Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Open Foundation West Africa Multiyear Grant 2024/26/Yearly Report (2025)
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Part 1: Understanding your work
[edit]Per the recent update on the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy process, Wikimedia Affiliates that are General Support Fund grantees will fulfill their affiliate reporting requirements through their final or yearly grantee report.
If you are a Wikimedia Affiliate, you will use this form for your affiliate reporting and to address the affiliate health criteria. You do not need to submit a separate report to AffCom. Follow the guidance in the green boxes to report on how you met the corresponding affiliate health criteria.
If you are not a Wikimedia Affiliate, aligning your responses with the affiliate criteria is optional and not required.
1. Please share to what extent your programs, approaches, and strategies contributed to addressing the challenges you shared in your proposal. If they did not contribute as you believed they would, please share what obstacles you faced and what, if anything, you learned from them? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 1.) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 1.1 (Goal delivery). Describe how you actively delivered on mission goals, e.g. content creation.
We maintained steady adherence to the core pillars set forth in our multiyear proposal, ensuring strategic coherence and measurable progress across education, capacity building, and advocacy.
Education and Skill Building: Our trainings adopted a tailored approach that targeted capacity building for specific professionals such as educators and librarians. For every target group, we trained them on projects that are most relevant to their work to ensure sustainability. Project selection for each cohort emphasized relevance: for example, librarians derived the greatest benefit from WikiSource and Wikidata sessions, which more closely matched their archival and metadata responsibilities. In collaboration with Expanding Boundaries International, we engaged our community members and guardians on meaningful usage of AI for child growth and development. This strategy proved effective in deepening participation and relevance.
Capacity building and community development: Regular check-ins through community feedback surveys and town hall meetings helped us gain insight into what capacities our community members were interested in, and that guided us in our program planning and implementation. We infused behavioral competencies like goal setting and public speaking into our Train the Trainer program, ensuring that we raised all-round leaders. The Hackathon prep launch and hub activities were designed to meet the capacity needs of the community since the content was based on the recommendations from feedback surveys.
Advocacy & Initiatives: Advocacy and initiative work aligned with broader continental priorities and reinforced Wikimedia’s role within the information ecosystem. The Africa Wiki Challenge, framed around the African Union’s 2025 theme, produced content on reparations—a topic both timely and underrepresented in wiki campaigns, thereby expanding the scope of public knowledge on sensitive historical and policy issues. Strategic partnerships with relevant institutions, especially the with Diasporan African Forum, were instrumental in guiding contributors to authoritative sources and in contextualizing the theme for participants. We also decided to focus on how Wikimedia interfaces with other players in the information ecosystem, especially with regard to public policy advocacy. The information integrity workshop responded to the challenge of positioning Wikimedia work within real-world civic and policy contexts.
2. Is there a plan to build on the key successes you had? If yes, please describe the plan and if no, please share the limitations to do so. For instance, did the activities lead to any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future? (required)
Yes. OFWA plans to build on several key successes from the reporting period. The Africa Wiki Challenge will continue as an annual pan-African campaign, with stronger regional coordination and increased Francophone participation. Kiwix4Schools is being expanded through deeper school partnerships and improved teacher support structures.
The success of the Ghana Polls and the Information Integrity Workshop has led to plans for biannual convenings and broader regional replication, linking Wikimedia communities more intentionally to public policy advocacy, elections, and media ecosystems.
These successes have informed a shift from one-off activities to longer-term thematic programs focused on education, information integrity, and digital resilience.
- We onboarded new contributors through our newbie trainings and office hours during edit-a-thons. We also supported leadership growth through mentorship and trainer-of-trainers activities that encouraged members to take on organizing and decision-making roles.
- Our monthly hub/club activities helped community members to engage and collaborate on various activities. We also initiated the community spotlight in our monthly newsletter, where a community member is spotlighted, and we invite other members to engage with them based on their skills and preferences. Social media engagement was also tightened, especially on WhatsApp, where we now have our weekly trivia. These have encouraged many members to participate in our activities, as we saw growth in both virtual and in-person attendance to events. Community members also now willingly take up facilitation roles.
- We maintain open channels of communication with our members mostly through WhatsApp messaging and open forums during our in-person meetings. We host bimonthly meetings with hub/club leaders to equip them continually and address issues arising from their respective hubs/clubs in a timely manner.
