In June 2025, I had the honour to be selected as a Fellow of the AWA Digitalise Youth Project. It is a fellowship organised by Code for Africa, the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), AfricTivistes, CFI Media Development, the World Scout Bureau Africa Regional Office, and the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF), with contributions from the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD),which offered stipend-based fellowships to Six (6) African Wikipedians-in-Residence under the African Wikipedian Alliance (AWA) Digitalise Youth initiative.
Overview
This report summarizes my activities, achievements, and lessons learned for June 2025 as an African Wikipedian Alliance Fellow. This month, I took part in the onboarding of new Fellows, recruited contributors, including two new female editors , expanded content which focused on topics such as the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection, e-democracy, digital mobilisation in social movements, SDG16, freedom of expression, and human rights. Additionally, the roles of governments, NGOs, and grassroots organisations in addressing censorship, surveillance, and online disinformation in West Africa particularly Benin and Guinea through article translation and Wikidata contributions, and strengthened community participation.
Key Activities
a. Fellowship Onboarding & Community Engagement
- Participated actively in onboarding sessions for the new Fellows cohort.
- Engaged new participants by providing guidance on account creation, editing basics, and community norms.
- Successfully supported two new female editors, who made their first contributions to Wikipedia.
b. Content Creation & Translation
- Translated articles into Ghanaian Pidgin, Fante, and Hausa, broadening access to local knowledge in multiple African languages.
- Created and improved contents across Wikipedia and Wikidata by adding new content, fixing errors, and enriching existing pages.
c. Wikidata Contributions
- Improved data for African-related topics on Wikidata, contributing to the overall articles/items edited.
- Enhanced structured data with reliable references and updated statements.
d. Capacity Building & Support
- Mentored new editors during and after onboarding sessions.
- Shared resources, provided technical support, and encouraged continued participation.
- Registered 32 editors on the program dashboard.
Achievements & Impact
- Expanded local-language content with translated articles.
- Improved articles/items on Wikipedia and Wikidata
- Added new content and references, ensuring verifiability and quality.
- Achieved 80 total page views as of July 1, 2025 — a good early indicator of growing reach.
- Onboarded 32 new editors, including two women who made their first edits.
Challenges
- Unstable internet connectivity during onboarding sessions affected participation for some.
- Retention of first-time editors remains an ongoing challenge and priority.
Lessons Learned
- Translation is an effective strategy to bridge language gaps and engage local communities.
- Combining onboarding with hands-on mentoring increases new editors’ confidence.
- Small, diverse groups with focused follow-up are key to sustaining editor retention.
- Quality references and reliable sources build trust in African content.
Plans for July
- Continue mentoring new editors and providing follow-up support.
- Organize an edit-a-thon focused on the theme of the fellowship to create, improve and translate content.
- Increase the number of improved Wikidata items and translated articles.
- Strengthen partnerships with local organizations to reach more diverse audiences.
- Monitor page views and retention to measure impact.
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