The 35th episode of Wiki Africa Hour titled Does the Wikimedia Movement Contribute to the SDGs?; Ruby Damenshie-Brown hosts a discussion with various Wikimedians about the movement’s role in achieving the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conversation explores community-driven projects that support sustainability and identifies ways to enhance participation within Wikimedia communities. Guests share their personal motivations for engaging with SDGs, highlighting key initiatives like WikiFocus Environment, and examine challenges faced by different User Groups in promoting awareness and action toward these vital global goals.

The WikiAfrica Hour In Focus segment was an Inspiring Open interview by Donia Domiaty with Ruby Damenshie-Brown.

“When we are working with SDGs, we are working for us and also for the future.” – Emmanuelle Guebo Kakou

“I think there is more that we can actually achieve in Wikimedia than just contributing and adding articles. There’s a very huge social aspect to it. So the fact that it came and brought people together … we still see different people, different cultures, different types of people contributing to Wikimedia. [This] is contributing to a very large aspect of SDG16, [which] is one of the first that I see really working within the community.” – Romeo Ronald Lomora

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

Guests included:

Jan Ainali, Wikimedians for Sustainable Development UG

Active since 2006, founder of Wikimedia Sverige, and former chairman and executive director. Co-founded Wikimedians for Sustainable Development and runs a Swedish Wikipedia podcast. Named Swedish Wikimedian of the Year in 2021, and leads Open By Default consultancy.

Emmanuelle Guebo Kakou, Wikimedia Cote d’Ivoire

A contributor since 2014, Emmanuelle engages in content creation, training, and event organizing. Active in open-source, she worked on the Creative Commons translation team and served as a Wikipedia trainer for the EmpowerHer campaign by Code For Africa.

Sandra Hanbo, WikiForHumanRights Arabic ambassador

Coordinator for a user group of 50+ members, handling administration and finances, with two years’ experience. Master’s student in Info-bionics engineering, skilled in Python, Matlab, C#, and mechanical engineering software.

Romeo Ronald Lomora, WikiForHumanRights podcast coordinator

Committed to making expert information accessible, Romeo leads Open Knowledge South Sudan. He supports initiatives on Wikimedia, OpenStreetMap, and podcasting to foster collaboration on issues like human rights, education, and climate change.

This WikiAfrica Hour episode’s guest host is Ruby Damenshie-Brown

Ruby is an open knowledge advocate and Wikipedian since 2019. She is the Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator for the WikiForHumanRights campaign and co-founder of Africa Wiki Women, with a focus on gender equality and climate action.

WikiAfrica Hour is a monthly live broadcast where Africa’s Wikimedians talk to, learn from and explore topics related to the Wikimedia movement in Africa. It is a production of Wiki In Africa to support the development of the Wikimedia movement across Africa.