Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/2023 GLAM Macedonia General Support Grant

statusFunded
2023 GLAM Macedonia General Support Grant
start date2023-01-012023-01-01T00:00:00Z
end date2023-12-312023-12-31T00:00:00Z
budget (local currency)2135895 MKD
amount requested (USD)34229 USD
amount recommended (USD)30050
grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
funding regionCEECA
decision fiscal year2022-23
funding program roundRound 1
applicant and people related to proposalUser:Violetova User:MacedonianBoy
organization (if applicable)GLAM Makedonija Skopje
Final Report

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Applicant details

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Wikimedia username(s):

User:Violetova

User:MacedonianBoy

Organization:

GLAM Makedonija Skopje

G. Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?

Applied previously and did receive a grant

H. Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?

Yes

H.1 Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?

Goethe Institute in Skopje in 2019

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Additional information

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R. Where will this proposal be implemented?

North Macedonia

S. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope:

Local

S1. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.

T. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has. (optional)

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_Macedonia_User_Group

www.glammacedonia.mk www.wikicamp.mk https://www.facebook.com/GLAM-Macedonia-236504190030022

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Proposal

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1. What is the overall vision of your organization and how does this proposal contribute to this? How does this proposal connect to past work and learning?

GLAM Macedonia is a non-profit organization dedicated to collect and share free knowledge available for everyone with the special focus on collaboration with GLAM and education institutions, by creating activities to make Wikipedia a place where correct information can be read. The availability of access to free knowledge is one of the key problems in North Macedonia. Digitalized free knowledge, still, is rarely available for the general Macedonian population. Large part of the scientific knowledge, findings and facts are not easily available for the Macedonian-speaking community. Such information either is presented in printed form, expensive to buy, or in a closed scientific circle that many people and especially students do not have access to. Students who desire to deepen their knowledge do not have sufficient sources for such improvement.

2. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important?

Through our activities we are trying to eliminate those obstacles and offer a database available for everyone. Second big challenge is that people don't know whom to trust. Fake information spreading is a key media problem nowadays. GLAM Macedonia is seeking and trying to find out ways or sources for gathering free knowledge that will be presented on Wikimedia's projects for access and use by the general Macedonian-speaking community. Having in the specifically-oriented nature of the organization (GLAM and education), the collaboration with the GLAM institutions of Macedonia shall be in the focus of the programs in order to (1) gather free knowledge provided by the GLAM institutions, (2) include GLAM/ education employees into our activities in order to spread the message and achieve the goals of the movement in Macedonia. The students and teachers from more than 14 schools in Macedonia (as of now) are actively involved in the organization's activities to: (1) take active part in the content creation, (2) overcome background/ social/ linguistic differences and work together on achieving the goals, (3) decrease the gender-gap in terms of content on Wikimedia Projects, (4) try to implement the free knowledge into education processes in Macedonia by active involvement of students and teachers in the process of content creation and content use, (5) learn media literacy and how to write from neutral point of view.

3. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.

