Thank you to all members of CIS-A2K, both past and present, for all the hard work that you have done over these many years. It is a travesty that you are being forced to shut down. I wish all of you the very best in the future.
Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur On Wed, 9 Apr 2025 at 18:35, Pavan Santhosh <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Everyone, > > > My name is Pavan Santhosh and I work as the Program Manager for Access to > Knowledge Program at Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. > > > CIS-A2K team will be pausing all of its programmatic activities until > further notice as the FCRA renewal application submitted by CIS has been > rejected. > > > CIS-A2K team is actively exploring possible solutions. A2K team which has > worked for over 12 years to advance the open knowledge movement in Indic > languages, has to now halt operations. > > > Over the past 12 years, the A2K program has played a crucial role in > growing the open knowledge movement in India. Some of our key contributions > include: > > > - Built and conducted Train-the-Trainer [1], one of the largest and > longest-running leadership programs within Wikimedia, with around 250 > Wikimedians participating in nine iterations between 2013 and 2024. This > initiative nurtured movement leaders who continue to contribute in various > capacities. > - Contributed significantly to awareness, policies, and practices to > Bridge gender gap in the Wikimedia movement.[2] Our efforts included action > research, gender sensitivity training, building partnerships and > leadership-building programs for the cause. > - We invested in studies on revitalizing Underrepresented Indian > Languages,[3] consultation on the Future of the Commons,[4] envisioning the > National Education Policy’s framework on Open Knowledge,[5] and research on > the Open Movement in India.[6] > - Collaborated with over 50 libraries, memory institutions, and > volunteer communities to digitize and make available over 2,500 public > domain books and magazines, as well as approximately 500,000 folios in > Indian languages, including Marathi, Konkani, Telugu, Tulu, Assamese, and > Odia. > - The Access to Knowledge team made significant efforts [7] in > research, capacity building, strategic conversations, and programmatic > experimentation to build a three-year program called “Deepening the impact > of Open Knowledge projects for sustainable Knowledge practices across > Indian language communities” [8] and received full funding for its > execution recently. > > These are just a few highlights from the vast amount of work and several > achievements made possible by our dedicated past and present team members, > along with the invaluable support of volunteers, communities, and partners. > We are grateful to everyone who contributed to our programme during the > last 12 years. > > > We request your kind understanding during these difficult times. As the > CIS-A2K staff are currently navigating several ongoing matters, we kindly > ask for your patience in case of any delays in communication. > > > Thank you for your support. > > > Best, > > Pavan Santhosh, > > Program Manager, > > CIS-A2K. > > > [1] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program > > [2] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Verticals/Gender_Gap_Bridging_Initiatives > > [3] > https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/using-wikimedia-sphere-for-revitalization-of-small-and-underrepresented-languages-in-india > > [4] https://cis-india.org/raw/report-on-the-future-of-the-commons > > [5] > https://cis-india.org/a2k/envisioning-role-of-open-knowledge-in-implementation-of-national-education-policy > > [6] > https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-movement-in-india-idea-and-its-expressions > > [7] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Reports/CIS-A2K_Report_2023-24/Executive_Summary > > [8] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/General_Support_Fund/Deepening_the_impact_of_Open_Knowledge_projects_for_sustainable_Knowledge_practices_across_Indian_language_communities_steered_by_Access_to_Knowledge,_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaIndia-l mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ -- Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur
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