Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/2019 Community Conversations/Strategy Salons/Reports/Cameroon UG

Date and location

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Wikimedia Cameroon User Group hosted a total of 7 Strategy Salons, among which 2 were Youth Salon (in a separate report). The 5 other salons were organized as follows:

Salon 1.

  • Date: 8 June 2019
  • Time: 10:00 am to 15:00 pm
  • Location: Goethe Institut Yaounde

Salon 2.

  • Date: 25 June 2019
  • Time: 14:00 pm to 19:00 pm
  • Location: University of Douala

Salon 3.

  • Date: 6 July 2019
  • Time: 10:00 pm to 15:00 pm
  • Location: ActivSpaces Buea

Salon 4.

  • Date: 13 July 2019
  • Time: 10:00 pm to 15:00 pm
  • Location: Goethe Institut Yaounde

Salon 5.

  • Date: 27 July 2019
  • Time: 10:00 pm to 15:00 pm
  • Location: ActivSpaces Buea

Participant List

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  • User:Geugeor - Strategy Liaison for Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group
  • Alexandra Tchuileu - Journalist
  • User:Ingrid twinsy - Web developper
  • User:Frederic PAPY - Computer Engineer
  • User:Achking - Student in logistics
  • User:Mndetatsin - Computer Engineer
  • Nkolo Victor - Designer
  • Audrey Koumi - Geography student
  • Mekinda André Fidèle - Journalist reporter, film maker
  • Bomba Noella - International Relations Student
  • Enangue Marina - Polical science student
  • Tetsoplo Larissa - Computer science student
  • Landry Efouba - Artist
  • Mensida Sandrine - Translator
  • Betsengue Therese - International Relations Student
  • User:JMel Minky - Communicator
  • User:Eugene233 - Software Engineer
  • Jules Kotche - Librarian
  • User:KrystjanM - Senior linguistic manager
  • User:Danielgwd - Computer science student
  • User:Gtankam - Photographer
  • Hugues Tchoumegni - Communicator
  • Matomba Calixte - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Ngo Song Marie - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Kamwa Téclaire - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Fatchui Christelle - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Azanguim Florian - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Kolle Idriss - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Changbuin Arnold - Student in Marketing
  • Kenne Sedric - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Werenyen Jude Fru - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Josephine Yelang - Student in environment and sustainable development
  • Nadesh Eduke - Online Community manager
  • Moh Harriet - Community worker (polical scientist)
  • User:Awah Nadege - Geology student
  • Ako Polycaro - Community worker
  • Eru Stephen Takum - Accountancy student
  • Abgor Joseph Obele - Accountancy student
  • Ndifor Godfred - Student agri-engineer
  • Yona Chanel - Student ICT
  • Fung Ebua Letisia - Accountancy student
  • Fonsa Fomine - Journalist
  • Tem Blandine - Student
  • User:Bile rene - Computer Engineer
  • Nyimeh Gerald - Company employee
  • Awah Ashley - Accountancy student
  • Nkemtendong Agnes - Accountancy student
  • Njume Eugene - Accountancy student
  • Azangue Dilane - Community worker
  • Babadana Carine - Web developper
  • Ahmadou Sali - computer scientist

What happened

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In order to reach the strategic objectives of wikimedia movement, we have opted for diversity, considering the context of our country (bilingual) and enlarging the salons to people not having a deep knowledge on Wikipedia, the new contributors, as well as the active members of the user group. The salons gave the opportunity to people to express themselves in the 2 official languages of Cameroon (French and English). This is the reason why this report is available in both English and French.

The different workshops have been prepared with the support and accompaniment of Anass sedrati. The salons were started by presenting the 2030 strategy followed by an explanatory video, then the presentation of the different working groups and the objectives required from each and everyone of them.

Strategy salon working groups were then created (with a coordinator and a secretary) in order to reflect over a thematic and then, proceed to the presentation of their reults that will be discussed with other members who worked on other thematics. The summary of the discussions is what is retained in the present report.

