Grants:Conference/Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda/WikiIndaba Conference 2022
This Wikimedia Foundation grant has a fiscal sponsor. Wikimedia ZA administered the grant on behalf of the Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda.
Fostering growth of the coverage and involvement of Africa in Wikimedia projects
Connecting African Wikimedians both within the continent and in the diaspora.Event overview
editWikiIndaba Conference is the regional conference for Africans both within and in the diaspora. The first edition was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2014 by Wikimedia ZA, the 2018 edition was held in Tunis, Tunisia by Wikimedia TN Usergroup, the 2019 edition was held in Abuja, Nigeria by in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria by the Wikimedia UG Nigeria. The 2020 edition of the conference was postponed to 2021 and was hosted virtually in Kampala, Uganda by the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda and the 2022 will be held in Kigali,Rwanda by the Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda.
Purpose and vision
Our vision and purpose is centrered on 3 pillars which are to build capacity for African Wikimedians, foster growth of the coverage and involvement of Africa in Wikimedia projects and connect African Wikimedians both within the continent and in the diaspora.
Please give a brief description of the event you are planning. What do you hope to accomplish during the event? Why is this event important for your community?
We are planning to host a 2 days and a half days conference for African Wikimedians, which will take place physically to allow participants to join in-person. With this conference we hope to provide a conducive environment for African Wikimedians to share their experiences with the aim of learning from one another for capacity building purposes , create more partnerships and above all create a safe space for Africans Wikimedians to discuss, challenges and solutions on issues they face and share lessons learned from projects they are doing from their respective countries.
Do you consider this to be a Regional; Thematic or Growth event? You can read more about each category here.
Regional conference
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) | 4th - 6th November 2022 |
| Proposed location | Kigali,Rwanda |
| Number of participants
80 | |
| Event page | WikiIndaba conference 2022 |
| Primary contact person | Ndahiro derrick |
Background
editCommunity input
editUse 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 in the table below, if any of the questions are not relevant leave it blank.
| Description | Priority | |
|---|---|---|
|
Strategic discussions: What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person? |
|
High priority |
| Capacity development:
Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn? |
|
Medium |
| Working groups:
Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person? |
|
Medium |
| Community building:
Are there other in-person activities are important for community building? |
|
Medium |
Survey analysis:
- How many people did you send the survey to?
- We sent the survey to 120 people in our community mailinglist and African mailinglist.
How many people responded to the survey?
- 60 people responded to the survey.
- 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?
Yes, there was community consensus which was as follows:
- Female engagement and new user retention: The community wanted to know how we can best retain new users and attract more female users.
- Movement Strategy and implementation : The community wanted to know how Hubs in the African context will look like.
- Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve those goals?
- They need to collaborate in doing outreach projects and share lessons learned.
- The experienced wikipedians can support emerging and new usergroups.
- Engage more corporate sponsors to support the East African agenda in growing our community.
Context
editIt 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.
- 1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?
- This conference will bring us together as a community to identify our strenghts and weakenessess and make us more organized.
- This conference will also strengthen relationship with other Wikimedia communities within the African continent and the diaspora.
- 2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?
- As an emerging community, We were inspired to apply because, we want to learn from other established communities within the African continent on issues such as community management,New user retention,funds management,events coordination,skills and leadership development.
- 3. Do you have any Thematic or Regional committee or group? (Such as WISCom, CEE, Iberocoop, etc).
- Yes, WISCom(WikiIndaba Steering Committee)
Plan
editVenue and Logistics
edit- 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 conference will be held at Kigali Convention Center,which is just 4.5 km from Kigali international Airport(20 minutes car drive) and the 8.2 Km to Marriot hotel Kigali,The proposed hotel where onsite participants will reside,because of it's excellent services at affordable prices,Airport pick-up services and willingness to engage in discount negotiations.
- 2. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
- YES
- 3. Are you planning to outsource some of the services? For example - a travel agency, an event production service?
- YES
Friendly space policy
editPlease link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event. The friendly space policy for Wikimedia Foundation events will be used for this event.
Participation
editIt 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.
- Audience will be composed of active African Wikimedians within the African continent and Diaspora.
- Other Mission aligned institutions and organizations that support Open Source & Free knowledge such as: Creative commons,Openstreet map,GLAM institutions.
- 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)?
- We would like to invite mission aligned organizations that support open Source and free knowledge, because this will strengthen partnership and foster education through creation of high quality open source education materials. After the conference, we envision a strenghthened community outreach such as :editathons,meetups and trainings that extend to their community affiliates.
- 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.
- National: We intend to partner with the Ministry of ICT, in a non financial basis, wherein they provide ICT services for the conference and also partner in an offline wiki schools project where they provide Computers for schools and we provide Wikipedia expertise.
- Ministry of Youths & Culture in a non financial basis,
- Rwanda Convention Bureau:
- Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy in a non financial basis wherein they are likely provide free access to cultural centers and museums in Kigali.
- Norrsken house Kigali in a non financial basis wherein they provide a free space for the social event outside the hotel where participants will reside.
- Thematic groups: We intend to collaborate with the Wikimedia Community User Groups in East Africa during and after the conference in the organizing and implementation processes.
- Chapter: We intend to collaborate with Wikimedia South Africa as our fiscal sponsor.
- 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 need WLMF to support outreach and communication efforts by way of opening up discussions for partnerships and invitations to high level potentional guests,showcasing the key highlights of the conference on Wikimedia platforms.
- Facilitation of Movement Strategy sessions during the conference.
- We would also appreciate the WMF providing us with the Livestreaming platform and a person onsite for technical support of this service.
- We would also appreciate the WMF being represented onsite, by staff members that support Global South at the Foundation and the CEO, to encourage one-on-one intimate connections between our community members and the Foundation.
Scholarships
edit- 1. How many scholarships would you like to offer and what expenses will the scholarship cover?
- We would like to offer up to 40 physical full scholarships which will cover airlines, ground travel, accommodation and catering, and Visa fee, We would wish to have more than the mentioned number since most countries are waived by paying the visa fee upon arrival in Rwanda.
- We would like to offer 40 scholarships for local participants which will cover: a transport refund since these will be communicating to their respective communities.
- 2. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
We will form a scholarship committee that will consist of experienced volunteers from WIScom and other communities. Women will be prioritized to sit on the scholarship committee. The Scholarship recipients will be selected based on clearly defined and transparent criteria taking into account:
- The involvement of the candidate in the Wikimedia movement and Wikimedia projects,
- The involvement of the candidate within their communities to promote Wikimedia projects,
- The involvement of the candidate to promote Open Knowledge
- The willingness and motivation statement of the new user to join and contribute to the open source and free knowledge.
A form will be sent out to participants to indicate if they will require support
- 3. Do you plan to target or prioritize specific communities or participants?
- We intend to target Active African Wikimedians in Africa and Diaspora and other mission-aligned institutions in the Open knowledge movement.
- 4. How will you insure diversity and inclusion in your scholarship process?
- We shall have a scholarship committee composed of experienced wikimedians who are community organizers to ensure inclusivity and diversity in the scholarship process.
Resources and risks
editDescribe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.
Resources
edit- Organizing team
| Team | Roles |
|---|---|
| Ndahiro Derrick | submitting grant proposal & Contact person |
| Nyirahabihirwe Clementine | Logistics |
| Boris Bahire,Raphael ,Bobbyshabangu,Sami Mlouhi | Conference Program |
| Rebecca Nyinawumuntu, Douglas Ssebaggala & Ceslause Okechukwu | Sponsorships & Partnerships |
| Ndahiro Derrick,Winnie Kabintie , Geoffrey Kateregga | Communications |
| Isaac ,Georges ,Raphael | Scholarships |
| Veronica Thamaini | WMF liaison |
| Antoni Mtavangu | Documentating the conference |
Risks
editExamples of risks, along with how you would minimize or overcome them, are:
- NO financial management experience of bigger amounts
- Internet connectivity issues and power blackouts
- Small volunteer base to coordinate all work . The team will need to get support from event coordination partner
Examples of how to minimize these risks include:
- We are Collaborating with Wikimedia South Africa as our fiscal sponsor because they are the only chapter on the continent with experience and capacity to organize bigger events such as WikiIndaba & wikimania and management of funds.
- Recruiting volunteers with desired skills to project leadership team from other communities beyond the hosting community.
- We also have the support from Wiscom which entails members who organized previous WikiIndaba editions
- We intend to speak to the hotel for the provision of a generator/Solar panel and the internet back up before hand to avoid internet and power related risks.
- Working with the Wikimedia Foundation Learning & Evaluation Team to develop an appropriate measurement and evaluation plan.
Budget
editPlease provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.
All past proposals can be found here, you can use these for inspiration and reference but you are required to do your own local research and come up with your own budget numbers. Keep in mind that each event is different, has local context and needs, and there is not a one-size-fits all for our communities events. While making decisions on what to fund we will consider the local context and community needs for each event.
