Summary: Empowering African students through knowledge sharing : 5 editions of the writing contest
5 years of WikiChallenge 2017–2023, presented at Wikimania Singapour
Presentation of the writing competition
Communication visualAnnouncing the ceremonyRapport de jury 2022–2023Kids enjoy eating what they have been writing on...
WikiChallenge Écoles d'Afrique engages students from primary schools across Africa in contributing to Vikidia, the encyclopedia for 8- to 13-year-olds that anyone can improve. It encourages them to create and improve articles on topics related to African culture, history, environment, and more. It promotes knowledge sharing, digital literacy, and cultural diversity.
WikiChallenge Écoles d'Afrique plays a crucial role in empowering Africa’s youth, promoting digital literacy, and fostering a sense of ownership over their cultural heritage. It contributes to the growth of Africa-focused content online and ensures African perspectives are included in the global knowledge landscape.
The specifics
Targets students aged 9 to 13 in French-speaking Africa;
Organized with in the official education framework;
Open to schools members of the Digital Schools Network of the Orange Foundation;
Free writing theme... but encourages contributions on local cultural, historical, and environmental topics;
Texts and illustrations are published under free licenses on Vikidia and Wikimedia Commons; and
Winning institutions receive prizes ranging from €2,500 to €5,000 per school to spend on educational materials or school infrastructure.
Impacts and benefits
Promotes educational engagement and active learning among African students;
Amplifies online representation of Africa’s culture, history, and knowledge;
Fosters cross-cultural understanding and appreciation among students;
Enhances digital skills and familiarity with online platforms like Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Vikidia;
Empowers students to become contributors and creators of knowledge;
Builds teamwork and collaboration among participants;
Provides a platform for students to showcase their talents and creativity;
Increases access to information about Africa for a global audience;
Inspires a sense of pride and ownership in African heritage and identity; and
Finally, the prizes offered to the winning schools improve the quality of the studying environment of hundreds of children.
Education, Offline, WikiFundi, Vikidia, Writing competition, Francophonie, Africa
Project impact
5 Editions of WikiChallenge
11 participating countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia and Morocco)
457 participating establishments
467 texts proposed by children and published on Vikidia
2608 photos, drawings and videos published on Wikimedia Commons
62 winning schools, for the direct benefit of the hundreds of students and staff of the schools
Skills acquired by all participating students
Specials from 2023
More than half of the Orange facilitators were completely brand new. To the project and to the wiki world... this required a lot of dedication to get them up to speed !
Our jury report is particularly elegant, and we started to compile sets of good articles to communicate about what we were more precisely looking for (it is not so obvious for non-connected kids)
We hosted an online ceremony for the celebration of winning schools, on WikiAfrica Hour with several guests invited. Check out the full episode on our YouTube channel
And finally, we did a gorgeous 5 years poster (in English), which was presented during the poster session at Wikimania Singapore
What’s next ?
For 2023–2024, we plan
To continue the contest :)
We will welcome for the first time an English speaking country, Sierre Leone !
We will slightly change the calendar to better accommodate the educational framework
We will increase the trainings proposed to the teachers for an even more effective campaign
