In 2025, the Wikimedia CEE Hub continued to grow into a key support structure for Wikimedia communities across Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Through fast-track funding, leadership development, and capacity-building initiatives, the Hub helped volunteers launch projects more quickly, strengthened emerging communities, and connected people across borders.
Feedback from the 2025 Annual Community Survey confirms this impact: among 48 responses from 28 Wikimedia communities, most participants rated the Hub’s services 4 or 5 out of 5, highlighting its growing reputation as a trusted and relevant regional partner.
Below is a look at the initiatives that made the biggest difference for communities in 2025.
Fast, flexible funding: the Microgrants Programme
One of the Hub’s most visible successes in 2025 was the CEE Hub Microgrants Programme, designed to provide small, quick, and accessible funding for community-led projects. Many volunteers described it as a much faster alternative to global grant processes, allowing them to act on local opportunities without waiting months for approval.
The program grew significantly compared to the previous year:
- 34 total applications received (29 eligible), nearly doubling the activity from 2024,
- 20 projects funded, exceeding the initial target of 17,
- €12,549 allocated in total support.
Despite their relatively small budgets, these projects produced substantial results across Wikimedia projects: 8,096 images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, 1,458 new Wikipedia articles created, and 1,106 articles improved.
The program also played an important role in improving regional equity. Communities with limited access to other funding streams benefited the most: 40% of funded projects came from the Caucasus and Turkey, and 30% from Central Asia.
Several projects stood out for their impact:
- A documentation project in Kırklareli, Turkey photographed over 100 cultural heritage sites, generating more than 1,000 images.
- A Queering Wikipedia initiative received the first regional funding specifically focused on improving LGBTQ+ representation on Wikimedia projects.
- A photographic expedition to Iskanderkul in Tajikistan, funded with just €700, produced over 500 high-quality geotagged images.
The Microgrants Programme also helped expand collaborative campaigns. For example, it played a key role in turning Wiki Loves Film – originally a Czech initiative – into a regional project, enabling communities in countries like Slovakia, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, North Macedonia or Armenia to run the campaign simultaneously.
Overall, the program demonstrated how small, fast funding can unlock significant volunteer-driven impact. See the Microgrants Programme 2025 Annual Report for detailed outcomes.
The CEE Youth Group: building the next generation of leaders
Another major focus in 2025 was youth engagement and leadership development.
The CEE Youth Group, supported by the Hub, continued to evolve into a regional leadership incubator. By the end of the year, the group had grown to 106 unique members representing 25 countries.
Six bi-monthly online meetings were organized throughout the year, with an average attendance of 19 participants. These meetings became a space where young Wikimedians could exchange ideas, develop skills, and build cross-border collaborations. Apart from these regular Group meetings, Hub organised dedicated training sessions for the young Wikimedians to embrace their public speaking and team communication skills.
Two major milestones shaped the group’s development:
- The first Wikimedia Youth Conference
In May 2025, the Hub supported the first-ever Wikimedia Youth Conference, hosted in Prague. The event brought together 83 participants from 49 countries. The conference focused on leadership development, community sustainability, and the future role of young contributors in the Wikimedia movement. - The Yerevan strategy meeting
Later in the year, active Youth Group members gathered in Yerevan, Armenia to reflect on the group’s growth and plan the future. During the meeting, participants defined four strategic priority areas for 2026, strengthening the group’s structure and long-term vision.
Youth-led working groups also contributed to improving regional visibility. The Social Media Working Group created and shared 55 social media posts and videos for Instagram and TikTok, helping highlight Wikimedia activities across the region.
Beyond numbers, participants often described the Youth Group as a safe space to experiment, learn, and gain confidence to lead projects in their home communities.
Increasing regional visibility and advocacy
Beyond internal community support, the Hub also worked to raise the international visibility of CEE communities and Wikimedia’s role in society.
Information integrity and public dialogue
In 2025, the Hub partnered with the Bulgarian community to organize a session at the Sofia Information Integrity Forum (SIIF) – a major international event focused on disinformation and policy.
The session positioned Wikipedia as a unique model of collaborative knowledge governance, featuring a keynote from the Wikimedia Foundation’s Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead, and a regional panel with representatives from six CEE countries.
The event helped showcase Wikimedia’s experience in community-driven knowledge moderation and opened new conversations with policymakers and researchers working on information integrity.
The CEE Newsletter
At the community level, the CEE Newsletter remained the Hub’s most widely used service. In 2025 the Newsletter issues were published bi-monthly, featuring 120+ community updates among regular regional and international news. According to the feedback survey, 68.8% of respondents regularly use the Newsletter.
For many smaller groups, it provides an important platform for international visibility. Some contributors noted that publishing in the Newsletter was their first opportunity to share their work with the global Wikimedia community.
Regional connection and solidarity
The Hub also continued to host regular CEE Catch Ups, informal online meetings with the Wikimedia Foundation staff, where community members discuss regional and global developments, share experiences, and stay informed about movement-wide initiatives.
According to the feedback survey, for many volunteers, these gatherings help reinforce the sense that they are part of a “big and friendly community”, rather than working in isolation.
What changed in 2025?
By the end of the year, the impact of the CEE Hub was visible across the region.
Volunteers reported that projects can now start faster, thanks to accessible microgrants. Young contributors have more opportunities to develop leadership skills, and smaller communities have gained new operational capacity.
Perhaps most importantly, communities that previously had limited access to funding or international networks, especially in Central Asia and parts of the Balkans, got a chance to be better connected to the broader Wikimedia movement.
If 2025 showed us anything, it’s that when communities have the right support at the right moment, even small ideas can grow into something that benefits the whole movement. And with many new initiatives already emerging across the region, the Hub looks forward to continuing to support communities and their projects in 2026.
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