Grants:Project/MSIG/EARTHub Piloting implementation

statusdraft

Movement Strategy

Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya/EARTHub Piloting

The East African Regional and Thematic Hub (EARTH) is made up of 11 Wikimedia communities in the East Africa region. The hub has both regional and thematic areas and seeks to key among other things; provide regional representation for EA communities in the movement, leverage on the existing social-political bloc, the East African Community (EAC), to establish strategic regional partnerships and provide Capacity Building.

targetWikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, Wikimania, Wikidata

start date31 July

start year2024

end date31 January

end year2026

budget (local currency)37,094,159 KES

grant typeGroup

non-profit statusNo

contact(s)• kabintegmail.com• Douglaseru

organization (if applicable)• Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya

website (if applicable)• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EA_Regional_and_Thematic_Hub_(EARTH)

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Share your results

Applications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.

Project Goal

What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative

• Provide regional representation in the movement to ensure our communities are not marginalized or missing out on key decision-making processes in the movement.
• Provide localized and tailored capacity building for member communities.
• Create pathways for strategic regional partnerships.
• Enhance knowledge and the preservation of cultural heritage across the region.

What specific Movement Strategy Initiative does your project focus on and why? Please select one of the initiatives described here

Initiative 25. Regional & Thematic Hubs, because hubs have been prioritized as one of the Movement Strategy initiatives for implementation.

Project Background

When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?

Start date: 31 July 2024, End date: 31 January 2026

Where will your project activities be happening?

The East Africa region is our main focus, and language (Swahili) connected communities will also be considered, due to past collaboration history with other communities coming from nearby countries beyond the East Africa region, we are planning to include and involve them in this project.

Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.

We are collaborating with 11 communities in the region. These communities/partners will work together through the formation of the EARTHub steering committee that will be responsible for further needs assessment, designing hub policies, governance mechanisms, values, resources, and engaging with communities in the EARTHub.

What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?

Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?

Project Activities

What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.

Core Team Needs Assessment and Stakeholder Engagement

• Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify key areas of support required by the Core Team and the community at large in the piloting & implementation phase.
• Engage Legal support for registration of the Hub
• Expand the Core Team and constitute the EARTHub Steering Committee, which will play an active role during the piloting and implementation.
• Map stakeholders including regional potential partner organizations.

Hub Establishment

• Identify the host location for the regional hub, considering accessibility, infrastructure, and cost-effectiveness.
• Establish administrative structures, including hiring staff, setting up governance mechanisms, and creating operational policies.

Capacity Building Initiatives

• Develop and distribute educational materials and resources tailored to the needs of African contributors.
• Facilitate mentorship and peer learning opportunities among our communities through existing initiatives like Let’s Connect and other new identified methods like the leadership development working group, Capacity Exchange platforms.
• Develop training programs to enhance the skills of contributors in content creation and curation.
• Content Localization Efforts into local Wiki Languages
• Launch content creation campaigns focusing on EA Africa-related topics, such as notable Africans' history, culture, geography, Education (Wiki4Universities project) and Biographies.
• Provide support for translating existing Wikimedia content into EA African languages.
• Forging Collaboration with local cultural institutions, universities, and community groups to source and verify content.
• Encourage the creation and improvement of articles, images, and media files representing East African culture, history, and biodiversity.

Community Engagement Activities & Events

• Organize regional conferences, edit-a-thons, and meetups to connect EA Wikimedians contributors and enthusiasts.
• Establish online forums and communication channels to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among our communities.
• Recognize and celebrate the achievements of EA African contributors through awards, spotlights, and appreciation events.
• Create Partnerships and Advocacy Initiatives
• Identify potential partner organizations, including government agencies, NGOs, educational institutions, and media outlets.
• Collaborate with partners to advocate for policies and initiatives that promote open access to knowledge, freedom of information, and digital literacy.
• Seek funding opportunities and grants to support the activities of the regional hub and its partner projects.

Sustainability Planning:

• Establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress towards strategic goals and assess the impact of the regional hub's activities.

How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community

Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?

Additional information

If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions.

If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.

Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.

Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information, that will give more context on your proposed project.

Outcomes

After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language, and is not required to be written in English.

In this report, you will be asked to:

• Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page
• Describe what activities supported the development of the plan
• Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.
• Report on how your funding was spent

Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:

• What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
• What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
• What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
• How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?

To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer the following resources to develop a logic model:

• Overview of logic models on Meta-wiki
• Example logic models for reference for other movement activities (such as partnerships and edit-a-thons)
• Blank logic model template on Google Drive

Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:

• ...

Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:

Budget

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

The requested budget and budget breakdown should be in your or recipient’s local currency. We send grant payments preferably in your local currency. In some exceptional cases (e.g. hyperinflation), we allow grant payments to be made in US dollars. If you are requesting a grant in a currency other than your local currency, please reach out to your Program Officer to discuss.

• Research (time needed to review, perform analysis, or investigate any information needed to support implementation ideas or planning):
• Facilitation (facilitation time including facilitator preparation, meeting facilitation time, and debriefing):
• Documentation (document preparation time, time spent documenting of discussion, post-meeting work):
• Translation (translation costs for briefs and global materials):
• Coordination (coordinator work to manage or support multiple workflows to prepare for meeting):
• Online tools or services (subscription services for online meeting platforms, social media promotion):
• Data (internet or mobile costs for organizers or participants to access or participate in activities):
• Venue or space for meeting (costs of renting a physical meeting space):
• Transportation costs (costs of supporting organizers or participants to attend the meeting):
• Meals (costs related to refreshments, lunches, or other meals during in-person activities):
• Other:

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED IN LOCAL CURRENCY:

Completing your application

Once you have completed the application, please do the following:

• Change the application status from status=draft to status=proposed in the {{Probox}} template.
• Contact strategy2030wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.

Endorsements

An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!