Summary of the discussion points

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Community health

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How do we as a movement define the term “community”?
Community is a group of people from different background having different perceptions and perspectives (diversity), coming together for a common goal.
How can we ensure that our communities are places that people want to be part of and participate in, and how can we make people stay?
Networking and follow-up of each member of the community (taking contacts and connecting with each other).
Motivating administrators financial (e.g : Giving them airtime to call and check on members)
Motivating members too financially by giving them transportation and snacks, giving them meals
Carrying out campaigns to bring up new members and sensitisations on the importance
Partnering with other association, NGO's and organisation who are successful in maintaining and getting members
Creating a social network group
Organising practical training to members
Give everyone task to do to keep then busy, connected and participate
Having a focal person who always esures that the community remains active, committed and organising members
Gamification (challenges and medals (prizes given))
Popularize and raise awareness about the community and its activities at all possible occasions by taking part in activities (fairs, forums, conferences ...)
Empowering new members based on their skills and community projects
How do we engage and support people that have been left out by structures of power and privilege?
Trying to get to the left out people to find out why they are left behind and encouraging them financially and morally
Giving them as counsellors
Assign them as advisors or consultants
How can we either prioritize or balance the need to bring new community members into our movement and meet the expectations of existing contributors?
Gamification (recognisition of performance to members like badges, medals,...
Putting in place some principles and rules for the community
Fixing deadlines and define the human resources necessary for each project while watching that the old members mentor the new ones
What strategies can the movement develop for their constituencies to better balance huge workloads with personal health?
Division of labour
Work segmentation and specialisation
Decentralize tasks, responsibilities and projects to prevent a member from doing more than necessary

Capacity building

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What is our overall goal for building capacities across the different parts of the movement?
Overall Goal : To create awareness about wikimedia and contribute to it's sustainebility
In terms of governance, capacity of collaboration, knowledge, fund raising, adaptation, innovative, the movement need to develop :
  • Knowledge on the movement
  • Knowledge on the management of team projects
  • Knowledge on communication
  • Knowledge on the rules that governs the movement (internal rules)
  • Knowledge on conflict management
  • Strategies on the mobilisation of resources
  • Good mastery of the principal language of the community (English) and local (official):be bilingual
How can leadership development and capacity building in the movement support our strategic priorities of knowledge as a service and knowledge equity?
Organize trainings in which everyone present gets involved
Do follow-ups after the trainings
Use a participaing approach during the training
Organization of trainings, seminars, Mooc on different capacities, conferences and conferences
Production of communication media (wikipedia guide, what Wikipedia is not, ...)
What are the capacities that we need in the movement and how do we build them?
Capacities :
  • Leadership, technical skills, communication skills, marketing skills, photography, project management
  • Training of trainers
  • Leadership : Team work, human resource, management, adminstration
  • Technical skills : Programming, graphic design, photography
  • Communication:Social media, radio, TV, newspaper
  • Project management : Finance, writing, monitoring and evaluation
What capacities do we already cover, in which regions and communities do we cover these and where are the gaps that we need to fill to succeed?
Train by organizing workshops
Subscribe to online training by wikimedia experts
Wikimedia organization should fund workshops organized in minor communities
Capacities we have already
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Region : South West Region, Buea municipality
  • Gaps : Project management, Technical skills
What capacities do partner organizations need to advance our mission, and how do we support the development of these capacities?

1.

Goals, mission
Activities
How they can partner (role)

2.

Have conversations with partners
Sell the ROI (Return Of Inverest)
Invite them to our events
Engage them on all our parternship communication activities
Always keep them updated on what we are doing

Advocacy

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What policy areas do we want to prioritize on our way to becoming the essential infrastructure for free knowledge? Where do we have to align with the broader global movement?
After establishing a good juridical status in the protection of the movement, it should proceeds in the different domains of intervention be it;
  • Scholarly (education based)
  • Cultural and Arts
  • Environmental and forestry
  • Research
  • Water resource management and Arable farming
  • Mines and energy
  • Technology and scientific innovations etc.

