the women Train the Trainer program, it becomes more important to plan an event on a global level to enhance the role of women in the movement.

WikiWomenCamp 2020 will be an attempt to gather again and review our past activities and brainstorm for the future of women- their role and representation in the free knowledge movement. Planning programs by keeping in view of Wikimedia 2030 strategy the free knowledge movement. After taking consent from the women Wikimedians from different groups and affiliates (through Survey-1), it will be organized in India. The proposed conference is a three-day women, by sex or gender, only wiki conference, by User:Manavpreet Kaur and User:Chinmayee Mishra with Punjabi Wikimedians (Village Pump Notice and Support) being the formal hosts and support from WikiWomen's User Group. The participants will get an opportunity to network with their peers in other countries, and develop lasting relationships that allow international partnerships that is otherwise extremely difficult because of cultural communication problems involving only online communication.

The event will be open to all women involved with the Wikimedia movement and involved with wikis in general including commercial, non-profit and educational wikis. We intend to provide an enriching experience and quality information, ideas and collaboration for participants to explore in the future. We are trying to bring women from diverse backgrounds to join the three day program encompassing keynotes, presentations, panels, workshops and discussion groups, focused on the role and future of women in the movement along with a primary focus to bridge the online gender gap. We hope to have a broad representation from around the world, with many experiences to be shared. As the mentorship really had a positive impact on Indian Women Wikimedians post “Wiki Women for Women Wellbeing” and “Women Train the Trainer” program, we wish to facilitate connections and mentorship opportunities for collaboration between the movement leaders with similar or complementary programs across the globe. This is expected to create a strong network of women across the globe and will also help in designing more impactful, mutually beneficial and multifaceted activities  or programs.

From the survey results, we could clearly see the expectations of the community as there was a clear majority of preference to subjects like Gender gap in editor representation, leadership and online content. Along with this the other preferred areas of interest were editor (women) recruitment and retention, actions to combat harassment and creating support groups. We will also offer Advance Wiki training like evaluation of a program outcome, survey analysis, tools, etc.

The survey is indicative of the common issues that women face as Wikimedians across the globe, it necessitates the change in action plan. The statistics of the survey support planning and designing the future activities as per the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Process.

We wish to create a group of like-minded people from diverse backgrounds and expertise, of people within the Wikimedia movement and other aligned organizations, who can learn from each other and not limiting the event to discussions merely on experiences, achievements and issues, but also to brainstorm for future by focusing on how we can expand the scope by designing new activities and action plan to reduce the gender gap (offline and online).

With respect to the ongoing research on A2K's Gender gap research it is found that these type of conferences will open a platform for understanding women's challenges and opportunities in a Wiki ecosystem and shall also help in widening the case study of the research thereby involving the interviews to be carried out with women who cannot/hesitant to participate on a virtual interview setup. Therefore this event will help the unheard voices to make their works visible to vast community space.

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) Oct 02, 2020- Oct 04, 2020
Proposed location North India*
Number of participants 80
Event page WikiWomenCamp 2020
Primary contact person User:Manavpreet Kaur

*Note: We have done our research and proposed estimates considering two probable locations- Delhi, India and Amritsar, Punjab, India. Both the places are well connected and suitable for the conference. The final decision will be made after the grant approval and discussion with the experienced members. It will also depend on the collaborations we are able to get at a specific location.

Background

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As human societies have become more open through the intensified struggles for inclusion by various groups of formerly excluded constituencies (the largest of which is made up of women of differing classes, ages, sexual orientations, abilities, ethnicity, nationalities, and locations), so the struggle for the inclusion and need for own space has become significant.

WikiWomenCamp was commenced as an initiative for women (by gender or sex) to get together, learn from each other's experience in a women-only space which is usually referred to as a safe space. It gave them an opportunity to network with other women who can guide them or be their partners in common projects, and to discuss issues related to involvement, role, and status of women in the movement and to plan collaborative initiatives to improve the statistics. The changing scenarios and pace of movement advancement along with the little change in trends of women’s involvement in the movement altogether necessitated planning the next Women Camp.

Community input

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Use the results from the community engagement survey to fill in the table below. Since you cannot cover all topics or meet all needs at one event, prioritisation is important. Please rank the priority of each topic, skill, project or problem as high, medium or low. Finally, please answer the questions below the table.

Description Priority
Strategic discussions:

What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person?

  • Creating awareness about Wikimedia projects and Gender Gap
  • Bringing more women to the movement and leadership
  • Research- Brainstorming on issues and probable solutions
  • Planning programs by keeping in view of Wikimedia 2030 strategy
  • Women in Leadership
  • Creating safe spaces
  • Policies and Intervention to tackle harassment
  • Drafting long term plans for a partnership
  • Sustainability of contributors in their preferred Wikimedia project(s)
High
Capacity development:

Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn?

  • Building sustainable partnerships
  • Wiki Advance Training- Localisation of Templates, Dashboard, MediaWiki, Wikidata Query
  • Research and Reporting: An Analysis of activities, evaluation of outcome and impact, and future planning
  • Sharing Learnings
  • External Fundraising
  • Trust and safety Policy sensitization and discussions
High
Working groups:

Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person?

  • Reviewing the outcome of past events and planning the action plan for future
  • Designing collaborative initiatives to reduce the gender gap
  • Creating a centralized support group
  • Connecting people with complementary interests to enhance the scope and impact of activities
Medium
Community building:

Are there other in-person activities are important for community building?

  • Sharing thoughts and ideas for future initiatives and keeping them in line with Strategy.
  • Identifying focus areas
  • Designing a structured work plan
  • Identifying needs and offering support.
  • Acknowledging and ensuring each participant's engagement and inputs.
  • Mentorship
High

Survey analysis:

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

We shared the survey on different mailing lists including Wikimedia-I, Off-Wiki Groups- Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram groups (Wiki Women, Gender gap, WWWW, etc.), individual connections on social media and some members took it to the Village pump to gather maximum possible inputs.

77 women took the survey and all the participants answered all the objective questions. As far as subjective or open end questions are concerned, we received very few responses for Programming inputs, but for the question related to additional suggestions for the Camp planning, we received a wide variety of subjects, concerns, themes and ideas to incorporate.

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?

From the survey it has been observed that no matter how diverse we are in terms of our education, background or experience, we all have shared concerns and issues that we want to focus on and find solutions for. There were four clear focus areas that had majority of votes, Women in Leadership and initiatives to bridge the gender gap being the top two preferences.

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

Keeping in mind the learnings from different conferences and events and also on the basis of submissions and preferences received in the surveys, the community will focus on maintaining a balance of time allotment to different thematic discussions (Case studies, actions, research, strategy and brainstorming, etc.). As different people have submitted their preferences and expectations, depending upon the individual's engagement and involvement, experience and interest, different spaces for Thematic discussion, Advanced Training and strategy discussions will be organized.

To plan collaborative events, it is important for people to communicate and understand each other. We will plan the program in a way for participants to find time for individual or group discussions.

We will keep additional focus on ensuring and acknowledging each participant's engagement and inputs.

Context

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It is helpful to get an understanding of why this event is important to your community, and what experiences you have had in the past. Please answer the applicable questions below.

 
Manavpreet Kaur at WikiWomen Lunch, Wikimania 2019
1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?

The last WomenCamp was organized in 2017. A lot has changed in the movement in terms of strategy, status and involvement of women in movement and initiatives planned around the gender gap. As women wikimedians there are certain unaddressed aspects that we still need to identify as key focus areas and plan initiatives around those. In addition to this, as women Wikimedians from India, we have seen that there is a lot more potential and scope for women to grow and emerge as leaders if they get the right guidance and training. Nothing can be better than learning from fellow women Wikimedians. Last year during women Train the trainer program, we realized the importance of having a safe space for women to discuss issues, share concerns and plan actions. The TTT had a huge impact on the role of women in the Wikimedia movement in India. This Camp will not only be an opportunity for women to come together and plan future activities but is also an opportunity for Indian women wikimedians to understand the global initiatives and find like-minded people to learn from and partner with.


