Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/Wikimedia ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025, or shortened as ESEAP Summit Manila 2025

ESEAP_Strategy_Summit_2025

Dear @Ballardmaize:, dear organizers,

Thank you very much for submitting your proposal for the "Wikimedia ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025." It's great to see the ESEAP community coming together and working on the proposed Regional Hub.

Overall, the proposal is very comprehensive, and I appreciate the effort you have put into preparing it. I’ve consulted with a few WMF colleagues and have incorporated their feedback into this response. We hope that hosting the Summit in Manila, Philippines, will provide an opportunity for strong collaboration, partnership, and cohesion among the involved affiliates in the Philippines.

First, I'd like to share some concerns regarding the process by which the host for the ESEAP Summit 2025 was chosen. From what I understand, the process was not well established or fully agreed upon by all stakeholders. Instead, a vote to determine the next host took place during the ESEAP Conference. For the sake of transparency, inclusivity, and fairness, we strongly recommend establishing an asynchronous (online) process for selecting a conference host within ESEAP. As an example, the CEE Hub and WIScom have successfully implemented such processes. Additionally, from a grantmaking perspective, we strongly advise not announcing the next year's host without first consulting the Community Resources team at the Wikimedia Foundation. This is crucial because we need to conduct a Risk Assessment, as well as Eligibility and Capacity Checks, before confirming the host.

The second main point concerns the program and overall focus of the event. I understand this event is primarily focused on governance, strategy, and regional collaboration for affiliate leaders from the ESEAP Region. This is an excellent focus and should be maintained. However, the proposal also mentions other programmatic areas (e.g., GLAM, Diversity, etc.). Given the very limited in-person time at the event, I strongly suggest not covering these additional areas and instead using the time to focus on discussing Hubs, among other relevant topics. Related to this, I noticed that you have not budgeted for a (professional) facilitator. Is this something you might consider? Professional facilitation can greatly enhance the preparation and management of discussions and help ensure they are outcome-oriented.

On a related note, I'd like to ask how you plan to adequately prepare participants for the conversations that will take place at the ESEAP Summit. It would make sense to share important information, guiding questions, etc., in advance, so participants have sufficient time to prepare. Beyond simply sharing information, I recommend hosting preparation sessions, including Q&A, prior to the event to bring everyone onto the same page. While preparing participants is essential, actual pre-event engagement is equally important. What are your plans (or those of the ESEAP Hub Preparatory Council) in this regard?

One key challenge my colleagues and I identified is ensuring a clear pathway for affiliate leaders to transition from the event into ongoing involvement within ESEAP structures. Without a structured follow-up plan, there's a risk that any enthusiasm generated by the event may not lead to sustained engagement. Could you elaborate on how you plan to address this risk?

Beyond these programmatic points, I'd like to share some concerns about the budget. The current budget proposal includes certain items that either exceed Wikimedia standards or require more detailed explanation. Travel and accommodation (as long as both are in the same location) will be handled by WMF’s Travel Team. Please have a look at the following budget items:

• Please adjust the flight cost for scholarship holders to 600 USD (instead of 533.43 USD).
• Accommodation for the organizing team: Does the 10-person organizing team reside in Manila? There are no flight estimates for them. They might need extra hotel nights to arrive early. Please adjust accordingly.
• Travel booking service: Please adjust to 3,000 USD (50 USD transaction fee x 60 flights).
• Merch and kits: 88.90 USD per person is above average for event merchandise. Please adjust; something around 20–30 USD per person would be more appropriate.
• As previously mentioned, your in-person time is very valuable and limited. I kindly ask you to reconsider the budgeted GLAM Tour in Manila.
• Related to this: How many days are you actually meeting—just two days, Saturday and Sunday? While you have budgeted for 4 nights for all participants, the budget only includes a venue for two days? Please adjust. We estimate 60 USD per person per day for meeting space, which includes lunch and coffee breaks.
• You are offering scholarships to 60 people, plus 10 organizers, for a total of 70 participants. However, you have budgeted a social dinner for 75 people. Is this correct?
• The costs for the two social dinners are unusually high with 88.90 USD/person. Please adjust.
• The Fiscal Sponsorship Fee of 13,000 USD seems high—could you provide more details? Is this a fixed fee or a percentage of the budget?

All of these points need to be addressed and clarified, as they are essential for understanding the overall budget of your proposal.

Your proposal is good and substantial, but still needs some work. It would be great if you could incorporate this feedback, add details where necessary, and elaborate on the points mentioned above.

Once ready, please resubmit your proposal with these changes on Fluxx (the proposal is now open for editing). The deadline for submission is September 30, after which it will be reviewed by the volunteer Conference Fund Committee, with a final decision expected by mid to late October.

Best regards, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMF) (talk to me) 11:45, 19 September 2024 (UTC) Reply

Hi Cornelius,

Thank you for your feedback.

Host Selection: The selection process was conducted asynchronously during ESEAP 2024 - we did invite the online participants (Zoom and Youtube) to vote during the conference (ESEAP 2024 Day 3 Afternoon). We will keep in mind your advice on risk assessment and WMF consultations the next time we choose a host for a regional event.

On programming: The GLAM activities are part of the less important focus of this event. We just wanted to showcase GLAM in the Philippines as part of our cultural awareness strategies. We rename this activity to cultural immersion for clarity. As for diversity, this only means that in all of the strategic conversations we are planning, we will ensure to have diverse participants, different point of views, and make sure we are making room for everyone as we move forward with our strategic planning. After re-examining our proposal and consultation with EPC, we decided that the goals and outcome (in general) are:

• Using the Summit as a platform to discuss with the ESEAP Community about the ESEAP Hub and move the discussion forward
• Using the Summit as an avenue to reach important decision making related to the next direction of the ESEAP Hub, such as:
• Mapping the stakeholders of the Hub (How to categorize them? What are their roles and responsibilities?)
• What initiatives can we do as a hub?

And we will also use this opportunity to:

• Provide an avenue for follow-up and status review of the current ESEAP Region’s strategic direction based on the previous Summits’ conversations.
• Create open and engaging community discussions and nurture future cross-cultural collaborations among countries in the ESEAP Region.
• Become a venue for community members to have a conversation with some of the members of Movement Strategy Working Groups so they could guide participants on matters or concerns that surfaced in their working group conversations in general and scoping documents in particular. This includes but is not limited to, providing clarifications, giving sample future scenarios, and sharing their work experience in their designated working groups.
• Develop a support structure for Wikimedia communities and volunteers in terms of organizing, volunteer engagement, and technical challenges.

Pre-Summit Activities: The COT and the EPC have decided to have some Pre-Summit online participation (not yet decided how many) to prepare the attendees for the conversation during the Summit. Presentations will be handed out early too so attendees are aware and understand what the session is about and can participate well.

Post-Summit Activities: Like with other events, scholars will be asked to submit a post-event report detailing their experiences and contributions during the summit. We will also work with the ESEAP Preparatory Council to prepare an action plan or next steps based on the outcomes and conversations during the summit. While we are not sure at this point whether or not the ESEAP Hub will be launched as an entity before, during, or after the summit, depending on the actual status, the action plan/next steps will depend on any decisions that have been made during the summit.

Budget Adjustments: Initially, we didn't have a concrete baseline estimate where to base these projections so we used the current market value and prices offered online. Thank you for providing the ceiling amount and average costs on which we can work on. We have updated the budget document as per your recommendations and will provide further support (links) to those that we might not be able to adjust.

In summary, budget adjustments made were:

• Accommodation was reduced to 40 rooms (4 nights) - 30 rooms (shared), 10 rooms (organizers)
• Food & venue allowance reduced to 60 USD (as per WMF recommendation)
• Merch & kits reduced to 30 USD (recommended)
• Cultural immersion - allotted budget for fees and snacks and moved to last day (optional)
• Bank fees and other fiscal charges reduced to 2% of the total budget request

We have updated our proposal accordingly. Feel free to reach out if further questions arise.

Best,

Imelda (Talk) 06:38, 29 September 2024 (UTC) Reply