Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Alliances Fund/Catalyzing Africa's knowledge creation ecosystem through AfroCuration-Building the connective tissue between the WikiMovement and cultural and creative organizations

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Feedback from the Middle East and Africa Regional Funding Committee on your proposal[edit]

Hello Papa Baiden, Tochiprecious and the team at Moleskine Foundation Inc,

Thank you for taking the time to submit your proposal. We are pleased to have reviewed it and have the following comments and questions;

  • We found your proposal clear to understand and that includes clarity in the objectives strategies and activities listed.
  • We see a clear strategic alignment with movement strategy and excited about the impact the proposal desires to achieve.
  • We see the project as an opportunity to connect and collaborate with Wikimedia communities from different and diverse backgrounds including cultural partners and institutions in the movement as well as working with underserved/underrepresented communities and youth aged 16-27. Please be sure to review the [Safety Policy.]
  • How are you going to identify youth that demonstrate intellectual curiosity and change-making attitude? Will this be done through applications, school/institution visits, recommendations by individuals etc?
  • Seeing that you have identified an underserved/underrepresented group as your target, clearly you would also have a defined number for those that you want to reach in the project. It would be interesting to understand your selection criteria, especially where you might have more numbers than you require to make sure it does not lead to exclusion.
  • We are interested in learning more about the other funding partners of this project since you have indicated the same in the proposal.
  • We are interested in learning about the Risks and mitigations you have identified and that relate to the implementation of the project. A potential risk we identify is retaining the target group. Providing transportation will be some form of motivation, However, what happens after these events are over? We suggest that contests and opportunities for internships with partnered institutions be considered as part of post participation engagement.
  • Would you provide more clarity on costs attached to the facilitation and organization of the workshops, is this for the local collaborative Wikimedian partners? Please clarify.
  • Personnel cost is calculated by % of personnel costs allocated to the project. What is the total amount cost from where the % of the personnel cost was calculated from? How did you arrive at it? & Why?
  • What does the amount stated for facilitation and output documentation of workshops for cultural partners cover? Can more details be given concerning this?

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you. On behalf of the MEA Regional Committee --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 13:14, 20 April 2022 (UTC)Reply





Dear VThamaini (WMF), Thank you so much for your support and taking your time to go through our application. Kindly find our responses below:

  • How are you going to identify youth that demonstrate intellectual curiosity and change-making attitude? Will this be done through applications, school/institution visits, recommendations by individuals etc?

a. To enable us to identify and select youth that demonstrate intellectual curiosity, we gauge this through applications, and also make it a clear recruitment preference to cultural partners (who disseminate the call for applications amongst their constituents).

b. Our application form captures responses about activism and change making. This is currently discerned from motivations to participate in AfroCuration, but can be expanded as with our other formats, to ask more granular questions at the point of application. Additionally, we have a long experience in dedicating time to read these applications and make selections.

c. Lastly, we have an M&E process in place so that after each we are able to trace issues and continuously improve aspects such as participant selection.

  • Seeing that you have identified an underserved/underrepresented group as your target, clearly you would also have a defined number for those that you want to reach in the project. It would be interesting to understand your selection criteria, especially where you might have more numbers than you require to make sure it does not lead to exclusion.

a. The Moleskine Foundation is committed to delivering quality programs to unlock the potential of youth in underserved communities. We believe that creativity is the key to driving positive social change and every young person deserves access to creative tools, spaces and experiences to unleash their human potential. Through a variety of unconventional program initiatives, the Foundation seeks to build more equal, inclusive and just communities empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination thrive.

b. We ensure to uphold these core principles of inclusivity and equity throughout all of our program efforts. Through this approach we aim to leverage the unique experiences that our participants contribute to shaping a rich dialogue and perspectives to the programs in which they are engaged. We also work with our partners to ensure the greatest diversity of participants as possible.

