Grants:Project/Rapid/Mahveotm/WikiClub, Lagos State University 2018 Meetups/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2018-19 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

• To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Mahveotm/WikiClub, Lagos State University 2018 Meetups.
• You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
• You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went? We were not fully able to meet all our goals of which I am very sorry. I'm positive about the lessons learnt and the way forward in future.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
3 events were held	Only 2 events were held	The funds came in a bit late towards the ending of the year. This is understandable due to the Foundation load and amount of grants processed. Never the less, we could only hold 2 events in the 2018 calendar year, One general meetup and a staff meetup.
At least 40 distinct participant participated	43 Participants attended. 23 during the student meetup and 20 staffs	As explained earlier, only 2 meetups were held. Factors that contributed to this includes the late arrival of the funds which was quite understood, the industrial action embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of University hereby paralyzing University activities.
50 articles were improved	-	Regrettable a departure from our previous precedence, we could not go into real article editing during the sessions due to constrain in time. The grants arrival coincided with the ongoing examination pushing us to squeeze very little time to hold the events. The staff meetup was suppose to be an introductory into Wikipedia and therefore we weren't suppose to create articles.

Learning

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

• What worked well?

1. The swags material that was disbursed by the Wikimedia Foundation help created a sense of belonging to something big among the students. Several students also wore the pins and placed the stickers proudly on their devices. This sparked discussions about what Wikipedia is and what they do. Other students indicated interest to attend after conversations like this.
2. The materials that was printed during the earlier meetup/contest also came in handy as they were distributed and helped them understand more about the Wikimedia project and how to contribute during their spare time.
3. The staff meetup was finally held. After promises from the Dean of Faculty to attend one of our meetups, we were finally called to make a presentation to the staff on a date of our choice. Several staff also showed interest but there was no follow up due to the strike the occurred few weeks after the meetup.
4. The halls were gotten for free as per previous agreement with the school management
5. We didn't use funds for data during the second meetup as the school's staff's WiFi was connected to.

• What did not work so well?

1. Timing of funds. The funds were released a tad late, very close to the end of the year. Banks requirement and bureaucratic procedures also slowed down the timing to receive the funds
2. Ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities. This has put an halt to our intended programmes and also stalled further meetups.
3. The release funds coincided with the examination preparation schedules so timing was of an utmost importance.
4. The attendance for the first meetup was lower than expected. (We made preparations for around 30 students but only 23 were around)

• What would you do differently next time?

1. I would probably have seen if I could get the funds elsewhere while I await a reimbursement from the Wikimedia Foundation. This would enable us to be able to hold the events during the best time possible
2. I would be conservative with the number of articles that would be created, this would help account for whatever could happen
3. I would attempt to see if other activities can be conducted remotely so as to actively engage the interest of attendee.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

• Food & Beverages for first meetup N50,000
• Data N10,000
• Food & Beverages for second meetup N32,000
• Miscellaneous(Bank charges, stationary, bus fare) N6,200

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds? Yes we have excess funds of N100,200. We plan on rolling it over to our 2019 meetup to be prepared this week

The funds remaining from this grant in the amount of 100,200 NGN / US$327.18 were deducted from another grant payment for Grants:Project/Rapid/Mahveotm/First_Semester_Funding_for_Workshops_and_Events_in_2019.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project? Overall there's a lot to learn especially as this series of events were not as successful as expected. I've been in contact with the Wikimedia Educational Foundation as to how best to go around things like this and I'm eagerly awaiting their response. We also hope to learn from fan's club from around the world about best practices and behaviors. Relationship with the school management has also sweetened as there was a presentation of a plaque to the Vice Chancellor and the Yoruba editors meetup by another editor was also held on the school's campus.

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