Grants:Programs/Hub Fund/ESEAP Hub pilot (Year 1)

statusUnder review

Wikimedia Hub Fund

ESEAP Hub pilot (Year 1)

idR-HF-2502-18027

start date2025-04-01

end date2026-03-31

budget (local currency)5470674 TWD

budget (USD)170466.2 USD ^{[note 1]}

fiscalyear2024-25

organization (if applicable)ESEAP Hub

contact(s)BindiS

give feedback

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant information

Organization or group name. (required): ESEAP Hub

Provide your main Wikimedia Username. (required): BindiS

Have you contacted the Wikimedia Foundation Hub team before applying? (required): Yes

Is your group legally registered in your country? (required)

Yes

Do you have a fiscal sponsor?: Yes

Fiscal organization name.: Asia-Pacific Open Knowledge Association

Main proposal

1. State the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required): ESEAP Hub pilot (Year 1)

2. Proposed start date. (required): 2025-04-01

3. Proposed end date. (required): 2026-03-31

4. Where will this proposal be implemented? Provide the region or country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal. (required): The pilot will be implemented across the ESEAP region, including East, South East Asia and the Pacific region. Information about the ESEAP regional collaborative is available on meta: [1]

Note: More detailed country information is in this application at Question 11.

5. Does your group have a theory of change for your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (optional): Yes; Theory of change for the ESEAP Hub - FINAL_Jan2025

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qwOgx8IdbwYuHTdMJdBdRDCq3bPFww1eHUglUzh0i9o/edit?usp=sharing

6. Why do you believe your group is best positioned to drive this hub initiative? (required)

The ESEAP Preparatory Council (the Council) is uniquely positioned to lead and support this hub initiative due to its deep understanding of the diverse needs and challenges across the ESEAP region. The Council comprises nine elected representatives from various affiliates, communities, and user groups, bringing extensive experience in Wikimedia projects, regional collaboration, and capacity building. Together with their communities, they embody a wealth of cultural and linguistic expertise. Through wide-ranging consultations and co-design efforts, the Council has developed robust plans to support communities and advance equitable access to knowledge across the region.

The ESEAP Hub’s concept and proven track record—established through years of engagement, including regular community general meetings, support for Wikimania 2023, an elected Preparatory Council, multiple ESEAP conferences since 2018, and at least three strategy summits—demonstrates the need for formal support for the existing group, and building on its deep knowledge of this dynamic and fast-growing region.

The ESEAP Preparatory Council has developed a Strategic Plan centered around a comprehensive, community-led and informed Theory of Change that serves as the foundation for this proposal. This Theory of Change outlines the long-term vision of empowering and enabling communities across the ESEAP region to share and access knowledge freely. It identifies key challenges such as building capacity, advocacy, representation, and inclusivity, and defines actionable pathways to address these issues.

The piloting plan for the ESEAP Hub includes structured phases of engagement, co-design, and evaluation to ensure that its initiatives are aligned with the needs of the diverse communities in the region. Through wide consultation and collaboration, the Council has mapped out clear objectives, specific outputs, measurable outcomes, and strategies to build capacity, strengthen regional partnerships, and foster sustainable growth. The plan also includes mechanisms for continuous feedback and adaptation to the ESEAP community, ensuring the Hub’s relevance and effectiveness in increasing support to those in the region and achieving its goals.

This strategic approach positions the ESEAP Hub as a vital platform to drive regional collaboration and capacity, advocate for ESEAP in the global movement, address systemic challenges, and support the equitable growth of Wikimedia communities across the ESEAP region.

