The Mentor Me! 2026 program returned this year to support both new and existing Wikimedians in building practical skills across Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. Organized by the Tyap Wikimedians User Group, the program brought together over 70 registered participants for seven weeks of learning, mentorship, and collaboration. The Stream 1 sessions were held online on Fridays via Jitsi Meet and in-person on Saturdays at AX1, Aliyu Makama Road, Barnawa, Kaduna, Nigeria, making it possible for participants to learn regardless of their location.
Through hands-on training led by experienced Wikimedia contributors from within and outside Nigeria, and former mentees who participated in the 2025 edition, participants explored topics ranging from citation and referencing, Wikidata editing, and language documentation to templates, the OpenRefine tool, and other Wikimedia tools, while gaining the confidence to make meaningful contributions to the Wikimedia Movement.
April
The program began in April with sessions that introduced participants to some of the core skills needed to contribute effectively across Wikimedia projects. Benedict Udeh opened the online sessions with a practical introduction to on-wiki collaboration using the CampaignEvents Extension, showing participants how the tool can support the planning and management of Wikimedia activities. During the first in-person session, Halima Waziri guided beginners through the basics of editing Wikidata, helping them understand how structured data works and how to make their first contributions.
Later in the month, Amir E. Aharoni explored how categories and other curation tools help organize Wikipedia content, making articles easier to find and maintain across different language editions. The in-person session was led by Zasan Doshiyak, who introduced participants to the importance of citation and referencing, explaining how to identify reliable sources and use Wikipedia’s citation tools to improve the quality and credibility of articles. To ensure everyone could revisit the lessons or catch up on missed sessions, recordings of all the trainings were made available on YouTube.
May
The sessions in May introduced participants to more advanced tools and ways of contributing across Wikimedia projects. Farouk Azim showed how templates can be adapted to suit the needs of different Wikimedia projects, helping participants understand how these tools improve consistency and make content easier to manage. In the in-person session, Gwakhap D. Anthony provided a practical introduction to documenting languages with Wikidata Lexemes, showing how structured data can be used to preserve and promote linguistic knowledge.
The second half of the month featured Jan Ainali‘s introduction to the new Chart Extension, where participants learned how to present data in clear and engaging visual formats on Wikimedia pages. Mohamed Mustapha A. then walked participants through the process of contributing to the English Wikipedia, explaining key editing practices and community expectations for new editors. Ceslause Ogbonnaya followed with a session on improving Film and TV-related content, encouraging participants to expand coverage of entertainment topics with well-sourced information. The month’s training concluded with Ramatu A. Haliru‘s session on strengthening Wikipedia articles through the use of credible references and well-structured sections, reinforcing the importance of quality, verifiability, and reliable sourcing in building trustworthy content.
June
June brought the final set of training sessions, with participants exploring more tools and reflecting on the knowledge they had gained throughout the programme. Jinoy Tom Jacob introduced the OpenRefine tool and showed how it can be used to clean, organize, and upload structured data to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons more efficiently. During the in-person session, Olloh Francis Oloche encouraged participants to see themselves not just as readers of Wikipedia but as active contributors, highlighting the impact that every editor can make within the Wikimedia movement.
The learning continued with Amanda Jurno‘s walkthrough of CapX, where participants were introduced to the tool and its practical applications for Wikimedia contributors. The programme concluded with a reflective session led by Kuyet Friday Musa, who looked back on the journey of the first stream, highlighting the skills participants had developed, the contributions they had made, and the lasting impact they were expected to have within their local communities and the wider Wikimedia movement.
With these final sessions, the first stream of the Mentor Me! 2026 program officially came to a close on 27 June 2026, marking the end of seven weeks of learning, mentorship, and collaboration while opening the door for participants to continue contributing with greater confidence across Wikimedia projects.
Looking Ahead
While the first stream has come to an end, the learning continues. Mentor Me! 2026 – Stream 2 is scheduled to begin on Friday, 4 September 2026, and will run through Monday, 30 November 2026. Building on the success of the first stream, the next phase will offer more practical sessions, fresh topics, and opportunities for both new and returning Wikimedians to strengthen their skills and contribute more confidently across Wikimedia projects.
As the Tyap Wikimedians User Group looks ahead, the goal remains the same: to equip volunteers with the knowledge and tools they need to support the Wikimedia movement and contribute to the shared vision of making the sum of all human knowledge freely accessible to everyone.
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation