Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/AfroHistory 2.0:Promoting African Legends and Heroes (ID: 23755402)
This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds, where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.
Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Taofeeq Abdulkareem
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
AfroHistory 2.0: Promoting African Legends and Heroes
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2026-04-13 - 2026-05-12
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Regional (more than one country in the same continent or region) The project is pan-African in scope and focuses on documenting and preserving African legends, heroes, and indigenous historical narratives that are currently underrepresented on open knowledge platforms. The project will cover Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Niger, South Africa among other African Countries, on their rich oral traditions, diverse cultural histories, and strong legacy of legendary figures, ancient kingdoms, and resistance heroes preserved largely through storytelling and community memory.
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Other (please specify) Training Wikimedia editors, promoting awareness about African legends and heroes, bridging content gap about African Legends and Heroes on Wikipedia and Wikidata
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
In recent years, there have been an increased and dire need to focus on promoting Black History and more specifically African History, which has led to a greater focus aligning with the project’s vision on promotion of legends and heroes African Descent. These figures not only serve as symbols of inspiration and intercontinental pride but also play a crucial role in preserving historical heritage and documenting about the figures.
As a graduate of History and International Studies Student, I noticed that there is a noticeable gap in the representation of African's legends and heroes, with content-gap as regards many important figures from historical narratives and educational materials. This content gap highlights the need to bridge the gap and promote the rich history and contributions of African's legends and heroes. By shedding light on lesser-known figures and amplifying their stories, we can provide a more comprehensive understanding of African's historical tapestry and celebrate the significance figures that have shaped its African history. The project would ensure that African's legends and heroes are documented and inspire future generations to learn from their legacy.
In the year 2025, I led a team on a Project titled "AfroHistory: Promoting Nigerian Legends and Heroes", where Legends, Heroes, significant figures and personalities in Nigeria were properly documented on and we were able to bridge content gap in that area, as 1530 Wikipedia Articles were improved and 5250 Wikidata items were improved. The metric can be found on the Dashboard with the link below:
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/AfroHistory-Promoting_Nigerian_Legends_and_Heroes/AfroHistory-Promoting_Nigerian_Legends_and_Heroes
While this brought about an increase to Visibility and bridged content gaps on legends and heroes in Nigeria, there still exist content and data gaps about Legends and Heroes in other Sub-Sahara Africa and the Africa Continent at large. They lack visibility which the project intends bridging.
This project seeks to go a step further by addressing the content gap in African legends and heroes on Wikidata and Wikipedia. By actively promoting the important figures, as well as improving existing Wikidata items and Wikipedia articles, the project would document African's rich historical narratives and accessible to a global audience.
Our main approaches: The initiative aims to engage students and youths by training and recruiting 100 editors (new and existing) from various institutions and youth associations in African Countries. Participants will be trained on various Wikimedia tools to enhance content related to the individuals (African legends and heroes). The outreach dashboard will track contributions and provide support for engagement and progress. The participants would afterwards bridge content-gaps and they would document African Legends and Heroes to make it accessible public consumption.
The focus would be on Wikipedia and Wikidata and the strategy would be training youths towards those Wikimedia projects. Youths would be recruited with mobilization and sensitization of youths and also researchers, historians, and those who understand historical figures and development. Existing articles would be improved and African Figures and Heroes and those that doesn’t have articles would be documented.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
The Project will span for a month and it entails below activities for effective execution: 1. Mobilizing and sensitizing participants: This will be on the various uses of the Wikimedia project and changing their perception of Wikidata and Wikipedia. With the help of members of Students Historical Society of Nigeria, among other associations like National Association of History and International Studies in different countries through different platforms that focus on African History, the project will engage students passionate about African History, and more particularly, African Legend and Heroes.
This involves recruitment of 100 participants (both new and existing)
2. Organizing a two-day in-person workshop: Across two days, participants will engage in hands on training facilitated by different facilitators. This workshop will focus on essential Wikimedia skills, such as creating accounts and making basic edits. The first physical training session will occur during the first week of the campaign, followed by the second physical session in the third week. To ensure wider reach and more inclusion, the physical training will hold in two different places.
3. Hosting two sets of online reinforcement training: To enhance participants' editing abilities on platforms like Wikipedia and Wikidata, the project will offer online sessions. Skilled facilitators will guide these sessions, targeting areas where participants require improvement. With the first online training being the second week of the campaign and the second one being the fourth week of the campaign.
These online sessions would make sure participants are well abreast about Wikipedia and Wikidata and thereafter contribute to promoting and documenting African Legends and Heroes.
4. Generating diverse contents: Data-a-thons: This initiative will host a series of Wikidata training sessions and data-a-thons aimed at raising awareness about available data on African legends and heroes to spot gaps. Additionally, we will emphasize the importance of Wikidata, and providing participants with guidance on how to create or improve Wikidata items.
