Why do you think you suit to be in the board of WMKE? I have worked with Kenyan ICT communities for the last 8 years and I believe I have the understanding needed to grow the community and also make it stand out among other ICT communities in Kenya. I also over the years acquired leadership qualities that will be useful to WMKE in creating relations with institutions, NGOs, Government and other key partners.
2. What is your take on the level of participation of members in WMKE projects/meetings/mailing list? Anything you think should be done differently? So far with the little resources we have had, I would generally say we have done quite well, to a point of becoming the second chapter in Africa. Our participation I would say is narrow as only a few of us start projects/ideas and the rest of the community joins in discussion. I would say we have a balanced mailing list with one good moderator, Abbas. What I would do differently is to do more outreaches in institutions and forge official partnerships with language clubs and deans to cement regular activities that we would move to make progress in our goals. I will also further work to seek government partnership so we are able to enable us participate in government funded projects. My key goal is to ensure recognition of WMKE by governmental and educational institutions.
3. As a board needs members with different skills (e.g. administrative, financial, public relations etc), please tell us which particular skill set have you worked in previously, like in another society or organisation? I am a PHP developer, a social media professional, blogger and ICT consultant. I have worked with different organizations in different capacities including managerial and advisory. In 2010, I headed a big team that was responsible for drafting, executing and monitoring the digital strategy for Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete which very successfully achieved its goals. I am currently a consultant for the government working as the Chief Public Communications Officer at the Office of the VP and Ministry of Home Affairs and also an Advisor to the Vice President on Digital Media and Technology.
4. Which languages have you worked in so far? And what is your position on both a language policy and a language strategy for WMKE? I have only worked on English, my biggest contributions are in Commons. Kenya is rich with culture and language and I would propose we find a way of representing all dialects spoken in Kenya eventually, beginning with the major ones.
5. How would you best deal with the issue of editor attraction and retention in our local chapter so as to ensure the growth of WMKE as a whole? One of the ways I would greatly explore is permanent partnerships with language clubs in all major universities to ensure translations and origination of articles. Again, relations will be key with different civil organizations and government institutions. I will insist on looking for partnerships that would create student competitions, road trips, edit camps and more. I have a few ideas that I would like to implement that would bring the numbers in the community to high levels within a short while and involving less resources.
6. Now that we are an independent chapter, how do you plan to raise funds supposing the parent Wikimedia Foundation won't avail funds to run the aforementioned project? Again, partnerships with institutions, government and fun editorial camps. The NGO world supports a lot of educational projects and we shall vigorously seek funding for our projects from these circles.
7. What kind of a project/ activity would you envision WMKE and its members undertake in order to fulfill the objectives of Wikimedia Foundation as a whole? Definitely, a project which would see more articles from Kenya and Africa generally, translations and promoting use of the Wikimedia projects in education and research. I would also suggest moving into more African countries to grow Wikimedia in Africa.
David. - Show quoted text -