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Wiki in Africa
Wiki in Africa Multi-Year General Support 2023-25
01 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Report ID: 11474
Report status: Under review
Report due date: 30 January 2025
Grant ID: G-GS-2209-10315
Amount funded: 7494217.2 ZAR, 486000 USD
Amount spent: 3064496 ZAR
Reporting year (multi-year): 2024
Year of funding (multi-year): Year 2
Yearly Learning Report for General Support Fund (Year 2 - 2024)
Wikimedia Affiliate Report for Wikimedia Affiliates
Affiliate Health Criteria navigation for Wikimedia Affiliates

Part 1: Understanding your work

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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.

As we review the impact of 2024 (2nd year) and head into the planned activities for 2025 (3rd year), we can safely say that we are on track to achieve the goals set in the initial 3-year plan submitted to the WMF in 2022. 

In short, 2024 was a very successful year. The work that Wiki In Africa does encounters many expected and unexpected challenges as its programs flex, evolve and scale to better support the needs of a growing complex community across Africa and beyond. To do this effectively, the organisation must be stable and sustainable, work processes must be well managed and planned, and volunteers, community members, staff, and board members must be engaged and actively participating in our work.  

Wiki In Africa continues to operate with a small, supportive, increasingly experienced and highly effective part-time team. We added two new team members but lost one in a devastating tragedy. 

All planned organizational goals and project activities were completed, and the expected outcomes were met and exceeded. The project's activities are documented in this report and on the links below. From an organisational perspective, we completed the evolution and consolidation of branding across Wiki In Africa and its projects. This led to a fresh approach and high engagement with the broader community across all media channels. 

There was significant engagement with the Wikimedia community in the on-Wiki, social media and other community spaces. Our flagship projects' ongoing support and activation strategies had increased and intense participation by organisers and the Wikimedia community. Our dedication to being multilingual received a boost with strategic decisions around activating linguistic ambassadors for Wiki Loves Africa and engaging the on-going dedicated services of a French/English translator. Community members have been encouraged to take charge in active leadership, i.e. being guest hosts on WikiAfrica Hour, creating and guiding the new WikiOtto initiative from the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group members, being Wiki Loves Africa linguistic ambassadors. Wikimedia community experiences were celebrated through In Focus sections for the new format for WikiAfrica Hour, and women in the Wikimedia movement were celebrated as part of Wiki Loves Women’s Inspiring Open. 

Governance has been a key focus in 2024. Internally, organisational policies have been reviewed and received Board approval. A new engagement strategy with the board saw an increase in check-in meetings, program knowledge and participation in strategy and other aspects of the organisation. Governance extended beyond the organisation, with Wiki In Africa hosting a panel discussion on governance at Wiki Indaba 2024, and both EDs were members of the Wikimedia EDs group.

From a worldwide Wikimedia perspective, Wiki In Africa’s ISA Tool won the Coolest Tool’s Eggbeater Award at Wikimania 24. Wiki In Africa supported the WikiWomen Collaborative’s launch in March, presented our journey on Let’s Connect, and attended and presented at Wikimania Katowice, WikiIndaba Johannesburg, WikiArabia Muscat, Wiki Convention Francophone in Montreal and the Wiki ED meeting in Stockholm. The inner workings of the Wikimedia movement events, policies, governance, community structures, and projects were repeatedly showcased, discussed and made visible through WikiAfrica Hour. African delegate experiences at Wikimedia Summit, Wikimania, Wiki Indaba, and WikiArabia were recorded at each event and shared through WikiAfrica Hour’s Echoes segments. 

Our programs are increasingly being recognised beyond Wikimedia. WikiChallenge African Schools (WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique) won theOpen Education Awards for Excellence 2024 Open Pedagogy Prize. Wiki In Africa also attended the OEGlobal 2024 conference in Brisbane, Australia.

Finally, we were excited to explore and co-create alternative funding pathways with the Wikimedia Foundation for some key programs - specifically SheSaid and Wiki Loves Africa. We look forward to achieving more in 2025!

