Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda Support Grant 2025-2026

statusUnder review

Wikimedia Community Fund

Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda Support Grant 2025-2026

Fluxx IDR-GS-2501-17867

start date2025-07-01

end date2026-08-31

budget (local currency)95000000 RWF

amount requested (USD)69350 USD ^{[note 1]}

grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)

funding regionSSA

decision fiscal year2024-25

funding program roundRound 2

organization (if applicable)Open Source Knowledge Rwanda

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Applicant information

Organization name or Wikimedia Username for individuals. (required): Open Source Knowledge Rwanda

Do you have any approved General Support Fund requests? (required): Yes, I have already applied and received a General Support Fund

You are applying as a(n). (required): Wikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)

Are your group or organization legally registered in your country? (required): Yes

Do you have a fiscal sponsor?: No

Fiscal organization name.: N/A

Please provide links to the following documents if they are available

These documentation can be provided in your local language(s), no translations required.

Organizational website
Detailed financial reporting and/or audits
Documentation of the governance structure, board list, governance processes
Documentation of the general assembly decision on your plan

www.wikimedia.rw.

Main proposal

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required): Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda Support Grant 2025-2026

2. Do you want to apply for the multi-year base funding for 3 years? (required) (only for returning applicants): No

2.1. Provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan? (required)

N/A

3. Proposed start date. (required): 2025-07-01

4. Proposed end date. (required): 2026-08-31

5. Does your organization or group have an Affiliate or Organizational Annual Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required): No

6. Does your affiliate, organization or group have a Strategic Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required): No

7. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required): Rwanda

8. What are your programs, approaches, and strategies? What are the challenges that you are trying to address and how will your strategies support you in addressing these challenges? (required)

Building on the progress and insights gained from the 2024-2025 pilot initiatives,Wikimedia Rwanda remains committed to fostering a sustainable and thriving free knowledge ecosystem. Our focus for 2025-2026 will be on four key program areas: .Kinyarwanda language promotion .Community engagement and outreach, .Content creation .Capacity building & skills development.

Program Areas and Strategic Focus

1. Kinyarwanda Language Promotion

Enhancing Kinyarwanda Wikipedia: Strengthening user experience by improving both the quality and quantity of Kinyarwanda-language articles. Through workshops with Kinyarwanda experts

Expanding Contributions: Encouraging participation in Wikimedia projects such as Wikidata and Wikiquote to diversify and enrich Kinyarwanda content.

Cultural Heritage Integration: Advancing the "Kinyarwanda Promotion Development for Heritage and Museums" project to document and preserve Rwandan heritage.

Institutional Collaborations: Reinforcing partnerships with key institutions such as the Rwanda Heritage Academy, Rwanda National Archives, and other cultural entities to support the growth of Kinyarwanda content on Wikimedia platforms.

2. Community Engagement & Outreach

Wiki Club Initiative: Scaling up outreach in secondary schools to nurture a broader and more diverse Wikimedia community.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I): Strengthening engagement with women, girls, and individuals with disabilities to ensure a more inclusive Wikimedia ecosystem.

Community Growth Strategies: Expanding active membership from 50 to 80 participants, engaging 15 secondary schools, and achieving 50% overall member participation.

Strengthening Partnerships: Enhancing collaborations with stakeholders to support knowledge-sharing and innovation.

3. Content Creation & Capacity Building

Regular Edit-a-thons & Training Workshops: Conducting monthly training sessions to improve article creation and editing skills.

Specialized Training Programs: Offering workshops on Kinyarwanda Wikipedia editing, Wikidata contributions, and project management in collaboration with language experts from the Rwanda Heritage Academy.

Mentorship & Leadership Development: Establishing mentorship programs and engaging experienced editors as trainers.

Targeted Outreach: Implementing focused outreach programs to foster long-term engagement and knowledge-sharing.

Challenges and Strategies

Challenge 1: Limited Kinyarwanda Content

Strategy: Organizing consistent Kinyarwanda Wikipedia edit-a-thons and workshops to enhance the quantity and quality of articles.

Challenge 2: Limited Community Size

Strategy: Expanding the Wiki Club initiative to include more secondary schools and diverse participants, ensuring sustained growth of the Wikimedia community.

Challenge 3: Limited Partnerships

Strategy: Strengthening relationships with institutions such as Rwanda Library Services, Rwanda National Archives, and New York University Abu Dhabi to access resources and expertise for collaborative projects.

Annual Plan Objectives for 2025-2026

Objective 1: Skills and Leadership Development

Baseline: Existing training programs and resources.

Target: Conduct specialized training workshops on Kinyarwanda Wikipedia and Wikidata editing, as well as project management.

Activities: Develop comprehensive training materials, invite experienced editors as trainers, and provide mentoring opportunities.

Objective 2: Quality Community Growth

Baseline: 101 members, 50 active participants, 5 engaged secondary schools.

Target: Increase active members to 80, engage 15 secondary schools, and achieve 50% overall member participation.

Activities: Facilitate outreach programs in schools, host community engagement events, and provide sustained support to new members.

Objective 3: Promotion of Kinyarwanda Language on Wikimedia Projects

Baseline: Existing Kinyarwanda Wikipedia content.

Target: Implement the "Kinyarwanda Promotion Development for Heritage and Museums" project to expand content related to Rwandan heritage.

Activities: Strengthen partnerships with museums and cultural institutions, host edit-a-thons dedicated to Rwandan heritage, and create digital resources for Kinyarwanda content development.

Objective 4: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I)

Baseline: Existing Wikimedia initiatives and pilot projects.

Target: Fully integrate DE&I principles across all Wikimedia Rwanda programs and activities.

Activities: Establish a DE&I award to recognize contributions from women and individuals with disabilities, actively involve underrepresented groups in event planning, and implement affirmative action for women’s participation in all activities.

Cross-Cutting Strategy: Partnerships

Objective: Strengthen and expand partnerships with key institutions to enhance knowledge-sharing and innovation.

Activities: Identify new strategic partners, develop collaborative proposals, and implement joint initiatives to foster long-term engagement.

This annual plan ensures continuity from the 2024-2025 pilot projects, scaling successful initiatives while addressing challenges. By aligning with the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy, Wikimedia Rwanda will continue to drive impact, expand participation, and contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive knowledge ecosystem.

9. What categories are your main programs and related activities under? Please select all that apply. (required)


Category	Yes/No
Education	Yes
Culture, heritage or GLAM	Yes
Gender and diversity	Yes
Community support and engagement	Yes
Participation in campaigns and contests	Yes
Public policy advocacy	No
Other	No

Education

9.1.1. Select all your programs and activities for Education. (required): Wiki Club, Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom or other Reading/Evaluating Wikipedia Training, Editing Wikipedia Training, Wikimedia Commons programs, Other Wikimedia project programs, Translation, Wikidata programs; Other programs and activities if any: N/A
9.1.2. Select all relevant audience groups for Education. (required): Secondary school students, Vocational, tertiary, or higher education, Teachers or professors; Other groups if any: N/A

Culture, heritage or GLAM

9.2. Select all your programs and activities for Culture, heritage or GLAM. (required): Documenting or incubating languages on Wikimedia projects, Introducing new approaches to underrepresented culture and heritage, e.g. decolonising or reparative work; oral and visual knowledge; outreach to communities of origin, indigenous and first nations self-determination, Supporting GLAM professionals to incorporate use of Wikimedia in their work, through documentation, training, or Wikimedian in Residence programs, Partnering with institutions, professional associations, and allied organizations to raise awareness of open culture, ethical sharing, and related issues, Supporting institutions to open up their collections, data, metadata, and research; Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Gender and diversity

9.3. Select all your programs and activities for Gender and diversity.: Bringing in women and/or gender diverse participants and editors, Focusing on creating content about women and/or gender diverse groups, including biographies, intersectional topic areas and/or adding images, Focusing on creating content about marginalized (underrepresented) communities and their knowledge, Focusing on knowledge equity by bringing in contributors from underrepresented communities, Building organizer skills in women and diversity groups, Fomenting female leadership within the movement (either staff, members or boards), Sensitize and educate for gender perspective among Wikimedia projects stewards and editors; Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Community support and engagement

9.4. Select all your programs and activities for Community support and engagement.: On-wiki training of community members, Off-wiki training of community members, Organizing meetups, conferences, and community events, Supporting community members' participation in events and conferences, Offering micro-funding and other financial support to community members , Offering non financial support and services to community members (equipment, space, books, etc.); Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Participation in campaigns and contests

