Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Ghana User Group 2025/26 Projects Grant/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 challenges we sought to address were the barriers limiting participation in the Wikimedia movement in Ghana: limited awareness of opportunities to contribute among potential users, limited stakeholder engagement around open knowledge policy, limited organizer capacity to scale recruitment, and persistent gender, linguistic, and socioeconomic disparities. These challenges have contributed to Ghana’s low active editor base and the underrepresentation.
For a geographic affiliate, effectively serving a diverse country requires a decentralised programmatic strategy to improve the pace and scale of rolling out programs. We therefore organised our work around Ghana’s 16 administrative regions, treating each region as a point or node from which programmes, community building, leadership, and representation can emerge and are sustained. Together, these regional nodes form a connected national community.The Ghana Edits Wikipedia Roadshow our flagship series of workshops for welcoming new English Wikipedia editors expanded our geographic reach from 5 nodes last year, to 8 nodes this year, bringing events to Koforidua, Tamale, Takoradi, Ho, Bolgatanga, Cape Coast, Kumasi, and Accra.The Roadshow became our primary recruitment vehicle, contributing 78.3% of our Community Fund newcomer recruitment target and 50.3% of our combined new editor target across both the Community Fund and the Knowledge Equity Fund Connected Grant.Later on, new recruits from the nodes returned to edit at our bi-weekly editathons and participate in other events, alongside existing editors thereby helping address retention matters. The bi-weekly editathons also contributed to our existing editors target under the General Support Fund. Notably, Ghana's average active-editor count as recorded by stats.wikimedia.org rose from approximately 90 at the start of the grant year to 110 as at June 2026, an increase of 20 active editors, and exceeding our KR1 target of 10 additional active editors. While direct attribution of this growth solely to the editathons cannot be conclusively established, the consistent and frequent nature of the sessions throughout the year suggests that these sessions played a supportive role in sustaining editor activity.
The nodal roadshows and bi-weekly editathons would together ensure the success of our programs to increase participation, retain editors that improve and create content that sustain our wikis.The flexibility of our regional node model also enabled nationwide community-building initiatives. Through the nodes, we delivered the Ghanaian Wikimedian Awards, Wikipedia 25 Birthday Celebrations, and annual planning activities, bringing together contributors from across the country to strengthen motivation, collaboration, and community ownership.
In addressing limited stakeholder engagement around embedding open knowledge in Ghana’s digital policies, we undertook extensive research and analysis to develop a policy position paper on the Global Digital Compact (GDC). The paper provides recommendations to support Ghana’s efforts to implement the GDC in a manner that is inclusive, sustainable, and aligned with national development priorities.
The document is available on Meta-Wiki at:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Ghana_User_Group/Policy_Position_on_the_Global_Digital_Compact. It is undergoing community and stakeholder review.
In response to the challenge of sustaining long-term volunteer motivation, retention, and engagement, We implemented community-building initiatives that addressed different aspects of the volunteer experience. Recognizing that contributors are more likely to remain active when they feel connected, appreciated, and supported, these initiatives focused on strengthening community belonging, recognizing volunteer contributions, and reducing barriers that limit community-led participation.
The Wikipedia Anniversary Jollof Party strengthened community cohesion by bringing contributors together across Regional Nodes to celebrate a shared Wikimedia milestone, exchange experiences, and build relationships beyond online collaboration.
The Ghanaian Wikimedia Community Awards complemented these efforts by recognizing the achievements of outstanding contributors, communities, and initiatives through a transparent, community-led process. By making volunteer contributions visible and celebrating the impact of community members, the awards reinforced a culture of appreciation, encouraged continued participation, and demonstrated the value of sustained contributions to the Wikimedia movement.
The Shared Community Resources Programme addressed practical barriers that often prevent emerging Wikimedia communities from organizing activities independently. By providing event space. This year we supported 2 organizers with space and additional logistical support, meals, internet access, and publicity material design support to host 2 events. The program reduced the financial and operational burden on organizers, enabling them to focus on community engagement and content contribution.