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)

Wiki In Africa’s five closing highlights of 2024 were:

  1.  Wiki Loves Africa: 10 years celebrated with 116,190+ images entered from 55 countries being viewed +1,86 billion! times on Wikimedia projects. The images illustrate 19,719 articles across 437 Wikimedia projects. 
  2. Wiki Loves Women’s SheSaid: The 2024 drive resulted in 11,029 new or improved articles across 18 language Wikiquotes!
  3. WikiChallenge African Schools’ 7th year: 337 schools in 9 countries registered, resulting in 151 articles, 715 images and 38 videos being added! WikiChallenge African Schools was awarded the 2024 Open Education Awards for Excellence’s Open Pedagogy Award.
  4. WikiAfrica Hour was relaunched with a new format that showcased 8 Wikimedia-related topics hosted by 8 different Wikimedians and showcased African delegate experiences at Wikimedia Summit, Wikimania, WikiIndaba and WikiArabia. 
  5.  Wiki Loves Women’s Focus Group collaborated to create and plan a new drive on WikiData – Oto – to be launched in 2025.

There were several key 2024 successes that we are building on in 2025. There is not enough space to include them all, however here are a few:

Wiki Loves Africa: 10 years!!

  • Linguistic Ambassadors - in 2024, we set up a linguistic ambassadors system across 3 languages to better serve the Wiki Loves Africa organising teams. It was an experiment, and some aspects worked while some did not (e.g. nobody applied for the Portuguese position). Discussions took place with the Ambassadors in late 2024, and strategic adjustments were made to outline expectations, improve communications, and build visibility for the Ambassadors. 
  • Video Prizes – during 2024, specific attention was paid to the video contributions for the contest. This was done by expanding prize categories to include 3, ensuring specific video formats are submitted to the contest. The prize categories were - narrative, reportage and clips. This saw a marked increase in video submissions and the quality of submissions (especially from the second Wiki Loves Africa training program attendees in Cote d’Ivoire). 
  • Wiki Loves Africa Facilitator transition – After the unexpected passing of Wilson, we had to move swiftly to ensure that the community and project didn't suffer. We decided not to make a public call for a new facilitator. Instead, we contacted people who had previously applied to WIA positions, as well as individuals we thought could fill in the role successfully. The ambassadors network proved to be a good way to get to know how people worked and ensure that they also had “internal” knowledge of the complexities of the project.

WikiChallenge African Schools – 

  • Extension to Anglophone – After seven years of focusing only on the francophone space, in 2024, a pilot contest was tested in the English-speaking country Sierra Leone. In 2025, this bi-lingual impact is being expanded. It now includes three English-speaking countries (Sierra Leone, Botswana and Liberia) alongside the 10 francophone countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinée, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tunisia).
  • Awards and recognition – WikiChallenge African Schools (WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique) won theOpen Education Awards for Excellence 2024 Open Pedagogy Prize. 

ISA Tool –

  • New life – For a few years, ISA Tool has been technically unsupported and in 2023/4 this became unacceptable. This changed in 2024, starting the year with a co-organised WikiMentor Africa hackathon that helped to train and galvanise the community, support fixes for the tool and employ a person specific to the tool (resulting in new “how to” videos and community engagement). 
  • Awards and recognition – In addition, ISA won the Coolest Tool Eggbeater Award at Wikimania 2024, which led to renewed energy and attention, and ISA was showcased as a GLAM user story([1] ). In 2025 we plan to recruit technical volunteers to help maintain and improve the tool.