2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?
WikiWomenCamp 2020 will be an attempt to gather a review of our past activities and brainstorm for the future of women- their role and representation in the free knowledge movement. We have planned various events and activities after WikiWomenCamp 2017 like- Women in Red, Wiki Loves Women, Wiki Women for Women Wellbeing, Women Train the Trainer, Syberthon, WikiProject Women Artists, WikiProject Feminism, WikiProject Women's History, WikiProject Jewish Women, WikiProject Women Scientists, WikiProject Women's sport, WikiProject Women in Technology, WikiProject Wiki Loves Women (Africa), WikiProject Women Writers, etc. Some of the activities are now global, but to bring more women into the movement and in leadership and to counter the gender bias, we need to plan the next steps.
3. Please list the priorities identified in the report from the last conference organized by this community. What progress have you made in those areas?
The action items decided in the previous Women Camp were to establish common goals and strategies to work, increase alliances, teach about rights, creating groups and build spaces for new profiles to the movement, the women wikimedians have been able to do all that and a lot more, The role and position of women in movement has changed over the years, they are leading initiatives, and running campaigns, WikiWomenUser group, and Les sans pages got registered as Wikimedia affiliates and various thematic events are being planned annually. We have collaborated with various organizations like the UN WOMEN, UNESCO, Swedish Embassy, etc not only to write about women but also to promote and highlight the need to work towards bridging the gender gap. We have more women representatives in affiliates, boards, and committees, but as this representation statistics is not the same throughout the world, we need to take it to where it is needed the most.
4. If your community has hosted a similar conference in the past, what key lessons were learned, and what would you like to improve on?
Event Challenges Actions
WikiConference India 2016
The community hosted WCI2016 which was a National Conference with a few participants from closer nations like- Nepal, Bangladesh, and SriLanka. We have more participation in general and also observed more diversity than our expectations.
Some of the challenges we faced were-
  • We were not able to bring scholarship recipients from Pakistan to attend the event.
  • We were not able to fund prolific Indic community members from around the world to attend the event.
  • Organizing the event at an educational institute caused a lot of last-minute logistics-related problems.
  • Finalizing the dates before getting the funds
  • We have shared the proposal with CIS A2K and as a regular procedure, have submitted a request to seek clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs well in advance. As the Ministry has certain prerequisites for the application submission, an early intimation on the budget decision will help us handle this well.
  • We have prepared a better budget to support community members with full or partial scholarships.
  • We will be organizing the Camp in a hotel. It will reduce the travel time and will also make it easier for the organizers to manage the event.
  • We have only decided on the tentative dates, the final announcement will be made after the grant decision and confirming the venue.
  • The media campaign will be started as soon as the budget is approved and the resource person’s contact numbers should be made available on meta.
  • The policy and rules for a partial and full scholarship will be declared before the result announcement.
WikiWomenCamp 2017 In the previous Women Camp, the group realized the importance of face to face meetings because they allow us to approach other women and to listen to their experience not only in the activities but also on informal occasions like breaks, meals or tours.

Some of the challenges we faced were-

  • Creating a safe space for women.
  • Internet and equipment to carry out the activities
  • We realized that irrespective of the diversity, we all have similar issues and need spaces and policies that ensure global support.
  • English as the only language for the conversations demotivated many to engage in discussions
  • Ensure the mobility (elevators and ramps) or services that allow women to attend the event
  • We have devoted a full day to discuss issues and actions to counter the same as issues like Friendly spaces and harassment has been the primary concern for the majority of the survey participants.
  • We have kept a focus on creating diverse teams and are keeping the learnings and goals into consideration for designing the program. We will also keep the focus on keeping a track reserved for discussion and framing policies on common issues.
  • Planning an elaborate budget to track all requirements especially some basic things like- Internet and equipment to carry out the activities (projector, tables, flipchart paper, blackboards, stationery).
  • We have taken language preferences through the survey, we will focus on translating the communications in the most preferred second languages to avoid English becoming the predominant language, as it limits the participation.
  • Selecting the event venue which is accessible for everyone is one of our top priorities.

