Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Kiwix4Schools in Tanzania 2023 (ID: 22252109)

Funded

Hello @Husseyn Issa thank you for applying for the rapid fund grant. We reviewed and approved the grant in the amount of 10,000,000 TZS (3,986.59 USD) with the following recommendations:

The proposal clearly articulates the vision and goals of the Kiwix4Schools project in Tanzania. It identifies the challenges faced by Tanzanian schools, such as limited internet access, educational inequality, and outdated learning materials. The proposal’s objectives of fostering equitable education, empowering teachers, encouraging independent learning, enhancing educational infrastructure, and supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are well-defined which is refreshing to see in a Rapid Fund application. Also, the detailed breakdown of activities over a seven-week period shows a systematic approach to project implementation.

In addition, the application demonstrates a deep understanding of the challenges faced by schools in Tanzania, particularly in remote and underserved areas. It is great that the team has clearly highlighted the issues like limited internet access, high data costs, outdated learning materials, and power outages. This level of details makes it clear to see how the projects goals are tied to bridging the digital and technological divide in order to make education accessible to all.

While the proposal is comprehensive, it could benefit from additional information about the long-term sustainability plan beyond the initial seven-week period. Details about how the project plans to sustain its activities, update content in the future, and expand its reach to more schools would be nice to have. Consider the following;

• It is nice to see some post-activity engagement plans detailed in the proposal. How does the team manage and sustain the online community hub or forum? Are there any current considerations around the potential language barriers and ensuring multilingual support in the online community platform to enhance inclusivity.
• We are curious about the team’s considerations for accessibility of the offline resources. Are there considerations for the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities in accessing and utilizing offline materials. For example, would alternative formats, such as audio resources or materials in accessible formats be provided to enhance the inclusivity of the project, thereby ensuring that it caters to diverse learning needs.
• Finally, it is unclear how, the team intends to engage and collaborate with other Kiwix4Schools ambassadors. We strongly recommend that the team explores opportunities for collaborations and coordination with the Tanzania University Students. Kudos to the project team once again for such a detailed plan and we wish you good luck with your project!

Best regards, (On behalf of the Middle East and Africa regional funds team) ~~~~ YPam (WMF) (talk) 11:24, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

First we would like to provide our sincerely Thanks for the approval.

Second about the considerations:

-The team will be responsible to maintain the online community hub or forum,with the presence of our IT and technical man in charge of the whole operations. With the usage of kiswahili language as the means of communication but with the additional English when necessary. We dont have a professional multilingual support assistant but well find one if needed.

- About the matter of challenges faced by individuals with disabilities; we will still need a good set of communication with the Kiwix4schools HQ i.e with @Ruby D-Brown concerning about it and have an overall initiatives. Though there are various formats that will be curated as in form of videos and audios for teaching and learning and will be used by all students.

- In the matter of collaboration we have already established our first contact with our fellow colleague @Pellagia Njau on having future plans,movements and goals together as Hellen Keller said "Alone we can do so little,together we can do so much".

Last but not least the team will explores opportunities for collaborations and coordination with the Tanzania University Students under @Magotech so as to have bigger impact and reaching many schools and students here in Tanzania.

Thanks much again @YPam (WMF)

Best regards Husseyn Issa (talk) 10:12, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Hello @Husseyn Issa, thank you for the updates and responses regarding your plans. I wish you a successful outing on your project. Please remember to document, not only your activities but what you learn as well. What worked well, what did not work, and how you would do things differently (and better) in future plans. These kinds of learnings are helpful not only for you, but for many others who would like to take forward similar projects as well. We just returned from WikiIndaba, people sharing what they learned from project implementation was very well received. All the best to the team! YPam (WMF) (talk) 15:28, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Well understood,thank you once again 🙏🏽 Husseyn Issa (talk) 09:35, 11 November 2023 (UTC)