Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore 2025/Final Report
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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.
The programs and strategies implemented for Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 have significantly contributed to bridging cultural and gender gaps, though several obstacles have highlighted areas for further growth and methodological adjustment.
Success of Key Strategies and Approaches
[edit]The project focused on empowering local leadership and streamlining technical processes, which proved highly effective in achieving core outcomes:
- Regional Prizes and Recognition: The introduction of regional prizes was a major factor in boosting local ownership, helping increase the number of participating country editions from 39 to 59. Similarly, the Best Volunteer Award acted as a powerful motivator, encouraging local organisers to move beyond basic tasks to facilitate photo walks, edit-a-thons, and institutional partnerships.
- Technological Innovation: The use of custom-developed tools, such as CampWiz, CampwixNxt, Statwiz and the Article Generator, significantly streamlined campaign management. These tools were widely adopted by volunteers, enhancing the efficiency of both photo and article contests globally.
- Empowering Inclusive Leadership: By actively encouraging local teams to include at least one woman organiser, the project promoted gender balance in leadership. This approach contributed to Feminism and Folklore becoming one of the largest community organised gender-focused campaigns in Wikimedia’s history, generating over 24,000 articles.
- Grassroots Engagement: Encouraging workshops on community leadership empowered local organisers to build partnerships and foster skill development, ensuring that the work remained a community-led initiative.
Continuation of Feminism and Folklore advocacy sessions.
The following activities were carried out as part of the Wiki Loves Folklore and Feminism and Folklore Advocacy sessions to enhance the representation of gendered narratives and indigenous traditions on Wikimedia platforms. Through a series of international workshops and office hours, the project successfully brought together experts and community members to map feminist perspectives in folklore, document the cultural significance of traditional rituals, and provide technical training for inclusive archive building.
| Date | Activity Topic | Speaker/Facilitator | Documentation Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jan 2025 | Wiki Loves Folklore 2025: Insights, Inspiration, and Collaboration Office Hour | Stella Sessy Agbley
File:2017-11-04 Stockholm, Diversity Conference, Joy Agyepong (01) (freddy2001).jpg|Joy Ageopong || Event Page | |
| 24 Jan 2025 | Mapping Feminism in African Folklore | Tochi Precious | Event Page |
| 15 Feb 2025 | Ignite the Story: WLF 2025 Launch & Global Folklore Insights |
File:User Musahfm.jpg|Musah Fuseini File:Mrb Rafi in the Dark and Light.jpg|Mrb Rafi File:Joris Quarshie.jpg|Joris Quarshie File:Default pfp.jpg| Ailura || Event Page | |
| 28 Feb 2025 | Telling Untold Stories: Documenting Gendered Narratives | Abubakar Ali
File:Wikimedia Hackathon 2025 - Day 2 (22).jpeg|Er. Jinoy Tom Jacob Session Wiki Loves Folklore à Wikimania 2024 02 (cropped).jpg|Tiven2240
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Event Page |
| 15 Mar 2025 | Finding and Curating the Missing Gaps on Gender Disparities | Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight | Event Page |
| 30 Apr 2025 | Gendering the Archive: Building Inclusive Repositories | Rebecca Jeanette Nyinawumuntu | Event Page |
| 20 Jun 2025 | Documenting Indigenous Women’s Wisdom: Elders & Grandmothers | Obiageli Ezeilo | Event Page |
| 18 Jul 2025 | Everyday Feminism in Folklore: Traditional Clothing | thumb|Harriet Bayel | Event Page |
| 26 Sep 2025 | Everyday Feminism: Songs, Dances, and Female Voice in Ritual | Riddhi Sharma | Event Page |
| 28 Nov 2025 | Event Registration on Wikimedia Commons (Office Hour) | thumb|100px|Giovanna Fontenelle (WMF) | Event Page |
Representation at Wikimedia Led events.
During 2025, the Wiki Loves Folklore team was represented at two major global events: the Wikimedia Hackathon in Istanbul and Wikimania in Nairobi, where we engaged with volunteer organizers, community leaders, Wikimedia staff, and potential partners. At the Wikimedia Hackathon, we showcased our technical advancements, officially launched the Campwiz Nxt Tool as an open-source repository, and migrated our systems to Toolforge. We also coordinated technical tool bug-fixing efforts and distributed project merchandise including postcards and T-shirts to contributors while collaborating closely with various volunteers and staff. Our participation continued at Wikimania 2025 with a session on the journey of Wiki Loves Folklore, a dedicated poster session for both the Folklore and Feminism campaigns, and a #WeTogether community meetup where global Wikimedians shared ideas and challenges to help shape a more inclusive, volunteer-driven project. Although we had also prepared promotional materials for WikiIndaba, that event was unfortunately cancelled due to unavoidable security reasons.
Obstacles and Methodological Learnings
[edit]While the strategies were largely successful, several challenges emerged that have informed future learning and adjustments:
- Regional Imbalances: There was limited engagement from the Global North during the advocacy campaign, revealing a need to diversify regional participation and develop more tailored outreach strategies.
- Scaling Limitations: The sources indicate that public relations and marketing efforts need to scale beyond the immediate Wikimedia and Google Ads ecosystems to attract broader global attention and stronger partnerships.
- Need for Physical Connection: Despite the success of virtual office hours, the team identified a critical need for in-person collaboration (such as an Annual General Meeting) to improve strategic planning and team alignment.
- Resource Accessibility: Feedback from local organisers highlighted a demand for clearer, more accessible resources and toolkits. This has taught the team that toolkits and curriculums must be more comprehensive and translated into more languages to support local capacity-building effectively.
- Sustainability and Funding: To seize global opportunities and ensure our operations can scale effectively, we are strategically evolving to plan into a more structured organization with funding mechanisms.
- Language Barriers: Given the global nature of the project, occasional language differences arise during coordination with non-native English speakers.
The growth of this project can be likened to cultivating a global garden: while the custom tools provided the necessary irrigation and the regional prizes acted as the right fertiliser to double the yield of contributions, the team discovered that different "climates" (like the Global North) require unique gardening techniques to truly thrive.
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)
There is a clear and ambitious plan to build on the successes of the 2025 campaign, driven by new priorities and a vision for sustainable global growth. The project is currently transitioning from a series of successful contests into a more structured, resilient international movement.
Plans for Future Growth and New Priorities
[edit]The project has identified several strategic priorities to expand its reach and impact:
- Scaling through Legal Recognition: A primary goal is the formation of a structured organisation. This move is specifically designed to address current limitations in fundraising within the Wikimedia ecosystem, allowing the team to scale operations sustainably and strengthen global impact.
- Regional Expansion and Diversification: Building on the success in the Global South, a new priority is to engage the Global North, specifically North America. The team will be seeking support to meet with regional grant officers to discuss the "next programme" and develop tailored outreach strategies.
- Strengthening Strategic Alignment: The team has identified a need for in-person collaboration, specifically through a physical Annual General Meeting (AGM). This is viewed as essential for improving strategic planning, partnership development, and overall team productivity.
- Technical and Educational Enhancement: Future plans include enhancing technical tools like CampWiz to streamline sign-ups and prize distribution, alongside creating a more comprehensive toolkit and curriculum to better support local organisers.
- Creation of Toolkits: To better support our global network, we are developing comprehensive toolkits designed to provide organizers with a clear, effective roadmap for managing the campaign. These resources will be shared with community leads for localization and translation, ensuring that organizers can implement the project successfully in their own languages and regional contexts.
Lessons for a Newcomer: What Works and Why
[edit]If you are new to organising large-scale community initiatives, the following methodologies proved exceptionally effective for Wiki Loves Folklore:
- Incentivise Local Leadership: Don’t just give out global prizes; use regional awards. We found that these significantly boosted local ownership, helping us grow from 39 to 59 country editions. Similarly, the Best Volunteer Award inspired organisers to go beyond basic tasks and lead creative activities like photo walks and institutional partnerships.
- Tech Should Empower, Not Just Manage: Our custom-developed tools, like CampWiz and the Article Generator, were not just for the international team, they were widely adopted by volunteers. Providing the community with high-quality, user-friendly infrastructure makes the entire movement more efficient.
- Representation is a Growth Strategy: By actively encouraging local teams to include at least one woman organiser, we promoted gender balance and inclusive leadership. This focus on underrepresented voices helped make Feminism and Folklore the largest gender-focused campaign in Wikimedia history.
- Diversify Your Communication: In the past editions in order to reach a broader audience we need to look beyond the immediate platform. Engaging social media influencers, using radio stations/TV shows, and working with local government agencies helped us and our local national coordinators to share the campaign with people who might never have heard of Wikimedia otherwise.
The growth of this movement is like building a global bridge: while the initial structures were strong enough to carry the first few travellers, the plan for the future involves reinforcing the foundations with a formal nonprofit status and adding new lanes to reach regions like the Global North, ensuring the bridge can support a much larger, more diverse crowd.
Hear the inspirational stories behind the winning media.
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).
Media Partnership links
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- epaper.thesaveratimes.in/c/77900588
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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)
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- https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/10/14/how-a-chat-in-poland-sparked-nature-and-folklore-projects-in-india
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.
Yes, feedback was actively collected from community organisers and participants, and comprehensive impact-specific data was tracked to evaluate the success of the 2025 activities.
Community Feedback and Qualitative Results
[edit]The project maintained continuous dialogue with its global community to understand the impact of its strategies:
- Direct Organiser Feedback: Feedback from local organisers specifically highlighted a demand for clearer and more accessible resources, such as a more comprehensive toolkit and curriculum to support their local efforts.
- Technical Feedback: The community indicated a need for enhanced technical tools to better manage participant sign-ups and ensure the timely distribution of prizes.
- Ongoing Dialogue: Input and discussions regarding campaign strategy, execution, and challenges were facilitated through local language channels and community platforms, ensuring that leadership remained responsive to grassroots needs.
- Emotional Resonance: Reflections from the community revealed that Wiki Loves Folklore is viewed as more than a contest; it is a "powerful expression of local culture, identity, and human emotion" that resonates deeply with participating groups.
- Encourag Feedback: The Best Volunteer Award and regional prizes were identified as significant motivators that encouraged local organisers to take ownership and expand their activities to include photo walks and institutional partnerships.
Impact-Specific Data (Quantitative Results)
[edit]The sources provide extensive data demonstrating the campaign's reach and productivity:
- Participation and Reach:
- 9,733 volunteers engaged globally.
- 59 country coordinators organised local editions, contributing to a total of 142 countries providing media contributions.
- The project successfully organised 7 international editions and 2 global campaigns.
- Content Creation:
- Over 24,000 articles were added or improved (more than doubling the previous year's count), making Feminism and Folklore the largest gender-focused Wikipedia campaign to date.
- The writing contest involved 51 different language Wikipedias.
- Media Contributions:
- The campaign resulted in the upload of 85,613 media files (with some sources indicating a total as high as 207,804 media files freely available on Wikimedia Commons).
- The number of images submitted more than doubled from the previous year, rising from 40,000 to over 84,000.
External Recognition
[edit]As an additional data point for impact, the campaign tool CampWiz received the Coolest Tool Award at Wikimania 2024, signifying its value and positive reception within the broader Wikimedia movement.
Collecting this feedback and data is like tuning a global orchestra: while the statistics provide the "volume" and proof of a grand performance, the direct feedback from organisers provides the "harmony," telling the conductors exactly which instruments need more support or clearer scores to play their best.
Wiki Loves Folklore and Feminism and Folklore Community celebrations
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, indigenous groups , 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, indigenous groups, 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)
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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):
N/A
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 1000 | 2243 | Uploaders in Cat Tool, Campwiz |
| Number of all editors | 350 | 2243 | |
| Number of new editors | 250 | 1133 | |
| Number of retained editors | N/A | ||
| Number of all organizers | 35 | 59 | Wikimedia Commons and Meta Wiki sign up pages |
| Number of new organizers | 5 | 22 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 350 | 23428 | 816 | |
| Wikimedia Commons | 12000 | 85613 | ||
| Wikidata | ||||
| Wiktionary | ||||
| Wikisource | ||||
| Wikimedia Incubator | ||||
| Translatewiki | ||||
| MediaWiki | ||||
| Wikiquote | ||||
| Wikivoyage | ||||
| Wikibooks | ||||
| Wikiversity | ||||
| Wikinews | ||||
| Wikispecies | ||||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
Tool used and comments (optional):
Uploaders in Cat, Campwiz, Fountain and Events Dashboard.