This awareness process should start from bottom-top (local administration and communities to central government)

Putting in place a juridique status peculiar to the protection of the movement in every country. So, the wikimedia foundation have to support the local action near the authorities in order to render their actions visible
Uniformise the appellation of the movement groups(example :wikimedia Cameroon, wikimedia Nigeria, wikimedia Ghana) participate In big national movement (national day) to make the movement known
Interest medias to the movement through the actions carryout. Getting more closer to the network parliamentarians (deputy and senators) to make the movement know thanks to the information release by the medias
Sensibilise organisations /associations who are interested by acces to information. Meet the members of the government in order to sensitise them on the objectives of the movement to elaborate a project of laws on the free access to information.
What policy changes are necessary to achieve our strategic vision? What are areas where the movement has an opportunity to make change?
An apolitical movement as Wikimedia foundation and Wikimedia Cameroon should engaged in organizing multitudes awareness creating conferences at provincial/regional levels within the country of exercise and mobilizing at most public figures in attending events while focusing on the message of neutrality in any political party’s ambitions but rather creating a philosophy of living together as a cosmopolite citizen in a global village where everyone needs easy information accessibility and sharing at no cost.
To sensitize the institutions for a better physical and numerical availability of the data concerning them
To propose to accompany / improve the visibility of state institutions by sharing information on these institutions and coming from them
Organize targeted training within the institutions (specialized units) for the dissemination of information on these institutions (physical / digital) ie better equip the communication cells
What is the most effective way to promote public policy that advances our goals? What kind of legal, public policy and activist capacities do we need within movement organizations and communities, and how can we build them?
Let Wikimedia foundation write a booklet/journal after meticulous diagnosis on the various domains it which she wants to intervene and that thighs in line with government politics for development and then proceeding at various regional delegation, Non-governmental organisation and ministries for audience hearing.
  • Conferences should be advertise with use of flyers, banners hung in public roundabouts carrying the Wikimedia slogan "information access- sharing – is free to all"
Improve contributions within the community
Design membership cards at the international level (for better activism)
How do we bring awareness, support, and readiness to action to our community beyond the policy experts?
Utilize effectively the tool of Focus Group Discussion within local development association, cooperatives of all sorts and assist them routinely to build their capacity to to share while learning from that which they know and know not.
Design a guide for the Cameroonian wikipedian
Design brochures that present the vision and goals of the movement or community
How will the open knowledge movement support the growing need for legal work around the globe in defense of free speech, access to information, and open knowledge? Who is part of this movement and who are the partners we need to engage with to further our mission?
Identifying possible experts will entail first of all to outline what type of information Wikimedia foundation needs in order to meet the growing trends of globalisation and development agenda while advancing in achieving its vision 2030.
  • Partners here will include private (civil society group, common initiative groups) and public (central government to decentralized local administration).
How will the broader open knowledge movement organize itself to better reach and inform policymakers, legal advocates, and other stakeholders in matters related to the future of the open internet?
We suggest a delegation from Wikimedia foundation from the United States of America should fortify its new juridical right to explore in the said country and pay a courtesy visit to government officials of Cameroon for strong Sub Regional visibility and concretization of its vision, mission and objectives.
How can Wikimedia use its considerable visibility and influence to work with other open internet and open knowledge allies to advocate for press freedom, free speech, universal internet access, and other policy goals that will ensure the free flow of information?
Following the same line as in Q6 above let a call for an international forum be organised where internet operators can meet to discuss on the stakes of information accessibility, sharing at free cost through the use of the internet.

Should in case it is organise, while at an international forum let Wikimedia foundation gather enough reasons to show the negative impacts of lesser information accessibility and sharing due to the cost price placed on a document to be downloaded for an eventual development of our planet earth. For example:

  • It slows personal human development
  • It's twice cost consuming that is through (internet Bytes and price paid on downloaded documents )
  • More time is taken to produce pertinent results due to financial limitation towards especially paying for download which most at times scare or restraints research works from developing nations as Cameroon.