Wiki Loves Women – 

  • WLW Focus Group – After 3 years of training and fellowship, the WLW focus group members were encouraged to put their training into practice and collaborate on a collective project. They rose to the occasion, coming together to launch a new drive on Wikidata, called Oto. This new drive will be supported and rolled out during 2025.
  • SheSaid - The Wikiquote SheSaid initiative held a very successful campaign in 2024 with a large amount of content created – 11,029 new or improved articles across 18 language Wikiquotes! SheSaid has become a driver for getting minor language Wikiquotes out of the incubator – 3 incubator communities took part in 2024. More early stage language teams will be approached next year to encourage new instances of Wikiquote..
  • Inspiring Open – for the last two years Inspiring Open has not had funding, however 5 interviews with key female Wikimedia leaders have been conducted. These complement a new format for WikiAfrica Hour which, during the “In Focus segment” ensures Inspiring Open interviews with key women leaders. The In-Focus segments recorded a further 3 women. Their interviews will be published in 2025.

Multilingual Community Support – 

  • Wiki Loves Africa Ambassador program - see above
  • Meta translation drive – Unable to rely solely on Wikimedia volunteers (despite deploying many tactics, with varying degrees of success), we spent the last quarter of 2024 ensuring the translation from English into French of Meta and Diff content (some related to WIA activities but not all). We recruited a translator and have set up the system to work with him on translations for WIA and other Wikimedia groups (a pilot is running with Wikimedia CH).

Visibility, promotion and recognition – 

  • Wiki In Africa and all project rebranding – the branding for Wiki In Africa and its projects was consolidated through a rebranding program. All projects now have a similar visual language and colour palettes. In 2025, this will extend to consolidating the Wiki In Africa websites across all projects and Meta/Commons/Wikiquote / Vikidia.
  • Recognition – Wiki In Africa project won 2 (!) international awards in 2024. See the ISA Tool and WikiChallenge African Schools section above for details.
  • Increased visibility and engagement - In 2024 our communications built on previous strategies and tried new ones to increase engagement across all our communication platforms. Wiki In Africa’s social media spaces reacted accordingly showing, for example, a 43.2% rise in mentions on X,  and 13.6% and 33.8% rise in engagement on X and Facebook respectively. Despite these gains, media views on X have been declining. We put this down to the turmoil in some of the social media spaces in 2024. We are strategically launching profiles on other platforms to maintain our content integrity and values and expanding our content and engagement strategies on successful existing platforms like Facebook and Linked In. 

WMF Grants Pathway –

  • We were approached by WMF grant team to pilot on rapid grants in 2024. We are currently immersed in the pilot version with Wiki Loves Africa (so far successfully). Other groups will use the outcome of the pilot to inform their own grant pathways. From the WIA position, the new rapid grant pathway is expected to enroll in 2025 fully. This will require additional resources for the team through the process, i.e. pathway management, liaison and engagement with the community grant reviewers.

All activities (and stories) for Wiki In Africa programs are detailed here:https://w.wiki/CtvV

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).

2024 Overview Activities Report:https://w.wiki/CtvV 

Results and best practice pages:

Wiki In Africa media coverage:


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! We are always looking for opportunities to share and learn from other organisers.

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.

Wiki Loves Africa feedback from ambassadors, organisers & participants

Detailed information here:'https://w.wiki/Ct$S 

At the end of the contest, a feedback meeting was held with the Ambassadors. In addition to posting one general survey to assess participant experiences, interviews were held with local organizers. Unfortunately, Wilson held interviews with the organisers. Some of the interview data was lost due to the tragic event of Wilson's passing. Despite all efforts, most of these interviews could not be recovered.

The general survey was shared with all participants. The WLA 2024 survey was run from Jun - Jul 2024 using a WMF Qualtrix account, while the local organizers' interview sessions were virtual. 

