The recent Global Voices Summit 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal, saw strong participation from the Wikimedia movement, spurring new ideas for collaboration with a like-minded community and ways to bring more diverse knowledge to Wikimedia projects. Several Wikimedians who have previously participated and collaborated with Global Voices (GV) were invited.

During the Summit, Wikimedians participated in focus group discussions throughout a Rising Voices gathering to explore opportunities for collaboration, attended Summit preconference internal meetings (December 2–5), presented in multiple Summit public conference sessions related to linguistic diversity and open knowledge, offered demo sessions for tools like LinguaLibre, and met over food.

Global Voices is a global and international community that publishes stories and voices of many of the world’s communities missing from mainstream media, as well as counting on a strong volunteer translation community that offers news and information in more than 30 languages. Its Rising Voices (RV) initiative has been actively facilitating the creation of a peer network of Indigenous and endangered language digital activists around the world. Many of them are also Wikimedians as well as academics, grassroots activists, artists and journalists. RV is also a Wikimedia Equity Fund grantee. Watch the grantee full video of Round 3 of the Knowledge Equity Fund.
Watch the panel session: ‘How the Wikimedia movement is powering language reclamation-and how can you do too’.
Originally planned to be biannual, but due to the global pandemic, this was the first summit after the last summit in Colombo in 2017. While the summit had a participation of people speaking approximately 80 languages from 50 countries, the participating Wikimedians represented 10 languages from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The 2024 Global Voices Summit in Nepal spotlighted groundbreaking projects from the Wikimedia movement dedicated to cultural preservation, language revitalization, and digital empowerment. The session showcased inspiring initiatives from various regions, all utilizing Wikimedia tools to safeguard linguistic and cultural heritage. This year’s participants included members of the Wikimedia community, particularly Wikimedians who are also part of the Global Voices multilingual network of writers, translators, and human rights activists. These individuals, representing Rising Voices, Lingua, Newsroom, and the Advox teams, were awarded full scholarships to attend both the internal meetings and the summit in Nepal.

Showcase of Wikimedia community projects
Kente Weaving in Ghana: A Story of Cultural Pride
Ghanaian Wikimedian Zita Zage led this initiative, which documents the rich oral histories and weaving traditions of the country’s iconic Kente textile using Wikimedia Commons. Known for its vibrant colors and intricate patterns, Kente weaving is a cornerstone of Ghanaian heritage, embraced globally as a symbol of cultural pride. The project created multimedia content to showcase Ewe and Akan Kente weaving while also promoting awareness of Twi Wikipedia. Beyond preserving traditions, the initiative fosters cultural preservation and skill development.
Explore Kente weaving resources: Category:Kente (Ewe) and Category:Kente (Bonwire)
Ekpeye Cultural Heritage Project: Reclaiming Identity
Nigerian Wikimedian Franca Umasoye Igwe’s Ekpeye Cultural Heritage Project uses Wikimedia Commons to digitize and share the Ekpeye people’s rich cultural identity. By recording folk songs and traditional practices, the initiative aims to create digital resources for learning and representation. The project fosters cultural awareness, strengthens identity, and ensures a digital presence for Ekpeye heritage.
Explore Ekpeye Language and Culture Resources: Category:Ekpeye Language and Culture Resources
Language Accelerator Project: Preserving Endangered Languages
Tochi Precious presented the Language Accelerator Project, which focuses on preserving endangered languages like Jalkatek (a Mayan language) and Igbo through Wiktionary. With languages disappearing every two weeks, this project equips language activists with tools to document and share their languages online. Wiktionary’s collaborative, dynamic platform enables definitions, translations, and audio, offering hope for endangered languages to thrive in the digital age.
Wikisource Loves Manuscripts: Unlocking Global Knowledge
Satdeep Gill’s “Wikisource Loves Manuscripts” (WiLMa) project has digitized over 28,000 pages of Indonesian manuscripts, collaborating with Wikimedia Indonesia and research institutes. These efforts not only preserve cultural texts but also train AI models for handwritten text recognition in Balinese and Javanese scripts. Through global partnerships, WiLMa is expanding to underrepresented languages, blending traditional knowledge with cutting-edge technology.
Explore the Wiki Loves Manuscripts resources: Wikisource Loves Manuscripts/Report and The British Library Loves Manuscripts on Wikisource
Ghana NLP Khaya AI Using Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons: Digitizing Dagbani
Sadik Shahadu, the co-founder and executive director for the Dagbani Wikimedians User Ghana, presented on how their NLP Khaya AI is using Wikimedia Commons to bridge the digital divide by creating online text and audio data for Dagbani. Partnering with Ghana NLP, the initiative by the Dagbani Wikimedia community integrates Dagbani into machine learning and language AI application tools such as the Khaya app, which uses large language models for text translation and automatic speech recognition (ASR). The Spell4Wiki application enabled volunteers to record and upload audio data directly to Wikimedia Commons, laying the foundation for Dagbani language integration for global language translation tools, machine learning and AI applications.
Explore Ghana NLP Khaya AI resources: Category:Files uploaded by spell4wiki in dag, Khaya AI App and Breaking the low-resource barrier for Dagbani ASR: From data collection to ASR modeling

These inspiring projects illustrate how the Wikimedia movement empowers communities to reclaim their languages and heritage by:
- Documenting local traditions on Wikimedia Commons.
- Creating and editing entries in Wiktionary or Wikisource.
- Advocating for cultural preservation through Wikimedia’s platforms.

The launch of the Rana Tharu Wikimedia Community
The Global Voices Summit 2024 provided attendees with valuable insights into Wikimedia and its movement, offering a platform for learning how to utilize Wikimedia projects to promote and preserve their languages. On December 21, Sadik Shahadu from the Wikimedia Diversity Hub hosted a virtual session focused on supporting the Rana Tharu language within Wikimedia projects. This followed a meeting with Rana Tharu language speakers during the summit in Nepal. The session served as an introductory guide to editing the Rana Tharu Wikipedia incubator, a project initiated by Sadik. Participants were also encouraged to begin translating the main page and key messages on MediaWiki via translatewiki.net.
Learn more about the summit here.

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