Grants:Project/MSIG/Free Knowledge Africa Movement Strategy (Need Assessment)

statusNot funded

Free Knowledge Africa Movement Strategy (Need Assessment) for Wikimedia Campus-based Communities

This proposal focuses on conducting a detailed needs assessment and extensive research on identifying the existing problems facing sub-Saharan (Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania) student-led and campus-based Wikimedia communities and finding out if having a Hub is something of interest to these communities as well as finding out how this hub will be a solution to the existing problems. This is being done as one of the efforts to strengthen collaboration between the community members, finding new ideas and potential areas to work on together, and developing plans to implement initiative 31 of the movement strategy.

targetplease add a target wiki

start dateJanuary 15

start year2023

end dateJuly 30

end year2023

budget (USD)16500

grant typeplease specify whether this grant is for an individual, group, or organization

grantee• Timmylegend

contact(s)• isaacoloruntimilehin

gmail.com

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Applications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.

Project Goal

What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative

What specific Movement Strategy Initiative does your project focus on and why? Please select one of the initiatives described here: This research project will be contributing to ongoing Movement Strategy discussions on Initiative 31. Global approach for local skill development - gathering data, matching peers, mentorship, recognition. This is targeted at investigating how the cluster of student-led communities in sub-Saharan Africa can become sustainable by acquiring skills that enable them to contribute effectively to Wikimedia and its sister projects and setting them up to participate more in Wikimedia movement activities and potentially creating a talent pipeline of skilled Wikimedians. These communities exist on University and other tertiary institution campuses, which makes it easier to recruit new wikimedians. The demographic can learn faster, are familiar with digital skills and are in a knowledge-based environment.; Free Knowledge Africa is familiar with these challenges and difficulties as a community of African Wikimedians who joined the Wikimedian movement while in the University and played leadership roles in the student-led communities. Through a thorough needs assessment of the communities, we plan to address the skills gap issue. We want to identify a structure and system that ensures that sub-Saharan (Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania) student-led and campus-based Wikimedia communities are sustainable (like Junior Chambers International, Rotary, Red Cross etc.) and where free knowledge enthusiasts and beginners are equipped with the skills required to become free and open knowledge advocates. This would potentially form a talent pipeline in the coming years for the Wikimedia movement in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with some of the lowest participation and biggest knowledge gaps globally.; The research would help discover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for these communities to make recommendations for a structure that would ensure the communities and other communities to be created are equipped with the necessary skills to take an active part in the Wikimedia movement activities.

Project Background

When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?: The whole project will be conducted from January 15th 2023 - 30th July 2023.
Where will your project activities be happening?: Online
Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.: No
What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?: Through a thorough needs assessment of the campus-based Wikimedia communities, we would identify the factors that have enabled some to be sustainable over the years. We would also identify the risk factors for communities that are no longer vibrant or have shut down by interacting with past members. This would also take into account the peculiarity of each community and each country. At the end of the research, we would be able to prepare a model/template for these campus-based communities. This would help the communities in recruiting, training, leadership, partnerships, skills and a sustainable transition for every academic session. This template would be useful to help in starting Wikimedia communities on different campuses across Africa. This would build on our previous research findings that identified the characteristics and challenges of the Wikimedia campus-based communities. This would go a step further in identifying solutions for these communities. Some of the challenges we encountered in our previous research were a limited sample frame/size, we only had current members, with most of them still very new to Wikipedia, and they didn't understand so much of what we were trying to work on. The research would go further to engage past and present community members, as well as past and present leaders. We also intend to reach out to the leaders of a defunct Wikimedia campus-based organization known as Wikipedia Connect at Ohio State University in the United States to find out why the community officially shut down. In developing our model/template, we also intend to reach out to some leaders of student-led organizations on campuses, such as the Junior Chambers International, Rotary, AIESEC, Red Cross etc., to learn from them how they have been vibrant across different campuses in Africa and across the globe. We would also examine case studies of successful Wikimedia or any relevant Open Knowledge campus-based communities across the World to identify the factors responsible for their growth and stability. This would also be discussed with the campus-based Wikimedia communities in sub-Saharan Africa that we are working with.

Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?: We used the example provided on Needs Assessment: Example of a needs assessment for skills development grant proposal

Project Activities

What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.