Detailed 2024 survey findings are published here:https://w.wiki/Ctzj 

  • We received 123 responses, offering valuable insights into participants' experiences with Wiki Loves Africa 2024.
  • Nearly half (46%) of respondents were introduced to Wikimedia projects through Wiki Loves Africa.
  • Over half (54%) learned about Wikimedia Commons through the campaign.
  • Participants were highly satisfied with their Wiki Loves Africa 2024 experience, rating it an average of 4.06 out of 5.00.
  • The best aspect of contributing to Wiki Loves Africa 2024 for more than half (67%) of the respondents was the chance to share their community's story with the world.
  • 43% of the respondents praised the online training and support provided by the international team. They said it was their best aspect of organization for Wiki Loves Africa 2024
  • Over half (52%) of the respondents had challenges with equipment, thereby relying on mobile phones to be able to contribute.
  • 44% of the respondents experienced internet disruptions during training.
  • More than half (54%) of the respondents had challenges with the high internet/data costs.
  • The majority (88%) of respondents expressed enthusiasm for participating in Wiki Loves Africa 2025.

Coverage:

Wiki Loves Women Focus Group and SheSaid Organisers

Detailed information here:[9][10] 

Focus Group: 

Feedback Survey: Link: Wiki Loves Women Focus Group Feedback Survey

  • 100% of the members are still interested in actively participating in the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group.
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 40% of the members rated the group's impact on their skills as a 5, while 60% rated it as a 4, indicating a strong positive effect on their development.
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 40% of members rated the impact of their involvement as a 5, indicating a high level of personal and professional growth. Another 40% rated it as a 4, suggesting strong positive development. The remaining 20% rated the impact as a 3, reflecting moderate improvement.

Focus Group: Member quotes:

  • "What I like the most about the group is the affirmation that we as women can work together and in harmony. Having access to support from Wiki in Africa and the telegram group where I can ask questions and reach out to the group."
  • "I like the Group dynamics and the Perpetual way of thinking about each member's commitment."
  • "Personally, it kept me in the mood of giving through a very tough year. Professionally, it helped me to keep looking forward to improving my skills and continue to be engaged."

Focus Group Coverage:

SheSaid 

Organiser feedback survey

Detailed information: 

Survey Findings

  • Participationː 33% of the local organizers who answered organised the campaign for the first time. 11.1% are involved since 2020. 55.6% are involved since 2023.
  • Communicationsː 44.4% of the local organizers who answered heard about the campaign from their communities. 22.2% from meta. 11.1% from Diff. 11.1% from conferences and presentations.
  • Local events: 77.8% of the local organizers who answered organised several local events, and 22.8% organized only one event.
  • Partnershipsː 44.4% of the local organizers who answered collaborated with external partners.
  • Futureː 66.7% of the local organizers who answered will join the next edition.

Organiser quotes:

  • "Just to say that cordoning off the SheSaid campaign in my community has been such a meaningful experience in my life. It helped improve my skills and experience as well."
  • "It was a great experience. I am really proud and grateful for the opportunity of being part of this amazing journey, and will give my all in achieving the positive aims of this campaign."
  • "It’s been a wonderful and impactful experience for the organizers this year, improving on what we did last year. We made sure to correct all lapses from the previous campaign."

Coverage: 

WikiChallenge African Schools

Detailed information:https://w.wiki/CtyB  

Recognition:

Coverage:

ISA Tool:

Community feedback:

  • "It's an experience I will never forget about and I will love to learn more if I have the opportunity. of course I'll recommend ISA to friends, family and colleagues at work." user:Toontak92, one of the winners of Tell Us about her ISA campaign 2024 about experience to join ISA campaign.

Recognition:

  • ISA received the Coolest Tool Award at Wikimania 2024, categoryEggbeater.

Detailed information: 

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)

Encouraging participation by diverse communities and supporting historically disadvantaged communities is one of our core values. Wiki In Africa’s programs are all designed to encourage diverse organisers and participants to engage on their terms, according to their abilities and context. This core value has been crucial to activating new communities, retaining existing Wikimedians, and ensuring ongoing contributions. This means that new communities are always welcomed and supported. 

Each program has specific elements supporting organisers (e.g., portals, communications assets and suggestions). Our facilitators further support organisers through office hours in main languages that cement their confidence in applying these elements. 

Experts are brought in to explain key concepts and develop on-Wiki and real-world skills. Participants and organisers are given masterclasses in Wiki Loves Africa to encourage quality submissions.  

Video tutorials, masterclasses, and other supportive content are constantly added to the Wiki In Africa resource portal (https://w.wiki/95sM) to be used beyond our programs.

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):

Volunteers from our communities, Partners proactive interest

Part 2: Metrics for Year 2

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9. Wikimedia Metrics: Participants, editors, organizers.
Wikimedia Metrics Target (Year 2) Results (Year 2) Comments and tools used
Number of all participants 1300 5636 Calculated from:

WLA contributing photographers = 796 ISA Participants = 176 WAHour guests = 54 WLW Inspiring Open guests = 3 WikiChallenge Participating Children (ave. 1 class of 30 kids/school, 1 article per school, 151 articles) = 4530

Number of all editors 1300 1106 9.3 and 9.4 applies only to Wiki Loves Africa. It is impossible to gather participation data on SheSaid due to the lack of tools the support Wikiquote.
Number of new editors N/A 1106
Number of retained editors N/A 1106
Number of all organizers 78 186 All organisers:

WLA local org team members (2 member / organising team) = 102 SheSaid Event organisers (rapid grant applicants) = 12 WLW Focus group members = 28 SheSaid participating communities (1 organiser) = 15 ISA campaign creators = 41 WikiChallenge organisers + Wikimedia liaisons = 18

It is not currently possible for us to assess the new Wikimedia organisers for each of these activities.

Number of new organizers N/A 186
10. Wikimedia Metrics: Contributions to Wikimedia Projects
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
Wikimedia Commons 16245 67134
Wikidata
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote 11029 938
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia

11. Did you set other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): Yes

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
Leadership Journey of core participants to Wiki Loves Women We have trained and mentored core participants in the Wiki Loves Women program since 2017. What has happened to them since their initial involvement in the program? What was the impact of the collaboration on their journey? Did that reinforce their leadership?

This is a qualitative metric we will continue to track in 2024

N/A N/A Results:

Feedback Survey End 2024 – Key Findings

  • 100% of the members are still interested in actively participating in the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group.
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 40% of the members rated the group's impact on their skills as a 5, while 60% rated it as a 4, indicating a strong positive effect on their development.
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 40% of members rated the impact of their involvement as a 5, indicating a high level of personal and professional growth. Another 40% rated it as a 4, suggesting strong positive development. The remaining 20% rated the impact as a 3, reflecting moderate improvement.

In 2024 we approached the Focus Group differently. The Focus Group has increased by 12 members with dynamics that is further complicated by the bilingual make up of the group. The working sessions have continued, however we gave the group a challenge to co-create, research, develop and plan a campaign together to run in 2025. They rose to the challenge and have come up with a project on WikiData called Wiki OTO.

Survey: Wiki Loves Women Focus Group Feedback Survey: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Women/Results_and_best_practices_2024#Lessons_Learned
Participation of professional photographers and filmmakers in Wiki Loves Africa For the past three years, we have tried to reach out to photo professionals in Africa. We have employed this strategy in 2023 and intend to continue in 2024, extending it to the African documentary community. Is there an impact on photo quality? Do filmmakers and photographers understand what is an encyclopedic entry? Is there enough awareness of the contest in the professional sphere? What is the level of awareness of the benefits of contributing to Wikimedia Commons?

This is a qualitative metric we would like to continue to track in 2024

N/A 0 There have been considerable strides towards improving the knowledge and understanding of quality submissions - especially for photography. In 2024, over 15 training and office hour sessions were held to increase skills, including sessions on Mobile Photography. A Masterclass series is still being developed but has been delayed due to a lack of resources, especially time. A partnership with a professional photographic grouping is being developed in 2025 to push this aspect further.

The video onboarding and explanation are lacking on Commons. One training program over 2023 & 2024 by a previous WLA video prize winner has shown excellent results. More information about types of acceptable videos, as well as some classes with filmmakers, will make a big difference. This is being looked into during 2025.

