From July 1st to 3rd, we held the Youth Workshop of Kashkadarya in Karshi, a city located in the southern part of Uzbekistan. The main goal of the workshop was to discover and support new Wikimedians from the Kashkadarya Region. With nearly 4 million residents, Kashkadarya is one of the largest regions in Uzbekistan.
How did we organize this event?
This workshop was the very first Wikimedia-related event held in Kashkadarya. The idea for the project was initially discussed during the Central Asian WikiConference, which took place on April 19–20 in Tashkent, where we connected with local Wikimedians. After the conference, we submitted a grant proposal to the Wikimedia CEE Hub. Fortunately, our application was accepted after the review process.
What happened during the Workshop?
We welcomed around 20 young participants at the local youth center, which served as the main venue. On the first day, we trained participants in basic Wikipedia editing and how to upload media files to Wikimedia Commons. Most of them were school students who showed great enthusiasm for contributing to free knowledge.
During the three-day workshop, participants translated nearly 60 articles related to children, youth, and their rights from foreign languages into Uzbek. Before this event, only about 5% of relevant articles on these topics existed in the Uzbek Wikipedia. Thanks to our efforts, we have significantly helped close this content gap.
Most importantly, we had meaningful discussions with the participants about future collaboration. They expressed interest in continuing their involvement and even took the initiative to form a local Wikimedia club in the coming months. The workshop became the starting point for what we hope will be a lasting and active community in Kashkadarya.
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