Designing a survey of community skills: A community Capacity Map will be used for that purpose, where detailed data will be gathered in terms of skills needs assessment and potential existing skills. We would work together with the research analyst in designing the survey.
Collecting data: The survey will be distributed as much as possible among the communities. We would be engaging enumerators for each of the three countries targeted. We will announce it and collectively fill it during small community meetings and conduct 1:1 interviews where we verbally collect the answers (for those who prefer it). We hope to receive diverse responses in terms of newcomers, readers, experienced editors, organizers, technical contributors etc. We intend to reach 10 campus-based Wikimedia communities, 150 individuals with surveys, conduct at least 30 interviews, and five interviews with different campus-based communities outside the Wikimedia movement.
Defining needs: A professional analyst will be hired to look through the data, categorize it and extract the needs: Not only of the communities altogether but also of individual groups within the communities (for example, newcomers). The needs assessment will not only show areas where training is required but also how the training should be best conducted (e.g. with what tools and in which exact topics?). The results will be shared in a public report, and each country's enumerator will draft their reports which will be gathered in phase 4 of the project.
Prioritizing: Once the needs of the different communities have been identified, the research analyst will carry out the prioritization process. We will conduct a general meeting online with the community, and a small number will be offline in each community and have a follow-up discussion to validate the findings and discuss ways to commence action. The priorities will be added to our final report.
Sharing: Our final needs and priorities will not only be shared on a local level but also within a broader “global mapping” to help represent our region’s specific needs among the rest of the Wikimedia communities. After which, we would prepare a draft implementation plan.

How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community: We will actively use social media, email, and other means of communication to make sure the project's participants can continue to receive updates and outcomes. Most of the target audience falls within a demographic that employs the use of these communication channels.
Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?: In the management of the project, we intend to compose a team of 6 people from Free Knowledge Africa.

Timmylegend (Project Management)

Responsibilities

Give clear directions and instructions to both team members and the research consultant.
Clarify the duties, roles and functions of team members.
Encourage contributions and input from team members and other key stakeholders on the project.
Determine the appropriate time to make advancement on projects and move on to further stages.
Maintain direct and open interaction with the team to make sure all resources needed for the project are available.
Overseeing the general project and ensuring that objectives are met.
Providing oversight and guidance for project activities.
Analyse research findings to ensure that they meet project objectives.
Keep track of activities and timelines for the execution of specific activities.
Scheduling of meetings.
Facilitating interviews with other campus based communities.
Disbursement of data allowance to interviewees.
Keep track of finances for the project.
Compiling the final project report.

Haylad (Facilitator)

Responsibilities

Facilitating verbal 1:1 interviews and community meetings.
Assist with participant recruitment strategies.
Liaison between research analyst, campus-based communities and team members.
Ensure effective representation for the communities.
Draft meeting agendas.
Make sure agendas are made and understood.
Briefing community members during meetings.
Ensuring meeting objectives are met.

Ifedohlapo (Communications)

Responsibilities

Communication on and off Wiki.
Drafting emails and sending messages to selected interviewees.
Sending reminders and following up with different communities.
Sorting information retrieved from interviews and surveys.
Arranging and putting together all literature and findings from the research.
Transcribing interview recordings.

The research analyst (TBD)

Responsibilities

Collaborate with the project team to design, share and discuss the best research methodologies and tools.
Selecting appropriate data and literary sources for research purposes from meta.
Designing questionnaires and research sub-tasks.
Conducting interviews, survey sessions, and data collection.
Analyzing and organizing gathered information.
Drafting and finalizing research reports for presentation.
Identifying critical areas of concern and improvement in research design and implementation.
Discuss findings with team members.

Requirements:

A minimum of a master's degree in your area of research specialization.
Three years experience as a researcher or study leader.
Demonstrable research skills such as data analytics, statistics, or survey design.
Impeccable writing and organizational skills.
Proficiency in research design, research report writing, and source analysis.
A thorough knowledge of research procedures and best practices.
Team-working and communication skills.
Ability to conduct research independently.
Knowledge of research and experimental techniques for gathering qualitative and quantitative data.
A history of published articles, studies, or research work.

The project will consist of 4 phases, namely:

Phase 1: The needs assessment research preparation, one and half months
Phase 2: The needs assessment online and field activities, one month
Phase 3: Needs Prioritizing and draft implementation plan, one and half months
Phase 4: Validation and dissemination of findings, one-month

Additional information

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

There are experienced facilitators in the community who can help provide the needed support.
Wikimedia Foundation Friendly space policies as well as the Universal Code of Conduct.

If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.

Zoom for virtual meetings
Surveymonkey for surveys

Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.

No

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.

This project would help strengthen the student communities to implement the Wikimedia movement 2030 strategy and ensure the sustainability of the movement in years to come on the African continent.

Outcomes

After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language, and is not required to be written in English.

In this report, you will be asked to:

Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page
Describe what activities supported the development of the plan
Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.
Report on how your funding was spent

Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:

What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?

To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer the following resources to develop a logic model:

Overview of logic models on Meta-wiki
Example logic models for reference for other movement activities (such as partnerships and edit-a-thons)
Blank logic model template on Google Drive

Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:

Yes

Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:

Budget

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!


Item	Unit price	Number of units	Subtotal	Explanation
Facilitation	$750	6 months	$4500	Coordination of events, Making sure agendas are made and understood, briefing, ensuring meeting objectives are met.
Reasearch	$500	6 months	$3000	Hiring a research analyst to ensure quality research is carried out and collaborate with the project team to design, share and discuss the best research methodologies and tools.
Internet	$250	6 months	$1500	Internet or mobile costs for organizers or participants to access or participate in activities
Project management	$800	6 months	$4800	Compiling final report, Overseeing the general project, community engagement, Evaluating Project progress, providing oversight. Compiling final research findings.
Online tools and services	$100	6 months	$600	Subscription services for online meeting platforms.
Documentation and communications	$250	6 months	$1500	Document preparation time. Time spent documenting discussion, post-meeting work. Transcribing of interviews. Overall communications for the project.
Miscalleneous	-	-	$600	unforeseen expenses, transaction fees etc

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED USD: 16500

Completing your application

Once you have completed the application, please do the following:

Change the application status from status=draft to status=proposed in the {{Probox}} template.
Contact strategy2030 wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.

Endorsements

An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

Support This project is targeted at the Movement Strategy discussions on Initiative 31 which is very germane to the growth and sustainability of Youth led Wikimedia communities who according to United Nation form about 70% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa, and regarded as the key to Africa’s Sustainable Development. The Wikimedia community is no different as observation has shown that this set of contributors has led to increase in contributions and participation in various Wkimedia camapigns and contest. I trust the Free Knowledge Africa to ensure successful implementation of this project using the detailed proposal as shown on the grant page. Bukky658 (talk) 10:51, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

This is an awesome project for the year 2023 in supporting the Wikimedia Movement Strategy. Being a fan club coordinator, I see this as a viable means of engaging old and new Wikimedians in all projects in order to create sustainable knowledge among Africa circle. Chikeme Chizurum (talk) 15:13, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

This needs assessment research is important in the sub-saharan areas mentioned by the researcher and beyond. The findings will be useful to users, hubs (intending and existing) and to Wikimedia Movement in general. Therefore, I Support this project. Olugold (talk) 20:57, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

SupportThis project is a great start to help the University focused Wikimedia Communities. I remember in the last communities’ meetup we discussed alot. I strongly recomment this project. Magotech (talk) 01:31, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Support A project that focuses on Movement Strategy 31: Technology Council (for improved communication, coordination and support) and geared towards sustainability of the University communities in Nigeria is a project I would totally support. Seeing other successful Free Knowledge Africa projects, I am fully assured that this would be a huge success. SuperSwift (talk) 18:45, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Support A project dedicated to this subset of Wikimedia community is indeed quite important for the future of the Wikimedia movement. Looking forward to the output from this research!-Jamie Tubers (talk) 13:08, 30 November 2022 (UTC)
Support A project focused on creating a sustainable structure for University Wikimedia communities so that they don't shut down or go extinct is a great one. As one of the leaders of the community in the university of Ilorin, I believe that it also plays a major role in the future of the Wikimedia movement. I trust that the goal of this project will be achieved as Free Knowledge Africa has a track record of successful projects. Hopilo12 (talk) 23:27, 30 November 2022 (UTC)

Participants

Volunteer I would love to contribute to this project in Wikipedia and other wiki sister projects if training is made available. Chikeme Chizurum (talk) 15:10, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

Volunteer/Local Organizer being part of the team that sees this project go through is something I would love to. Considering that I come from a University based Community in Tanzania (University Students Wikimedians), this project will help our community grow.Magotech (talk) 01:31, 20 November 2022 (UTC)