Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/DCW January 2026 - June 2026 Strategic Activity Plan/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
We implemented a series of activities during this period. These include workshops, conversation hours, and learning sessions that focused on the overall growth and development of our community. Our approach has consistently followed the principle of evaluation, iteration, and adaptation. While Conversation Hour remains our signature program, our collaborative Wikipedia workshop with the Embassy of Ukraine and being part of the Commons AI House in New Delhi were significantly impactful.
Conversation Hours
We organised 6 Conversation Hours during this period, in line with our planned activities. These conversations focused on The State of Global South within the Wikimedia ecosystem, intentional communication strategies, Insights from Wikimedia Futures Lab, Youth Engagement in Wikimedia ecosystem, learning and adapting successful roadmaps from cross-cultural communities like Wikimedia Sicily, and understanding the role of Stewards on Wikimedia projects. Our guests included Anusha Alikhan (Chief Communications Officer, Wikimedia Foundation), Bobby Shabangu (Co-founder Afrika Baraza, former president of Wikimedia ZA, and member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board), Léa Lacroix (Community Engagement Consultant), Martin Rulsch (Wikimedia Steward and 2024 Laureate), Nicole Ebber (Chief of Staff, Wikimedia Deutschland), and Ndahiro Derrick Alter (Founder, Wikimedia Rwanda)
Editing and Contributing drives
We organised the fourth edition of DCW-K Editathon 2026 on the Kashmiri Wikipedia, resulting in the creation of 76 articles. We also organised Exploring Urdu contest on Urdu Wikipedia and Wikiquote. 56 articles were created and improved on Urdu Wikipedia, while 99 articles were created on Urdu Wikiquote during the contest period. Iteration 8 of Heritage Lens was also organised during this period, which helped bring about 134 images on Wikimedia Commons.
Workshops and other meetups
We organised several workshops and meetups, and initiated special meetups for our female volunteers. In April 2026, we collaborated with Kerala Wikimedians and the Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi and led a Wikipedia workshop and editathon, bringing more than 20+ Wikimedians physically to the embassy.
| Mehfil-e-Wiki, January 2026 - Thursday, 15 January 2026 |
| Wikiversary 2026 Conference, Monday, 9 February 2026 |
| Commons AI House, Khoj - Tuesday, 17 February 2026 |
| Wiki Clicks AMU 2026 - 10 March to 10 April 2026 |
| Train a Wikipedian - third edition of our focused residential leadership development program, 25-26 April 2026. |
| Mehfil-e-Wiki - Sunday, 3 May 2026 |
| DCW-K Editathon 2026 - 11 May to 17 June 2026 |
| DCW Progress Prism call - Sunday, 31 May 2026 |
| Heritage Lens - Iteration 8 - 12 June to 15 June 2026 |
| Exploring Urdu - 15 June to 30 June 2026 |
| Mehfil-e-Wiki - Tuesday, 23 June 2026 |
Train a Wikipedian
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We organised the third edition of our residential leadership development program, Train-a-Wikipedian, engaging a new cohort of more than 15 new and old contributors. This edition was conducted in Delhi for two days on 25-26 April 2026. In this edition of TaW, our participants explored diverse Wiki questions, including gender equity and bridging the wiki and academia. Its sessions were structured around the motto of Identify, Learn, Think, and Mentor. The sessions included:
| Icebreaker activity: Connect Facts with Places |
| Exploring Wikimedia projects (Interactive) |
| Wiki and Academia |
| Gender Equity: Women in Wiki |
| "Why I Wiki" - A student's reflection |
| Notability Criteria: What Actually Stands on Wikipedia |
| Group Activities (Wikipedia House and Commons House): This was a hands-on learning exercise where participants explored projects according to their choices. |
| Life of a Wikipedia Article (with demonstrations) |
| Impactful Userpages |
2.1. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Our 2026 activity report will provide a broad overview of the impact we have been able to create throughout the year, including during this project period. From the Wikiversary conference in February 2026 to collaborating with the Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi and creating a sustainable certification solution for wide movement are some of our successful stories from this term. Please find:
- Indian Wikipedians Join Ukraine’s Cultural Diplomacy Month 2026 (Published by Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi)
- Celebrating 25 Years of Wikipedia: Call for Abstracts
- Announcing and Exploring DCW’s Digital Certification Portal: the difference it makes (Wikimedia Small Projects in Spanish has implemented this project)
Available recordings
| Title | Speaker | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence-Based Alternatives for Wikipedia: WikiGen and Grokipedia | Houcemeddine Turki | Wikiversary 2026 Conference |
| Voice, Vision and Resilence | Anusha Alikhan | DCW Conversation Hour, February 2026 |
| Wikimedia Futures Lab: Insights and Experiments | Nicole Ebber | DCW Conversation Hour, March 2026 |
| Youth Engagement in Wikimedia | Ndahiro Derrick | DCW Conversation Hour, April 2026 |
| Revive Your Community: Lessons from Wikimedia Sicily | Lea Lacroix | DCW Conversation Hour, April 2026 |
| Insights on Steward Operations and Local Admin Rights | Martin Rulsch | DCW Conversation Hour, May 2026 |
| Wikipedia Admin & Patrol Tools | Sohom Datta | DCW Conversation Hour, June 2026 |
Content, Media and Else
Our volunteers created and curated articles across Arabic, English, Kashmiri, and Urdu Wikipedias, and contributed significantly to Urdu Wikiquote and Wikimedia Commons. Articles created include ks:عبد الکریم خاساونہ, ks:پل ای کشتی مسجد, ur:اسماعیل الم, ur:نشر الطيب فى ذكر النبى الحبيب, en:Saqi Amrohvi and en:Syed Salman Gilani.
