Wiki Loves Women: Call for Wikimedia Volunteer Groups to apply

Job description: Run the Wikipedian in Residence for Wiki Loves Women

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WikiAfrica has put a call out for four Wikipedians in Residence for its Wiki Loves Women Project. However, it will consider applications from Wikimedia Usergroups to apply to run the project from within the country.

Wiki Loves Women is a multi-country, multi-faceted project that aims at encouraging the contribution of content that celebrates the influence of women leaders, and reflects the realities faced by women and girls across Africa. The Wikipedians in Residence will work with content organisations to contribute freely-licensed information, texts, images and media to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Wiki Loves Women was initiated by the WikiAfrica project in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.

In 2016, the Wiki Loves Women project will be activated in four countries. More information may be found about the project at www.wikiloveswomen.org

Why Wiki Loves Women

Gender inequality is rife across sub-saharan Africa. Although much progress has been made to address these inequalities in the workplace and within society, there remains a systemic bias towards profiling women, especially with regards to information, news and knowledge sources, both online and offline. The project focuses on bridging two significant gaps on Wikimedia projects – women and Africa – both in terms of content about these subjects and in terms of participation by people from these groups.

The gender gap has long been known to exist in computer-related occupations, and indeed the Wikimedia community was aware of this issue from the very early days. The first large-scale publication that attempted to quantify the gap was a survey conducted by the United Nations University and published in March 2010. The study of Wikipedia’s contributor base showed that it has barely 13 percent women.

The position

The Wiki Loves Women initiative is asking Wikimedia Usergroups to consider applying as an entity across sub-Saharan Africa to drive the project in their home countries. Should the Wikimedia Usergroup be successful in its application, it will be required to operate the project in collaboration with the Continental project managers.

The User Group should appoint a Project Lead but then is free to self-organise, for example one WIR, several WIRs, only volunteers, etc.. There are many ways of running the project within the usergroup. The application should outline how it wishes to operate and motivate for the option that it chooses.

The Usergroup team will be responsible for identifying key content partners, engaging their participation in the project and ensuring that their stakeholders and staff are involved in and contributing to the project. In addition, the Wikipedian in Residence will work with existing and new Wikipedians to assist with the transfer and integration of content from partners onto the different Wikimedia projects. This contribution will be facilitated through regular editing and contribution events at the Goethe-Institut.

This project runs for one year (12 months).

Residence in the country of operation is mandatory, as is travel for the Project Leader for a maximum of 2 weeks to attend an #OpenAfrica16 course in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Additional travel opportunities may arise from within the Wikimedia projects to conferences such as WikiIndaba, GLAM WIKI and Wikimania.

Interested Usergroups should apply by 26th February 2016.

The successful Usergoup will

  • Research the sector,
  • Identify, solicit and liaise with civil society organisations, NGOs and public institutions as partners to contribute to the project,
  • Negotiate the correct licensing for the content that is donated to the WIkimedia projects
  • Compile data on the identified partners, communities and countries,
  • Train and work with identified subject-area groups and communities,
  • Ensure the transfer of all identified content from the partnering organisations and groups onto, and integrated within, Wikimedia projects,
  • Organise and manage community events, competitions, workshops, contribution parties and conferences,
  • Evaluate and compile reports and metrics on all events, competitions, workshops, mapping parties, and conferences
  • Complete weekly project reports, and monthly evaluations as well as contribute to the project’s overall review and audit
  • Contribute content to the Wiki Loves Women website/s and social media sites.

With regards to the Project Lead, the Usergroup should consider the following elements:

  • The Project Leader is not necessarily The Chair
  • Experience of Wikimedia projects and proven dedication to the Open Movement (Creative Commons, Open Education Resources, Open Street Map project, etc.)
  • Fluency in both English and French
  • Experience in community building and activation
  • A university degree graduate or hold relative diploma
  • Highly organised and flexible
  • Presentable and able to speak to a range of individuals from top government officials to heads of business
  • Should be self-directed and able to complete projects with limited supervision
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills, comfortable writing articles
  • Able to display online savvy and be proficient in Social Media. Proficiency with Google Drive
  • Fully computer literate (proficient with Word, Excel, Outlook Express and ideally some open source equivalents)
  • Passionate about Africa’s voice in the world

Project amount over 12 months: US$12,000.00
This total local project figure includes any salaries, local travel, equipment or communications requirements. It also includes a figure to cover catering at any events. All events are to be hosted in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut. International travel and accommodation to the place of training is not included in this local project figure and will come from another section of the budget.

How to apply:

Interested Usergroups should apply by 26th February 2016.

To apply, Wikimedia Usergroup would need to:

  1. Motivate as to why it would prefer to run the project from within the Usergroup;
  2. Provide a plan of action for the project, along with potential partners;
  3. Specify the Project Leader (this person would attend the training in Johannesburg) – a CV and interview with this person would be required;
  4. The CV and interview with the Usergroup Chairman would be required; and
  5. Provide a summary of expected results and outputs from their intervention.

 

Should you not receive any response by the 4th March 2016 please consider your application unsuccessful.

Contact details:

Isla Haddow-Flood and Florence Devouard

Email: apply [at] wikiloveswomen [dot] org

 

About WikiAfrica

WikiAfrica is an international collaborative project that has been variously housed at the Africa Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and Lettera27 in Milan, Italy, and additional independent projects across the African continent. The project collaborates on an array of initiatives that activate and support Wikimedia volunteer communities and encourages the release of African content from organisations onto Wikipedia. One of its main projects is the Wiki Loves Africa competition that runs every October and November across Africa (and beyond). In 2016 it launched Wiki Loves Women with the Goethe-Institut. View WikiAfrica on Meta.

 

About the Goethe-Institut

The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. We promote knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. We convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany’s cultural, social and political life. The Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg regulates the work in the Sub-Saharan countries. Its activities in this region have a special focus on strengthening the pan-African dialogue, and on promoting mobile access to information and education. For more information, visit www.goethe.de/johannesburg.

In 2016, the Wiki Loves Women project will be activated in four countries, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut. More information may be found about the project at www.wikiloveswomen.org