9.5. Select all campaigns that apply. (required): Art+Feminism, Feminism and Folklore, Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Loves Women, WikiForHumanRights, WikiGap, Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos, Wikipedia Birthday or Anniversary; Other programs and activities if any: N/A
10. Please include a link to or upload a timeline (operational calendar) for your programs and activities. (required): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WOsG21zNOBqqaX3_gpZjg8H6Tfi5awatx9VspZ_YZCg/edit?usp=sharing

11. Describe your team. (required)

Executive Director 1 Project Coordinator 1 Community engagement & partnership lead 1 Financial controller 1 Wiki Club coordinators 2 Communications team: (Designer (videography & photography) and (Social media manager) Web Developer

12. Will you be working with any internal (Wikimedia) or external partners? Describe the characteristics of these partnerships and bring a few examples of the most significant partnerships. (required)

we plan to collaborate with internal Wikimedia affiliates and external partners to enhance our impact. Internally, we will engage with regional Wikimedia communities, such as Wikimedia User Groups Uganda, to share best practices. Externally, we will partner with educational institutions, cultural organizations, and government bodies to support initiatives like WikiClubs in schools and content digitization projects. Notable partnerships include collaborations with the Rwanda Education Board (REB) to integrate Wikimedia projects into schools and alliances with GLAM institutions to improve access to open knowledge

13. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select all that apply. (required): Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Improve User Experience, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Manage Internal Knowledge, Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge

Metrics

Wikimedia Metrics

14. Please select and fill out Wikimedia Metrics for your proposal. (recommended)

14.1. Number of participants, editors, and organizers.

All metrics provided are optional, please fill them out if they are aligned with your programs and activities.

Participants, editors, and organizers
Metrics name	Target	Description
Number of all participants	101	N/A
Number of all editors	50	N/A
Number of new editors	50
Number of retained editors	40
Number of all organizers	15	N/A
Number of new organizers	15	N/A

14.2. Number of new content contributions to Wikimedia projects. (recommended)

Contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project	Created	Edited or improved
Wikipedia	400	500
Wikimedia Commons	1000	200
Wikidata	1000	2000
Wiktionary	500	500
Wikisource	50	30
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote	200	300
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions / Abstract Wikipedia

Description for Wikimedia projects contributions metrics. (optional)

Other Metrics

15. Do you have other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): Yes


Other Metrics	Description	Target
Wikiclubs created	Number of wiki clubs created	5
Social media engagement	Number of people reached via social media 5000	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

Budget

16. Will you have any other revenue sources when implementing this proposal (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): Yes

16.1. List other revenue sources. (required)

Funds Donations and Inkind support from Partners

16.2. Approximately how much revenue will you have from other sources in your local currency? (required): 24510000

17. Your local currency. (required): RWF

18. What is the total requested amount in your local currency? (required): 95000000 RWF

Multi-year funding request summary
Year	Amount (local currency)
Year 1	N/A RWF
Year 2	N/A RWF
Year 3	N/A RWF

Requested amount in USD: 69350 USD ^{[note 1]}

Multi-year funding request summary in USD
Year	Amount USD ^{[note 1]}
Year 1	N/A USD
Year 2	N/A USD
Year 3	N/A USD

↑ ^a ^b ^c The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

19. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required): No

19.1. How many paid staff members do you plan to have? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms.

N/A

19.2. How many FTEs (full-time equivalents) in total? (required)

Include the total FTE of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include their FTEs with the terms separately.

N/A

19.3. Describe any staff or contractor changes compared to the current year / ongoing General Support Fund if any. (required only for returning grantees): N/A

20. Please provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. The budget breakdown should include only the amount requested with this General Support Fund (required).


Budget category	Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs	25800000 RWF
Operational costs	20400000 RWF
Programmatic costs	68560000 RWF

21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X5NS1D4YivMYW06kALI-yc8MvYSg8D8L/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108975276152640894562&rtpof=true&sd=true

Additional information

22. In this optional space you can add any other additional information about your proposal or organization that you think can help us when reviewing your proposal. (optional)

By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Feedback

Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.

[fixedrate-1] The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.

[note 1]