Plan

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1.What is your plan for the Conference program?

  • The Program Committee will decide the program, which will comprise of both Wikimedia volunteers (Those who chose to volunteer for the committee in Survey-1), certain staff members of WMF or CIS-A2K (in their volunteer capacity), and some experts from allied groups.

As Women Camp isn’t a formal conference, the Program will be having the three major themes -

  • Day 01- Actions: To share experience and learning
  • Day 02- Issues, Challenges and Actions: To share the issues and challenges faced and any actions or initiatives planned to counter the same.
  • Day 03- Future: To discuss strategy and design collaborative projects and new action plans for the future.

In addition to this, we will also focus on keeping people engaged. We have reached out to some organizations to be our knowledge partners. We will be planning some thematic events with them and the programs team will try to make sure that the sessions and discussions are in line with the designated theme.


The Programs team will also reach out to the Scholarship team for creating the Scholarship form. Some questions related to submissions will also be added, that will reduce the scrutiny work and will also make it convenient for the teams to group activities.

We will also do the pre-event and post event surveys to evaluate the progress and learning.

The main event will have three parallel sessions- One main hall where we will have the thematic discussions, there will be space reserved for Advanced Wiki Training and another for Strategy discussions and planning future initiatives. The details of the program will be shared after discussion within the group.

2. Please explain your Program Design process.

  • For the Program design, the primary focus will be given to the submissions received in the survey, and their thorough analysis along with research outcomes of gender gap research being conducted by a few members. The details of the survey statistics (anonymous) will be shared with the Program committee. The team will reach out to different committees and to some allied groups or WMF to collaboratively design a program. As suggested by one of our advisers, Netha, the program should not only focus on discussing experiences to motivate others but should also focus on brainstorming and discussions, and plans some achievable goals for the future. It should include some draft action items or recommendations for the new members to keep engaged and not lose motivation because of lack of resources and support. So we will also focus on initiating mentorship and designing draft programs for newcomers to design or customize activities for their regional wikis.

Venue and Logistics

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1. If the venue is more than 1 hour away from a major airport or transportation hub, how will participants travel to the event venue?
We have shortlisted a few hotels in close proximity (15-45 mins travel time by cab) of the airport. The rental cabs will be arranged to pick and drop the participants to and fro the airport. Other than this, rented cabs like Ola/Uber are available 24/7 for the shortlisted hotels. A team of volunteers will keep a track of flight arrival and departure status and will coordinate with passengers for their local travel.
2. Is the event venue within walking distance from the hotel? If not, how will people travel between the two locations?
The event venue will be the same hotel where stay arrangements will be made, minimizing the physical and mental exhaustion of the participants giving them enough time to rest and at the same time saving the cost of hiring buses to transport the participants from hotel to the venue, and back again.
3. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
Yes, it is there on our priority list before we finalize the venue & hotel.
4. Do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?
We don’t anticipate any major challenges but are a bit concerned about the tariff hike post Budget announcement.

Friendly space policy

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Please link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.
Since this subject is of prime importance, as observed from the survey statistics, we will start conversations around the same before event. The team will follow the existing policy Wikimedia Foundation’s Friendly Space Policy and considering the inputs and suggestions, will frame a new elaborate policy for the event.