Our fellow for the 8th Iteration of Heritage Lens uploaded 134 images on Wikimedia Commons. More than 9 users created accounts during the Wiki Clicks AMU 2026 contest, contributing over 130 images.
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Wiki Clicks AMU 2026, winner -
Wiki Clicks AMU 2026, 2nd winner -
Wiki Clicks AMU 2026, 3rd winner -
Wiki Clicks AMU 2026, consolation winner
During this term, we were pleased to have our volunteers participate in the Wikimedia Futures Lab, Strategic Convening on Gender Equity in Wikimedia Communities, Indic Wikimedia Hackathon Hyderabad 2026, and the Train the Trainer Program in Hyderabad.
2.2. Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Our activities have been guided by our activity plan for the term, and our continued focus on Capacity Development, based on MSG Recommendation about Investing in Skills and Leadership Development. We re-use Tanveer Hasan’s concluding remarks from the first edition of our Train-a-Wikipedian program. Our other resources include:
- 42nd DCW Conversation Hour – Insights on Steward Operations and Local Admin Rights
- Cognitive Skills: Gains of Being a Wikimedian
- Revive your Community: Lessons from the Wikimedia communities in Sicily and Southern Italy.
We move further with a particular focus on advice from the Leadership Development Working Group
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: Due to the late arrival of resources for the April-October 2025, we have had several challenges. Given that, we still look forward to working on learning questions described on Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/DCW April 2025 - September 2025 Strategic Activity Plan#Metrics.
Our collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in New Delhi was a major milestone in learning how to partner with governmental and international institutions. We learned that hybrid events are exceptionally effective for cross-cultural collaborations. Coordinating with such entities requires a clear, structured workflow.
We also discovered that students and young Wikimedians exhibit a remarkably high willingness to learn and contribute when given immersive, prestigious, and real-world environments. Physically bringing more than 20 Wikimedians to the Embassy of Ukraine in New Delhi, and similarly to Commons AI House provided participants with a unique sense of global connection and purpose.
A major learning was that combining digital open knowledge activities with tangible cultural experiences significantly deepens participant engagement. Integrating a hands-on masterclass on the traditional Ukrainian motanka doll (conducted by Third Secretary Tetiana Sharma) alongside the editing sessions created a memorable, welcoming space that successfully demystified open collaboration. Hearing directly from the Ambassador of Ukraine, Dr. Oleksandr Polishchuk, about the value of translating articles into Indic languages as a form of cultural resilience gave volunteers a strong, values-driven motivation to bridge knowledge gaps on Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Our attempts to partner with the Department of Painting at Jamia Millia Islamia and other non-governmental institutions for the Wikiversary Conference, and partnership pitches to NCPUL, show us opposite sides of learning, where the institutions seek institutional alignment and society registration as a parameter to collaborate. Utilising this learning, we forwarded a partnership opportunity to the OKI Team at IIIT Hyderabad. We intend to use this hybrid and culturally immersive framework as a template for future partnerships. We will shift away from dry and purely technical edit-a-thons to strengthen long-term support for our Wiki Clubs. Additionally, we have been trying to design physical meetups that pair editing with creative, hands-on, and cross-cultural activities to continue attracting and retaining youth. Building on the success of working alongside the Wikimedians of Kerala, we will continue to co-host campaigns with other Wikimedia affiliates, maximising our reach and sharing organising workloads.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
During the January–June 2026 term, we experienced both highly positive and challenging surprises. Our hybrid collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in April 2026 unexpectedly served as a prestigious, immersive motivator that physically brought over 20 young Wikimedians together. Additionally, the launch of our digital certification portal was a major success, quickly seeing real-world adoption by international groups like Wikimedia Small Projects in Spanish.
For our February 2026 Wikiversary Conference, attempts to partner with formal bodies like the Department of Painting at Jamia Millia Islamia and NCPUL hit bureaucratic walls. These institutions required society registration and strict institutional alignment as mandatory parameters to collaborate.
We learned to navigate these formal institutional barriers by redirecting our partnership opportunities to aligned communities, such as the OKI Team at IIIT Hyderabad. To sustain our Wiki Clubs long-term, we also learned to pivot away from dry, purely technical edit-a-thons and instead design physical, culturally integrated experiences that keep youth actively engaged.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We use DCW internal communication channels and community calls to share the learnings. Additionally, we adapt our learnings to our subsequent activity plans. Moreover, we also use Wikimedia gatherings to share our learnings with members from other Wikimedia communities.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 40 | 42 | |
| Number of editors | 35 | 38 | |
| Number of organizers | 15 | 12 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 500 | 340 | 525 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 1300 | 1450 | 0 |
| Wikidata | 500 | 850 | 608 |
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | 500 | 23 | 0 |
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | 100 | 298 | 150 |
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | 0 | 0 | |
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Translation Administrators | Train our community members and those from other collaborating communities. This targets multilingual wikis such as Meta, Commons, and Wikidata. | 3 | 1 | Our technical focus has been on the development of DCW Certification Portal. |
| Translation Administration Backlog Reduction | Help reduce TA backlogs across multilingual wikis | 300 | 102 | |
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
Yes
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
We unfortunately don't have tools to support projects like Wikiquote.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. State the total amount spent in your Indian Rupees. (required)
325506
11. State the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
3625.61
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Upload the financial report
12.1. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the project? (required)
No
13.1. Amount of unspent funds.
N/A
13.2. Explain the reason for unspent funds.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14. Are you in compliance with all applicable terms, laws and regulations as outlined in the project agreement? Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)