- We had very fruitful partnerships with both Wikimedia Affiliates and non-Wikimedia entities. We collaborated with Wikimedia Côte D’Ivoire to replicate the Ghana Polls Model in their country during their general elections. We continue to work together for joint presentations to international conferences like the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF).<br>The external partnerships contributed immensely to the success of our programs, particularly the diverse capacities they brought on board, helping us realize the intersection of the Wikimedia Movement with the external world. Some of our partners included Goethe Institut, Merton & Everett LLC, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Diasporan African Forum (DAF), Expanding Boundaries International (EBI), etc.
3. Please provide a link to reports that detail the activities that took place in the last year. This can include an annual report, Meta pages, and websites. If there are no links available, briefly describe the implemented activities and programs below or upload any files. (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 3.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.1 (Affiliate health & resilience), 4.1 (Internal engagement), 4.2 (Community connection), and 4.3 (Partnerships and collaboration):
- Describe your activities engaging new users, new members for your decision-making body(ies), and developing leaders and organizers (2.1).
- Describe your activities creating or hosting spaces to encourage greater collaboration and engagement among your members (4.1).
- Describe how you engage with the contributing community that you serve and/or support (4.2).
- Describe your partnerships with other affiliates or with non-Wikimedia entities (4.3).
Annual report: [1]
4. Are you interested in sharing what you achieved or learned this year with the wider community through different peer learning programs (e.g. Let's Connect program, Diff)? (optional)
Yes. OFWA is interested in sharing learnings through Diff blog posts, conference sessions (Wikimania, Wiki Indaba, etc.), and peer learning spaces. We have already contributed reflections through Diff and presentations at conferences, and we are open to participating in programs such as Let’s Connect to share lessons learned.
5. Did you collect feedback from your community or target groups on how the activities implemented impacted them? If yes, please attach/provide information on the results (e.g. community surveys, stories, impact booklets/reports, interviews with partner institutions, etc). Did you collect other impact-specific data? (required)
For affiliates, the response to Question 5. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criteria 4.1 (Internal Engagement), 4.2 (Community Connection), or 4.3 (Partnerships & collaboration), where applicable.
6. During the fund period, did your efforts do any of the following? (required):
For affiliates, the response to Question 6. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criterion 2.2 (Diversity balance).
- 6.1 Bring in participants from the following groups: women, young people, speakers of minority languages, underrepresented geographical regions (ESEAP, LATAM, SSA, MENA, SA)
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women, speakers of minority languages, underrepresented geographical regions (ESEAP, LATAM, SSA, MENA, SA)
- 6.3 Support the retention of: Editors, Organizers, Partnerships
7. What, if any, effective tactics or approaches can you share that worked well when dealing with the programs under points 6.1-6.3 that you selected? (optional)
Effective tactics included:
- Using trusted intermediaries (librarians, educators, journalists) to introduce Wikimedia tools;
- Centering programs on locally relevant themes (elections, education, reparations);
- Providing leadership and organizer roles to sustain engagement beyond events.
- Encouraging and building capacities of new organisers.
8. If you developed partnerships, which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors (optional):
Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach, Institutional support from the Wikimedia Foundation
Part 2: Metrics for Year 2
[edit]| Wikimedia Metrics | Target (Year 2) | Results (Year 2) | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 1500 | 2256 | Cummulation of all editors as well as organisers and in-person attendees to our events.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kSeZjjQhhNd6D2eXqkji5EunK4gafYmcHDipSe6rhrA/edit?usp=sharing |
| Number of all editors | 1000 | 1879 | |
| Number of new editors | N/A | 364 | |
| Number of retained editors | N/A | 657 | |
| Number of all organizers | 50 | 31 | |
| Number of new organizers | N/A | 14 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages (Year 2) | Target - Number of improved pages (Year 2) | Result - Number of created pages (Year 2) | Result - Number of improved pages (Year 2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 28900 | 101000 | ||
| Wikimedia Commons | 20400 | |||
| Wikidata | 4740 | |||
| Wiktionary | ||||
| Wikisource | ||||
| Wikimedia Incubator | ||||
| Translatewiki | ||||
| MediaWiki | ||||
| Wikiquote | ||||
| Wikivoyage | ||||
| Wikibooks | ||||
| Wikiversity | ||||
| Wikinews | ||||
| Wikispecies | ||||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
Tool used and comments (optional):
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/campaigns/ofwa_cumulative_2025/programs
11. Did you set other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): No
11.1. Other Metrics.
In your application, you outlined some other open metrics that you would like to measure. Please fill out the achieved results for each of the open metrics you defined.
| Other Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participation Metrics | Participants: Engage individuals globally, with a focus on Africa and beyond, in various Wikimedia-related programs.