c. Our class composition is made from the following criteria, which is especially helpful in the case of abundant applicants: i. Intellectual curiosity and changemaking attitude ii. Socia-economic status; they are requested to self-evaluate. Our evaluation framework is provided as a supporting document to the proposal. As a standard, we aim to give 80% of available seats to those of lower economic status. The remaining 20% is intentionally a mix, as we actually find that the mixed group provides a richer event experience to the participants. iii. Criteria such as gender and ethnic backgrounds. d. The intentional curation theme of the events, which deal with topics that are cross-cutting, aids to ensure the class mix can be more diverse. This takes support of a capable cultural partner. e. Additionally, the project has been designed with a degree of flexibility to ensure that there is a diversity in representation and there are no major exclusions. We are often flexible in numbers to ensure no major exclusions and pay attention to other critical issues.

  • We are interested in learning more about the other funding partners of this project since you have indicated the same in the proposal.

a. Moleskine S.r.l provides ongoing operating support to the Moleskine Foundation. As a result of this unique and longstanding partnership Moleskine Foundation is able to co-finance the project and provide support to cover all personnel related costs for Foundation staffing resources.

b. Fondazione Aurora has been a strategic partner of the Moleskine Foundation since 2019, supporting ideation and implementation of various projects. For Fondazione Aurora, the core strategic alignment with making impact through culture and expanding access to knowledge relevant to the African continent is two-fold: firstly, they support WikiAfrica Education as they believe program’s main objectives will lead to the consolidation of a more inclusive business climate for the continent; secondly, they believe the WikiAfrica Education program contributes to active knowledge production for a more holistic and representative narrative of Africans.

  • We are interested in learning about the Risks and mitigations you have identified and that relate to the implementation of the project. A potential risk we identify is retaining the target group. Providing transportation will be some form of motivation, However, what happens after these events are over? We suggest that contests and opportunities for internships with partnered institutions be considered as part of post participation engagement.

a. We identified a number of risks to the project, which were outlined as points of improvement in the project evaluation prepared for the end of project report of our first AfroCuration event series. This can be accessed here

b.The retainment of the target group is one risk we also identified. To mitigate this, we identify enthusiastic leaders who could carry on activities in the region while also forming a volunteer community in places without existing wiki communities to make the movement sustainable. For example Thomas and Palmira who carried out the AfroCine project and collaborated as group leaders now working towards culture documentation. Secondly, for places with existing wiki communities, we link the participants with the group to further participate in other wiki activities. For example, in South Africa where participants were linked with the South African Affiliate.

c. Other key areas of the project to secure its success were strength of curation and the cultural partner, preparation time prior to events, mastering the online experience, and coordinating communications efforts with partners.

d. Within future partnership structures, we will facilitate the communication between Wikimedia chapters and cultural organizations with the aim of sparking future collaboration that might comprise internships and Wikimedia in residency opportunities.


  • Would you provide more clarity on costs attached to the facilitation and organization of the workshops, is this for the local collaborative Wikimedian partners? Please clarify.
   Costs related to the facilitation and organisation of the workshops includes the following core components

a. The implementation of 5 AfroCuration events in collaboration with 5 partners which includes the WikiCommunities (reference cell D13 in the budget template). Each AfroCuration event is estimated at $8500 each to implement. These estimated costs allocate $5,000 for the event, and $3.500 is for a follow-up event that will build upon the learnings gathering during the event series. With the intention of offering greater clarity on the description provided, these activities specifically relate to the direct costs that the cultural partners and Wikimedia communities will sustain while implementing the event.

b. Row 13 is the cost of hiring a consultant for the multi-stakeholder design thinking workshop which requires a professional to lead. Given that this is a complex design thinking workshop involving many stakeholders, it will require an experienced conductor that will be recruited through a competitive bid process. Possible consultants to be engaged may include Enke and NBA, but we will remain open to any additional suggestions that may emerge from the WikiCommunity. This is the cost to design, lead and facilitate these workshops. This intervention is to bring our stakeholders together to develop a shared strategy for ways to embed AfroCuration within existing institutions and partner organisations, as a part of their continued educational offer. This goes far beyond generating the know-how to run a single event, which we now have, in the form of the toolkits. Rather, this is set on building bottom-up project strategy sustainability.