Participation

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It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.
The target audience will certainly be all people who are involved in activities and initiatives related to women's empowerment, gender gap, women's rights and who are involved with Wikipedia on any level. We expect many Wikimedians to join the event, but we’ll also focus on bringing in educators, activists, advocates, scientists who have been actively engaged in women's empowerment and women's rights. Representatives from local and global organizations like UNESCO, governments, NGOs, etc. will also be invited to attend. We see this Camp as an opportunity to frame policies and design initiatives following strategy recommendations for promoting women in the movement and also a safe space to discuss sensitive issues like harassment in order to find probale solutions to make the spaces more safe and welcoming. We also hope to use this event to build collaborations with some local institutions and organizations to run different Wiki programs and to bring more women to the movement and in leadership roles.
Women Camp is an international event with women by sex or gender from different communities are selected on the basis of their contribution by the Scholarship Committee. Apart from contribution, their role in the movement, the regional background, and their expertise are some additional factors kept into consideration while making this decision on their participation.
2. If your conference has an outreach component, how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects?
We have women doing remarkable work across the globe with some of them like User:Emnamizouni and User:Rosiestep as Wikimedians of the year. The off-wiki social group is actively engaged in strategy discussions and planning meetings to stay updated. We hope to use this conference as a platform to share our work, experience and motivations in order to have more people join the movement and for existing members to emerge as leaders.
We will do pre-event and post-event analysis of the type, frequency, nature and impact of activities planned by members.We will do monthly follow-up on activities being planned and will share success stories and research outcomes by publishing articles or blog posts and can even consider starting a newsletter around the same theme.
3. Are you thinking about inviting WMF staff to attend or participate in the event? If yes, please list individuals or teams who you may want to invite, or describe how you would like WMF staff to be involved in the event.
Considering the fact that it is a Women centric conference, focussed on women's issues and enhancing the role and involvement of women in Wikimedia movement, we would like to invite staff members from different teams at WMF. A few of the desired members are- User:Katherine (WMF), User:Kritzolina, User:Kalliope (WMF), User:Alex, User:Runabhattacharjee, User:May Hachem93, User:Delphine (WMF)

Scholarships

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1. How many scholarships would you like to offer?
We would like to offer 50 full scholarships and 10-15 partial scholarships (NO travel. Only stay and food). In addition to this we have planned an Education collaborative initiative, where rather than hiring professional media team, we will reach out to the Local media schools and select at team (after checking submissions) to be a part of the event, learn from the local team and cover the event. This will give a great platform to the students to showcase their talent. The stay and food expenses of the Media Team will be covered.
2. What expenses will the scholarship cover?
The scholarships will cover 4 nights (with breakfast) in a double room at the hotel, travel costs to New Delhi Airport from the origin (not including local ground transport) and lunch and dinner for the three days of the conference. It will also provide a fixed amount as reimbursement for local travel.
3. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
We asked all the individuals taking the survey (Survey-1) to choose the team they would like to join to assist the organizing committee. On the basis of individual preference, the scholarship Committee (SC), is comprised of people from various wiki communities. Along with this, an open invitation will be sent to women and gender-variant wikimedians with experience of handling similar tasks of selecting the scholarship recipients to join the committee.

Considering various factors that make international travel more expensive, and in order to have more individuals join and benefit from the Camp, the team will first decide the ratio of International and National participants*. The SC will then create a Scholarship form and decide the criteria for ranking the scholarship applicants. After announcing the call for scholarships; once all applications are collected, each SC member will score/vote for the candidates’ applications and based on an average score, a final list of participants will be provided to the organizing team.

*The proposed budget has been calculated assuming 35 International and 15 Domestic full Scholarship recipients.

Resources and risks

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We have reviewed the grant proposals and reports of various events organized in past to incorporate important learning and key points for programs.

Resources

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Organizing team

We asked the participants in Survey-1 if they would like to be a part of a sub-committee and assist the organizing team. The details of the teams can be found here- WWC2020/Planning

Team User Names
WMF Liaison & Project Lead User:Manavpreet Kaur
Coordinator User:Chinmayee Mishra
Logistics User:Nitesh Gill, User:Sushma Sharma
Conference Program User:Netha Hussain, User:Camelia.boban + Team
Scholarships User:Afifa Afrin, User:Jaluj + Team
Communications User:SuswethaK, User:MarajozkeeSocial Media
Production Schedule & Volunteer Management User:Afek91 (Visiting Wikimedian 2019), User:Preeti Chhabra
Advisor & Support User:Rosiestep,

User:PDas (WMF)

Risks

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Anticipated Risk Measures to minimize the risks
Fewer women to create a women-only project team. Utilizing time and collaborating with women from different communities to work together to organize the event. Also, recruiting volunteers (male members) with desired skills to the remote support team*. Scheduling timely calls with experienced members, to share updates and for suggestions.

