Grants:Wikimedia UG Nigeria Grants/Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Community Support Fund/Carolyn Seaman/Wiki Ties Abuja

Project summary

Briefly summarize your project proposal.

The Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Abuja Network has not had the opportunity to convene as many activities in this fiscal year and we want to leverage every opportunity to engage activities and consciously build and strengthen our community. We also want to better position our community as a support system to the larger community of the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria. Our Network seeks to implement the Wiki Ties Abuja event - convene an end of year picnic to close the year and simultaneously provide technical support in various Wikimedia projects (especially WikiData, WikiCommons, WikiQuote, Wikipedia and any other special request Wiki Project). Our community continues to grow with new members, and we hope that this event provides a platform for us to convene as many old and new members and extensively discuss membership retention to enable us better convene programs that provide support to the community and in turn guarantee membership retention and growth for our community. The year 2024 has presented huge opportunities for our community – with the addition of strong, young Wikimedians added to our Network’s leadership and the recently concluded WikiConference Nigeria and Wiki Indaba also shared a wealth of experience and learning to the Wiki Communities in Nigeria, Africa and around the world and we want to leverage the platform of an end-of-year celebration to explore a broad strategic plan for 2025 integrating the learning and ideas that have emerged from 2024 engagements so that our Network leadership is guided by those brainstorm ideas to plan for an engaging 2025.

In summary, the Wiki Ties Abuja project will embody an end-of-year celebration that equally:

1. Promotes growth and impact with collectively agreed strategies for membership retention and growth.

2. Increases knowledge sharing through the 2024 learning reviews and broad strategies for an engaging 2025.

3. Fosters community connections through technical support provided to community members on several Wikimedia projects leveraging the Wikimedia experienced editors in our community e.g. Ceslause Ogbonna, Benedict Udeh, Bukola James, Oby Ezeilo

Wikimedia Project

Please state the Wikimedia project your project will focus majorly on (e.g. Tyap Wikipedia, Wikidata, etc). It is advisable to focus on one Wikimedia project, but a maximum of two projects is allowed.

The Wiki Ties Abuja project is styled as a variety programme since it would hold at the close of the year. This inspired our breakout groups-styled technical session, where our Wikimedia experienced editors will provide hands-on support on specific Wikimedia projects and members will join the groups where they need the most support. The technical support will be provided on Wikidata, WikiCommons, Meta Wiki, and Wikipedia. Our Network is strategically positioned to enjoy the support of a number of experienced Wikimedia editors (named above) who will be on ground to provide technical support to our young Wikimedia community in the Wikimedia projects where they are struggling. While we would often prescribe the Wikimedia projects to work on at our wiki events, we recognize that our audience sometimes require support in a different Wikimedia project than the one we choose to engage at an event. We hope that this simultaneous multi-project support session actually serves our community. And we are open to learning from the experience as we have learned from the previous events that we have led. This approach is inspired by the conferences (including WikiConference Nigeria, Wiki Indaba, Wikimania etc.)that we have attended where simultaneous sessions hold and participants get to choose which session presents the best learning opportunities for them. We hope our activity provides this tailored learning experience to participants.

Contact person and Location

Please state the contact details of the contact person(s) for this project including email(s) and location. For more than one contact person, indicate same details for everyone

• Full name: Carolyn Seaman
• Email address: carolynseaman@girls-voices.org
• Address: Abuja, Nigeria
• Location of Project: Abuja, Nigeria

Project class

Please state if you are applying as an individual or a network/club

Network (Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Abuja Network)

Timeline of activities

Please state the timeline of your activities, and include the start and end date for your project

14th December 2024 -14th January 2025

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. Feel free to add or delete goals as required by your project.

1. Recruit new editors
2. Retain old editors
3. Add or improve content
4. Capacity building on several Wikimedia projects

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

The Wiki Ties Abuja project does not actively involve executing an edit-a-thon, but members will be encouraged to edit on the several Wikimedia projects that they receive support in, so as to drive significant engagement and we are happy to leverage the support of the WUGN Projects office to identify the most engaging editors to receive the end-of-year prizes for their active engagement. This strategy helps us ensure that members receive support to practice their learning on-the-go.

2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? You may also provide information about external social media channels you may be using.

Yes, some WUGN team members are aware of this proposal. I share the project idea with them for advice before turning in my application. And they actively support my implementation of the project.

3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?
For example, these can include on-wiki spaces, social media channels, mailing lists, messaging apps, or physical/online gatherings.

Communication is primarily through our Network WhatsApp group and our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead/assist the event? Please provide links to the usernames of these individuals. (NOTE: all experienced Wikimedia editors MUST endorse and sign your proposal as proof of availability)
For example: User:Kaizenify

User:Carolynseaman

User:Oby Ezeilo

5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

Participants will be encouraged to come with their laptops and smartphones and additional laptops will be provided by our local partner (Girls Voices Initiative) to ensure that participants have the tools needed to effectively participate and leverage the practical learning skills in the room.

6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

We will continue to engage with participants via our WhatsApp platform to provide any post-event technical needs, questions or queries as requested.

7. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

We understand that this may be an unconventional-styled event, and we are open to learning from the event, however, I believe that a dynamic community like our Network needs such collaborative-style programming to secure the buy-in and active engagement of members. I believe our Network leadership will learn a lot from this engagement to better program for our community intentionally as opposed to randomly. Also, the event allows us to leverage the Wikimedia experienced editors in Abuja.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets (only those applicable to your project):

1. Number of events - 1
2. Number of participants - 25
3. Number of new editors - 10
4. Number of of articles created - N/A
5. Number of of articles improved - 200
6. Number of of images uploaded - N/A
7. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events) - N/A

Metrics tracking

How do you plan to track your project metrics? (do not create a metrics dashboard until your project has been approved for funding)

• Outreach dashboard

• Wikimedia projects category

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

User:Carolynseaman will organize the project and maintain active and open communication with the Network leadership to leverage the team’s support to manage logistics with regards to the project implementation.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense as a unit amount and include a total amount.

• Refreshments for one in-person event - N100,000 (N4000 each for 25 participants, for two physical events)

• Venue – N155,000

• Top 3 prizes - N60,000

• Data for physical event – N20,000

• Miscellaneous (logistics support) – N60,000

Total – N395,000

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!