On the 1st March 2025, a workshop was held in Abidjan to raise awareness of illegal gold washing and to produce content on Wikidata also Openstreetmap to mark the celebration of Open Data Day 2025 in Côte d’Ivoire by contributing to free sharing.

The event was part of the global Open Data Day movement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 15 on the protection of terrestrial ecosystems.

The aim of the event was to raise awareness and train 10 Ivorians in the use of open data to map illegal gold-panning sites in Côte d’Ivoire.

Family picture of participants, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Manouka  

The workshop began with an awareness-raising session on the subject of illegal gold mining in Côte d’Ivoire, presented by Emmanuelle Guebo, General Coordinator of Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire and head of the Open Data Day 2025 in Côte d’Ivoire project. This phase presented the context of illegal gold panning in Côte d’Ivoire, the environmental impacts, the social and economic consequences and some suggestions for action to fight against illegal gold panning.

After that, the second session was dedicated to an introduction to open data, participatory mapping and the use of Openstreetmap and Wikidata tools, expertly led by Paul Bouaffou, Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire IT support and Wikidata & Openstreetmap trainer.  The session introduced participants to the Openstreetmap environment and content production on Wikidata, the online open data platform developed by Wikimedia. Participants then got hands-on experience of creating elements, adding statements and references on Wikidata for departments in Côte d’Ivoire with illegal gold-panning sites, after which these departments were mapped using OpenStreetMap by the participants.

Participants and trainer at the Wikidata-Openstreestmap workshop CC BY-SA 4.0 – Manouka  

In a friendly environment, full of inspiration and enthusiasm, the participants enjoyed contributing to the free sharing of data at Open Data Day 2025 in Côte d’Ivoire, as many of them can testify.

“I enjoyed the whole workshop, and I’d like to thank the trainers for their teaching skills and their availability.” Abiba Pauline, participant

“The Open Data Day 2025 in Côte d’Ivoire was a great way of sharing knowledge on how to create new elements on Wikidata and how to locate departments on a map. It was an unforgettable moment of sharing for me”. Habib Yekini, participant.

“I really enjoyed the training on OpenStreetMap, Archive, wikiwix and uMap. This day taught me how to use the data on Wikidata as well as linking Wikidata articles to OpenStreetMap and uMap to make maps of places.”   Emmanuel Menney, participant.

The workshop ended with a discussion on the future and continuity of the fight against illegal gold mining.

At the end of Open Data Day 2025 in Côte d’Ivoire, 12 participants from various communes in Côte d’Ivoire, including students, business leaders, agripreneurs, journalists, archivists and geographers, spent more than 50 hours volunteering to produce content on Wikidata and OpenStreetMap.

On Wikidata, 341 modifications were made, 252 declarations were added,183 references were added  and 36 Wikidata elements were created.  In addition, on Openstreetmap, we have created a map with 36 departments of Côte d’Ivoire marked in red in which illegal gold-panning sites are located.

Screenshot of the mapping of illegal gold mining sites in Ivory Coast in 2022 CC BY-SA 4.0 – Kod B  

This first experience of organising Open Data Day in Côte d’Ivoire was a success, and we would like to thank the sponsors CAFDO and Open Knowledge Foundation for choosing us.   The Wikimedia community in Côte d’Ivoire is delighted to have taken part in this global celebration and will continue to make its contribution in the run-up to Open Data Day 2026.

Family picture of participants in front of the start of the mapping of illegal gold mining sites in Côte d’Ivoire, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Manouka

Emmanuelle Guebo