Good! Thanks for your insights into this matter. We hope that the Wikimedia grant committees be cautious in their decision to fund those types of affiliates. --
Mohamed Mustapha Aliyu (he/him) Wikim(p)edian On Tue, 7 Dec 2021, 01:19 Seydou Diakite, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello all, > > I have been following the grant process with keen interest. I have rather > noticed a worrying trend that I think for the sustainability of the grant > program and the continuity of the volunteer spirit we need to address this > issue as a regional group. > > > > First and foremost we must bear in mind that Wikimedia Foundation is donor > funded and non profit. And as such people give and make it possible for the > organization to support the activities of volunteers. Therefore our request > and demands must be guarded. > > Again we need to know that the movement relies on the activities of > volunteers ( more content are created by volunteers than any other set of > people) and as such that should be spirit we should be promoting through > all our undertakings. > > > After painstakingly going through the grant request of some Usergroups, > what I noticed was something rather alarming. I will just mention a few of > my observations. > > > > The Wikimedia Inc Nigeria for instance was requesting over $55,000 (aprox > $4800 a month) for an office space at a time when even bigger tech > organizations etc are moving to working remotely and hence promoting work > from home. > > > In addition to this, there were line items for projects that have other > organizations running and hence have funds they disburse for organizations. > (Arts and Feminism,Wiki Loves Africa etc) > > > My second observation wasn’t only alarming but also ridiculous. > > > The Dagbani Usergroup which linked to GOIF as exclaimed on their own pages > (was actually formed from the GOIF > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Open_Initiative#Planned_Activities>) > put in separate grant applications totaling over $220,000.( far higher than > a continental group like Wiki in Africa and country group like Wikimedia > CIV) This same group is also behind another group (LUCG) that has currently > put in another rapid grant > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:Project/Rapid/LUCG_Wikimedia_Community/LUCG_First_Edit-a-thon> > request. ( tye proposed Twi Wikimedians Usergroup > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Twi_Wikimedians_User_Group/Memberships> > is also an offshoot) A question was posed about their link to GOIF (their > mother institution) and the answers seem quite unreasonable, because all > the separate activities can be rounded in one grant request as programs to > paint a holistic picture of their annual activities rather than create > fragments. > > Now let’s take things into perspective. > The Dagbani language is spoken by less than 10% of Ghana’s population of > over 30M people. The user group is fairly new and their primary focus is to > reach the target Dagbani population which could be much more organic than > their forced request for salaries for 10 trainers per month. > > Their community has less than 30 active contributors based on the current > criteria for active members (3 edits per month), and hence even using their > entire membership for the 12 month period, means members will be > overwhelmed and burned out easily. > > Now the request to pay volunteers to train is to be treaded cautiously as > this could change our culture for volunteerism and encourage participation > because members can receive payments for contributing (mentoring, training, > etc.). > > > Based on the monthly salary requested for these 10 trainers, it is only > right to assume that each of these trainers will organise at least 2 > trainings per month making a monthly total of 20 trainings (annual 240 > trainings). This is somewhat ridiculous and overly ambitious for even a > well developed Wikimedia community. > > > Aside from the aforementioned monthly payment for 10 volunteers/trainers > they are also requesting for 2 other paid roles with very exorbitant > amounts requested as salaries especially for the Executive Director role > ($5000 a month), which even top manager levels in Corporate Ghana and in > government workplaces never receive. In the first place this is a small > group trying to rally and sustain a community and these requests for staff > is just surprising and out of place. > > In addition to this, there was a request for a paid WiR for 12 months > ($3,500 for 12 months). Apart the huge salary this is even problematic > judging from the fact there was no partnership with any organization to do > a GLAM activity or a project that needed an embedded Wikimedian in a > partner organisation, which is normally the workflow that creates the need > for a WiR. > > > Again this wasn’t even part of the goals of this organization. A closer > look at the budget further shows that most of the requests are either > frivolous, overpriced or outrageous. > > Looking at such a small language Usergroup what is the need for an office > space and all the equipment for an office? > > The request for 6 MacBook airs for team members is rather an insult to the > charitable donors of the foundation. The million dollar question here > though, is why MacBooks? And why 6 of them? Wikimedians don’t need priced > equipment to deliver on their jobs and if the intention is to be able to > loan it to the community then macbooks still seem outrageous (because they > can be destroyed easily with change of hands). > > > Then comes a request for two foreign trips at a time when most > organizations are putting hold on trips. However the question is trips to > where? For what? And why two team members? > > > These and many several budget items feel out of place, from requesting for > research line items (which I am wondering what it's meant for and the goals > of the research) to requesting specific team members for projects > (arts&feminism) which should be managed by already requested staff roles > (why hire other people again when you have a project manager for the > organisation, who is supposed to run projects anyways) > > > Everything in that budget seems padded and inconsiderate to the many > donors that believe in our vision. Such characters should not be supported > in our movement and be watched closely. > > > Lastly I have noticed significant changes to the budget (from about > $190,000 to about $39,000) after the questions posed by the committee, this > is a significant 80% drop from the initial request > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Dagbani_WIkimedians_User_Group_Annual_Projects_2022>. > As to whether the new requested amount is a true reflection of the needs > on the ground we all all judges. I am fully aware that the grant proposal > has been updated but I decided to bring to light the initial grant request > because if it has has been approved I am sure the group would have accepted > the full funding. And also the current grant is still padded. > > > I have also copied Affcom in this mail because I wanted to bring to their > notice the other trend that I wanted to spell out. The proliferation of > language Usergroups. The same group has one Usergroup and three incubator > groups why so? Three of these groups have applied for grants separately. > > > We need to re-examine our commitment to this cause. Wikimedia is a > voluntary movement to promote the sum of all human knowledge. Yes it’s ok > when we sometimes expend our expertise so ask for some remuneration. But we > shouldn’t form Usergroup groups with the basis of being employed or a > conduit for making profit. > > > > Best > > > Seydou > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > African-Wikimedians mailing list -- > [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to > [email protected] >
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