GLAM: Strengthening the collaboration with GLAM institutions in North Macedonia, as well as improving the cooperation with GLAM Institutions which already exists and signed memorandum for collaboration (such as The State Archive of Republic of North Macedonia, Museum of Macedonian struggle, Archeological Museum of North Macedonia, Museum of Natural History, Institute of Natural Science in Ohrid, National Parks, etc.). The WiR activities will try to implement WIkimedia projects within WiR work and using the available resources for enriching the contents. Establishing cooperation with new GLAM (like Macedonian Academy of Science, Museum of Contemporary Arts, National Park Mavrovo, City Libraries, etc.) and getting them closer to the projects shall be one of the more important tasks to be accomplished. Workshops, tours, edit-a-thons and training will continue to be held. COMMUNITY GLAM Macedonia tries to increase the number of involved volunteers in GLAM Macedonia that will actively contribute to the development of the Wikimedia Movement in Macedonia. In the next years, several public events will be organized, as well as many workshops on various different topics, mostly concerned with creating new articles on mk.wiki. We organize at least 10 media and press interviews to introduce Wikipedia and user group work to the audience per year. Several projects, like Meet Hungary, Meet Russia, Meet Sweden, Meet Serbia, were carried out in collaboration with the respective Embassies in Skopje. Negotiation for future collaborations: with the embassies of Poland, Slovakia and UK. EDUCATION As one of the key programs of the organization, GLAM Macedonia tries to achieve several key strategic education aspects. Establishing new Wiki Clubs and Wiki sections with students will get Wikipedia closer to schools and improve the content. We have 7 Wiki Clubs at the moment all over the country. The recruiting new members and contributors that are willing to improve Wikimedia Projects. Our strength in this project so far is the reputation of the Wiki Clubs. Each club has an appointed coordinator, a member of GLAM Macedonia. We also train new teachers to edit and contribute and use the Wikipedia in the education process. The teachers’ conferences are an excellent opportunity for improving the community as well. The third strategic aspect are the Wiki Camps. The main purpose of the Camps are to build strong connections between students’ experiences, develop skills and expanding knowledge. It is a good event for engaging new members and activists. Our growing programs, special Education program which was held by volunteers till now, needs dedicated employee. We received many requests from schools for giving training to the students and teachers, but some of them we postponed or declined as the volunteers are not free to do the training all the time. With the employee who will work on Education program and projects, we will be able to answer all requests for training.

4. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?

Establish at least 3 new Wiki Clubs or Wiki sections *Recruit at least 150 new editors and contributors *Engage at least 50 women and seniors in Wikimedia projects in order to avoid gender and age gap *Educate and train at least 120 teachers on how to use Wikipedia in classroom *Organize at least 45 special events *New content on Wikipedia: at least 4,500 new articles, multimedia content and references *Collaborate with at least 45 institutions and organizations

5. Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?      

No

5.1 If yes, provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan?

N/A

6. Please include a timeline (operational calendar) for your proposal.

7. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?

Snezhana Shtrkovska, user:Violetova, president: creating and submitting grant proposals, budget planning, WMF liaison, overall projects coordinator. Nikolche Stojanoski, user:MacedonianBoy, board member: creating and submitting grant proposal, WMF liaison, responsible for overall projects planning Nataša Nedanoska, user:NatasaNedanoska, board member and coordinator of Wiki Club Ohrid: event logistics, social events, coordinator of volunteers in Ohrid, responsible for projects maintain in Ohrid Gordana Jović Stojkovska, user:Gordi, board member: events PR, coordinator of volunteers, responsible for starting new Wiki Clubs Igor Kuzmanovski, user:Wikimk, board member: technical support, logistical help during the events Stojna Arsovska-Donevska, user:Stojnaa, coordinator of Wiki Club Staro Nagoricane, coordinator of volunteers in St. Nagoricane, responsible for projects maintain in St. Nagoricane Valentina Trajkoska, user:Vale Trajkoska, coordinator of education: responsible for projects and volunteers in Drachevo Irena Trajkovska, coordinator of education in the High School Josip Broz Tito: responsible for projects and volunteers coming from that high school Atanas Sopostski, user:Besmrten, coordinator of education in high school Korchagin in Skopje: responsible for projects and volunteers coming from that high school in Skopje Lili Arsova, user:Lili Arsova, coordinator of education in Veles: responsible for creating events, maintain projects and work with volunteers in Veles Tatjana Gogoska, user:Tatjanagogoska, member: media outreach for events and projects of GLAM Macedonia Nikola Štrkovski, user:SirGoldenBlade, IT coordinator: technical support and maintain the web pages of GLAM Macedonia Ana Vishinova, user:Vishinova, GLAM coordinator: GLAM liaison, responsible for planning and maintain GLAM events Frosina Dimitrova, administration and logistic manager https://glammacedonia.mk/mk/за-тимот/ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_Macedonia/Staffing_plan_2023

8. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Content Gender gap, Language, Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial

8.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.


9. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.

Education, Human Rights, Culture, heritage or GLAM , Diversity

10. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Please note, we had previously asked about inclusion and diversity in terms of CONTENTS, in this question we are asking about the diversity of PARTICIPANTS. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Linguistic / Language, Digital Access

11. What are your strategies for engaging participants, particularly those that currently are non-Wikimedia?

Students and education workers from different cultural/ linguistic and social background make the diversity of the organization on a level that it strives for. The diversity of the group will establish stronger and more efficient organization, while successful accomplishment of the activities is expected.

  • Geography - the activities are planned and organized so that people/ students/ teachers of different geographical regions of the country contribute and actively take part in the process. We run so far 8 Wiki Clubs established in different cities. Activities, such as Wiki Camp will bring most of the active contributors in one place and provide a chance for socializing.
  • Ethnic/ cultural background - the activities will try to engage people/ students/ teachers of different cultural and ethnic background, such as Serbians, Bosnians or Aromanians (we already work with those ethnicity), and guide them to focus on single goal - contribution and development of the organization/ movement.
  • Language - since the activities cover students of different language background, the nature of the activities will promote use of standardized language and development of linguistic/ translation skills. Our Wiki Club members have different mother tongue.
  • Socioeconomic status - the programs do not divide or make distinction of the social and economic status of the members and students, but instead they are all treated equally, provided with the basic necessary tools in order to improve Wikimedia Projects and activities.
  • Age - Education Program is the most diverse in terms of age. It includes students from at least 12 years of age up to teenagers and adolescents. Moreover, the program covers adult teachers and seniors who all work together in accomplishing the tasks.
  • Digital Access - While implementing the activities, the organization makes sure all participants who contribute and improve the content have access to digital gadgets. The digitalization of the materials gathered by the WiR is also an important segment of this process. It provides the activists digital materials for easier handling and processing.

12. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants and promoting the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy, and/or equivalent local policies and processes?

We have created a Friendly Space Policy for all of our events, in order to be sure that GLAM Macedonia’s events are organized in the manner of good communication, cooperation and creativity. At venues where GLAM Macedonia organizes the events of the association, harassment is prohibited on any ground, including but not limited to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, age, racial, ethnic or national affiliation and political or religious definition. GLAM Macedonia will not tolerate any form of harassment or violence against participants of the events which are organized by the association. Vulgar remarks are not appropriate in any space at events or meetings. All participants who violate the rules will be sanctioned or removed from the event at the discretion of the event organizers. The link to the text: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_Macedonia_User_Group/Friendly_Space_Policy

13. Do you have plans to work with Wikimedia communities, groups, or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?

Yes

13.1 If yes, please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.

This proposal is created by GLAM Macedonia board and other members, on offline events. We had several meetings when we discussed and planed the future events and activities of GLAM Macedonia. Shared activities with Shared Knowledge user group were discussed via e-mail.

14. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?

Yes

14.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

To implement this proposal, we are working with other external organizations and institutions, such as schools and GLAM institutions in our country. For example, our biggest Wiki Club in Skopje has regular meetings in the Museum of Macedonian struggle in Skopje. Wiki Club Ohrid meetings are held in the office of Red Cross in Ohrid. Some of the activities were held in the other Museums all over the country. All collaborations we mentioned, are in-kind support from the organizations and institutions.

