Innovating Project Management: Skill Up Wrap-up for the First Half of 2025

The Africa Wiki Women culminated the skill up workshop for the first half of the year in a sleek style, with a training that unpacked project management in the digital era, equipping participants with the proper techniques and guides in optimizing project management to drive positive change.

The training, which was moderated by Oluwapelumi Aina, hosted  Barakat Adegboye; Project Officer at Wikimedia Nigeria User Group.The training kicked off with Oluwapelumi setting the stage, offering a warm welcome, outlining the session’s goals, and introducing our guest trainer, the dynamic Barakat Adegboye. With her signature energy, she got things rolling with a lighthearted icebreaker, easing everyone into the conversation. From there, she emphasized why project management isn’t just a trendy or hackneyed term—it’s a vital skill both within and beyond the Wikimedia ecosystem.

Breaking Down the Project Management Puzzle

Barakat then took the reins, guiding participants through the core stages of project management with clarity and insight. She invited attendees to reflect on their own experiences, sparking a lively discussion around common challenges. a poll through which the audience unanimously agreed in facing multiple problems such as: unclear deadlines, burnout, and scattered communication, highlighting them as real culprits in derailing projects. Then, Barakat took the audience into an introductory trip through various project management tools and apps. 

Tools, Tips, and Hands-On Practice

It wasn’t just a sit-back-and-listen kind of session. A workshop activity was shared with the audience to participate in drafting a mini project, its goal, needed tasks to perform, and tools to be used inspired by those discussed in the session. Multiple attendees shared their ideas and tools, discussing them with Barakat and noting down her suggestions. Barakat then summarized the key takeaways from the skill-up session and encouraged participants to apply them in their project management endeavors. 

Key Takeaways & What’s Next

Before wrapping up, Barakat recapped the session’s highlights and encouraged everyone to put their new skills into action. Oluwapelumi returned to conclude the session, fielding questions and sharing a feedback survey—inviting participants to shape the next wave of training topics for the second half of 2025.

The skill-up workshops have proved themselves a great success; as up to 100 African women participated in the skill-up sessions for months February, March, April, and June in the first half the year. They conquered up to 40% of the attendance for each session, congregating from up to 18 countries as Namibia, Tchad, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Botswana, Uganda, and many others.  

With an energized community and a toolkit of new strategies, this last session of 2025’s first half was a launchpad for better, smarter project management as attendees shared their ideas, received real-time feedback, and walked away with practical strategies to level up their workflow.