Roles & Responsibilities

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Quelle est la définition du « mouvement Wikimédia », qui en fait partie et quels sont leurs rôles ?
Le mouvement Wikimedia est un groupe hiérarchisé ayant pour mission de permettre l'accès au savoir et partage des connaissances
Les membres sont tous ceux qui adhèrent volontairement au mouvement et participent à l'expansion, la promotion et la production du contenu
Quels changements devons-nous apporter dans nos structures organisationnelles, nos processus décisionnels mondiaux et la dynamique du pouvoir pour mettre en œuvre notre priorité stratégique d’équité ?
  • Maximum de visibilités
  • Représentativités au niveau mondial, régional et local, tout ceci dans le respect des genres et des communautés linguistiques
  • Au Cameroun, une proposition a été faite concernant les membres du board : Il est important de prendre en compte la représentativité des femmes, et des composantes linguistiques officielles du Cameroun (français et anglais)
Comment partageons-nous les responsabilités au sein du mouvement mondial afin que les personnes, les organisations et les groupes aient les moyens de remplir notre mission au mieux, et d’avancer dans notre direction stratégique ?
Au travers de la décentralisation
  • Transfert des compétences (formations et responsabilités) : Mêmes structures du sommet à la base (mondial, régional et local)
  • Ressources humaines
  • Ressources financières
Quels sont les rôles et objectifs de la Wikimedia Foundation, de ses affiliés et comités ?
Wikimedia foundation définit la stratégie politique du mouvement, finance les différents projets issus du mouvement, règle les litiges
Les communautés implémentent la politique mondiale et assurent aussi les activités d'autofinancement pour leurs projets
Quels processus devons-nous initier pour gérer le changement futur de manière inclusive, participative et efficace ?
Responsabiliser tous les membres
Former les comités en leadership et fundraising

Revenue Streams

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How can we maximize the revenue for the movement?
Go in partership with the united nations organisations to support in some of our activities in relation with some of their own activities (other like Unesco for education, WHO for health...)
What do we need to change or add to our current fundraising structures and processes to make them more sustainable, adaptive, and distributed appropriately?
Organise a funding structure in our own localities (training the community in our local areas to have it's own money) and training on how to build partenership and selling yourself
What “red lines” should exist to guide our practices? What new approaches are we willing to consider to maximize the revenue streams for the movement?
Wikimedia should remain a free world for knowledge as started in it's initial mission or visions and it should be emphasized
Members of Wikimedia mouvement should have an ethical or professionnal standard / guidlines gouverning them
Include peer mentorship or transfer of know how, for example organising workshop or trainings for community members.
Which (movement) bodies should take on what (local, regional, global) responsibilities in ensuring revenue streams for the movement? How can these efforts be best coordinated?
We need to decentralised the structures, internationnally, national, regional and local
  • A proposed decentralised revenue structure
    • International (San Francisco) - Africa and others continents - Cameroon and others countries - Douala, Yaounde, Buea and others towns
Do we need to connect or align our strategic approaches for revenue streams with those for resource allocation?
Definitely. Because the revenue raised must be efficiently and effectively allocate and used.

Products and technology

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What is the future of Wikimedia product and technology and who are the stakeholders that need to be included in this conversation?
We build system which understand local languages and collect speach to text to improve content and later import into wikipedia
Develop system to automatically check content during article and suggest changes concerning the articles if it contains malicious content
The Stakeholders to help us include :
  • Gouvernment and institutions where there is ongoing research on technology and innovation
  • Students in universities who are passionate about technologies
  • Others communities/developers who develop products and use technologies which the wikimedia products/technologies will depend on
What are the structures we need to engage with a wider spectrum of stakeholders from the Wikimedia movement and beyond to contribute to these conversations?
We visit the following structures : Universities, Tech innovation hubs, Tech research centres
This is in order to get informations on products developed using recent technologies which wikimedia depends on or would likely depends on
How can we build local volunteer developer networks and connect them with the local communities they serve to advance our aspiration to become the essential infrastructure in the ecosystem of free knowledge?
By building local work centers with basic facilities like laptops and internet to enhance local developers work
Organizing hackathons/workshops where volunteers or staffs can help these developers to acquire new skills on new/current technologies
How must the experience of access, consumption and contribution evolve to engage communities that are currently unserved or underserved?
Install wikipedia and other projects like Wikidata on a server in schools and research centers to ensure access offline for research
Install this local version in work centers

Reflections from participants or partners

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Photographs or videos

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Statement on your budget

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The total budget for this event was 1480 USD, covering accommodation, transportation as well as meals, catering... An amount equivalent to 196 USD remained after ending the event.