Arewa Wikimedia Hackathon 2026

Building Wikimedia Tools and Technical Capacity in Northern Nigeria

📖 Overview

The Arewa Wikimedia Hackathon 2026 is a regional, in-person technical event focused on improving Wikimedia tools and onboarding new contributors into the Wikimedia technical ecosystem.

The hackathon brings together developers and Wikimedians in Northern Nigeria to collaborate on real-world projects using Wikidata, Toolforge, and open-source workflows.

This project is supported by the Wikimedia Community Fund (Rapid Fund).

📅 Event Details

Date: May 2, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Venue: Enspire Hub, Merit House 22, Aguyi Ironsi Street, Maitama
Format: In-person hackathon

🎯 Objectives

Improve existing Wikimedia tools and technical infrastructure
Onboard new contributors into Wikimedia technical spaces
Provide hands-on experience with Wikidata, APIs, and Toolforge
Strengthen the Arewa Wikimedia developer community

🛠 Tools and Focus Areas

Participants will work on improving existing tools, including:

Wikidata Reference Validator
Clarity Tool
Other Wikidata-related tools

Focus areas include:

Bug fixes and feature improvements
Documentation and onboarding guides
Performance and usability improvements
Structured data usage and SPARQL queries

🗓 Program

Introduction to Wikimedia technical ecosystem
Tool demonstrations and walkthroughs
Hands-on hacking sessions
Code reviews and collaboration
Project presentations and wrap-up

👥 Participants

The hackathon will bring together approximately 10–15 developers and Wikimedians interested in contributing to Wikimedia technical projects.

📝 Registration

To participate, please register here: 👉 Register for the hackathon

👤 Organizer

JosefAnthony – Project Lead and Organizer

📚 Documentation

Event documentation, contributions, and outcomes will be published after the hackathon.