A Year of Unity and Growth: Wali and Dagaare Wikimedians Celebrate End of Year Get-Together and Awards Ceremony 2025

In a historic show of collaboration, the Wali Wikimedians Community and the Dagaare Wikimedians Community held a joint End-of-Year Get-Together and Awards Ceremony in Wa, Upper West Region of Ghana, on December 22, 2025.

The event served as a platform to review a year of unprecedented growth, share challenges, and honor the language activists who have worked tirelessly to bring Northern Ghanaian languages to the digital forefront. Unlike previous years held in Tamale with limited representation, this year’s gathering brought together 32 dedicated language activists and editors, signaling a new era of community engagement. The ceremony was made possible through the generous support of the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group (DWUG).

Wali Wikimedians: Documenting Food, Culture, and History

Zakaria Tunsung Bukari (User: Zakaria Tunsung), Co-lead of the Wali Wikimedians, presented a stellar year-in-review. Highlights included:

• Art+Feminism (Feb 8): Improving visibility for African women artists in the Waali language.
• Africa Wiki Challenge (May 25): Bridging the content gap about Africa.
• Wali Mash-Up Edit-a-thon (Aug 8): Amplifying diverse African stories.
• Documenting African Food as Intangible Cultural Heritage (Sept 11): A landmark campaign to preserve local culinary traditions.
• UBIDS Wiki Club: Introducing the Wali Wikipedia (Incubator) to university students.

Dagaare Wikimedians: From Lexicons to Film

Linus Konkor (User: Vision L1) outlined the massive strides made by the Dagaare community, which focused on foundational language data and national profiles:

• Dagaare Wikidata Lexicon Contest: Created 726 lexicon items, a vital step for linguistic data preservation.
• Ghana’s Constituency Profile Contest 2: Documented Ghana’s 275 constituencies, resulting in 127 new articles and 265 improved articles in Dagaare.
• Culture Connect Africa: Documenting Nigerian film and African cuisine.
• Ajumaco In-Person Edit-a-thon: Training fresh students at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

Both communities also jointly participated in the Articles of the Week Edit-a-thon (Nov 30), an initiative led by DWUG to improve article quality across all sister platforms.

A Remarkable Spirit of Collaboration

The ceremony’s Chairman, Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Moomin (Vice Principal, NJA College of Education), shared profound remarks on the significance of the gathering. He expressed amazement at the spirit of collaboration among the youth from different language communities. In an era where “language politics” often creates divides, he praised these young editors for uniting to preserve their heritage side-by-side.

Honoring Outstanding Contributors

To support their future work, top contributors were awarded smartphones, provided by the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group.

Wali Wikimedians Community Awardees:

• Top Contributor: Faiz Brichini Muhaideen [User:Muhaideen Faiz Brichini]
• Top Female Contributor: Osman Umu Salma [User: Uthman salma]
• Top Newbie: Yussif Kanyiri Ibrahim [User:Kanyiri1994]

Dagaare Wikimedians Community Awardees:

• Top Contributor: Bismark Lanidune [User: Anthony Dery]
• Top Female Contributor: Edith Tangkur [User: Edith Tangkur]
• Top Newbie: Eric Gangman [User: Eric Gangman]

While the celebration was joyful, an open forum highlighted critical needs for the coming year, specifically the lack of devices and equipment for editors who are eager to contribute but lack the hardware to do so.

As 2025 closes, the Wali and Dagaare communities stand as a testament to the power of open knowledge and the beauty of linguistic diversity.