I hear you, Olaniyan, and understand you are feeling alienated and demotivated by not receiving a scholarship. Regarding your assertion that the selection criteria are unfair, I think that to agree with it would require you to present an actual argument against one or more of those criteria, and I invite you to do so.

I also invite you to think about what else might be done to support and promote the creation and sharing of free knowledge in Africa, beyond awarding a few more scholarships to Africans. I remind you that the Wikimedia Foundation is eager to support mission-aligned work, including experimentation, through the various grants programs[1], and that there is a wealth of written materials about program design and best practices[2][3][4], for African volunteers motivated to do more programmatic work in Africa.

If you would take me up on this invitation, I would love to hear your thoughts on work in Africa, beyond Wikimania scholarships.

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start

[2] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Learning_patterns

[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/Program_Toolkits

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 6:32 AM, shola ishola <olaniyanshola@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi All,

I am writing this mail in solidarity with all active Wikipedians in Africa . I felt rather alienation and de-motivated by the announcement of the result of Wikimania Scholarship 2016. I have reviewed the parameters for the selection of candidacy for the above mentioned event and I came to the conclusion that the selection is not fair to us (WUGN) and Africa in general. Considering what we did withinn the shortest period of the recognition of our group, we are more than qualify to be represented at the event.

Perhaps, we may be considered to be too young... I wish to state here... what's the benefit of an event that won't be developmental in nature. We are the future of the movement. Frankly speaking, Africa remains Virgin in term of the wikimedia concepts and projects compare to other continents. In my opinion, resources should be channel to assist the continents rather than the already developed one.

Lastly, if indeed we are so serious about the projects and the move‎ment. Then, special quota and interest should be created for developing continents rather than the developed ones.

Submitted.

Olaniyan Olushola
Director, WUGN
Treasurer, FOSSFA
MD, Olbims Consulting
Phone: +2348154876844
Email: olaniyanshola15@gmail.com
Email: olaniyanshola@yahoo.com
Email:treasurer@fossfa.net
User page: Olaniyan Olushola
Facebook: Olaniyan Shola
Twitter :Olaniyan73

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