File:Wikimania 2023 - Follow-up RGC Session - 360 View of the Grants Process and Q&A with POs & RGCs.webm

English: Video recording for Wikimania 2023

Title: Regional Grant Committees, a 360 View of the Grants Process and Question and Answers with the Program Officers & Grant Committee members
Speaker: Veronica Thamaini (WMF), Mercedes Caso (WMF), Morgan Jue (WMF), Regional Grant Committee members Ghozi Septiandri, Butch Bustria, and Harriet Bayel
Abstract: This session is a follow-up to the Regional Grants Committee session in Wikimania 2023. A suggestion made by the attendee to create another session focused on how the proposal is being reviewed. It is a 360 View of the Grants (Funding) Process, followed by Questions and Answers to the Program Officers and members of Regional Grant Committees. Recorded on 10 September 2023.

Grant-making is playing an increasingly important role in diversifying the Wikimedia ecosystem. Decentralizing the decision-making process into Regional Grants Committees has been a great step in the right direction for a more inclusive movement. As a member of the grants committee for one of the historically least funded regions, the members will showcase the virtues of having these committees and promote their growth.

Years ago, the grant-making landscape at the Wikimedia Foundation was quite different. Decisions about grant proposals were being made centrally, often by people who had very little knowledge about the regional or local context of the proposals. Now the grant-making decisions is devolved into regional committees has enabled grantees from under-represented communities to have a better chance at implementing their proposals. The decentralized model of the grants committee is a great example of how the movement governance can be decentralized successfully. The regional grants committees are also a great way of including volunteer community members in the process, who bring in invaluable insight, as many of the volunteers have been on the receiving end of grants in the past, and are familiar with the challenges grantees may face.