User:Lankiveil/Correspondence with PGC regarding Wikitanvir application

Dear Participation Grants Committee,

I am writing in regards to an application for a participation grant submitted by User:Wikitanvir to attend the RecentChangesCamp event in Canberra, Australia, in January 2012. There are two components to this grant, one requesting funding from the Wikimedia Foundation for an airfare from Bangladesh to Australia, and another requesting funding from Wikimedia Australia for funding related to accommodation and other expenses.

It is my pleasure to advise that the Wikimedia Australia committee has approved the grant application made to us by Tanvir, and we recommend that the PGC do the same for its share. In our view, apart from the obvious benefits from the content of the event itself, we believe that helping our friends in Bangladesh develop the skills and expertise to hold their own events in the future by observing and learning from this event will provide a significant benefit to the movement. In particular, I think that the low-cost and lightweight “unconference” format of RCC is likely to be more suited to conditions in Bangladesh than the larger and more elaborate (and doubtlessly more expensive to organise) formal conferences that the Indian chapter have held recently.

We also welcome the opportunity for the Australian and New Zealand participants at RCC to learn about Wikimedia practices on foreign language projects (such as the Bengali-language Wikipedia) as well as for the Wikimedia Australia committee to learn about chapter administration practices in Bangladesh.

We note that the costs of travel from Bangladesh to Australia are typically lower than the cost of travel to Europe or the Americas, where most other established chapters and events are held. Thusly, we believe that the cost of one airfare to Australia represents better value for money to the movement than an airfare to (for example), Berlin or Washington DC.

We are excited by this opportunity to do our part to help grow the Wikimedia movement on the Indian subcontinent, and would welcome the speedy approval of this grant by the PGC. Should you have any queries regarding our endorsement of this grant, please do feel free to ask me.

Regards, Craig Franklin Wikimedia Australia