Grants:Project/The African Narrative
Project idea
editWhat is the problem you're trying to solve?
editWhat problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
The rapidly expanding sector of cultural and creative industries (CCI) in Africa has the potential to become one of the major drivers of sustainable development and economic growth on the continent. An increasing number of Africans are embracing careers in music, film, fashion, literature, the arts, and other sectors, prompting a growing awareness of the importance of the cultural and creative industries to the continent's economic development as well as to its global image.
And yet, information about Africa’s creative economy, especially as documented by Africans, is vastly underdeveloped directly impacting policymaking, investments and general awareness necessary to strengthen the much-needed capacity building in the sector.
What is Your Solution?
editThe Africa Narrative is launching the AfroCreatives WikiProject to support and mobilize people from the African cultural and creative industries, as well as enthusiasts more broadly, to contribute knowledge on Wikipedia about Africa's creative economy. As its first Afro Creatives Wikiproject effort, The Africa Narrative will conduct a campaign in four countries—Egypt, Rwanda, Senegal, and Nigeria---and focused on the film sector. (The film sector mentioned throughout this proposal is understood to also include the television sector). The campaign will have four principal components: training, edit-a-thons, competitions, and a specific campaign aimed at the general public.
The first three activities will serve to recruit, train and incentivize film creatives and other industry stakeholders to create and improve content about their industry. Leveraging the content created during the campaign, the last phase of the one-year project will target the general public of these four countries and Africa more broadly with a compelling and hip social media campaign that showcases the African film sector and its creatives.
The countries were selected as a representative sample from multiple vantage points: geography (West, East, and North Africa); linguistic (Francophone, Anglophone, and Arabic-speaking Africa); and size. They are also countries with enough of a developed film sector to allow for a campaign that can recruit a large number of participants and with a rich trove of industry knowledge and assets to mine and turn into Wikimedia content.
With the initiative’s foremost priority on the quality of content and edits our initial emphasis is centered on engaging industry creatives and other stakeholders from whom the campaign stands to gain the most impact in terms of knowledge, commitment, and vested interest. These include creatives such as directors, screenwriters, actors, set designers, production designers, art directors, location managers, directors of photography, sound engineers, grips, and all the many individuals at all levels that work as cast and crew members and in other roles within the industry. They will also include figures who market, produce and invest in filmmaking and whose business-minded knowledge will provide important insight into the economics of the industry and where there are large gaps in information.
Project goals
editWhat are your goals for this project? Your goals should describe the top two or three benefits that will come out of your project. These should be benefits to the Wikimedia projects or Wikimedia communities. They should not be benefits to you individually.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
- Build the capacity within the film industry in Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal to contribute knowledge to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
- Increase African-generated content about the continent’s film sector on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects through a network of community organizers.
- Generate awareness and interest among the general public on Wikipedia as a source of valuable information on the film industry of Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal, and Africa more broadly.
- Use this first AfroCreatives WikiProject as a pilot from which to learn how best to expand the effort to other countries and into other sectors.
Project impact
editHow will you know if you have met your goals?
editFor each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:
- During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
- Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? (These are your outcomes.)
For each of your answers, think about how you will capture this information. Will you capture it with a survey? With a story? Will you measure it with a number? Remember, if you plan to measure a number, you will need to set a numeric target in your proposal (i.e. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents).
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
Q1.
- Hire a Wikipedian-in-Residence for a 12-month appointment to help launch and manage the AfroCreatives Wikiproject inaugural effort.
- Create a project on Wikipedia, AfroCreatives Wikiproject, to support people in the film sector of Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal and, enthusiasts more broadly, to contribute knowledge on Wikimedia projects.
- Mobilize people in the film industry of Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Rwanda and organize a series of workshops and events to build their capacity to be knowledge producers/contributors on Wikimedia projects.
- Plan and organize a series of editing workshops and events aimed at recruiting contributors from capacity-building workshops to contribute knowledge on the cultural and creative industries on Wikimedia projects.
- Coordinate a series of communication activities to advocate for more African voices in the cultural and creative industries to contribute knowledge and change Africa’s narrative on Wikimedia projects.
- Ensure there is diverse participation in workshops and events based on geography and language, and specifically to include Francophone and Arabic speaking communities.
- Grow knowledge/content around all the various aspects of the film industry such as profiles of its creatives and other figures; films and TV shows; film festivals; awards; investments in the sector, policymaking around the industry, technology developments, industry training and education, and more.
Q2.
- Learn from this initial effort directed at the African film industry and expand it into other sectors and countries.
- Hire two African Wikipedians-in-Residence to lead and grow the AfroCreatives WikiProject into a sustainable and veritable Pan-African initiative at the conclusion of this first project
- Create events and engagement around other TAN initiatives in the pipeline. Examples include a Pan-African creatives fellowship program; an annual African Creatives Week that will be held in a major African capital city; a landmark African literary prize of fiction to be awarded annually at Africa’s largest literary festival; and an interview-based podcast with African creatives.
- Promote collaboration with existing communities of practices in the Wikimedia movement.
Do you have any goals around participation or content?
editAre any of your goals related to increasing participation within the Wikimedia movement, or increasing/improving the content on Wikimedia projects? If so, we ask that you look through these three metrics, and include any that are relevant to your project. Please set a numeric target against the metrics, if applicable.
- Engage and introduce at least 100 newbies to Wikimedia projects
- Train at least 100 professionals within the Creative Industry in Africa
- Create at least 100 articles on topics about the film industry in the target countries
- Create awareness of articles on Wikipedia about the film industry in Africa
- Upload at least 200 photos to Wikimedia Commons
- Add photos to Wikimedia articles about the African film industry lacking photos
Project plan
editActivities
editTell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing? What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?
March - April - May
- Onboard a Wikipedian-in-Residence. The ideal candidate will be trilingual: English French and Arabic, but that will likely be difficult to find alongside the other skills we are seeking in a highly skilled WiR. English is naturally a prerequisite, with fluency in at least French or Arabic, with a weighted preference toward French given the size of Francophone Africa.
- Develop a communications plan
- Develop an editorial strategy
- Create compelling and dynamic training modules
- Create an outreach strategy aimed primarily at two groups.
a. Film industry and other relevant organizations that can:
- Provide visibility and cachet for the initiative
- Provide resources such as images and databases
- Provide access to industry participants
- Mobilize their members and stakeholders to participate
b. Influencers who will actively help promote the initiative
June - July
The first of two campaign cycles will include: training, edit-at-thons, and competitions.
Step 1. Hold three global training sessions open to all in English, French, and Arabic. To be hosted live and available on The Africa Narrative’s YouTube channel for ‘on-demand’ viewing
Step 2. Follow up with a localized training session in each of the four target countries: Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal and in the respective languages of Arabic, English, and French. To be hosted live and available on The Africa Narrative’s YouTube channel for ‘on-demand’ viewing.
Active promotion of the country-specific on-demand training video for prospective contributors not able to attend.
Step 3. Hold an online localized edit-a-thon in each of the 4 countries.
Step 4. Host a competition in each of the countries to encourage edit-a-thon participants to continue contributions through the end of the campaign. Specifics of the competition will be determined with the Wikipedian-in-Residence but likely based on most contributions and weighted with quality controls.
Social Media Promotion: TAN, its partners, and Wikipedia coordinators will have customized, language-specific social media assets for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote each of the steps listed.
Influencer participation: TAN will involve industry influencers in the promotion of the campaign.
Media/PR: TAN will conduct targeted PR aimed at African as well as global media ranging from the likes of The Guardian, OkayAfrica, New York Times, The Conversation, CNN International, BBC, The Washington Post, and France24.
Prizes/Incentives.
For the competition:
Five winners in each country
- First prize $1000
- Second prize $500
- 3 Runner ups $250 each
For the Edit-a-thons:
- TAN will create sophisticated and visually appealing branded social media badges for every participant of the edit-a-thons.
- While we cannot commit at this stage, we anticipate having sponsored prizes.
August
Review, assess the impact and adjust the campaign as needed.
September
New outreach for the second campaign cycle
October - November
All the activities, as well as prizes from the first cycle listed above, will be repeated.
In addition, The Africa Narrative will conduct an on the premise edit-a-thon at The International African Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos during the 3d week in November.
December – January 2022
Create a social media campaign aimed at the general public that will generate awareness and interest in accessing newly created information on Wikipedia about the Egyptian, Nigerian, Senegalese and Rwandan film sector and its creatives.
February/March
Launch the gen pop social media campaign in Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Rwanda, and more broadly within Africa.
April/May
Assess campaign metrics and impact and start to plan the expansion of the AfroCreatives WikiProject to other sectors and countries.
