Wikimedia Community Usergroup Botswana celebrated Wikidata 13 Years Birthday with an editing month-long, community-led campaign organized by the Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana to celebrate 13 years of Wikidata and strengthen Botswana’s contribution to free, structured knowledge. This was the first-ever time the community officially came together to celebrate Wikidata’s birthday through learning and active contribution.

So what was this campaign about?

This campaign brought together local and regional editors to:

• create and improve knowledge connected to Botswana,
• add references (because we love receipts ✅),
• and increase visibility of Botswana-related topics across Wikidata and Wikimedia platforms.

It wasn’t just celebration for celebration’s sake, it was about capacity building, local data creation, and digital heritage.

Our focus areas

We worked on:

• Notable people in Botswana
• Villages and buildings
• Places and stories that matter to our communities

Dates / key moments

We held our main online sessions on:
📌 12 October 2025 (Online Training)
📌 23 October 2025 (Online Training + editing support)

Team Organisers

This campaign was organised by:

• Candy Khohliwe
• Chandapiwa Malema
• Ludo Chaunoda Matombo

Our amazing participants

Big love to the editors who showed up and contributed:

1. Blackgirlmighty
2. Dj Tsotso
3. Gaone1991
4. KatieKea
5. MmaBaggio
6. Olgatladi2020
7. Tebby7
8. TshepieGee
9. Youkneetee
10. Ludo Chaunoda Matombo
11. Chandapiwa Malema

Impact Summary

By the end of the campaign, we managed to achieve something we’re genuinely proud of. Together, our community didn’t just “participate”, we actively strengthened Botswana’s presence in global knowledge spaces. We created new content where there were gaps, improved existing pages, and added references to make information more reliable and reusable.

In real numbers, we achieved:
✅ 623 articles created
✅ 949 articles edited
✅ 8.94K total edits
✅ 886K words added
✅ 3.65K references added
✅ 16.7K article views

…all through the efforts of 12 active editors.

Winners — Celebrating 13 Years of Wikidata

Through the campaign we had the opportunity to celebrate and award 3 top contributors from the community as follows:

1. @KatieKea — 330 articles
2. @Blackgirlmighty — 308 articles
3. @TshepieGee — 213 articles

The results were significant: 623 articles created, 949 edited, 8.94K total edits, 886K words added, 3.65K references added, and 16.7K article views, achieved by 12 active editors. Overall, the campaign demonstrated the impact of small, dedicated communities in advancing knowledge equity and ensuring Botswana’s knowledge is visible, verifiable, and accessible on the global digital stage.

Follow Wikimedia Botswana

Stay connected for future trainings and editathons:

• Facebook: Wikimedia Botswana Community Usergroup
• Instagram: WikimediaBw
• YouTube: Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana