Grants:Regions/South Asia

South Asia

This region includes the following countries: Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Maldives; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka.

Program Officer

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Senior Program Officer for the South Asia Region
sa_fund wikimedia.org
Location: Singapore
Timezone: GMT 8
Language(s) spoken: English, Chinese

Regional calendar

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Please reach out to your Program Officer if you are interested in applying before making any application or if you need flexibility on dates.

General Support Fund - Round 1 (2024-25)

August 9 – September 9, 2024

Applicant support and eligibility check

September 9, 2024

Renewal deadline

September 9, 2024

Submission deadline

September 9 – October 31, 2024

Review and translation

October 31 – November 15, 2024

Review feedback and applicant engagement

November 29, 2024

Decision announced

December 13, 2024 – January 17, 2025

Agreement and first payment

July 1 – July 31, 2025

Midpoint conversation

January 30, 2026 / March 31, 2026

Final or first year report due

General Support Fund - Round 2 (2024-25)

February 14 – March 13, 2025

Applicant support and eligibility check

March 14, 2025

Renewal deadline

March 13, 2025

Submission deadline

March 13 – April 21, 2025

Review and translation

April 21 – May 5, 2025

Review feedback and applicant engagement

May 23, 2025

Decision announced

June 6 – June 30, 2025

Agreement and first payment

January 15, 2026

Midpoint conversation

July 31, 2026 / August 15, 2026

Final or first year report due

Contact us

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Rapid Fund

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If you want to apply or if have any questions about the Rapid Fund, please reach out to the Regional Program Officer at: sa_rapid wikimedia.org

General Support Fund

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If you have any questions about the General Support Fund, please reach out to the Regional Program Officer at: sa_fund wikimedia.org

Regional Committee

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  • आर्या जोशी, August 2021 - Contributor to Marathi Wikimedia projects and works with many not for profit organizations in Maharashtra. A passionate researcher and enthusiastic learner always.
  • Balajijagadesh, August 2021 - Open source enthusiast, active in community engagement activities in Tamil Wiki projects. Contributes to Wikisource and Wikidata.
  • Medhavigandhi, August 2021 - Lead Co-organizer at Art Feminism, active in GLAM space, open GLAM work; leads The Heritage Lab project.
  • Nawaraj Ghimire, August 2021 - Wikimedian contributing to the Wikipedia in Classroom project and outreach activities in Nepal.
  • Tarunno, October 2021 - Wikimedian active in Bangla Wikimedia projects. Open source enthusiast.
  • Nabin K. Sapkota, August 2024 - Event and outreach co-ordiantor in projects under Wikimedians of Nepal
  • Ravidreams, August 2024 - Serving Tamil Wikimedia projects since 2005. Have worked with the Wikimedia India Chapter and the WMF in the past towards the development of South Asian Wikimedia communities through various programs like Project Tiger.

Inactive and Past Committee Members

Conversation hours

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Questions from Office hour 27 July 2021

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  • For Organizations asking for Staff support, will their salaries/remuneration be considered as income?

Criteria of eligibility, are non-affiliate groups eligible? As discussed, their eligibility consideration is dependent on what the committee feels about them. How aware is the committee of all such groups’?

  • Considering some mentorship programs are being discussed within affiliates, there might be a chapter supporting a user group to organize, plan and run some activities. So who would apply for this grant? The trainer or the trainee?
  • In continuation of the last question, say both apply for grant for specific activities, but one regional committee approves but other refuses. How will the CRS team evaluate such cases?
  • About Alliance funding, will it only be available to nonprofits or for profit organizations as well?

Regarding specific funds allocation for a region, if we are actually going to promote this funding for underrepresented communities, considering there are other major grantees in the region, cushion might not be sufficient.

  • So what if there is an Allied organization asking for funds for the first time and come up with a great plan for engagement in India and ask for an equal or more amount than the existing grantees, would you consider funding the new organization?
  • Are there any plans on training the regional committees? Or How will you ensure that everybody who's on the regional committee, irrespective of the region, is trained on similar standards?
  • All communities stand at different levels regarding the sensitivity towards various aspects of engagement, grants, etc. Are there any plans for sensitization activities?
  • Drafting Grants’ policies- Will the process be inclusive to the community for review?
  • If an affiliate is being supported by other grantees in the region, will this association act as a barrier for the grant the affiliate wishes to apply directly for expansion of the group's activities?
  • About Grant structure, would there be a Global criteria or would there be a regional criteria for evaluation & funding?
  • When we're talking about increasing the funding opportunities for the under-represented communities, Do you have any kind of plans on capacity building? *Like designing a pilot for new Affiliates, identifying some, extending training on handling finances and later they apply for a grant. This will enable them to efficiently apply for & manage future grants. This will be an actual capacity building and increasing the funding to the underrepresented communities. Otherwise like, or is it just an opportunity without any capacity building support.
  • How will Rapid Funds support long term but short budget projects as it is written that it is only meant for short term projects?
  • Will individuals or smaller affiliates have to compete with big players w.r.t. General Support Fund,?
  • How will you ensure legally to make the grant applicants submit the reports and financial receipts?
  • How will you prevent people from disappearing with the money or submit vague/false reports?
  • How will the transparency of the grant projects be ensured?
  • What is the transaction limit by which an individual will not face FCRA wrath from the Government and how will it be ensured to remove the FCRA barrier for smaller affiliates?
  • If an individual/affiliate wants to hire a paid person to execute some project, how will the money be transferred to that person?
  • What will be the exact legal way to save tax when money comes to someone’s account for a project?

Browse Applications

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Wikimedia Community Fund

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General Support Fund

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Rapid Fund

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