Edit-a-thons: Following the training sessions, there will be edit-a-thons where the 100 participants will engage in minor edits, such as adding citations, Wikilinks, categories, infoboxes, and descriptions, as well as creating new articles on Wikipedia related to African legends and heroes.
5. Review session: At the conclusion of the initiative, a review session will be held to assess participants' work, address any queries they may have, and distribute certificates. A dedicated WhatsApp group will serve as a platform for ongoing interaction, encouraging participants to continue editing and seek guidance as needed.
6. Contributors / participants will be appreciated with certificates of participation and top editors will be will be rewarded with prizes and certificates of excellence.
In essence, these activities collectively aim to introduce the participants to Wikipedia and Wikidata, and equip them with editing skills. The trained participants will go on to create more awareness and promote African Legend and Heroes on the various Wikimedia projects.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
Taofeeq Abdulkareem (Project Lead):
Taofeeq Abdulkareem is an experienced Wikimedia editor, and Associate Editor of WikiJournal of Humanities. He was the Project Lead for “AfroHistory: Promoting Nigerian Legends and Heroes”, and “Wikimedia Awareness in Ogbomosho”, which were both carried out in Oyo State. He is one of the facilitator for “Advancing Nigeria’s Cultural Heritage Preservation (ANCHoR)”. Also, he was one of the Facilitator for Wikimedia Promotion in Akure, Preservation of Owo Cultural Heritage on Wikimedia, and also a facilitator for Wikimedia Promotion in Lead City.
He has held leadership positions in Wikimedia, most notably as a two-time Special Duty Officer, and also a former Vice President, Training and Development of the Wikimedia Fan Club at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State. As an Associate Editor of WikiJournal of Humanities, he contributes to a global community of experts and academics who review humanities and social sciences articles on WikiJournal via Wikiversity platform.
He has participated in many Wikimedia Projects and Campaigns such as Wiki Loves SDGs 2021 where he was recognized as a top editor, he has also participated in Campaigns like WikiForHuman Rights Nigeria; WikiClimateCampus Tour Nigeria; Afrocreatives Wikiprojects; Wiki Pages Wanting Photo (WPWP) Project; Wikiloves Library Nigeria among others where he has contributed actively. He has proven talents in event management, planning and team building in various leadership positions, particularly at Wikiclimatecampustour Nigeria, University of Ilorin Physical Training, and Wikimedia Fan Club, Unilorin, Arts + Feminism 2023 Campaign.
Tesleemah (Trainer– Online and Offline):
Tesleemah is an Article For Creation (AFC) reviewer and new page reviewer on English Wikipedia, she has created over 113 articles on English Wikipedia main space. She is an host on Wikipedia Teahouse, a platform to help newcomers on Wikipedia. She is the only African Board member of Wiki Project Medicine. One of the participants of African growth pilot organized by the Wikimedia Foundation, she is a Certified Organiser for the organizer lab. She is the founder of Wiki Health Africa where she has led projects such as the Wiki and Health articles in Nigeria 1.0, the visibility of health articles on English Wikipedia 2.0 and the just concluded fellowship of health editors in Africa.
Abdullahalaba (Trainer– Online and Offline):
Abdullahalaba is a highly experienced Wikipedia and Wikidata editor with over 10,000 edits to his name. He has strong leadership skills, having led Wikimedia projects and successfully grown editor communities, especially at Lead City University where he retained over 50 active editors. He’s also an excellent trainer, helping participants learn how to navigate and edit Wikidata effectively. Beyond editing, he’s involved in many Wikimedia initiatives like Wiki Loves Library and Wiki for Human Rights, showing his dedication to expanding and enriching the Wikimedia community.
NigerianScribe (Facilitator):
NigerianScribe is a Wikimedia Editor and volunteer who enjoys contributing to Wikimedia because it allows him to share knowledge and tell African stories with the world. With a background in History and International Studies from the University of Ilorin, his love for research and writing made joining the Wikimedia community feel natural. He has a special interest in creating and improving articles that highlight Nigerian history, culture, and the lives of people whose stories deserve more recognition.
During his studies, he facilitated workshops, led group discussions, and organized student projects, experiences that taught him teamwork, patience, and how to simplify complex ideas for others. Beyond academics, he worked as a communication and social media manager for student and youth-focused initiatives, running campaigns, writing posts, and building online communities. Now, he brings those same skills into his Wikimedia journey—seeing it not just as editing articles, but as building connections, preserving knowledge, and creating opportunities for others to learn and contribute.