7. Do you have a strategic plan that can help us understand your proposal? If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share your piloting plan. If your proposal relates to research, share your research plan. (required): Yes; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QQ20rvd1A0PmsDzRHuPh6w9PwGKdGVAzCK0XB_k5wM8/edit?usp=sharing

8. Describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project. If your proposal is related to piloting a hub, describe the services you plan to offer and include how you are drawing on community consultation and needs assessments to define your activities. (required)

Our ESEAP Hub Theory of Change addresses five key areas:

Improving Engagement through Translation: The ESEAP Hub aims to increase inclusivity by establishing robust translation processes, initially targeting 1-2 key regional languages and expanding to 6. This includes providing translation support for 80% of regional events and forming a dedicated translation team to ensure accessibility. Regular reviews will refine these services based on community feedback, enabling broader participation across diverse linguistic groups from our region.
Enhancing Communication: Recognising the significant challenges posed by language differences, time zones, and cultural diversity, the Hub will strengthen communication through regular community meetings, an annual conference (alternating community and strategy), and online support services in multiple languages. Monthly calendars and event highlights will keep communities informed and engaged, creating a shared sense of purpose and connection.
Empowering Community Capacity: To build capacity across the region, the Hub will map existing skills, provide training in leadership and grant writing, and develop resources including a downloadable “Newbies Handbook” for emerging communities. Efforts will focus on underrepresented groups, supporting them to establish new User Groups and contribute actively to the movement.
Community Decision-Making: The Hub will establish a transparent and inclusive governance framework by drafting an ESEAP Charter and using metawiki for decision-making communications. Mechanisms such as surveys, regular meetings and workshops will capture community feedback, building trust and equitable participation in regional governance processes.
Advocating ESEAP Representation: ESEAP will amplify its voice in the global Wikimedia Movement by increasing participation in international forums and events, and working on partnerships with global affiliates. Advocacy efforts will spotlight issues such as minority representation, internet access, and data governance, ensuring ESEAP priorities are recognised in global discussions.

During the one-year pilot project for the ESEAP Hub, the focus will be on two key areas that the ESEAP community has determined and clearly indicated are the priority:

5. Representation of ESEAP (Advocacy)
3. Empowering Community Capacity

The remaining three key areas will be supported (as they are interdependent on the other key areas) but not as priority.

Specific activities for the two priority areas selected include:

5. Representation of ESEAP (Advocacy)

Facilitate participation of ESEAP representatives with scholarships for three international Wikimedia forums to advocate for regional priorities.
Facilitate participation of ESEAP representatives with scholarships at two other global forums to raise visibility and increase understanding of the ESEAP region.
Develop a regional advocacy plan addressing public policy, minority representation, internet access, and data governance, informed by community needs.
Track progress through quarterly reports and community feedback on advocacy efforts.

3. Empowering Community Capacity

Deliver four training sessions on leadership, grant writing, and governance, prioritising emerging communities and underrepresented groups.
Create a "Newbies Handbook" as a downloadable resource for new community organisers or affiliates.
Connect with at least two emerging communities or User Groups and identify their needs, such as mentorship and resources.
Conduct a skills-mapping exercise to identify community strengths and areas for growth.
Measure success through participation numbers, skill improvement surveys, and tracking new community initiatives.
Continue to offer the monthly Community Meetings, annual Conference (alternating Community then Strategy Summit) and other opportunities for community connection, relationship building and knowledge sharing.

Through strategic activities, ongoing community consultation, regular feedback, and careful evaluation, the ESEAP Hub pilot will offer these initial pilot services that are responsive to regional needs, extend collaboration, and identify what is required to build a strong foundation for the Hub’s long-term sustainability.

Learning and Evaluation

An important focus of the Year 1 pilot will be on learning and evaluation. From the outset, we will implement tools and frameworks to establish the existing baselines (current status), and then track progress, assess community satisfaction, and measure the impact of our activities. Regular surveys, feedback sessions, and data collection will guide adjustments to ensure our approach remains aligned with community needs. Insights from the evaluation processes will inform the development of scalable and sustainable practices, laying the groundwork for the Hub’s future impact, growth and effectiveness.

Specific activities include:

To ensure continuous improvement, we will:

Conduct biannual community surveys to assess satisfaction and gather feedback on Hub activities.
Implement a method (potentially a dashboard or spreadsheets) tracking engagement, training completion rates, and advocacy outcomes.
Hold a final evaluation workshop with online opportunities for ESEAP communities to participate, to document lessons learned and develop a roadmap for the Hub’s long-term sustainability.

