African & Proud (AP)/Annual Reports/2025

The year 2025 marked a defining phase for African & Proud (AP), characterised by strategic expansion, stronger program delivery, and deeper community impact. Building on the momentum of previous years, the organisation broadened its thematic scope and strengthened partnerships across Africa. A major milestone in 2025 was the execution of African & Proud’s first project implemented outside Nigeria, delivered in partnership with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group as part of Culture Connect Africa 2025, signalling an important step in AP’s regional growth and cross-border collaboration within the Wikimedia movement.

Project 1: Culture Connect Africa

Timeline📅 - March 2025 – December 2025
Region🌍 - Nigeria 🇳🇬 and Ghana 🇬🇭 (First cross-border implementation)

Culture Connect Africa 2025

Culture Connect Africa is African & Proud’s annual flagship project focused on documenting African culture, history, creative industries, and indigenous knowledge across Wikimedia platforms. In 2025, the project marked a major milestone with its first implementation outside Nigeria, delivered in partnership with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group in Ghana, enabling locally led activities and stronger contributor support. The campaign also expanded indigenous language contributions, including Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Dagaare, Kusaal, and Gurene, strengthening linguistic diversity and access to African knowledge.

Key Achievements

✅ 4.87M Words Added – Expanding African knowledge base
✅ 19.3K References Added – Ensuring credibility
✅ 10.4K Articles Edited and 2.93K Created
✅ 23.8M Article Views – Global reach and impact
✅ 3.2K Commons Uploads – Rich visual documentation

See outreach dashboard 👉 here

Participation Overview

👥 397 Editors Engaged across 9 structured programs
🌍 Contributors from multiple African countries, with focused participation from Nigeria and Ghana

Connected Subprojects

🎬 African Film & Cinema: Expanding African representation in film history
🍲 AfroCuisine: Celebrating African culinary traditions
🪘 AfroFestival: Celebrating African festivals.

Our Learning

Culture Connect Africa 2025 demonstrated the value of local partnerships in supporting contributors, particularly in areas such as:

Community mobilisation and contributor retention
Contextualised training delivery
Improved coordination and communication
Navigating budget constraints arising from inflation and fluctuating exchange rates

Most importantly, the partnership with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group highlighted how working with local Wikimedia affiliates can significantly improve participation quality and contributor support. This approach directly addressed a key learning from 2024 and has informed African & Proud’s future regional expansion strategy.

📣 Looking Ahead

In 2026, African & Proud will focus on:

Expand Culture Connect Africa to another African country (Tanzania)
Expanding Culture Connect Africa to include a new platform focused on African tourism and travel content, with Wikivoyage as the primary platform, to further improve the coverage, quality, and accessibility of African destinations across Wikimedia projects.
Continue strengthening partnership-led implementation
Improve indigenous language support and thematic depth
Build on lessons from Ghana to scale responsibly across the continent.

Project 2: WikiClassroom 2025

Timeline📅 - September - December, 2025
Region🌍 – Nigeria 🇳🇬
States Covered📍 – Anambra, Lagos, Kano

WikiClassroom 2025

WikiClassroom is African & Proud’s education-focused initiative aimed at promoting Wikipedia and its sister projects as reliable resources for academic research in African secondary schools. The project addresses common misconceptions about Wikipedia by helping students and teachers understand how Wikimedia platforms work and how they can be used responsibly for learning. In 2025, WikiClassroom was implemented across three Nigerian states; Anambra, Lagos, and Kano - strengthening information literacy and trust in open knowledge within formal education settings.

Key Achievements

✅ Structured training sessions delivered across three states
✅Reached learners across 9 schools, engaging over 95 students through structured Wikimedia training and hands-on participation
✅ New contributors onboarded and supported into Wikimedia projects
✅ Strengthened relationships with local institutions and facilitators

Participation Overview

👥 Students Engaged: Over 95 students introduced to Wikimedia platforms as research tools
🏫 Schools Reached: Activities delivered across 9 secondary schools
📍 Geographic Coverage: Anambra, Lagos, and Kano States
🎓 Audience: High school students and teachers, with a focus on information literacy and research skills

📰 Media Recognition & Public Engagement

WikiClassroom 2025 received notable media coverage, reflecting growing public interest in promoting digital literacy and responsible use of Wikimedia platforms within the education sector. The initiative was featured by national media outlets, highlighting its role in reshaping perceptions of Wikipedia and strengthening information literacy among secondary school students.

Media coverage included features by THISDAY, Vanguard, and Daily Trust, as well as television coverage by TVC News.

This visibility helped amplify the project’s impact, increased public awareness of Wikimedia platforms as credible learning resources, and reinforced African & Proud’s advocacy for open and reliable knowledge in formal education settings.

Publication links;

Our Learning

WikiClassroom 2025 reinforced the importance of early engagement within the education system to reshape perceptions of Wikipedia and open knowledge platforms. Direct engagement with both teachers and students proved critical in addressing long-standing biases and promoting informed, responsible use of Wikimedia projects in academic contexts. Sustaining engagement within the same states in the coming year will enable African & Proud to build stronger relationships, improve training delivery, and support better participant retention.

📣 Looking Ahead

In 2026, African & Proud will:

Build on partnerships established in 2025 to deepen engagement within participating states
Strengthen relationships with schools and educators for sustained impact
Continue positioning Wikimedia platforms as trusted learning resources within African classrooms

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