Wikimedia Iraq: First quarter of 2026 Highlights

Starting the Year with Collaboration, and Celebration

In this quarter, Wikimedia Iraq focused on celebrating Wikipedia’s 25th birthday in Baghdad as well as first time collaborations with parties interested in free knowledge and planning for our upcoming potential collaborators.

Highlights and Achievements

1- Wikipedia’s 25th Birthday Celebration

To celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary, we collaborated with the American Space at the American University in Baghdad. In cooperation with the American University in Baghdad Radio, we also held a Radio episode that was published on 18th of January, 2026 to discuss Wikipedia, its role in disseminating free knowledge online, and the importance of its use in educational institutions. We extended a general invitation to students and interested individuals to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary with us.

The celebration marked a historic milestone for our community. The event brought together a total of 28 attendees from across Iraq in one place, including community members, students, and guests. The event included attendees from eight cities. The event included special activities such as an online session with representatives from the Wikimedia Foundation, a panel discussion with the board, and an edit-a-thon that provided a space for participants to contribute to Wikipedia and also to get to know each other.

The celebration concluded with a celebration with themed cupcakes and a group photo capturing this special gathering, you can read more about the celebration on our diff post.

2 – Arabic Wikipedia Loves Indonesia Contest

As part of our broader vision, it has been a priority for us to build meaningful connections and partnerships with entities that share an interest in promoting free knowledge. This led us to begin reaching out to various embassies, and the Indonesian Embassy in Baghdad was among the first to collaborate with us. Through several meetings, we were able to highlight the significant impact of enriching Arabic Wikipedia with comprehensive content about Indonesia. This collaboration led to the launch of a contest that ran from January 15 to February 15, 2026.

The contest initially set a goal of creating 1,000 articles. However, participants exceeded expectations, contributing to the creation of 1,926 new articles and the improvement of 133 existing ones, with a total of 37,586,352 bytes of content.
These contributions covered a wide range of topics, including culture, tourism, and landmarks, significantly enhancing the representation of Indonesia on Arabic Wikipedia. They were also evaluated by three judges (user:أبو هشام, user:Mahmoudalrawi, user:Mohammed Qays), who played an important role in ensuring that the articles were written according to appropriate standards. Seventy one participants registered and fifty-three of them from various Arab countries took part in the competition, and six winners were selected (user:RASHEEDYE, user:Mishary94, user:Rafalmaitham, user:بليغ الفقيه, user:Nehaoua, user:NANöR).

Wikimedia Iraq also recognized the efforts of the Iraqi community by honoring the top four Iraqi contributors(user:Rafalmaitham, user:روزان جاسم, user:Sarmad Yaseen, user:Shaween).

Kirkuk Heritage Documentation Project

This year, Wikimedia Iraq collaborated with a local photographer from Kirkuk to document and capture the city’s rich cultural and historical heritage. The aim of this initiative was to enhance Kirkuk’s visual representation on Wikimedia Commons.

Supported by the Million Wiki Project, this effort spanned over three months and resulted in the upload of more than 1,600 high-quality images to Wikimedia Commons. These contributions not only preserve important aspects of Kirkuk’s heritage but also play a key role in enriching related Wikipedia articles with relevant and impactful visuals.

You can check the photos here.

Planning for our next years Fund

As we approach the end of our current funding cycle, we are planning our next annual program around three core pillars: Content Quality Enhancement, Community Strengthening & Expansion, and University Engagement and Youth Participation.

This upcoming program has been shaped through strong community input and a series of consultations and discussions. During our gathering on 8 February, held in celebration of Wikipedia’s 25th birthday, we identified key challenges and explored ways to address them. This was followed by a community survey conducted on 18 February to gather broader feedback. A board meeting was then held on 25 February to further refine priorities. Finally, on 28 February, a dedicated meeting with Wikimedia Commons contributors focused on identifying their main challenges and discussing practical solutions. Together, these efforts have directly informed the direction and priorities of our next annual program.

Under the Content Quality Enhancement pillar, our efforts will focus on improving existing content through thematic edit-a-thons, targeted contests on priority Iraq-related topics, and Wikidata training sessions aimed at enhancing referencing, data quality, and contributor skills.