Eunice Ameh (Facilitator/ Communication Manager):
Eunice Ameh is an experienced project manager trained and certified by IBM and Homentum, with a strong track record in leading community outreaches and supporting Wikimedia initiatives. She has contributed significantly to Wikimedia User Group Nigeria activities, serving as a planning committee member for Wiki Loves Earth Nigeria 2025, where she helped coordinate the campaign, supported participants with technical issues, collaborated with WUGN staff, and contributed to tracking event activities and timelines. She also played a key role in the Nigerian Wikimedia Community Distinguished Awards Ceremony 2025 (NWCDA ’25), coordinating nominations, engaging board members and nominees, and supporting the planning and execution of the physical award ceremony.
She is part of the Support Team for the Africa Wiki Health Fellowship 2025, where she assists fellows with Wikipedia policies, tools, and training through the WikiLearn platform, tracks participant progress, and provides technical and learning support. In addition, Eunice participated as an active contributor in the Anchor Project on advancing and preserving the cultural heritage of Ilorin, where she emerged second place in the Edit-a-thon, demonstrating her commitment to open knowledge and cultural documentation.
Fatimah Bello (Logistics Manager):
Fatimah Bello is an active Wikimedian committed to advancing open knowledge and community engagement. She is a member of the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria, the Wikimedia Fan Club, University of Ilorin, and African Wiki Women. Since joining the Wikimedia movement in 2024, she has consistently participated in diverse Wikimedia activities, including competitions, edit-a-thons, trainings, and multi-project contributions across Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikiquote, and Wikimedia Commons.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
Our project targets Historians and lovers of History, particularly those familiar with African's historical landscape, and no prior experience with Wikimedia is required. We will engage potential participants by collaborating with student body associations like Students Historical Society of Nigeria among others within the continent and utilizing media and extensive publicity to connect with them before the project's implementation. Throughout the project, we will actively facilitate training to ensure participants acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute effectively to Wikipedia and sister projects.
Additionally, we will monitor the online edit-a-thon to prevent vandalism or misinformation, abusing Wikimedia policies and using vulgar or inappropriate language. The project aims to enhance Wikipedia and Wikidata by expanding knowledge and cultivating a more engaged editor base. To promote sustainability, we will incorporate the existing WhatsApp group used for "AfroHistory: Promoting Nigerian Legends and Heroes" to include the campaign vision which is focused on African Legends and Heroes this time around, where participants can stay connected, discuss Wikimedia projects, and remain informed about upcoming events and workshops. The trained participants will raise awareness and advocate for African legends across various Wikimedia projects, contributing to their promotion and recognition.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
Yes
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
1. The General friendly space policy for Wikimedia events will be summarized and to be read at the beginning of each event. The event will adhere to the Wikimedia-friendly space policy during the event. The Wikimedia-friendly space policy and UCoC will be distributed to participants before the event starts. The event also promises to be safe and conducive.
2. People of age 14 or younger will not be allowed register for the training since the target participants are youths who are Adults (18 years and above).
3. Mature content such as violent or sexually explicit imagery will not be displayed in public areas of the venue.
4. will make the copies of the youth safety plan available for event attendees.
5. I will ensure the physical events comply with all local laws and regulations that apply to the young attendees.
The Youth Safety Policy can also be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ci-_BaRi549Htve4LO6M2sx7GGd0dsh5V32O2wqFbn0/edit
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
I have informed the Wikimedia Nigeria User Group through their meta page. Below is the link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria#AfroHistory_2.0:_Promoting_African’s_Legends_and_Heroes
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Linguistic / Language
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Innovate in Free Knowledge
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
1. Did the project promote contents on African legends and heroes?
2. Did the project train new editors to have the required skills to edit Wikimedia projects?
3. Was the project beneficial to the target participants in terms of full satisfaction of the knowledge acquired?
4. Did the participants contribute contents to Wikipedia and its sisters' projects?
5. Did the project help bridge very substantial content gaps in African Legends and Heroes perspectives?
6. Did the project create a sustainable impact towards promotion of African Legends and Heroes on Wikimedia?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 106 | These are the total number of people that will be available for the online and offline events. This includes the editors, and organisers. |
| Number of editors | 100 | This includes both New Editors, that will create new accounts and will be monitored on the modus operandi of contributing positively to Wikimedia Foundation Projects. Also Returning Editors, who already have their accounts and will be further trained |
| Number of organizers | 6 | These are the total number of the organizers which includes the Project Lead and other facilitators |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 100 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | 120 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
I will create an outreach dashboard where we will monitor the participants activities. It will also be used to measure some project metrics such as number of participants, number of articles created/improved, number of references added to articles, article views amongst others. There will also be usage of Hashtag tool among other metrics tools
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
2709000 NGN
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
1945.13 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).