July Highlights from the AWA Digitalize Youth Project 2025 in Niger and South Sudan

Following a productive launch in June, the African Wikipedian Alliance (AWA) Digitalize Youth Project 2025 continued to grow in momentum throughout July. As one of the six Wikipedians-in-Residence selected for this continental initiative, I have been focusing on improving and expanding Wikimedia content related to digital rights, civic engagement, and governance, with a particular focus on Niger and South Sudan.

Training and Capacity Building

In July, I co-facilitated two combined training sessions alongside two other AWA Digitalize Youth Project 2025 fellows, Muib Shefiu and Linason Blessing, offering a shared learning space for our participants across different project countries.

• On 8 July, Muib introduced participants to the basics of Wikipedia editing, including how to perform minor edits and also understand the notability guidelines.
  
• On 10 July, I led the Wikidata session, where participants were introduced to structured data and taught how to create and enhance Wikidata items as part of their project contributions.
  
• I also held an Office Hour on 14 July to provide live support, answer participant questions, and address any challenges they faced while contributing. This interactive session helped improve their confidence and technical capacity.

SESSION FLYERS:

SESSION IMAGES:

Expanding the Topic List

Throughout the month, I also updated and expanded the topic list, ensuring that participants have enough relevant, diverse subjects to work on. This list now includes notable legislation, institutions, civic tech projects, and digital rights frameworks relevant to Niger and South Sudan.

July Contributions

Participant engagement has been strong, with 7 participants submitting their July deliverables via the project’s contribution form. Their collective impact has been remarkable:

• Wikidata
  • 15 new items created
  • 12 existing items expanded
  • Total Wikidata contributions: 27
    
• Wikipedia
  • 5 new articles created
  • 6 articles improved
  • 11 articles translated into other language Wikipedias
  • Total Wikipedia contributions: 22

Some of the new articles created on English Wikipedia are Human Trafficking in South Sudan and Edmund Yakani, and on Wikidata, here are some of the items created: Alternative Espaces Citoyens and Moussa Tchangari.

In total, 49 content were worked on in July.

Wrap-up and Documentation

• All June contributions (30 total) were also completed:
  • Wikidata: 10 new items + 5 expanded
  • Wikipedia: 5 new articles + 10 improved
    
• These contributions have been reviewed and added to the Meta page documentation and my personal work plan.
  
• I also published my June Diff blog post to document the activities of June, and this July update will follow shortly after publication.

Looking Ahead

As we continue through the next phase of the AWA Digitalize Youth Project, I remain committed to onboarding more editors from Niger and South Sudan, guiding participants through monthly deliverables, and expanding the Wikimedia ecosystem with high-quality content in service of open knowledge, accountability, and digital rights.

Want to get involved?
Visit the project’s Meta page to follow our progress or participate in future sessions.