In addressing inequities we dedicated the month of March to the Notable Ghanaian Women on Wikipedia Campaign, addressing the underrepresentation of Ghanaian women on Wikipedia through seven women-only editathons with 20 female participants which resulted in 12 women-centred articles being improved and 2 new biographies created.
We also partnered with Women’s Haven Africa under our Knowledge Equity Connected Fund Grant to train 19 women in Wikipedia editing, enabling them to collectively improve 54 articles and strengthen the representation of Ghanaian women.
Furthermore, we engaged with Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) as our main Knowledge Equity Connected Fund Grant partner through two Wikipedia training workshops and an editathon, equipping 30 participants, including 15 women, with practical open knowledge skills collectively impacting 21 Wikipedia articles.
Similarly, we trained 8 FactSpace West Africa staff, including 3 women, in Wikipedia editing, referencing, and content verification, enabling them to collectively improve 6 Wikipedia articles.
In addition, we also partnered with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group to host and co-fund the Ghanaian Languages Wikimedia Community Meetup, which brought together 50 contributors from indigenous language Wikimedia communities across Ghana, with 34% female participation, reflecting meaningful gender inclusion within a traditionally male-dominated space. The meetup strengthened collaboration by enabling contributors to exchange knowledge, build their editing and technical skills, and identify shared approaches to growing Wikimedia projects in indigenous Ghanaian languages.
To reduce financial barriers to participation, we introduced an opt-in internet data reimbursement approach for contributors who could not afford the cost of joining our virtual editathons. This helped ensure that lower-income editors could participate without the cost of connectivity becoming a barrier: [1]
Strengthening collaboration among Wikimedia affiliates in Africa remained a strategic priority during the grant year. While initial efforts focused on a West African Hub, these evolved into the Pan-African Hub, which has since been established and funded. Wikimedia Ghana User Group redirected its efforts to support the Pan-African Hub through community engagement and planning. We now serve as the fiscal sponsor, supporting the Hub’s implementation and collaboration across Wikimedia communities in Africa.
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. Several lessons from this grant year have already shaped our plans for the coming year.
We will continue to strengthen our Regional Node model through a new Regional Node Leads Development Initiative, equipping local leaders to independently plan and deliver Wikimedia activities while improving mentorship and long-term sustainability. Our Regional Wikipedia Roadshows and Wikipedia 101 Workshops will continue across active regions, with increased emphasis on tracking contributor journeys, repeat participation, and long-term retention rather than recruitment alone.
Our editathons will remain our primary retention activity, but with a reduced frequency to create space for piloting editing contests as a complementary approach to motivating sustained participation. We will also continue our Women’s Only Editathons during March to advance gender equity by increasing women’s participation and improving women-related content.
While we will not fund the Ghanaian Languages Wikimedia Community Meetup in 2026 due to shifting priorities toward direct editing activities, we will continue supporting Ghanaian language communities within our capacity.
We will also continue our Shared Community Resources programme by providing community space and design support to reduce logistical barriers for Wikimedia organizers. Our Ghanaian Wikimedian Awards and Wikipedia Anniversary Jollof Party will continue as key community development initiatives, with refinements based on participant feedback and available funding to strengthen volunteer motivation, recognition, and collaboration.
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).
Wikimedia Ghana User Group continued to grow and support the Wikimedia community by creating leadership pathways through our Regional Node model. Node leads take responsibility for representing their communities, contributing to annual planning processes, and, moving forward, hosting community town halls within their regions.
We have also maintained a dedicated community seat on our Board to ensure contributor perspectives continue to inform organizational decision-making.
We also promoted collaboration by creating leadership opportunities for community members with expertise in specific Wikimedia projects or thematic areas. Members were engaged as project leads and specialists, enabling them to design and deliver activities based on their knowledge and interests. For example, the Ghanaian Wikimedian Awards were led by a community specialist, our Women’s Only Editathons were supported by a female community organiser, and Wiki Loves Monuments benefited from the expertise of a Wikidata community member serving as a project specialist. This approach encourages greater ownership of community initiatives and doesn't leave opportunities to staff/contractors only.
