AWA Digitalise Youth Project/Barakat Adegboye

The AWA Digitalise Youth Project is a collaborative initiative by Code for Africa, the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), AfricTivistes, CFI Media Development, the World Scout Bureau Africa Regional Office, and the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF), with contributions from the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD).

The project aims to amplify youth voices and promote civic engagement across Africa through the Wikimedia ecosystem, focusing on creating and improving open knowledge content in secure digital spaces. It targets regions within the Sahel, neighbouring West Africa, and the Horn of Africa.

Target Countries:

The AWA Digitalise Youth Project 2025, particularly this implementation by Barakat Adegboye focuses on the Niger, South Sudan and Togo.

We are inviting youth from these countries to contribute to the project by improving and creating content on Wikipedia and Wikidata related to civic engagement, digital rights, and governance.

Key content themes include:

The African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection
E-democracy and digital mobilisation in social movements
SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions)
The role of governments, NGOs, and grassroots organisations in tackling censorship, surveillance, and online disinformation
Civic Tech in Africa
Internet Shutdowns in Africa
Digital Activism and Youth Movements
Cybercrime Laws in Africa
Policies on Hate Speech and Disinformation
Whistleblowers and Human Rights Defenders
Data Protection Laws and Policies
Civic Technology Hubs in Africa
Women and Digital Participation in Africa
Digital Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons
E-Democracy and Digital Mobilisation in Social Movements
Freedom of Expression and Human Rights in Africa

Our Goal:

Expanding and improving 180 articles/items about civic engagement, digital rights, and governance.
Host up to 14 virtual sessions to train and empower new and existing editors to contribute to this campaign.

Activities

Trainings: Virtual trainings which will focus on creating and improving Wikipedia articles/wikidata items about SDG16, e-democracy, freedom of expression, and human rights in the Sahel region, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa.

Edit-a-thons: Collaborative editing sessions focused on improving and creating Wikipedia articles related to digital rights, governance, and youth engagement. There will be monthly guided edit-a-thons and participants who meet the set criteria will be reimbursed with $10 dollars per month.

Data-a-thons: sessions and contributions focused on contributing structured data to Wikidata, especially around policies, organizations, and key actors in digital governance.

Content Translation Training: There would be virtual trainings on translation tool on the Wikipedia so as to bridge the language gaps between English Wikipedia and other local languages.

Training Timeline

Date/Time	Activity	Trainer	Session/Recording Link	Presentation Slides	Status
22 June 2025 4:00PM WAT	Needs Assessment Form	Ridzaina			Done
Virtual Launch Wednesday Jun 25, 2025 ⋅ 3:30pm – 5pm (WAT - Lagos)	General Virtual Launch of AWA Fellowship	Bukola James	Zoom link	Presentation Slide	Done
June 27, 2025 4:30PM WAT	Virtual Onboarding Session for Experienced Editors Introduction to the project, including expectations, monthly deliverables, and the project focus.	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
June 28, 2025 4:30PM WAT	Wikipedia Essentials for Experienced Editors	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
June 29, 2025 4:30PM WAT	Wikidata Best Practices for Experienced Editors	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
July 08, 2025 4:00PM WAT	Introduction to Wikipedia and Performing Minor Edits on Wikipedia; Combined Session with Muib Shefiu and Linason Blessing	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
July 10, 2025 4:00PM WAT	Introduction to Wikidata; Combined Session with Muib Shefiu and Linason Blessing	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
July 14, 2025 4:00PM WAT	Office Hour for July	Ridzaina	Recording	NIL	Done
1 August, 2025 5:00PM WAT	Notability on Wikipedia and Wikidata	Andikan Efiok Eduok	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
2 August, 2025 10:00AM WAT	Adding Citations, Internal Links and Infoboxes on Wikipedia	Airypedia	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
13 August, 2025 02:00PM WAT	Office Hour for August	Ridzaina	Recording	NIL	Done
29 August, 2025 05:00PM WAT	Wikipedia Article Translation	Gwanki	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
10 September, 2025 05:00PM WAT	Second Virtual Onboarding Session for New Editors	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
10 September, 2025 05:30PM WAT	Office Hour for September	Ridzaina	Recording	NIL	Done
27 September, 2025 05:30PM WAT	Improving Wikidata Items with Qualifiers and References	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
03 October, 2025 03:30PM WAT	Reliable references and NPOV	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
04 October, 2025 05:00PM WAT	Office Hour for October	Ridzaina	Recording	NIL	Done
31 October, 2025 05:00PM WAT	How to tackle Mis/Disinformation on Wikipedia	Ridzaina	Recording	Presentation Slide	Done
07 November, 2025 05:00PM WAT	How to Run Queries Using PetScan and Wikidata Query Builder Tool	Ridzaina	Recording 1 Recording 2	Presentation Slide	Done
07 November, 2025 06:00PM WAT	Office Hour and Wrap-Up Session	Ridzaina	Recording	NIL	Done