  • Personnel cost is calculated by % of personnel costs allocated to the project. What is the total amount cost from where the % of the personnel cost was calculated from? How did you arrive at it? & Why?

a. The personnel cost calculations included in the budget refers to the % of time allocated to the project for each staff that will be involved in the delivery, implementation and management of planned activities. Personnel costs have been budgeted according to the estimated % of annual rates agreed between the personnel and the Foundation and in accordance with the Foundation’s regular practices which are consistently applied across all donors/programs. In greater alignment with this approach the unit value related to personnel costs has been updated to reflect that personnel expenditures have been calculated according to months as a % of annual time.

b. The Foundation contributes personnel costs as a cost share to the project. The identified changes have resulted in a slight increase of the cost share which now totals $19,697.

The following personnel will support the project in the estimated amounts set forth below.

c. The Foundation CEO, whose time is estimated at 3% over the 12 month project period will provide project oversight and provide technical support as needed. This rate represents the current monthly rate set for this position. d. The Foundation Program Director, whose time is estimated at 10% over the 12 month project period. The Program Director will lead the project team, the management of the team and external technical support and provide technical guidance in the program design and delivery. This rate represents the current monthly rate set for this position.

e. WikiAfrica Education Program Manager and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, whose time is estimated at a total of 32% over the 12 month project period, of which 7% will be allocated to monitoring, learning and evaluation. The Program Manager will be responsible for setting and managing the work plan, supporting program operations, line managing the WiR, assisting in the development of the performance monitoring plan and the collection of data to the extent required. This rate represents the allocated % of the current monthly rate set for this position. f. The Foundation Communications and Marketing specialists, whose time is estimated at 5% over the 12 month project period to provide communications support including supporting the design, production and delivery of materials in the country and promoting the project on local and international platforms. This rate represents the allocated % of the current monthly rate set for this position. g. The WiR will serve as the dedicated Project Manager and has been budgeted at 100%.

  • What does the amount stated for facilitation and output documentation of workshops for cultural partners cover? Can more details be given concerning this?

This has been covered above, in our response to comment no.5 “Would you provide more clarity on costs attached to the facilitation and organization of the workshops, is this for the local collaborative Wikimedian partners? Please clarify.” This has been covered above, in our response to comment no.5

Thank you and looking forward to your response as we're open to clarifications on anything else.

Kind regards --Tochiprecious (talk) 14:16, 5 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

Notification of changes to our attached budget on fluxx[edit]

Dear Community Resources Team We would also like to notify you of some material changes to our budget on fluxx to make it clearer. Thank you --Tochiprecious (talk) 14:27, 5 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

Wikimedia Alliances Fund approved in the amount of $60,000USD[edit]

HelloPapa Baiden, Tochiprecious and the team at Moleskine Foundation Inc,

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of $60,000USD, with a grant term starting 1 July 2022 and ending 30th June 2023.


We are excited at the opportunity of another edition of the AfroCuration project ; a project that we find useful in sparking the development of new communities and engaging existing communities in the region. You have demonstrated a track record of implementing the AfroCuration model in collaboration with Wiki projects and communities in an outstanding manner. In the current project, you have been keen to track resulting impact and learn from each stage informing subsequent engagement with communities. We are glad to see that learnings from the implementation of the project [ coming to an end] has informed and shaped this next proposed phase. We remain excited at the opportunity to scale the model to include new communities and cultural partners while strengthening existing ones.

Due to limited resources, we are able to fund your proposal at the $60,000 level and hope that you can adjust your project to fit these resources in a manner that will not compromise on the quality of the project.

We recommend that you reach out to the regional program officer if you need any support in making adjustments to your proposed budget and programs.


Best regards from the MEA Regional Committee and Staff --Aristidek5maya (talk) 23:50, 20 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

Dear @Aristidek5maya
Thank you so much for the feedback. This means a lot to us.
Kind regards, Tochiprecious (talk) 05:52, 21 May 2022 (UTC)Reply