WikiAfrica Hour #50: Wikimania Nairobi 2025 – Africa Hosts the World

Wikimania 2025 marked a historic milestone — for the first time, the global Wikimedia community gathered in East Africa!

In this special episode of WikiAfrica Hour, we reflect on:

• What made Nairobi 2025 a truly unique Wikimania experience
• The impact on African communities, languages, and collaborations
• The behind-the-scenes challenges and success stories
• Lessons learned and inspiring moments to carry forward

Watch the full episode on YouTube

The main conversation was hosted by Romeo Ronald Lomora, co-lead of communication committee of Wikimania 2025. Romeo is a knowledge troublemaker in the best way possible obsessed with breaking down walls between experts and everyday people. With roots in humanities, teaching, and open platforms like Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap, he spends his time turning “hard-to-reach info” into community power tools. As a leader with Open Knowledge South Sudan, Romeo champions projects that make information not just free, but freeing whether it’s about human rights, education, climate change, or just figuring out better ways communities can thrive. In short: if knowledge is power, Romeo’s guilty of distributing it without a license.

 “One of the most unique things that I noticed there was the community of spirit. And when I’m saying community of spirit, I mean colleagues from across the African continent being able to meet and organise the conference together, especially colleagues from the West African community. I think this was one of the things that really made this conference to be unique.” – Bobby Shabangu

“Behind the scenes, I can’t even explain, but it was, first of all, hours and hours of hard work, hours of dedication, hours of bringing everything together, hours of uncertainty. At one moment, you don’t know what was going to happen. At one moment, excitement. We were counting days. The programme is ready. All the tickets are out, the hotels. There was a lot of uncertainty, there was a lot of excitement. There was a lot of hope. I think the excitement topped it up.” – Carol Mwaura

“As we know that the programming centred on inclusivity, impact sustainability, and that is not actually not just a slogan, but it lived out at the successions of that highlighted African led projects, language preservation, community driven governance models. And we noticed that this conference had half of the participants under 34 that gives the event a very youthful, forward looking energy.” – Butch Bustria

Our guests include

• Carol Mwaura: Scholarship Coordination Lead for Wikimania 2025! With 15+ years in academic, community, and institutional libraries, Carol is a Library and Information Science professional passionate about expanding access to knowledge. Beyond the library, Carol is a founding member and Co-Lead of the Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya. She champions global campaigns on open knowledge, human rights, and gender equity, and has shared her work at international conferences, including Wikimania, while serving on global scholarship committees.
• Butch Bustria: an Overseas Filipino Worker / Wikimedian (OFW) based in Singapore. Butch has dedicated his spare time to advancing Wikimedia projects since his first edit in 2005. In 2010, he co-founded Wikimedia Philippines and has since played a pivotal role in organizing ESEAP conferences across the region. He currently serves on the Regional Funds Committee for ESEAP, was Event Lead for Wikimania 2023 in Singapore, and is Vice Chair of the Wikimania Steering Committee.
• Bobby Shabangu: Lead of the partnership team of wikimania 2025. He is a passionate advocate for open knowledge and digital inclusion. Bobby has dedicated his career to expanding access to information and fostering strong community engagement. Through his roles at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Wikimedia South Africa, he has built a rich skill set in strategic communication, project management, and organisational leadership — all in service of making knowledge more open and inclusive.

In Focus Section: Morning Briefings @ Wikimania 2025 video

Morning Briefings @ Wikimania 2025 are 30-minute livestreamed sessions that took place each morning from the 6th to the 9th of August, from 09:00 to 09:30 Nairobi time (6 am UTC). The Morning Briefings aimed to connect the onsite and online audiences through a dynamic and engaging format. Each day featured live interviews with Wikimania organizers, program speakers, and other special guests. The conversations highlighted the key events, themes, and sessions of the day, while also sharing insights from the previous day’s activities.

To watch the full morning briefings at wikimania 2025, find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iys-FRVvY8k&list=PLvyE0yEt-BKiT7RQimn1xNZc45JFzfhjZ&index=1 

Special thanks to the guests: (Lodewijk, Lutherking, Micheal Kaluba, Romeo Lonardo, Victoria, James Heilman, Barbara, Stephane Coillet-Matillon, Lucy Moore, Isla Haddow, Ali Khalil, Pheabe Ayers, Harriet Bayel)