*Remote support team will only assist in the tasks limited to supporting the event management and logistics team.

Workload of the Organizers and Workflow Management We have initiated the conversations on selecting the team leads to manage the tasks related to a specific team. Timely meetings will be organized. For the exhaustive work of event management, we will be hiring staff to support event management work for four months including but not limited to- maintaining records of communications and finances, visa and ticket follow-up, reimbursements, bills, online support to participants, planning local travel, etc.
Documentation (Audio, video ad notes) We discussed and agreed that we will be reaching out to the local media schools and ask the students (preferably group) to submit a sample of their work and whosoever is selected will get a platform to showcase their talent as they will officially cover the event and while doing so, will get chance to learn about the movement and various initiatives from the amazing global leaders.

*This will be done as a Wiki Education expansion activity

Air pollution

Smog issue in Delhi from late October to November end

Delhi experiences smog issue every year post Dassehra and Diwali celebrations. Usually it starts around the last week of October and ends in the last week of November. It is not too much of a problem in early October, still we’ll inform participants about this in case they want to use masks.
Conflict of event dates with other events Our tentative dates for the event are 2 October 2020- 4 October 2020 to avoid any conflicts with other events like WikiConferenceNorthAmerica and WikiDataCon etc.
Vastness of language communities and coordination We have taken language preferences through the survey, we will focus on translating the communications in the most preferred second languages to avoid English becoming the predominant language, as it limits the participation.

With the current composition of the team, and past experience of organizing such events, we anticipate that we’ll be able to address it.

Change in prices and quotations post budget announcement. We have prepared a list of various hotels (probable venues) for the event and also taken quotations from possible options, the venue will be finalized later.
Keeping the sessions balanced Sometimes, the discussion on best practices and case studies of individual initiatives takes most of the time leaving little time for discussion on future plans. To keep it well tracked, the days for the main space have been assigned themes.
Evaluating the Outcome and Next Steps We will reach out to the WMF Learning & Evaluation Team to develop an appropriate measurement and evaluation plan.

Budget

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1 INR = 0.0139 USD (1 USD = 71.49 INR); as on 2 February 2020 via https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/
Event budget table
The detailed Budget sheet can be found here- Budget Sheet Women Camp 2020.

Budget Summary

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Serial Category Amount (INR) Amount (USD) Notes
A Food and Accommodation ₹2,264,900.00 $31,677.36
B Event Facilities and Management Expenses ₹1,338,000.00 $18,713.55
C Pre-Camp Outreach ₹50,000.00 $699.31
D Swags, Publicity and Information Dispersal ₹134,500.00 $1,881.15
E International and Domestic Travel ₹3,122,000.00 $43,664.94
F Unforeseen Expenses (5% of the proposed budget) ₹345,470.00 $4,831.82
T1 Total ₹7,254,870.00 $101,468.13
X Institutional Development Fee ₹725,487 $10,146.81 Charges (10% of T1) by the Fiscal Sponsor - The Centre for Internet & Society
T2 Grand Total (for WMF) ₹7,980,357.00 $111614.94 T1 + X

*The proposed budget is exclusive of taxes.

Total cost of event
$111614.94
Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program
1 INR= 0.014 USD
7,980,357.00 INR= $111614.94
Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded
Before planning any international conference, there is a mandate to seek Government's approval which has a certain prerequisites like- names of participants and detail of countries from where they will be travelling along with the request for permission. The Camp isn't final until we get budget approval and government permission, so no conversations for sponsorship have been initiated so far.
Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Yes

Expected Outcome/Success Markers

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Considering the diverse groups from where women will be coming, we can't specify numeric targets. But we have definitely decided our desired targets on the basis of inputs gathered through Community engagement survey.

