Bangla WikiConnect: First-Year Achievements and Future Roadmap

In the vast ecosystem of free knowledge, Wikimedia sister projects often struggle to step out of Wikipedia’s towering shadow. The Bangla Wikimedia community shared this familiar reality. For years, these smaller projects survived primarily on the occasional minor edits from regular Wikipedia contributors. Without a core group of dedicated volunteers, nurturing a thriving, independent community for each platform felt like an insurmountable challenge.

However, contests and edit-a-thons hold a unique power to draw in new contributors. Driven by this belief, a few enthusiastic organizers began experimenting. They independently launched targeted campaigns across smaller platforms like Bangla Wikiquote, Wikivoyage, Wikibooks, and Wiktionary. The response was nothing short of magical. Dormant projects suddenly pulsed with life. Alongside the growth in content, these events opened the doors for a fresh wave of editors to enter the Wikimedia universe. For the first time, the dream of building self-sustaining communities for these platforms seemed truly within reach.

But organizing these independently led to several administrative complications. These included delays in Wikimedia Foundation grant approvals and scheduling conflicts for Site and Central Notices. In addition, there were communication gaps among organizers and difficulties in inter-project coordination in some cases. There was also a lack of the necessary skills to manage large scale programs.

Recognizing that our true strength lay in unity, we brought all the independent organizers to the same table in 2025 to launch ‘Bangla WikiConnect’. Supported by funding from Wikimedia Bangladesh, we united every contest under this single, cohesive platform. The new architecture was balanced and effective: a core team took charge of overall coordination, while dedicated teams led each specific event. This allowed the individual teams to maintain their creative freedom, while the core group provided the essential training, mentorship, and structural guidance. The transformation was profound. Campaigns that once felt fragmented became streamlined and highly impactful. Now, fueled by the overwhelming success of last year’s centralized model, we are stepping into the new year with the exact same collaborative spirit.

Significant Achievements of the First Year

The contests we organized last year played a wonderful role in revitalizing the small projects. Here are some of our notable achievements from the first year:

• Bridging the Gender Gap: Our initiatives actively fostered women’s participation across the Wikimedia ecosystem. Impressively, all but one of our contest review panels featured at least one female reviewer, and female contributors consistently secured top-ranking
• Bangla Wikiquote Contest: This event propelled Bangla Wikiquote past the 2,000-page milestone. Out of 188 interested users, 61 active participants created 695 new pages, adding 1,627,935 words. Consequently, the project climbed from 36th to 31st place in the global rankings. One of the top three winners was a female contributor.
• Wikibooks Writing Contest: Aimed at expanding free educational resources, this contest saw 58 active contributors out of 251 registrations. Following a rigorous review, 1,162 pages were accepted, contributing 1,146,509 words. Highlighting our commitment to diversity, two of the top five contributors were women.
• Wiktionary Entry Contest: Forty-five active participants enriched the platform with 7,996 new Bengali entries, of which 6,643 were accepted. A single top contributor single-handedly created 1,411 entries. Furthermore, a female contributor secured a spot among the top three.
• Wikivoyage Article Writing Contest: Seventy editors joined forces to expand our travel repository, submitting 357 articles. The review process finalized the addition of 1,012,782 words. Here as well, women were prominently represented both in the top five contributors and on the review panel.
• Wiki Loves Children Contest: This initiative began on Bangla Wikipedia to raise awareness about children’s rights and protection. Last year, 60 active contributors created 1,014 articles. This added 1,142,628 words to Bangla Wikipedia.

Expanding Our Scope in the New Year

Continuing the success of the first year, we are now expanding our scope:

• Wiki Loves Earth (Bangladesh Segment): We have brought the Bangladesh segment of Wiki Loves Earth under our central framework. Through this, we aim to showcase our local natural heritage to the world by adding photos to Wikimedia Commons. In 2025, the Bangladesh segment was organized through the independent efforts of some WikiConnect members. An image from that segment secured the 7th position globally. Since independent efforts have brought such a major international success, we are hopeful that under a coordinated structure, it will have a much larger impact.
• Wiki Loves Children (Global Expansion): Following the massive success on Bangla Wikipedia, we are now spreading the Wiki Loves Children campaign globally. By connecting with Wikipedia communities in various languages worldwide, we want to build a rich and diverse repository of information regarding children’s rights and protection.

Capacity Building and Fostering New Leadership

Our year-long central framework is acting as a great platform for capacity building. It is creating new organizers, developing leadership skills, and creating opportunities for experience sharing among the broader Wikimedia community. We have hosted multiple online workshops to enhance the skills of our organizers and reviewers.

For managing funds and projects, we have largely retained last year’s successful structure with a few minor changes. However, to build sustainable leadership, two new members have been added to the core team. One of them has been given the responsibility of organizing an entire contest independently. There is a separate team to manage each specific project. Our core organizing team handles the coordination of these teams, grant management, report writing, and other official tasks. This team includes:

• Yahya – Chief Coordinator
• MdsShakil – Grants Coordinator and Organizer of the Wikibooks contest
• MS Sakib – Jury Coordinator and Organizer of the Wikiquote contest
• RiazACU – Organizer of the Wiktionary contest
• DeloarAkram – Organizer of the Bangla segment of WLC
• ARI – Organizer of the Wikivoyage contest
• Tausheef Hassan – Technical Lead

Our Learnings

We have learned a lot while managing this massive endeavor over the past year. We have seen firsthand how effective a central platform can be in eliminating a lack of coordination and administrative complexities. With proper training and guidance, new organizers can successfully execute large programs. Our model has demonstrated this perfectly.

Call to Action

Bangla WikiConnect has proven that small projects can be easily advanced by working together. We invite other Wikimedia communities around the world to adopt this model in their own languages. We especially welcome everyone to participate in the global edition of Wiki Loves Children.

If you need to contact our core team or have any questions, you can email us at connect@bnwp.org.