Hi Florence,
Thanks for your email. We wanted to acknowledge receipt and say that we're working on a more detailed answer about the partnership with Africa No Filter (ANF) and the Africa Union (AU), and to some of the higher-level points you've raised around our general approach to this work.
We're gathering all the right information to make sure we can offer a comprehensive answer, but in short, to your first question, the collaboration between WMF and ANF described in the announcement, is led by the Foundation's Partnerships and Community Programs teams and will be implemented in collaboration with Wikimedia communities. This collaboration sits under a larger ongoing relationship with the African Union, who were actually the ones who first connected us to ANF. We broadly introduced the project during this specific session [1] at WikiIndaba, and have a comprehensive Diff post coming up soon with more information about this project's goals and how it connects with existing movement priorities, which we are happy to forward to this thread when it’s live. Unfortunately, ANF went slightly earlier on what was going to be a joint announcement, and we're talking with them on how this came about.
To be clear, we are not partnering on this project with Meta; we are partnering solely with ANF and the Africa Union, within their 2063 Agenda strategy [2] for the region. We have no involvement in the separate partnership that ANF announced with Meta in the same announcement.
We read your email as elevating some larger concerns we want to make sure are heard, for us all to have a good faith and important dialogue on how we inform, collaborate, and work with the Movement in partnership-related activity. Our intention is never to create overlapping/conflictive work with the ones in the Movement, but rather add value and collaborate, as we believe we are doing in this case.
We will be providing an answer soon with more details.
Regards,
Jorge Vargas
Director of Regional Partnerships
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2021/Program/The_future_of_knowledge_creation_in_Africa_through_partnerships
[2] https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overviewOn Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 11:36 AM F. Xavier Dengra i Grau via Wikimedia-l <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:Hi all,Thank you for raising up this topic in the list, Florence. I fully agree with you in all your points and find it of great concern, especially regarding accountability of the WMF towards the community. But also because its increasing agreements and decisions that are not thoroughly reviewed or shared before a long way (i.e. money, hiring and staffing time expenditure) has already been done.This matter can be linked a lot with the long debate that Galder (user Theklan) had here about a month and a half ago on the disappointing WMF tech support, while we see big efforts on content that disrupt the decentralized role of communities and that, in this precise case, they seem to be even very unequally communicated.I am looking forward to read more on this in case someone is aware of what's going on. It does not look any good so far, especially for the silence on "our" side (as what WMF does has an impact in the discursive trustworthiness of all volunteers) and because in that newsletter it is being mentioned as a project side to side with Facebook.Best,Xavier Dengra‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐El dimecres, 8 de desembre 2021 a les 4:51 PM, Florence Devouard <fdevouard@gmail.com> va escriure:Hello
Got that in my mailbox today.I had known that for a few days because it had been displayed on ANF website and been the object of an ANF previous email a few days ago about a partnership between Wikimedia Foundation / ANF / African Union to fix the gap related to African representation. So it is not really a surprise to ME, but...On one hand, it is a good news to see the big organisations get involved.
On the other hand... there are a few points bugging me and I wanted to share just that.
ANF has been announcing those partnerships for several days on their networks.But from WMF... I see a complete silence. No announcement in the lists, nor in the grant space, nor on diff, nor to the affiliates impacted by this announcement;Nothing. No mention of an Africa Knowledge Initiative on meta either. Nothing at all.The total silence from WMF raises questions and concerns in my mind. Such as :1) Is that partnership real and known from the Wikimedia Foundation ?2) If it is, why is Wikimedia Foundation not informing the community about what seems to be a significant partnership ?Is it that in truth no one at WMF cares about this partnership ? Or is it by fear of community reaction ? Or is it a wish to not have local groups involved at all ?3) What's the role of the Wikimedia Foundation in that partnership ?Is it just allowing ANF to use the Wikipedia brand ? Is Wikimedia Foundation providing a grant to ANF ? Is Wikimedia Foundation providing staff time to ANF ? Is Wikimedia Foundation offering volunteer time from the communities or facilitating recruitement of cheap labour ? Is Wikimedia Foundation planning to provide networking support in connecting ANF to the communities and usergroups ?What is WMF role in this ?4) When Usergroup Affiliates are approved, a thorough review of their request is made to avoid any situation of overlapping activities with the other usergroups. And once approved, there is a concern that they have to coordinate and inform about overlapping activities.Clearly, the WMF is here officially supporting a collection of initiatives that will overlap with already existing activities and could impact existing usergroups. However, WMF did not inquire of existing groups opinion on such a partnership, nor did it actually sought to simply inform them. Did WMF tried to involve the impacted parties ?In short, in a spirit of collaboration and shared mission... would not that be expected that impacted communities be informed/polled/or even involved ?5) In the past few months, I have seen WMF staff increasingly get directly involved into Content Projects. It seems that WMF staff who once where busy developing tools to support the communities, are now rather spending time creating, leading or facilitating content projects. I suppose there are benefits to doing that. And do not misunderstand me, I appreciate every staff member involved in such effort and recognise their skills.But when WMF staff move from support function to Content Projects leadership, it also can have detrimental consequences in our ecosystem, such as inequity in resources access between projects organized by WMF and projects organized by community members (*). It can have detrimental consequences in decreasing the opportunities for community members to take on leadership roles. It can have detrimental consequences in making WMF appear like a content producer.My question would be... is this shift in WMF staff activities ... simply due to the lack of leadership at WMF level for the past months... or is it an deliberate move ?