Editors: Encourage and train new and returning contributors to actively edit Wikimedia projects. Organizers: Build leadership capacity by training community members to become organizers and facilitators. |
2550 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Content Contribution Metrics | Increase contributions to Wikimedia projects through edits and new article, uploads and item creation as well as translations. | 12300 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Community Stories and Narratives (Qualitative Metric) | Gather and share community success stories and case studies showcasing the impact of Wikimedia projects on participants and local communities through diff posts, mailing lists, social media and other story telling platforms. | 30 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity and Inclusion in Contributions | We aim to ensure that at least 30% of our contributions focus on underrepresented content areas (e.g., gender-related topics, cultural heritage of marginalized communities, and minority languages). | 30 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Part 3: Skill Development / Capacity Building
[edit]12. Reflecting on your programmatic (external) and organizational (internal) work, did your grant support you to undergo any skill development that made a difference to your success? If yes, what skill was developed, and how did it lead to success? (e.g. received coaching on public speaking, attended training on nonviolent communication, hosted professional development conversations on leadership, learned and used a new tool for project management, etc.)? Can you share any materials? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 12.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.2 (Diversity balance) and 3.1 (Diverse, Skilled, and Accountable Leadership):
- Describe actions taken to prioritize gender balance in affiliate leadership, as well as any areas of diversity relevant to your affiliate's context (2.2).
- Describe the management, financial, or other leadership skills of your affiliate leaders. If you have a succession plan, please include it here (3.1).
- Describe any training or skill development (as outlined in the question above) (3.1).
- Incorporate into the annual report a disclosure of conflict of interests (if any) from the leadership (3.1).
Yes. The grant supported leadership, facilitation, advocacy, and partnership-building skills among staff and community leaders. Participation in global convenings like DRIF and facilitation of cross-sector workshops strengthened our ability to engage policymakers, journalists, and institutions. These skills directly contributed to the success of Ghana Polls, the Information Integrity Workshop, and regional collaborations. Also, team retreat and Train the Trainer supported team bonding and capacity building.
13. What is one capacity/skill area that you would like to focus on for the next year? And how do you plan to achieve this capacity? (required)
In the next year, OFWA aims to strengthen public policy advocacy and fundraising capacity. This will be achieved through targeted mentorship, collaboration with experienced advocacy organizations, and structured learning around unrestricted funding and sustainability.
14. If you have additional information or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. Use the space below to upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your report.
For affiliates, also use this section (Question 14) to fulfill the Affiliate Health Criteria requirements.
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for affiliate governance, including affiliate leadership and membership with a breakdown of the demographics; how elections are conducted; how conflicts of interest are declared; and how decisions are made and communicated (2.2, 2.3, 3.1).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for activities incorporating, promoting awareness about, or enforcing the Universal Code of Conduct in your affiliate's activities (3.3).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for internal membership engagement, such as notes from your regular meetings and how you communicate to or involve your membership (4.1).
A key reflection from this period is that Wikimedia communities are most resilient when they are embedded within broader social systems—education, media, and policy—rather than operating in isolation. OFWA will continue to prioritize community-led, context-aware approaches that position open knowledge as a public good essential to democratic participation and digital inclusion.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]For affiliates, also use this section (Part 4: Financial reporting) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 3.2 (Financial & Legal Compliance).
| Description | Amount spent (GHS) |
|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 71201.84 |
| Operational costs | 33015.8 |
| Programmatic costs | 60942.96 |
| Total (Year 2) | 163800 |
| Other revenue | 1360 |
| Remaining funds (Year 2) | N/A |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
163800 GHS
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 33015.8 GHS
- Programmatic costs: 60942.96 GHS
- Staff and contractor costs: 71201.84 GHS
17. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): Yes
- 17.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 1360 GHS
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 1360 GHS
18. Provide a financial report document which will provide the details of funds received and spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qm9IoS3z4y8NUgaBgV41za3RMIRDLGxgsBeT3oAIgqU/edit?usp=sharing
18.2. 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)
N/A
19. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding?: No
20. Final confirmations (required)
- 20.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement? You must be in compliance with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement. In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the Wikimedia Foundation mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
- Yes
- 20.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
- Yes
- 20.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
- Yes
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