We engage with the contributing community through a combination of online communication channels and community networks that enable regular updates, collaboration, and feedback. Our regional node groups, facilitator network, and specialist network use WhatsApp and Telegram groups to coordinate activities, share opportunities, and support peer-to-peer collaboration. We also communicate broader updates through our Mailchimp newsletter and Wikimedia mailing lists, ensuring contributors remain informed about programmes, campaigns, and community initiatives.
Partnerships with Affiliates and External Organizations
We strengthened collaboration within the Wikimedia movement through partnerships with affiliates across Africa and globally. We contributed to the development of the Pan-African Hub, which has since been established and funded, with Wikimedia Ghana User Group serving as fiscal sponsor.
We also collaborated with Wikimedia affiliates and communities on initiatives such as Wiki Loves Monuments, working with Wikimedians in Kuwait, Wikimedians in Sudan, and the Islamic Civilization User Group to improve monument-related content. In addition, we also partnered with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group to host and co-fund the Ghanaian Languages Wikimedia Community Meetup.
Beyond Wikimedia, we partnered with organizations working in media, digital inclusion, gender equity, and knowledge access. Through our Knowledge Equity programmes, partners such as the Media Foundation for West Africa engaged their communities in learning about Wikipedia, digital literacy, and open knowledge, expanding the reach and impact of our work.
Our Annual report has the detailed activities: [2]
Our Knowledge Equity Connected Grant activity is also here: [3]
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)
We have plans of sharing our learning about supporting editors with low income with data reimbursements at Wikimania.
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.
We collected feedback from over 600 participants across our programmes throughout Ghana, representing women and men of diverse age groups, multiple Wikimedia projects, and a wide range of thematic areas. Feedback was gathered from content creation campaigns, non-editing events, gender-focused and Indigenous language initiatives, external partner events, our Community Town Hall, Annual General Meeting, and annual planning process to inform programme improvement and future decision-making.
Most surveys were conducted using Google Forms and analysed in Google Sheets. The survey dataset is available at:
Overall, 91.4% of participants rated their experience with our workshop delivery as good to excellent, with many highlighting the collaborative and social nature of our workshops and edit-a-thons.
One of the strongest findings was the impact of our Community Development initiatives. For the second consecutive year, participants reported that the Ghanaian Wikimedian Awards and Wikipedia Anniversary Jollof Party positively influenced their engagement in Wikimedia activities, with many indicating that these events increased their motivation to continue contributing. This reinforces the important role that recognition and community-building play in sustaining participation within a volunteer-driven movement.
Another highlight of our Community Development work was making our office space available for community-led event organisation. We also provided organisers with event logistics and catering in place of direct cash funding, particularly for activities that had received partial funding through the Africa Wiki Challenge. Organisers reported that this support enabled them to achieve more participation than their original budgets would have allowed. The first event engaged 14 participants, and the second engaged 12 participants, including 10 participants who returned after attending the first event, demonstrating strong participant retention.
A detailed analysis of participant feedback is available in our public report:
Please also refer to the Annual Report Addendum (Item 02) for a detailed breakdown of participant survey findings and Annual Report Addendum (Item 03) for feedback from organisers who received event support.
We also collected feedback from partners engaged through our Knowledge Equity programmes. Partners reported that the engagements equipped their staff and communities with practical skills to contribute to Wikipedia projects, created opportunities for women to share their perspectives online, and complemented their existing work in fact-checking, journalism, digital inclusion, and information sharing.
Further details are available in our ConnectEquity Knowledge Equity Fund Report:
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
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women
- 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)
Creating special platforms or having targeted events for women works better to attract female participation than expecting representation at general group events.