Sorry, long rant today... but seeing the meta-name thiefs associated with our brand was the last drop ...
Florence
PS: I have examples...-------- Message transféré --------
Sujet : Meta, WikiMedia, and the Hewlett Foundation partner with Africa No Filter Date : Wed, 08 Dec 2021 23:00:15 +1100 De : Africa No Filter <info@africanofilter.org> Répondre à : info@africanofilter.org Pour : Florence Devouard <Fdevouard@anthere.org>
Hewlett Foundation, Meta, and the Wikimedia Foundation are the latest partners to join Africa No Filter in shifting narratives about Africa
8 December, Accra: Narrative change organisation, Africa No Filter, today announced new partnerships with Hewlett Foundation, Meta (formerly Facebook), and the Wikimedia Foundation for its campaign to shift the stereotypical narratives about and within Africa.
The new funding pool of USD1.2 million will be invested in research, building community, and storytelling initiatives that present new perspectives on the continent, including projects that reimagine African creativity through immersive reality and expand how Africa is represented on Wikimedia projects. This is part of Africa No Filter’s goal to grow the community of partners and funders who want to see current narratives shift towards a more contemporary and nuanced view of the continent.
The Hewlett Foundation is the ninth funder to support the Africa No Filter donor collaborative, joining Ford Foundation, Bloomberg, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Society Foundations, Comic Relief, the Hilton Foundation, and the British Council in partnering with Africa No Filter to shift and disrupt stereotypical narratives about Africa.
Hewlett’s funds will primarily support ANF’s ongoing grantmaking in the arts, culture, and media space. A portion of the funds will go towards a storytelling campaign aimed at shifting narratives around sexual health and reproduction rights in Hewlett’s key countries.
In line with Meta’s focus on the immersive technologies, which they are calling the metaverse, the partnership will push the boundaries of storytelling by supporting content producers to create virtual and augmented reality films that tell African stories. It will also ensure that African creators are represented as the next generation of the internet emerges.
Greater representation of African people, experiences and contexts are at the core of the collaboration between Africa No Filter and the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia. More content about Africa will be added to Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, to close knowledge equity gaps on one of the world’s most visited sites.
According to the “Extent of Geolocated Entities in Articles” tab of the Geography Gap Project, only 5.5% of all geotagged articles in all Wikipedia language editions are related to Africa. On English Wikipedia specifically, 4% of geotagged articles relate to Africa. Africa No Filter seeks to increase the number of African contributors to Wikimedia projects and to grow the corpus of African knowledge in multiple African languages.
Through the partnership with Wikimedia Foundation and the African Union, Africa No Filter has launched the Africa Knowledge Initiative. This collaboration will bring together creatives, activists and mission-aligned organizations, along with the African Wikimedia communities to produce verifiable, locally relevant, and easily accessible content to increase the representation of African knowledge on the internet. The Africa Knowledge Initiative will grow the corpus of African knowledge and the number of African knowledge producers. It will also translate the knowledge into multiple African languages.
The Meta and Wikimedia Foundation projects will offer funding, mentorship, and capacity building. They will be launched through grant callouts on Africa No Filter’s usual platforms.
Moky Makura, Executive Director at Africa No Filter, says: "We are incredibly honoured that Africa No Filter has been identified as a trusted partner and custodian of these projects. Each partnership supports the creation of content that is more representative of what is happening across the continent, which fuels our mission. New partnerships and funding allow us to increase our reach and impact and ultimately bring awareness of the importance of which story Africans are telling. It means we can do more – it’s an exciting time for Africa No Filter. "
Media enquiries: Lerato@africanofilter.org
About Africa No Filter
Africa No Filter is a donor collaborative shifting stereotypical and harmful narratives within and about Africa through research, grant-making, community building and advocacy by supporting storytellers, investing in media platforms, and driving disruption campaigns. It is funded by Ford Foundation, Bloomberg, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Society Foundations, Comic Relief, the Hilton Foundation, the British Council and Hewlett Foundation.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive.
About Meta
Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.
About Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation advances ideas and supports institutions to promote a better world. For more than 50 years, the Foundation has e supported efforts to advance education for all, preserve the environment, support vibrant performing arts, strengthen Bay Area communities, make the philanthropy sector more effective, and foster gender equity and responsive governance around the world.
Remember to like our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and to follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @Africanofilter.
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