Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedians of the Levant General Fund 2025

Unfortunately, I have to note some serious concerns about this user group's appreciation of the UCoC and I have to share this RfC here: Requests for comment/threatening language and censorship by two Arabic Wikipedia admins. The problem is not limited to just these examples and these users, and there are signs that it is more systemic. This kind of behavior has the potential to drive away anyone who is not within the dominant political and ideological perspective there. The main reason I care about this is not that they are limiting my ability to find collaborators on a different Wikimedia project. There are much easier ways to do that. I am concerned because I honestly believe that what is happening completely contradicts the inclusive Wikimedia philosophy, with various forms of arbitrary admin actions. CC: @VThamaini (WMF) TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 23:29, 30 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

@Fjmustak @Sandra Hanbo @Freedom's Falcon: As this group's administrators, I would very much like to learn your opinion about whether the examples shared there are compatible with the Universal Code of Conduct, which you have stated that you have read, in your application. Thank you in advance for sharing your perspective. TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 01:21, 31 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

@TheJoyfulTentmaker: Thank you for raising this issue. What you have commented on, however, is the grant request for the Wikimedians of the Levant User Group. I do not see how your comment here is relevant. The User Group remains committed to the Universal Code of Conduct in all its activities and takes it very seriously. Conduct that runs contrary to this code within the User Group is dealt with accordingly. The Wikimedians of the Levant User Group has neither the mandate nor the capacity to deal with on-wiki complaints, or to give any opinion of any supposed violations of the UCoC that happens on Arabic Wikipedia or any other wiki. Best regards. --Fjmustak (talk) 11:55, 31 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

@Fjmustak Thank you for taking the time to respond, but I believe my comment is relevant here and unfortunately I have not seen sufficient signal to believe that your user group takes the UCoC seriously. The incidents I reported are not ordinary on-wiki disputes. Most recently, the language boxes that I use on my ArWiki user profile to express myself were removed by one of your most senior members with a bullying edit summary. The UCoC prohibits such behavior and requires standing up for the user who is mistreated. Thanks for your consideration. TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 15:20, 31 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

Please note the stated behavioral requirements for the General Support Fund: "Applicant must follow the Universal Code of Conduct and Friendly Space Policies". So my feedback is relevant for this application and I believe it should be considered in its evaluation. CC: @FElgueretly-WMF TheJoyfulTentmaker (talk) 23:02, 31 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

Thank you for your comment, we have acknowledged it, the user group has shared their response with you above, and we will also be discussing this with the user group and the Regional Funding Committee. FElgueretly-WMF (talk) 10:15, 1 November 2024 (UTC) Reply

Dear Wikimedians of the Levant,

Thank you very much for submitting an application for Round 1 FY 24/25 of the Wikimedia General Support Fund. We appreciate you taking the time to describe your activities and projects in support of the Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia movement. The Regional Funds Committee has initially reviewed the proposal, and wishes to offer some initial feedback and questions for your review:

• The Committee appreciates that you are focussing on workshops and capacity building to improve the skillsets of community members, and that you are looking to build on your existing efforts for Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom, particularly in involving teachers that can improve the user group’s sustainability.
• The Committee also recognizes that the user group has a number of activities and competitions that are successful on Arabic Wikimedia projects, such as El Arz competition, among other photography competitions.
• Including a microgrant may also increase the user group’s ability to support more individuals in the region and their sustainability and allows more flexibility for requests coming in from four different countries. May you share more on the requests that are incoming from the community and what you have learned from the previous year? How will you ensure full transparency regarding the microgranting project, and how will you be held accountable for all of the decisions that are being made? Is there a transparent process to accessing the microgrants that can be placed online and how do you ensure that the process is clear for your community?
• The Committee also values your focus on raising awareness on cultural heritage and climate change topics, among other topics of impact.
• The Committee would also like to understand the user group’s strategic plan, the user group has many planned workshops and competitions, although what is the overall strategy and overarching goals that guide these activities?
• The Committee would like to see more clarity on budget, team, and mechanisms for communicating with the community in the Levant region. More specifically:
  • May you please explain how you convened members of the user group to agree on the user group annual plan? The Committee would also like further clarity on how you communicate with your members and community to ensure their inclusion in decisionmaking.
  • How do you coordinate among the four countries of focus (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria), do you have a community representative for each country and what is the capacity of the team? How do you allocate resources for these countries?
  • Budget considerations
    • May you please break down the budget further so that it clarifies the exact expenses and line items for each competition and workshop?
    • May you clarify why an additional fee is needed for the project coordinator role?
    • The Committee would like further clarity on why the budget is increasing, given that contribution metrics have decreased from the previous year.
  • Given that the three board members are receiving paid roles, may you please clarify on what exactly their roles are and how they differ from each other in supporting the Wikimedians of the Levant user group?
• The Committee noticed that they are missing the user group’s responses to one question in the application that shares the organization’s website, detailed financial reporting and/or audits, documentation of the governance structure, board list, and governance processes and documentation of the general assembly decision on your plan
• The Committee would also like to better understand the user group’s capacity to implement projects. From the mid-learning conversation that took place in July, the user group mentioned that many of their planned activities had been canceled or postponed. May you share how you plan on ensuring that the activities shared in this proposal will be implemented successfully, in addition to who is expected to implement which projects throughout the year, are they volunteers or paid staff roles?
• The Committee also believes it is valuable for the user group to indicate more explicitly the evaluation strategy. For example, the moments of the year in which you take the time to pause, reflect and exchange learnings in the community. It appears that the user group is repeating many activities that have taken place the year before. Are there indications that these activities have been successful and how are you building on these activities?
• May the user group also clarify the timeline for the two planned education projects?
• In addition to seeking clarity in the above mentioned questions, the Committee also recommends that the user group explores diversifying across other Wikimedia projects such as Wiktionary, WikiQuote and WikiSource, as well as seeking partnerships with museums, libraries and other institutions.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you on the comments shared and if you would like to meet with the regional funding committee, please inform the program officer.

FElgueretly-WMF (talk) 09:08, 1 November 2024 (UTC) Reply