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 name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
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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).
The grant provided critical support for both programmatic and organisational skill development, particularly in the areas of community leadership, technical management, and financial accountability, which were base to the campaign's record-breaking success.
Key Skills Developed and Their Impact on Success
[edit]- Community Leadership and Campaign Organising: Through dedicated workshops, the project empowered local organisers to move beyond simple participation to active leadership. This skill development enabled them to build independent partnerships with cultural institutions, government bodies, and media outlets, effectively decentralising the project's growth. This grassroots-level ownership was a primary driver in increasing the number of participating country editions from 39 to 59.
- Technical Literacy and Tool Management: The international team and local volunteers developed skills in using and managing custom-developed infrastructure, such as the Article Generator and CampWiz. These technical skills streamlined the management of both photo and article contests globally, allowing the team to handle over 24,000 articles and 85,000 media files efficiently.
- Financial Management and Transparency: The grant supported the development of skills in financial tracking and fund management. By using tools like Aprova and an in-house finance tracking system, local communities were better supported in managing their budgets, which improved overall organisational transparency and accountability.
- Inclusive Leadership: A specific focus was placed on developing inclusive leadership skills, particularly by encouraging teams to include at least one woman organiser. This resulted in Feminism and Folklore becoming one of the largest gender-focused campaigns in Wikimedia’s history.
- Legal and Organisational Scaling: On an internal level, the team has been developing the necessary skills to transition into a formal entity by forming a structured organisation. This organisational development is aimed at strengthening long-term global impact and expanding fundraising capabilities beyond the current ecosystem.
Materials and Resources
[edit]The project utilised and shared several materials to facilitate this development:
- Inclusive Toolkits: These were designed to be accessible and were translated into multiple languages to support local capacity building in diverse regions.
- Virtual Office Hours: These sessions provided a platform for continuous mentorship and support for national coordinators and organisers throughout the campaign period.
- Custom Platforms: We plan to build tools like OrganiseIT to serve as both a management platform and a learning resource for improved campaign coordination.
Developing these skills across a global network is like training a team of architects rather than just hiring builders: by providing the workshops and tools (the blueprints and specialised machinery), the grant allowed local organisers to design and build their own "cultural monuments" on Wikipedia, ensuring the project's structure is both locally relevant and globally resilient.
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)
For the upcoming year, a primary capacity area of focus is Strategic Outreach and Regional Diversification. The sources outline a comprehensive plan to achieve this capacity through several key organisational and programmatic shifts:
- External Marketing and PR Scaling: There is a plan to scale public relations and marketing efforts externally, moving beyond the existing Wikimedia and Google Ads ecosystems. This is intended to attract broader media attention, foster international partnerships, and build global awareness of the project’s mission. Diversification of PR is important for marketing or the programs but also leading fundraising initiatives.
- Enhanced Resource Accessibility: To better support a more diverse range of local organisers, the team plans to develop a more comprehensive toolkit, offline and online resources and curriculums, ensuring easy to translate readymade resources for quick use for community-led initiatives.
- Internal Alignment: The team has identified that a physical Annual General Meeting (AGM) is necessary to improve strategic planning, coordination, and impact assessment, which will be vital for managing a more geographically diverse campaign.
- Multi year funding: Given the timeline of the campaign in the start of the year a consistent multiyear funding could help in effective implementation of campaign timelines.
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).
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 | Planned / received budget for this category (USD) | Amount spent (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 9500 | 9500 |
| Operational costs | 30760 | 30760 |
| Programmatic costs | 40260 | 40260 |
| Total General Support Fund | 40260 | 40240 |
| Other revenue | ||
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | N/A |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
40240 USD
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 30760 USD
- Programmatic costs: 40260 USD
- Staff and contractor costs: 9500 USD
17. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): No
- 17.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): USD
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): USD
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.
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)
Note from fiscal sponsor: slight overspend of $457.83 that will be carried forward into 2026.
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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