Education/News/January 2026/WikiChallenge African Schools: Young voices, real impact, and continued (reasonable) growth
WikiChallenge African Schools: young voices, real impact, and continued (reasonable) growth
In short
The WikiChallenge African Schools continues to shine as a transformative education programme, empowering children across Africa to become creators of knowledge while strengthening digital literacy, writing, and research skills.
Since its launch in 2017, the initiative — organised by Wiki in Africa in partnership with the Fondation Orange — has engaged hundreds of schools and thousands of students from across the African continent. To date, close to 800 schools in 13 countries have taken part, producing over 600 articles on Vikidia, the child-friendly encyclopedia, and contributing thousands of photos, drawings, and videos to the Wikimedia Commons. These student-authored entries bring local culture, history, environment, and community stories to a global audience, boosting the online visibility of under-represented regions and nurturing pride in local heritage.
The programme’s educational impact was internationally recognised in 2024 when it received the Open Pedagogy Award from Open Education Global for its inclusive, learner-centred approach to knowledge creation.
In the 2024–2025 edition, the contest ran in both French and English, a milestone that broadened participation and deepened engagement. 174 new student-written articles, accompanied by hundreds of images and videos documenting diverse aspects of life across Africa.
Special highlight on partners
At the heart of WikiChallenge African Schools is a broad and collaborative partnership network that brings this educational initiative to life. Wiki in Africa serves as the lead organiser, providing overall project coordination, training frameworks, editorial guidance, and strategic support. The programme is run in close partnership with Fondation Orange, which supplies essential funding, access to their Digital Schools network, technical equipment, local facilitators, and communications support across participating countries.
The Vikidia Association provides the publishing platform for students’ articles, while a number of dedicated Wikimedia user groups and local Wikimedia communities contribute critical in-country training and support. These include Wikimedia Tunisie, Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group, Wikimedia MA User Group, Groupe d’utilisateurs de la communauté Wikimedia Guinée Conakry, Wikimedia Burkina Faso, Wikimedia Botswana, and Wikimedians of Democratic Republic of Congo User Group.
Together, this network of partners — spanning international coordination, local volunteer support, education networks, and Wikimedia communities — makes the WikiChallenge a powerful engine for learning, digital skills development, and open knowledge creation across Africa.
Ahead
Looking ahead to the 2026 edition, WikiChallenge African Schools builds on this momentum. The programme will continue to expand its reach. With its proven blend of creative learning, digital skills development, and community pride, the 2026 edition promises even greater impact — equipping the next generation of African students (and hopefully wikipedians ?) with the confidence and tools to share their knowledge with the world.
Main links to explore
As well as
- The competition in 2024–2025 (meta page dedicated to the contest and available in English, French, and Arabic)
- Video from BRUT – January 2026
- The report related to the training by Wikimedians in Botswana :WikiChallenge African Schools – Botswana
- Prize ceremony in Côte d’Ivoire : link with Wikimedia CIV
- Story of the training done by Wikimedia in Burkina-Faso
- The document submitted to the jury for its evaluation
- diff article published in October (in English and French)
- WikiAfrica Hour dedicated an episode (in French)