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):
Board members’ outreach, Institutional support from the Wikimedia Foundation, Volunteers from our communities
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 2500 | 53 | 947 | |
| Wikimedia Commons | 2000 | 783 | 0 | |
| Wikidata | 1500 | 14 | 177 | |
| Wiktionary | ||||
| Wikisource | ||||
| Wikimedia Incubator | 100 | 41 | ||
| Translatewiki | 100 | 110 | ||
| MediaWiki | ||||
| Wikiquote | ||||
| Wikivoyage | ||||
| Wikibooks | ||||
| Wikiversity | ||||
| Wikinews | ||||
| Wikispecies | ||||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
Tool used and comments (optional):
1. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Ghana_User_Group/Wiki_Loves_Places_in_Ghana_2026/home (Wikidata & Commons)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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).
Wikimedia Ghana User Group continues to prioritize inclusive leadership by creating opportunities for participation across gender, geography, and areas of expertise.
We maintain a community seat on our Board to ensure contributor perspectives are represented in organizational decision-making, and this seat is currently held by a woman. Women contributors have also taken leadership roles in women-focused editathons, while specialist roles within projects have included women leaders. Additionally, 90% of our staff and contractors are women, reflecting our commitment to gender representation within our operational team.
Our affiliate leadership team brings experience in organizational management, programme delivery, financial oversight, community engagement, and partnership development. 90% of affiliate leadership members are experienced Wikimedia and open knowledge practitioners. The group also receives specialized support from external consultants in areas such as human resources, nonprofit finance, and data governance to strengthen organizational capacity and decision-making.
Currently, there are no disclosed conflicts of interest among affiliate leadership.
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)
None
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).
Wikimedia Ghana User Group was registered as a company in 2020 and obtained non-profit status in 2021.
The first subscribers who registered the company were Sandister Tei, Justice Okai-Allotey, and Enock Seth Nyamador. These three contributors served as the de facto board until 2024.
In February 2024 the group called for nominations to fill a new “Community Seat” on the board. The aim was to diversify decision-making by including at least one board member who was not a subscriber (since all subscribers were technically community members).
Because nominations were limited, the subscribers appointed Stella Agbley, a long-time contributor with broad movement experience as the first official for the Community Seat. They also selected an external advisor knowledgeable about digital communities but mostly outside the Wikimedia movement. At that point, term limits for board members were also introduced.
Today, the board comprises: 3 subscribers, 1 Community-Seat member, 1 external advisor
A public list of board members is available at: [7]
Draft bylaws (currently under review) are here: [8]
Decision-Making
Programme planning
• Each year, the board runs a survey of community members.
• Insights from these surveys inform the group’s annual plan, which becomes the binding document for programmes.
• Surveys may be general or targeted at specific regions or sub-communities.
• Example: [9]
Strategic direction
• In 2025, for the first time, the board developed a formal strategy to guide the delivery of the annual plan at a board retreat
Finance
• All grants currently come from the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF); these are restricted funds governed by grant agreements. Often, there aren’t that many detailed decisions to be made besides complying with agreements
• External auditors and a financial consultant support oversight.
Hiring & HR
• The board engaged an HR consultant to audit the organisation and create HR policies.
• HR decisions follow these policies, and recruitment is handled by the board.
All decisions made out of WMF funded annual plans are made with a board vote. We have Sandister Tei who currently works FTE at the Wikimedia Foundation serving as a non-voting advisor both at the user group and the Pan-African Hub.
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 (GHS) | Amount spent (GHS) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 500220 | 257622 |
| Operational costs | 338399 | 308804 |
| Programmatic costs | 425569 | 161211.17 |
| Total General Support Fund | 728595 | 727637 |
| 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)
727637 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: 308804 GHS
- Programmatic costs: 161211.17 GHS
- Staff and contractor costs: 257622 GHS
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): GHS
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 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/1Yw3HSyvJVzEUZNHDmAIbFQCF7FN8a3xwwCvCQ0oov-g/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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