By implementing these focused activities and analysing responses, the pilot will generate insights and learnings into essential services, strengthen regional collaboration, and build a foundation for the Hub’s long-term sustainability.

9. Did you involve communities during the drafting of this proposal? Share which specific communities you involved, the process you used to involve them, and how they will participate in this proposal. (required)

Yes, the idea of a funded ESEAP Hub has been developed over more than two years (for eg, at the ESEAP Community Conference in Sydney 2022 with analysis here) in close consultation with the ESEAP community. The drafting of the Theory of Change and some draft governance structures has been extensively discussed, leading to this proposal for grant funding. The process involved engaging with a wide range of affiliates, user groups, and individual contributors from across the region through conferences, meetings, and video calls.

The ESEAP Hub Declaration statement signed in support by almost 100 community members:[2]

Communities includes:

Affiliates in the ESEAP region: Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore.
Language and cultural groups and projects from various countries: WikiLontar project and Balinese WikiSource group, Pasifika artists in Aotearoa New Zealand, Kadazandusun language through Kent Wiki Club, etc.

Key events such as ESEAP regional conferences, community general meetings, and strategy summits provided opportunities to gather input, workshop ideas and feedback on the proposal. In addition, regular video calls, presentations at affiliate or User Group meetings, and online discussions ensured participation from geographically dispersed communities. These sessions facilitated co-design processes where community members could share their insights, identify priorities, and shape the direction of the proposed ESEAP Hub.

The ESEAP communities and key members will continue to play a central role in this proposal, participating actively in the one-year pilot project by contributing to activities such as capacity-building workshops, advocacy efforts, and governance planning. Their ongoing involvement will ensure the Hub remains responsive to the diverse needs of the region and continues the collective ownership of its outcomes.

10. Are you in communication with other initiatives or groups that either support similar communities or offer similar services to the ones in your proposal? Provide information about any initiatives, affiliates, and/or hubs that have the potential to duplicate or overlap with your proposal. (required)

We are not aware of any initiatives or groups specifically in our region that offer similar services to the ESEAP Hub proposal. The idea of the Hub started in 2012, became more formal in 2014 and has been working in and supporting this region for over a decade. While there are other global movement entities that support our region and/or affiliates with quite specific focus, such as Let’s Connect, Volunteer Supporters Network and the Capacity Exchange tool, our ESEAP Hub group is geographically based in our ESEAP region with the cultural, social and networking knowledge and relationships from being based in the region. We are committed to working positively and collaboratively with other global movement entities, and willingly share our experiences and knowledge from ESEAP with the movement.

11. Who is your primary audience(s)? List the communities, affiliates, and groups. (required)

Existing affiliates in the ESEAP region: Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore. We welcome any future emerging community or user groups, and affiliates who wish to participate in the ESEAP Hub. We are an open and welcoming group aiming to grow our membership.

Emerging user groups, language groups and communities we are currently aware of, may include

Paiwan Wikimedians User Group in Taiwan
Pasifika artists in Aotearoa New Zealand
Kadazandusun language group through Kent Wiki Club (Malaysia)
Potentially the user group in Japan [3]

Some groups or lead people are yet to be identified and may be supported by an affiliate or movement group already.

According to the Community Yellow Pages these are the Countries in ESEAP currently not served by any affiliate:

Brunei
Laos
Mongolia
Papua New Guinea
Micronesia
Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Nauru
Palau
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

12. If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share the governance structure you plan to establish. If this governance structure is not yet in place, share how you are making decisions in the interim. (optional)

Currently the ESEAP Preparatory Council is the elected governing body overseeing the direction and activities of the Hub. The Prep Council members were elected through an online vote from a range of affiliates, community groups and individuals to ensure representation. The Prep Council (and its previous Interim Council) have spent over two years working to create a governance structure including a Charter with transparent elections and rules to support the ESEAP Hub and region. Unfortunately this process has regularly been delayed or unable to proceed for a range of reasons. Most recently, the ESEAP structure was closely based on the Global Movement Charter, which was not ratified by the global community in 2024.