  • More women in leadership roles and affiliate representation
  • Policy inputs to combat harassment
  • Research Projects on Gender Gap and Harassment and Civility issues.
  • More collaborative Projects
  • Reduced Gender Gap.
  • Collaboration with Institutions and allied organisations
  • Planning New initiatives in line with Strategy.


Along with this, we would like to share that we have initiated our work on building collaboration with some organisations as knowledge partners to work on different projects (Wikipedia, Commons, Wikidata) related to Gender Gap.


FAQs

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1. Why a gender-specific camp?
  • The gender gap in wiki movement is a well-recognized concern considering the huge difference in the number of male and female editors and also in terms of the number of women representatives for affiliates in the movement. Different researchers have reported various factors that affect women’s involvement in the movement. The camp will be endeavoring to topple the monumental barriers for women editors by bringing them together, learn from each other's experience, network with other women who can assist them in meeting their goals and share passions and brainstorm to identify probable solutions. Like previous conferences, helped build a strong network of women and also proved assistive in starting various initiatives to counter the issue. An event after 4 years, considering how the movement has changed, will play an important role to help women address problems in a controlled setting that will allow solutions to be developed.
  • The gender gap is a hard fact across the globe, but the statistical margins are even wider in India. As women wikimedians from India, we have zero representation in affiliates and we have been planning initiatives to bridge the same. Having women leaders from different communities will help us learn from their experiences and this connection can help us plan better to widen the scope and role of women in the movement.
2. What factors were considered while deciding the budget?
We reviewed a lot of International event grants and a lot of factors that were kept into consideration while calculating a budget;
  • The participation is directly being supported by the above budget, including the full and partial scholarship recipients and organizers, which is around 80, which was 30 in 2017’s WikiCamp. This time the conference is bigger in numbers considering the fact that the community has grown ever since.
  • Keeping in mind about "Safety and security" and other logistics issues, the camp will be hosted in a city that has the shortest travel time and the venue for camp will be kept closer to the airport.
  • We called for quotations from various hotel options (probable venues) and prepared the budget accordingly.
  • Considering the distance of cities from various affiliate representatives will be traveling to India, the airfares are higher.
  • From previous experience with grant release, and considering the time of grant release (if approved), travel budget has been decided accordingly.
  • WCI2016* experience of budget and event management helped us plan better. We realized the issues we had to face while making arrangements because of limited budget. The only reason we were able to manage to do the event in the proposed budget was the collaboration with an Institution. The stay arrangements and food was offered by the Institution in controlled rates. Also, organizing the event at an educational institute caused a lot of last-minute logistics-related problems.
    *Considering comparison with WCI2016. Last big (in terms of participation and diversity) conference organized in India.

Discussion

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Endorsements

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Do you think this project should be selected for a 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.

  •   Support Let's close the gender gap! -Filipinayzd (talk) 18:12, 4 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Indispensable to think well and taking action, to share our experience and engagement with the gender gap topic.Tiputini (talk) 16:06, 9 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support We need to coordinate reflection and strategies Mboix (talk) 16:51, 9 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support as this proposal aligns with movement strategy, while supporting strategic discussions, capacity development, and community building of a gender minority within the wiki movement. --Rosiestep (talk) 18:01, 9 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support It's a great idea and we can work on it. This type of event is beneficial for the gender gap issue. It will be helpful to create more bonding between communities. - Satpal Dandiwal (talk) 18:15, 9 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support *•.¸♡ ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝔹𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕡𝕒𝕝 ♡¸.•*𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕜 03:42, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support It's a good idea. I hope this movement helps to close Gender Gap. Dolon Prova (talk) 04:39, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support З. ӘЙЛЕ
  •   Strong support It is an idea that can work very well in bridging the gender gap; and even the gap within the gap can be thinned, if not totally closed by such an event as this. - Adefanike (talk) 08:36, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support --Liridon (talk) 09:04, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support - Maina Tudu (talk) 09:07, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support -Netha Hussain (talk)
  •   Support -marcmiquel (talk)
  •   Strong supportJoy sagar Murmu (talk) 10:22, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support -आर्या जोशी (talk) 10:58, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support --We need to bridge the gender gap Oby Ezeilo (talk) 01:28, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support This will work well to bridge the Gender Gap Kavitha G. Kana (talk)
  •   Support --Dhanalakshmi .K. T (talk) 17:58, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support -strong support..effective idea..Amanavsania (talk)
  •   Support Armineaghayan ArmAg 20:22, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Effective idea --Arpitha05 (talk) 02:06, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong supportRadhadwibedi (talk) 06:14, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support--कल्याणी कोतकर (talk) 11:50, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support it's a great initiative to reduce gender gap in Wikimedia and we need these kind of programs to reduce gender gap not only in Wiki but in our social life as well... Jagseer S Sidhu (talk) 15:50, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support Gurlal Maan (talk) 18:08, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support -Sangram Keshari Senapati (talk) 19:18, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support Much needed event and will be helpful in bridging gender gap which is a major problem in the Wiki movement right now. Best wishes and looking forward to this. SuswethaK (talk) 05:10, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong supportSubas Chandra Rout (talk) 06:02, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support MNavya (talk) 14:39, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਵਿਰਦੀ (talk) 09:15, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support As with every minority and according to the movement's strategy, we need to protect and strengthen the participation of the under-represented groups. Camelia (talk) 19:51, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Sami Mlouhi (talk) 22:36, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Gender gap on Wikipedia has made some great strides with some innovative projects, but so much still needs to be done to support exisiting and encourage new communities to take part and build an equitable space. This event will help to workshop solutions and share ideas. Islahaddow (talk) 14:54, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support This is not only relevant but timely and will provide the platform for solutions to be ideated for the all encompassing challenge of gender gap. Blossom Ozurumba (talk) 17:50, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Events like this will create more awareness and may bring more women contributors as well as women leaders. Good initiative and Good luck!. --Jnanaranjan sahu (talk) 17:32, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
  • Definitely Support; What a wonderful initiative to fill up the gender gap! IMO, It's very much important for WikiWomen empowerment. I am seeing the future progress of Wikimedia. All the best! Kind regards, — Tulsi Bhagat (contribs | talk) 15:26, 16 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support --Almiraal (talk) 17:16, 16 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Timely idea to deal with the gender gap, building on existing efforts. Brava! Bishdatta (talk) 17:48, 16 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support--Parvathisri
  • Most definitely   Strong support. -Yupik (talk) 14:14, 18 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support We need more inclusion and great strategy to sustain efforts which seeks to bridge the gap Joy Agyepong (talk)
  •   Strong support It's good to see this event continue. I have no doubt the proposers can maintain the spirit of the previous editions in Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Thank you for taking it on! Raystorm (talk) 15:28, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support The Proposal is pretty elaborate and detailed. The organisers have a very good background and I'm sure the Wiki Women Camp will fully realise its planned objectives. --Mouryan/মৌর্য্য/మౌర్య (Talk To Me ❤) 18:05, 21 February 2020 (UTC)
  • I support this project Kavitha G. Kana (talk) 06:13, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Support Safe space is needed for marginalized community members so they can gather and talk about safety, security, their challenges and how they can overcome the current gaps, a need that was pointed out during strategy discussions by women and other minorities Wikilover90 (talk) 11:14, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I think such initiatives are highly needed in order to effectively foster women inclusion in our movement. Providing a safe space will help hearing the unheared voices, providing the opportunity of face-to-face discussions will help improving the existing projects and trigger new ideas, and providing such a diverse programme will certainly have an outstanding impact on women skills in different areas. ( and I really appreciate the importance accorded to capacity building and technical skills learning). Best of luck ! Nassima Chahboun (talk) 10:21, 7 March 2020 (UTC)
  •   Strong support This will fill the gender gap. Women wikimedians needs to special treatment for grow.-Jayprakash >>> Talk
  •   Strong support Such events are crucial to create awareness and to facilitate active discourse amongst the Wikimedians so that they can devise solutions at the grassroots level. Sejal Khatri (talk) 17:07, 20 October 2020 (UTC)