15. How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?

Since GLAM institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia are closed ones and not easily accessible, we are happy to be warm welcome and to have a productive collaboration. However, in order not to lose these good links and good collaboration ground, we are sending Wikipedian in Residence in order to maintain the connections and expand the possibilities for further collaboration. The big interest of teachers and students in the Republic of North Macedonia is giving us the strength and satisfaction, as the great interest points that with such activities (Wiki Clubs and teacher's conferences) we are on the right track to reach them and continue to work with them in the future. We have members, teachers and students who become GLAM Macedonia members in 2016 and 2017, and they are still active, implementing projects and activities in their area of interests. The continuum of successful enlargement of GLAM Macedonia's community is evident and the results are doubling each year. GLAM Macedonia user group has more than 180 members who signed the application form. We cannot list any problem which may appear during the future events according to work with community. About financial stability, we'll have to make a plan in order to not be dependent only on WMF funds. Till now, we received funds from organizations who approached us, as it was in 2019 with the 3-day project "Meet Germany", which was fully financially covered by the Goethe Institute in Skopje, and much in-kind supports.

16. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these. This can include factors such as external/contextual issues that may affect implementation, as well as internal issues, such as governance/leadership changes.

Some of the identified or expected risks are:
  • lack of IT equipment needed for smooth implementation of the programmes,
  • possible insufficient available space for conferences in the teachers' host-schools,
  • political instability in Europe, due to which online meeting between communities may be possible

17. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Innovate in Free Knowledge

18. Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here.  

Yes
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_Macedonia_User_Group/Strategic_plan_2022-2025

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation

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19. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?

• What activities proved to be most effective in terms of content creation and content improvement? Especially, what activities triggered participants’ willingness to improve the quantity and quality of the project.

  • What program areas or events improved the human-relations, volunteerism and skills of the community, its growth and productivity of the community? What factors increase the active users and volunteers in our programs?
  • What were the methods/ approaches and the strategies for deeper collaboration of the state GLAM Institutions with the organization? What motivated the GLAM institutions and employees to work with GLAM Macedonia for the purposes of improving Wikimedia Projects?

20. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following space provided.

Main Metrics Description Target
Organized events Organized events, including in person events from all projects altogether. 60
Number of participants Number of involved participants in all projects altogether 590
Number of organizers Number of involved organizers in all projects altogether 50
Number of pages Number of pages created or improved in all projects altogether 4100
Institutions involved Number of institutions we worked with 45

Here are some additional metrics that you can use if they are relevant to your work. Please note that this is just an optional list, mostly of quantitative metrics. They may complement the qualitative metrics you have defined in the previous boxes.

Additional Metrics Description Target
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities Number of editors that continue to participate 120
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability N/A N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors N/A N/A
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees Diversity of participants brought in by grantees 20
Number of people reached through social media publications N/A N/A
Number of activities developed N/A N/A
Number of volunteer hours N/A N/A

21. Additional core quantitative metrics. These core metrics will not tell the whole story about your work, but they are important for measuring some Movement-wide changes. Please try to include these core metrics if they are relevant to your work. If they are not, please use the space provided to explain why they are not relevant or why you can not capture this data. Your explanation will help us review our core metrics and make sure we are using the best ones for the movement as a whole.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target
Number of participants Number of participants involved in our programs 590
Number of editors number of editors involved, newly registered and registered prior the project 370
Number of organizers Number of organizers in our events 50
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia Number of pages created or improved 4100
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A

21.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.

N/A

22. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?

As for now, we use https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/ to measure activities, number of articles and editors involved in our programs. We haven't use https://fountain.toolforge.org/ yet, but we want to use it starting next year.

Financial Proposal

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23. & 23.1 What is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.

2135895 MKD

23.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?

34229 USD

23.3 Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NGGOyAi4hqJ208hcJY6EAaY2162Dr_piUxpCAhMoMpQ/edit#gid=0

23.4 Please include any additional observations or comments you would like to include about your budget.

This year we need to hire an employee who will manage our growing education projects, as it becomes difficult for volunteers to keep up with the needs of the projects.

Note about the currency: the sum 34,730.00 is in euros.

Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.

Other public document(s): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_Macedonia/Staffing_plan_2023

Final Message

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By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes


Feedback

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