Analysis of the number of Wiki Loves Africa submissions voted for quality, feature and value. Analysis of the number of Featured videos.
WikiAfrica Hour impact on the cohesion of Africa's Wikimedian Community We have been running this program since 2021. How effective is this format for imparting knowledge, building community skills, cohesion, and shared purpose? What is its value to the community? Could it be more effective, or are there other elements we could add that would benefit the community more? This is a qualitative metric we would like to continue to track in 2024 N/A 0 At the end of 2023, the first host and facilitator left. This allowed us to do considerable analysis and assessment of the program. We also invited the 103 former guests to provide feedback through an experience survey. Taking this feedback into account and reviewing other programs, the team devised a new program format. The program was re-designed and branded (new visuals, new intro and outro), a new show format was created, and new show notes and structure were developed. For example, each episode is now run by a host (usually) from within the Wikimedia movement who is an expert or experienced in the covered topic and is hoped to be comfortable facilitating a conversation between the guests. Survey. Viewership analytics. Subscriber numbers. The relaunch took place between March and June 2024. It has take the rest of 2024 to get into the flow of the new format. 2025 will put the project to its full test and then hosts, guests, and audience satisfaction will be assessed in late 2025.
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Part 3: Skill Development / Capacity Building

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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 3-year grant has been instrumental in ensuring stability for the organisation. These ensured the following improvements to our work and how we approach it: 

  • Internal processes: Consolidated workflows through the analysis of internal and external steps and processes, this has been done for every program and is reviewed each year
  • Internal processes: Improving each program through a constant iteration: planning, preparation, communication, activities, staff, organiser and community feedback, review, analysis,  etc..
  • Communications: the complexity of using multiple platforms, modes and spaces to reach multilingual communities requires constant research, analytics review, innovation, creativity and feedback loops.
  • Branding: the entire rebranding exercise over 2024 transferred key concepts to the staff, including the need to stick to a brand guide and use the primary and secondary colours for impact.
  • Community engagement: community engagement and listening to improve support and increase engagement, using different platforms and tactics to serve different communities
  • Financials: Consolidation of our accounting practices and processes. Accounting was improved in 2024 by fully migrating to Xero. We’re still learning to master that new tool, but we are getting there…
  • Governance: Creating new and reviewing previous organisational policies (e.g. Conflict of Interest, Code of Conduct, Reimbursement Policy, etc. – some already approved by the board…) is an ongoing process that challenges our thinking and forces us to explore what had been done by other organisations (inside and outside the movement)
  • Board engagement: We increased our interactions with the Board to ensure more knowledge transfer and engagement opportunities. These interactions include bi-monthly update emails, bi-annual check-in meetings, etc. These simple changes have ensured involvement in drafting new policies and improved communications.
  • Creating leadership touch points: In 2024, we piloted the language ambassadors for Wiki Loves Africa, creating intermediary points of contact between the organisers and the Wiki In Africa team. The first year presented significant value of the idea. We are continuing it in 2025 with improvements.
  • Fundraising: In 2024, the EDs involved several members in researching, developing and drafting applications for funding calls. Although the applications were unsuccessful, the involved members developed key skills.

Microfunding process co-creation: We engaged with the WMF grant team to co-create and develop a community-centric process for a new funding pathway for small groups and individuals. This was an opportunity for some team members to learn key skills relating to grant management and facilitation from the other side.

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)

The organisational journey is never complete. Over 2025, we are focusing on the following:

1. Complete the policies and approvals process; in a parallel process, we are also on track to complete the revision of the constitution for Wiki In Africa as required by the South African Reserve Bank to achieve Public Benefit status. 

2. 2026-2030 strategy: begin sharing context and opportunities workshops with staff, approach consultants, and host workshops to support developing and drafting a 5-year strategy by July 2025.

3. Community safety: Explore and adopt a Friendly Space Policy to address UCoC compliance and include training to assist other groups. 

4. Fundraising capacity building: Increase our capacity to raise funds and continue to consult with industry professionals on the best practices. This is an ongoing process, and that requires urgent attention.

5. Staff skills acquisition: Several team members have started or will start following courses on management and organizational skills (via. Coursera, etc.

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).

n/a

Part 4: Financial reporting

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For affiliates, also use this section (Part 4: Financial reporting) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 3.2 (Financial & Legal Compliance).

Budget overview (Year 2)
Description Amount spent (ZAR)
Personnel costs 2782231
Operational costs 250618
Programmatic costs 65516
Total (Year 2) 3064496
Other revenue
Remaining funds (Year 2) 575695

15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)

3064496 ZAR

16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency.  (required)

  • Operational costs: 250618 ZAR
  • Programmatic costs: 2782231 ZAR
  • Staff and contractor costs: 65516 ZAR

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): 0 ZAR
  • 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): ZAR

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/1TdRr1dflH-5R-K4aobOeS6hOIzFfbd-FC1Vmr6oQvw8/edit?gid=0#gid=0

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)

The year went generally according to plan, and we are proud of the work we have achieved.

There are generally five significant elements to note finance-wise:

  • A formerly unexpected opportunity to create a WikiLearn course on “IP and Creative Commons” in French replaced the previously envisioned plan to do a course on Media Training. Whilst the Media Training remains interesting to implement (and is now scheduled for 2025), we decided to seize the opportunity rather than “sticking to the plan”. This new course was developed mainly by Florence on her staff time with support from Jessica (WMF) and Afek for a quick intro design. The first iteration is published but still needs work and external input in 2025. This explains the low spending on this program.
  • Wilson’s passing was unexpected and a huge shock to us all. We successfully took the necessary steps to preserve the WLA program. The team was impacted by grief; we had to deal with his tasks in-house for a while. We also had to start a recruitment drive, interviews and onboarding process quickly. This created minor delays in operating our programs (and accessing some of the materials Wilson had been working on) and paying some expenses (prizes, jury gifts, etc.). But we are catching up, and Hilary has proved to be an excellent person to continue his legacy.
  • We agreed to be a pilot organisation for the WMF’s new Funding Pathways with the grant team. Whilst we have zero regrets for entering into this engagement, we have to admit that it came with additional working time for the 5 of us that we had not expected when making our 2024 plan 18 months ago :) The end of the year proved to be very busy, and some tasks had to be delayed (e.g. staff upskilling… though we could claim that the New Funding Pathways Pilot is an excellent learning experience…). In any case, this explains why some expense lines are less than planned. But again… we are catching up.
  • This year, we moved our accounting to a new software, Xero. This will help us better evaluate where we stand in the future. 
  • For the past 2-3 years, we have been operating with basically zero reserve. I believe we have mentioned this issue in the past 2 years. This is stressful, leading us to be over-cautious when it comes to “non-staff” expenses because we could not afford ANY overspending at all. After the remaining 2024 expenses are paid this year, we should have an “unspent” of USD 15k-20k. This will represent about 10% of our total budget, providing us with about a month's reserve,

19. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding?: Yes

19.1. Please list the amount of unspent funds in your local currency. (required)
575695
19.2.  Explain why you did not use the amount. (required)
Please see note 18.2 and those on the supplied budget. Due to the delays caused by Wilson's passing, there are still some 2024 expenses that are to be paid in early February.
19.3. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
A. Propose to use the underspent funds within this Fund period with PO approval
19.4. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
1. Pay for the last 2024 Wiki Loves Africa Prizes and gifts to jury members and masterclass hosts.

2. Pay for the communication campaign of podcast episodes released in March. 3. Pay the auditor and legal costs for PBO status. 4. The African offline landscape research was scheduled for launch in late 2024 but was postponed due to the team's unanticipated tragedy and stress at that time. This will now take place in 2025. 5. The completion (including visuals), publishing and marketing campaign for the MOOC, created during 2024. 6. Onboard additional communications support during our most pressing external programs, 7. We'd like the WMF to please consider allowing any further leftover expenditure to be added to our reserve.

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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