The African Wikipedian Alliance (AWA) Digitise Youth Project for the month of July has been an inspiring and action-packed one in my journey as a Fellow. It was all about more engagement, fostering collaboration, and taking meaningful steps toward our collective goal of promoting open knowledge in Ethiopia and Senegal through Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Training Sessions
We hosted two virtual training sessions for participants this month, with collaboration to other follows members in person of Muib Sefiu and Barakat Adegboye which was aimed at strengthening their skills and clarifying expectations around the fellowship. These sessions provided a hands-on platform for learning, interaction, and feedback.
The first day of the training session was Introduction to Wikipedia and the moderator for the session was Blessing Linason and Muib Sefiu led the presentation and rounded up with a practical session. Muib Identify the notable articles Recognise the types of Notability Guidelines and how to use them, and finally Identify reliable, independent and significant coverage sources in both English and non English sources. Link to the slide presentation can be found here and the recordings of the session can be found here.
The second day of the training session was introduction to Wikidata which was led by Barakat and Blessing Linason moderated the session with over 10 participants in attendance, Barakat led the slide presentation and we had the practical sessions and participants were able to understand the principles/ facts/misconceptions of Wikidata, learn how to perform minor and major edits on Wikidata. And finally learn how to contribute to Wikidata as part of the AWA Digitalize Youth Project 2025. Link to the slide presentation can be found here and Link to the Training session can be found on these Google slides.
On 14th July, we hosted an Office Hour, where fellows gathered to ask questions, share updates, and get clarity on any challenges they were experiencing. It was a productive session that helped strengthen community bonding and resolve uncertainties.
This month, our collective efforts led to the creation and improvement of significant content across Wikimedia projects:
Up to 7 New Wikipedia articles were created, and some updated and some of the outstanding articles created are: Cheikh Diba and Jean Baptiste Tine including the following :
- 4 articles updated
- 7 articles translated
- 13 new Wikidata items created
- 2 Wikidata items updated
Some outstanding articles created in the month of June are
July has been a month of progress, participation, and purpose. The AWA Digitise Youth Fellowship continues to be an empowering journey not just for me but for every young person involved. I’m excited about what’s ahead and look forward to the continued impact we will make together.
Reflections and Next Steps
This journey is not just about ticking boxes or completing tasks, it’s about the effect of updated knowledge, freedom of expression, and digital empowerment across Africa especially in Ethiopia and Senegal.
As we move forward, I am excited to dive deeper into more training, more collaborative sessions with other Experienced Editors, support the fellows in any capacity they may need, and continue building vibrant digital participants in my community.
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“Together, we are not just digitising, we are transforming the African narratives”
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