Beyond the Numbers: How the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Project Built Confident African Wikimedians

“Before joining the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Programme, my understanding of the Wikimedia ecosystem was very limited. I had little exposure to how Wikipedia and its sister projects functioned, and I had not yet developed the skills needed to actively contribute to any Wikimedia-related initiatives.” — Malona Adige Isaac, Uganda. Read more

Every Wikimedia programme hopes to increase edits, create articles, and recruit new contributors. But behind every statistic is a person whose journey has been transformed.

When Malona Adige Isaac from Uganda submitted his application to join the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Project 2026 Cohort, he knew very little about the Wikimedia movement. Like many first-time applicants, he was eager to learn but unsure where to begin.

Five months later, he had become an active Wikimedia contributor, published his first English Wikipedia article, learned to edit Wikidata confidently, and documented his own Wikimedia journey on Diff.

His story mirrors that of many participants who joined the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Project—a mentorship initiative of the Wiki Afrodemics Project designed to strengthen the capacity of emerging African Wikimedians through personalised guidance, multilingual learning, and practical editing experience.

Reaching aspiring Wikimedians across Africa

The project began with an open call for applications shared through LinkedIn and various Wikimedia WhatsApp communities.

Without spending any money on advertisements, the call attracted an impressive 271 applications from 50 African countries, demonstrating both the growing interest in Wikimedia across Africa and the effectiveness of community-driven outreach.

Although the project proposal initially planned to train 30 participants, available resources meant that only 20 participants from 10 African countries could be selected. The smaller cohort ultimately allowed mentors to provide more personalised support throughout the programme.

Recognising the importance of language inclusion, the project also onboarded volunteer French-speaking trainer Chado07 together with a volunteer French-to-English translator, Mel Catherina to ensure that both Anglophone and Francophone participants could learn comfortably.

Mentorship beyond the classroom

Unlike many edit-a-thons that focus on short-term training, the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Project placed mentorship at the centre of learning.

Each participant was paired with an experienced Wikimedia mentor who provided one-on-one guidance over three months. This personalised approach enabled participants to learn at their own pace, ask questions freely, and receive continuous feedback on their contributions.

The programme was further strengthened by experienced Wikimedian, Dave Palfrey, who led comprehensive Wikidata training sessions.

For many participants, Wikidata was an entirely new experience.

John Joy reflected:

“After the whole month of insightful trainings by our mentor, Mr Dave Palfrey, I learned how to create a new Wikidata item, how to add statements and, most importantly, how to find and add reliable references on Wikidata items. I also learnt how to query data or information from the Wikidata platform.” John Joy, Nigeria. Read more…

Another participant highlighted how practical collaboration became one of the most valuable aspects of the training:

“Another practical exercise involved communicating with fellow contributors by sending messages to one another using our Wikidata usernames. These activities helped us understand the collaborative nature of the Wikimedia community while giving us the confidence to begin making meaningful contributions.” Muib Mariam. Read more…

These practical exercises helped participants move beyond theory and experience how collaborative the Wikimedia movement truly is.

Turning learning into impact

Throughout the mentorship programme, participants took part in guided edit-a-thons where they applied their newly acquired skills to Wikipedia and Wikidata.

Collectively, the cohort achieved:

• 281 new Wikipedia articles created
• 1,170 existing articles improved
• 5,160 total edits
• 409,000 words added
• 2,510 references added
• More than 1.8 million cumulative article views

These contributions improved the representation of African academics, researchers, and notable personalities while making reliable knowledge available to millions of readers around the world.

Among the biographies created during the programme were:

Wikipedia Articles	Author	Participants’ Country
Samuel Ekundayo Oladipo	Elizabeth Samwel	Tanzania
Hester Klopper	Suzeen Simon	Namibia
Andrew Crouch	Ntlafatso Veronicah Gaowele	Botswana
Rukudzo Murapa	Kashifatu Moari Abubakar	Ghana
Mahlo Mokgalong	Likambo Isaac	Uganda
Deogratius Jaganyi	Adige malona	Uganda

For many participants, however, the numbers represented something much more personal.

As Veronica reflected:

“One of my biggest achievements during the programme was publishing my first-ever article on English Wikipedia. This was a proud moment because, before Afrodemics, I had only been editing articles that were already published. Moving from editing existing articles to creating and publishing a new biography showed me how much I had learned.” Ntlafatso Veronicah Gaowele, Bostwana. Read more

Learning to tell our own stories

One unexpected discovery during the mentorship was that many participants had never documented their Wikimedia journeys.

To address this, the project organised a dedicated training session on writing stories for Wikimedia Diff, encouraging participants to reflect on their experiences and share them with the wider movement.

The outcome was remarkable: about 70% of participants published or began preparing their own Diff stories, contributing not only knowledge to Wikimedia projects but also valuable learning experiences that can inspire future contributors.

What made the programme successful?

Several approaches stood out during the project.

First, organic outreach through LinkedIn and Wikimedia community groups proved highly effective, attracting applicants from every region of Africa without paid advertising.

More importantly, the one-on-one mentorship model demonstrated that personalised guidance significantly improves newcomer confidence, retention, and editing quality. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, participants learned in supportive environments where mistakes became opportunities for growth.

The participants’ own words illustrate this success far better than statistics alone.

Looking ahead

The conclusion of the Wiki Afrodemics Mentorship Project Cohort 1 is not the end of the journey. Instead, it marks the beginning of a growing network of African Wikimedians equipped with the skills, confidence, and community needed to continue contributing to free knowledge.

The project showed that combining multilingual support, structured mentorship, practical editing, peer learning, and community storytelling creates lasting impact that extends far beyond the duration of a training programme.

To every mentor, volunteer trainer, translator, participant, and supporter who contributed to this journey, thank you for believing that Africa’s knowledge deserves to be represented, preserved, and shared with the world.