The initial goal to have an ESEAP Hub governance structure in place before seeking funding has now been abandoned. The example of the CEE Hub has been particularly helpful for us. Now our aim is for grant funding to pilot a Hub with an initial staff member (Project Manager) to support and begin the activities and strategic direction that our community seeks. The Prep Council will continue to develop an effective and transparent governance structure, but it will not be the highest priority.

However we see our model to some extent replicating the CEE Hub, with staff undertaking the activities, while the ESEAP Prep Council sets the strategic direction, and all of this is undertaken in regular consultation, review and co-design with the ESEAP communities and affiliates.

13. Describe your team. (required)

14. Upload a timeline of activities or provide a link to it. Timeline (operational calendar) is for your programs and activities. (required): Please see "Appendix 2: ESEAP Hub pilot - Timeline (12 months)" for planned programs and activities

Members of the ESEAP Preparatory Council have been developing a DRAFT Activity Plan with detailed metrics and timeframes, to prepare for the start of the Grant. However this has been temporarily parked while key ESEAP affiliate staff are on leave, and most importantly until a person is appointed to the role of ESEAP Hub Project Manager.

15. How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Share your communication plans. (required)

We will continue to update our communities using the existing channels that have been in place for many years including:

Monthly ESEAP Community call
ESEAP mailing list [4]
ESEAP Telegram channel t.me/ESEAP
ESEAP Hub meta page (marked for translation to ESEAP languages) [5]
ESEAP Community conference (next occurrence: [6])
ESEAP Strategy Summit email:eseapsummit@wikimedia.org (next occurrence: [7])
Calls and presentations with various affiliates and communities on request

In addition, an area to consider and evaluate is how to develop a coordinated communications plan and Hub with processes to underpin translation, interpretation and dissemination of information. Currently some of these tasks are undertaken by WMF staff Ivonne Kristiani (Senior Global Movement Communications Specialist for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Region).

16. If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive, inclusive, and safe? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions. (optional)

All our discussions, online calls, community meetings and in-person events adhere to the WMF Universal Code of Conduct. If and when events are hosted in specific countries then the local Friendly Space Policy would also be followed (eg, WMAU Safe Space policy), if the affiliate has developed and ratified such a policy.

17. Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information that will give more context on your proposed project. You can also upload any additional documents in the section below. (optional)

DRAFT Memorandum of Understanding document - not yet finalised but will be provided ASAP.

Please note that our Learning and Evaluation questions and Metrics are included in our Theory of Change document.

ESEAP Preparatory Council member names: Belinda Spry (BindiS), Reke Wang, Dody Ismoyo, Robert Sim, Johnny Alegre, Vanj Padilla, Athikhun Suwannakhan, Agus Damanik, Irvin Sto. Tomas.

Metrics

18. Share quantitative and/or qualitative metrics that you plan to measure in order to showcase the impact of your activities. (required)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qwOgx8IdbwYuHTdMJdBdRDCq3bPFww1eHUglUzh0i9o/edit?usp=sharing

Budget

19. Your local currency. (required): TWD

20. What is the requested amount in your local currency? (required): 5470674 TWD
Requested amount in USD: 170466.2 USD ^{[note 1]}

↑ ^a ^b The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

21. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required): Yes

21.1. How many paid staff members and contractors do you plan to cover through the Hub Fund? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period as well as their work status (full-time/part-time, indefinite/fixed). If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms (period of work).

One full-time staff member: ESEAP Hub Project Manager role for one year

Some translation and interpretation work to be outsourced to short-term contractors (eg, interpretation for 1-2 hour meetings, and translation for a range of online documents such as the Newbies Handbook, ESEAP Charter or governance proposals)

22. Provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. (required)


Budget category	Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs	1522696 TWD
Operational costs	1074769 TWD
Programmatic costs	1922879 TWD

23. Upload your detailed budget or provide a link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYQRjr7GOYErlSX4mASBmo_MzNHpu36oUPyoRJUnwU/edit?usp=sharing

By submitting your proposal and funding request you agree with the Application Privacy Statement and Universal Code of Conduct

We/I have read and agree:

Yes

Feedback

Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.

[fixedrate-1] The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

[note 1]