Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Dagbani WIkimedians User Group Annual Projects 2022

Regional Committee Recommendations

Dear Dagbani Wikimedians User Group,

Thank you for submitting this grant application. The Middle East and Africa Regional Committee has reviewed your application and they have some follow-up questions and requests:

• We observed that your budget is very high and especially knowing that you are a new user group and are still working on solidifying your work, areas of focus and organizational processes and structures useful in the implementation of your work

Ans: We have updated our budget to work on 3 major projects within 6 months and have also removed other expenses that contributed to our initial high budget. These include office some space equipment, and other costs associated with Staffing and volunteer compensation.

• We recommend that you review your proposal for a 4-6 months grants period to include up to 2 paid roles that are critical to the projects. Reducing the number of paid roles will also support you in putting in place structures and processes on how to manage staff.

Ans: We have reduced our proposal to a 6 months grant period as recommended.

• As you explore what paid roles are suitable for the reduced scope, please indicate and share the rationale for the roles and the associated costs.

Ans:Considering the current scope of our work and organizational structure, we are proposing 2 paid roles;

1. The Executive Director (currently serving as the project manager): He will ensure that all projects are executed and well-implemented within the stipulated time frame.

• He will be working full time (30hrs/week).
• He will work closely with the advisory board to shape our organizational programs.
• He will train the facilitators and other core team members.
• He will manage cost estimation and develop the organization’s budget
• He handles the project reports and other necessary documentation

2.The Administrative Executive: As an organization, we will need someone who will be responsible for managing our co-working space and other general administrative duties. This role is full time 25hrs/week and the task will include the following:

• Coordinating events, such as planning workshops, team and organization-wide meetings
• Scheduling appointments for partners, volunteers and the community
• Managing office equipment
• Providing reimbursement to team members and community for project-related expenses
• Creating invoices for clients
• Completing payroll tasks
• Recording daily incoming and outgoing transactions

• We will be interested to learn more about how you will manage the dynamics/roles of paid and volunteer community members.

Ans: All community members (including the core team) are volunteers except the Executive Director and Administrative Executive. They will be offered a full-time employment opportunity to work effectively with the community, team and partners.

• We also recommend reducing your programs to only have those that align with the mission and objectives of the user group and that clearly demonstrate the desired impact and its alignment with the strategies suggested. This we found to be unclear.

Ans: In order to align our projects with the mission and objectives of our organization, we have decided to focus on the top 3 projects for 2022 (January 1 to June 30):

• Reducing the scope of the project will allow you to learn and solidify your work better. It was unclear with some projects how they contribute to the development of the Dagbani language Wikipedia project.

Ans: We have reduced the scope of our project as stated above.

• We are interested in learning more about how you plan to collaborate with other affiliate user groups in the Ghana and region if applicable.

Ans: As a new language user group we are very much interested in collaborating with existing User Groups in Ghana and beyond. We hope to collaborate and learn more from the experienced user groups. We partnered with the Global Open Initiative to co-organized the 2021 Wikimania conference events in Ghana and we look forward to working closely with the other affiliates groups in Ghana and beyond.

• Overall we recommend you review the learning, evaluation and sharing section of your proposal so that you put in place measures that will allow you to better measure your impact, which we look forward to learning more about.

Ans: We have reviewed and updated the learning, evaluation and sharing section of our proposal as requested.

• Please reach to the MEA regional officer to support you in making the needed changes to your proposal which are due by the end of the day, 2nd of December 2021.

Looking forward to hearing from you. On behalf of the Regional Committee.

VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 09:58, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for you comments and recommendations. We look forward to the next steps. Shahadusadik (talk) 22:04, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Wikimedia Community Fund not approved for funding

Dear Dagbani Wikimedians UG,

After a thorough review of your application and considering the review done by the MEA Regional Grant Committee, we regret to inform you that your proposal was not approved. Please see below the recommendation made by the committee;

We are pleased to see the work you are doing in promoting Wikimedia projects in Mole-Dagbani languages.

We recommend that Dagbani Wikimedians UG continue receiving support and resources through the rapid funds program and while at it we encourage the user group to;

Identify and gain clarity in the strategic focus areas that are better suited in achieving the User Groups objectives.

We did observe based on the initial application that the user group is currently embarking on various programs that we found challenging to understand how they demonstrate strategic contribution to the main objectives. Develop, grow and manage the volunteer base support they currently have towards contributing to the work of the community. The volunteer community is resourceful and we believe that with the right approach, it can support the existing objectives. Put in place processes and structures that inform the basis for various organisational capacities that the user group already has and will access through rapid funds and beyond including financial management, community and volunteer management, partnership development and management amongst other priority areas for the group.

It is our hope that with the above recommendations and resulting outcomes that you can attempt applying in the next round of general support fund.

The regional committee would also like to avail themselves as thought-partners in supporting you in identifying focus areas that align with your desired impact. Please work with the regional program officer to coordinate on a suitable approach. It will be important for you to identify the areas where you find the committee can be supportive.

We appreciate you taking the time to review the questions we had and respond to them to the best of your ability. We acknowledge this continues to be a learning experience and we look forward to doing it in partnership with you.

We would also encourage you to meet with the program officer before making the next application to review your proposal in detail before the final submission.

Thank you for your work and all you do for the community and Wikimedia movement.

Best regards from the MEA Regional Committee and Staff VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 18:47, 14 December 2021 (UTC)