Budget
editHow you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. (You can create a table later if needed.) 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 USD | QUANTITY | TOTAL USD | NOTES |
| WiR | 1800 | 12 | 21,600 | Monthly stipend for WiR |
| Taxes & Social Security | 540 | 12 | 6,480 | Social security/tax contribution (30% of WiR salary) |
| Local Trainings | 2000 | 4 | 8,000 | Local training expenses |
| Total | 36,080 | |||
| Miscellaneous | 3,608 | 10% of total budget expense | ||
| Amount requested | 39,688 |
The Africa Narrative’s Commitment To The Project
edit- Project Manager
- Social Media Manager
- Media Relations
- Competition awards
- Developing online training modules
Community engagement
editHow will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience? How will you engage the community you’re aiming to serve at various points during your project? Community input and participation helps make projects successful.
Get involved
editParticipants
editPlease use this section to tell us more about who is working on this project. For each member of the team, please describe any project-related skills, experience, or other background you have that might help contribute to making this idea a success.
The Africa Narrative is starting its hiring in March with a Social Media Director being among the first hires and key to this initiative in promoting all aspects of the campaign on social media. Other staff assigned to the AfroCreatives WikiProject that will be in place during the campaign preparation phase include a Project Manager and a Marketing and Communications manager. Michelle van Gilder, TAN's acting president and originator of the project will be heavily involved throughout the campaign preparation phase. Our project also be advised by Wikimedia Foundation staffs Rudolph Ampofo, Felix Nartey and Alex Stinson
Community notification
editYou are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a Village Pump, talk page, mailing list, etc.--> Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?
- Contact persons in the target countries will be reached
- Announcement of project on African mailing list
- Notifying the Afrocine group about the project
Endorsements
editDo you think this project should be selected for a Project Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).
- I endorse this project and believe that it will project the creative art industry in the said countries.Ruby D-Brown (talk) 18:23, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
- I endorse this project because it would lead to capacity building and growth in the creative narrative space in Africa.Jwale2 (talk) 18:14, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
Strong support I strongly endorse this project. 21:39, 11 March 2021 (UTC)- I greatly endorse the project because it will create room for the recruitment of more contributors
Dnshitobu (talk) 04:17, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
- Strong support I strongly endorse this project.Din-nani1 (talk) 10:02, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
- I strongly support this project Dhee jah (talk) 11:32, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
- I strongly support this project Alhassan Mohammed Awal (talk) 07:59, 13 March 2021 (UTC)
I, in fact, have super mixed feelings with regards to this project. On one hand, it is an excellent idea and one that will lead to capacity building in the afore mentionned countries and this is great. On the other hand,
- I find a bit awkward that the AfroCine is not involved since the start in it. I would find it logical that this project is done in partnership with Afrocine since the start. They have experience, leadership, already occupy that space. I see jwales endorsing this project, but I'd love to see more feedback from Afrocine group here.
- The project grantee is obviously completely new to Wikimedia projects with no editing experience, or edit-a-thon experience, or free knowledge experience. I see no other name than this project manager in the list of participants. Is it expected that the WiR will actually provide all this "on the ground" experience ? I do realize that some WMF staff members are advising on this project (and very likely wrote a significant part of grant request). Seeing them advising the project clearly gives it strength and merit. But are WMF staff going to provide all the wikipedia-related overseeing during the project ? It seems that the set up of the strategy will happen actually prior to hiring the WiR. So who is going to prepare the strategy and plan the initial operations ? The project outlines that the first hires or appointed will be... 1) social media manager then 2) project manager, then 3) communication and marketing manager. THEN the WIR ? It feels like the project is first of all a communication project from a US based org :(
- It is not the first time that a grant request is submitted to support a WiR. And this is great and I highly support that. But usually, such project is actually carried by the person who intends to be the WiR and who himself found an ally partner to host and collaborate and support him as a WiR (typically WiR in museums). In such cases, we can fully trust that the project will be led by the WiR and we can support the project based on our understanding of the skills of this person (such as when John made grant requests to work with Unesco) along with the perception of the input to be provided by the partner; In such cases, we can talk of a "community-led" project. But in this case, where is the evidence that this project is community led ? I see none. This is fine to receive requests from non-community-led groups, but who is going to oversee this project ? Anthere (talk)
Support This looks promising, and I will be available in any capacity as deem fit. I had a 30 minutes discussion with Michele earlier this month and I am motivated by her desire to initiate this project. Ps: I am a founding co-facilitator for AfroCine. HandsomeBoy (talk) 07:27, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
