Education/News/September 2022/Wikimedia Youths Commemorate the International Youth Day 2022 in an exciting way across the globe
Wikimedia Youths Commemorate the International Youth Day 2022 in an exciting way across the globe.
As part of the exciting activities to mark the commemoration WikiVibrance spotlighted young Wikimedians seen here who were identified on the basis of commitment to improving/creating articles or led/co-led Edit-a thons/trainings/campaigns through our social media handles on 12th August 2022. This was followed by our Wikimania session on 13th August 2022 which featured young Wikimedians from South Sudan, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Ukraine, Kenya, Palestine, Spain, Nigeria, Philippines, and Uganda telling stories of their work and that of other young people in their communities.
One of the thrilling moments of our Wikimania session was the unveiling of the WikiVibrance Logo which was designed by an international artist, Jordan Baker-caldwell. The logo is a picture of a hummingbird inspired by the fact that we come from a community of bird lovers. It exemplifies our youthfulness and strength. It looks at the way we share and pass information to different projects and likens it to the way hummingbirds fly around and pollinate.
In September 2022, we launched a month-long campaign to improve content related to this year's IYD theme "Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages" on Wikimedia projects. Based on the theme, we focused on improving content on age-related diseases (eg. diabetes, stroke, depression among others); youth and adult movements related to human rights; policies/laws/acts related to age discrimination in employment, healthcare; legal working & retirement age; youth exclusion; child labour; youth development; ageism as a whole; women and senior citizens in politics, health, employment sector; health risks posed by occupations taken by youths and senior citizens; child labor and rights; obstacles to employment or human right issues associated with Ageism among others.
197 young Wikimedians across Arusha, Rwanda, Gurene, Moore, Nigeria, and Igbo Wikimedia communities are participating in the ongoing campaign, creating 986 Wikipedia articles in Swahili, Gurene, Moore, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, french and still counting. 1.03M words, 3.65k references, 7.39k articles, and 135 Wikidata items have been added and created as well. We hope to surpass this number as Benin, South Sudan and Nigeria Commons Photographers Usergroup are gearing up for their post-International Youth Day 2022 events.
Still basking in the euphoria of the celebration, we are planning a series of social space calls, starting with the Winners Call, with the spotlighted young Wikimedians, local organizers, project core team members, and participants from the various participating communities to share in our work and actions in the Wikimedia movement.
Through the International Youth Day 2022 activities, we hope to draw attention to the work of young Wikimedians, especially in small and emerging communities in growing knowledge on Wikimedia projects as well as demonstrate their capacity on growing knowledge in the digital space by working together to bridge content gaps on this year's IYD theme on Wikimedia projects. Beyond this, it will demonstrate the role of experienced Wikimedians and their importance to the journey of young Wikimedians in the movement.
Recognizing the importance of every young Wikimedian in being part of this journey, we hope to reach every young Wikimedian in every community in the movement. In November 2022, Wikimedians from all around the world are invited to participate in the upcoming African Youth Month. You can follow our official social media handles @WikiVibrance to stay updated.
About WikiVibrance Project
The WikiVibrance Project aims at acknowledging and celebrating young Wikimedians advancing open knowledge through community engagement during international, regional, and national youth days in order to create synergies, share knowledge and build capacities to contribute content of selected thematic areas across Wikimedia projects.
The core team members are: Ptinphusmia, TaronjaSatsuma, Douglaseru, CaliBen, and James Moore200