Under Community Strengthening & Expansion, we aim to broaden and diversify participation by engaging contributors beyond current geographic concentrations and organizing regional activities that meet communities where they are. This will be complemented by providing technical support for Wikimedia Commons contributors.

In the area of University Engagement and Youth Participation, we will strengthen collaboration with academic institutions by organizing workshops introducing Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. We will also launch student-focused contests and create clear pathways for students to become long-term contributors.

Through this integrated approach, Wikimedia Iraq seeks to improve the quality and depth of content, strengthen regional representation, enhance contributor skills, and build a sustainable and diverse community of contributors.

Our Mid Learning Conversation

We held an online Midpoint Learning Conversation on 12 February, where we presented our overall progress and reflected on our journey so far. The session covered where we currently stand, what has been accomplished, and the early results and impact achieved. We also discussed key challenges and obstacles, reviewed our financial progress, and assessed the level of community participation and representation.

In addition, the conversation highlighted our next steps and any proposed adjustments to improve implementation moving forward. The session concluded with final reflections and a set of guiding questions addressed to the Regional Grants Committee.

You can find our midterm conversation here.

Social Media and Engagement

As collaboration with institutions interested in free knowledge remains one of our key priorities this quarter, we have also focused on actively promoting these partnerships across our social media platforms.

We began the year with our first collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy in Baghdad, publishing a bilingual (Arabic and English) design to highlight and promote our joint initiative. This was complemented by a story campaign on Instagram and Facebook, where we shared engaging facts about Indonesia and the Indonesian Embassy in Baghdad to raise awareness and spark audience interest.

This was followed by a second collaboration with AUIB FM, where we discussed Wikipedia and the celebration of its 25th anniversary. The accompanying post featured a simple and professional design showcasing the Director of Wikimedia Iraq alongside the AUIB FM presenter.

In preparation for Wikipedia’s 25th birthday, we ensured strong promotional coverage by sharing a multi-image post aligned with the official 25th anniversary theme. The post included an invitation with event details such as date, time, and location, along with a registration form to encourage participation.

Additionally, in collaboration with the American Space media team, we planned and produced a video documenting the celebration. We developed the concept and guided the filming process to capture key moments of the event and our community. Our community members also actively contributed to the video by sharing a word or short message in their mother tongues, reflecting on their experience during the celebration. The final video was produced in three languages Arabic, English, and Kurdish highlighting the diversity of our community. You can watch the video here.

As part of our efforts to expand and modernize our content creation approach to reach the new generation, we began to develop our skills in video creation using Adobe After Effect and integrating AI tools into our media production. This included producing a video about the Nowruz celebration by combining wikipedia articles and Wikimedia commons media to get an engaging method using the content that we already have on wiki projects. 

To further support community growth and reach new audiences, we launched a TikTok account where we will share future video content and engage with a broader audience, among our other social media accounts on Linkedin, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.

Moving forward, we aim to continue leveraging AI and emerging digital tools to enhance our social media presence, improve content quality, and expand awareness of Wikimedia projects, ultimately reaching wider and more diverse communities.

Challenges

During this period, the ongoing security situation and regional tensions posed significant challenges to our planned activities. The escalation of conflict impacted several embassies in Baghdad, leading to temporary closures or limited operations. This directly affected our collaboration plans, as many of our initiatives relied on active engagement with diplomatic partners.

In addition, the situation created safety concerns that limited our ability to carry out in-person activities. Several offline events and community gatherings that were in the planning phase had to be postponed or reconsidered to ensure the safety of participants and organizers.

Despite these challenges, we remain committed to adapting our approach by exploring alternative methods of engagement and continuing our work in ways that prioritize both impact and safety.

Looking Forward

As we move ahead, we aim to further strengthen our network by building meaningful connections and collaborations with local and international institutions in Iraq that share an interest in promoting free knowledge. We are also focused on finalizing the implementation of our current funding cycle, ensuring that our planned activities are delivered effectively while adapting to ongoing challenges. In parallel, we will continue to enhance our social media presence by developing more engaging content and utilizing new tools and approaches to expand our reach and impact.