Project budget table
edit| PRE-CONFERENCE | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | Qty | cost/unit (USD) | Total (RWF) | Total (USD) | Remarks | ||||
| LOC Project Management (Transport for meetings, food during meetings, etc.) | 5 | 300 | 1,518,255 | 1,500 | This item will focus on every activities carried out by the local organizing committee involved in the pre,during and post the event eg. Periodic meeting, Control, Executing, Refreshment, Logistics etc | ||||
| CONFERENCE DAYS | |||||||||
| Conference venue food | 80 | 150 | 12,146,040 | 12,000 | 2 tea breaks & lunch for 3 days ( 50USD per person in a day) | ||||
| Dinner | 45 | 120 | 5,465,718 | 5,400 | For 3 days (30 USD per day per person) | ||||
| Conference venue | 1 | 3,000 | 2,429,208 | 2,400 | Conference hall for 3 days with multiple breakout rooms,fast internet connectivity | ||||
| Hotel venue (Accommodation) | 45 | 750 | 34,160,738 | 33,750 | single hotel rooms for 40 international & 5 LOCAL scholarships recipients | ||||
| Livestreaming & video recording | 1 | 1500 | 1,518,255 | 5,000 | This will cover the livestreaming fee and all video recording and production expenses before during and after the conference | ||||
| Awareness & SWAG merchandise | |||||||||
| T shirts | 80 | 30 | 2,429,208 | 2,400 | african made collar t-shirts for the onsite participants | ||||
| Banners & Branding | 1 | 1,000 | 1,012,170 | 1,000 | branding and printouts to raise more awareness | ||||
| SWAG | 80 | 20 | 1,619,472 | 1600 | pens, stickers, branded souvenir bags | ||||
| On Ground travels | |||||||||
| Local scholarship(in form of transport) | 35 | 30 | 1,062,778 | 1,050 | Transport scholarship for Commuting participants to their respective homes(35 members)(10$ per person /day) | ||||
| Air travels | |||||||||
| Airfare | 40 | 1,000 | 40,486,800 | 40,000 | Average of ticket price for to and return fare from 22 countries for the 40 attendee scholarships. | ||||
| Visas & travel insurance | |||||||||
| Visas | 5 | 50 | 253,043 | 250 | Visa application fees for a few onsite participants who may come from countries required of Visa to Rwanda | ||||
| Travel insurance | 40 | 30 | 1,214,604 | 1,200 | flight insurance for the 40 participants who will travel from outside Rwanda (roughly 30$ per person) | ||||
| COVID-19 protocols | |||||||||
| Departure tests - PCR | 40 | 60 | 2,429,208 | 2,400 | PCR covid tests to be carried out before onsite participants return to their home countries | ||||
| Entertainment & Excursions | |||||||||
| Traditional dance | 1 | 800 | 809,736 | 800 | This will carter for a traditional troop(Intore,) who will entertain onsite participants during one of the social events | ||||
| Kigali tour | 80 | 30 | 2,429,208 | 2,400 | This will carter for Kigali Sightseeing Bus services to elevate the experience to a new level by giving onsite participants the opportunity to see the very best of tourist attractions such as the Genocide memorial sites,museums and other cultural centers in Kigali. | ||||
| Food | 80 | 20 | 1,619,472 | 1,600 | Food during the social events outside the hotel | ||||
| Childcare | 5 | 150 | 151,825.5 | 750 | childcare to 5 mothers for 3 days (each day 50$) | ||||
| Event management | 1 | 6000 | 6,073,040 | 6000 | Plan event from start to finish according to requirements,target audience and objectives, Come up with suggestions to enhance the event’s success
Negotiating sponsorship deals.Source and negotiate with vendors and suppliers,Coordinate all operations,Lead promotional activities for the event,Supervise all staff (event coordinators, caterers etc.)Approve all aspects before the day of the event,Ensure the event is completed smoothly and step up to resolve any problems that might occur | ||||
| Travel booking agency | 1 | 1,000 | 1,012,173 | 1,000 | 3% of the total amount spent on flight tickets (work done) | ||||
| Bank fees | 1 | 500 | 506,085 | 500 | |||||
| Fiscal sponsorship | 1 | 12,864,099 | 12,575 | 12,575 | fiscal sponsorship fee (10% of the total amount) | ||||
| Contingencies | 1 | 3000 | 3,036,510 | 3,000 | |||||
| TOTAL | 141,505,092 | RWF | 138,325$ | ||||||
Discussion
editEndorsements
editDo 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.