Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Bridging Knowledge Gaps for Human and Environmental Rights 2025 (ID: 23446881)

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

Main Wikimedia username. (required)

Pellagia Njau

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

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.

Bridging Knowledge Gaps for Human and Environmental Rights 2025

2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.

2025-09-01 - 2025-10-31

4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)

Tanzania

5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)

WikiForHumanRights

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)

Through the WikiForHumanRights 2025 Campaign in Tanzania, we aim to amplify local knowledge, raise awareness about environmental and human rights, and increase access to accurate, reliable information on Swahili Wikipedia. Guided by the theme Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now, the campaign seeks to empower Tanzanian communities especially women, and underserved groups to document and share how environmental challenges such as climate change, water access, land use, and pollution affect their rights and everyday lives. This campaign is a continuation of our impactful efforts in WikiforHuman Rights 2024 [1] where we introduced the theme of "Knowledge for a Sustainable Future" and engaged diverse groups in collaboration with UNEP Tanzania in sharing locally relevant environmental knowledge on Wikimedia platforms. Building on those foundations, WikiForHumanRights 2025 will deepen community engagement, expand content in Swahili, and strengthen the capacity of contributors to use Wikipedia and Wikidata projects as tools for advocacy, education, and action. This campaign aims to deepen public discourse and knowledge sharing around critical environmental issues including sustainable agriculture, clean water and waste management, environmental protection, and climate resilience. These focus areas are central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are aligned with international human rights frameworks. Through this campaign, we seek to address significant knowledge gaps on Wikimedia platforms particularly Wikipedia and Wikidata, related to the Tanzanian context. Key topics such as water and sanitation, which are vital for health, gender equity, and climate justice (linked to SDGs 3, 5, and 13), are still underrepresented. Additionally, there is limited coverage of Tanzania’s ministries, policies, and organizations working on these environmental challenges, which limits both global visibility and local access to crucial information. Language accessibility remains a key barrier. Many communities in Tanzania especially those who primarily speak Swahili and indigenous languages have limited access to climate and environmental content in their local languages. This deepens knowledge gaps and reduces meaningful participation in efforts to address climate change and environmental degradation. In regions across Tanzania, issues such as deforestation, land degradation, pollution, and climate-induced disasters continue to affect the rights to health, safe living conditions, and a clean environment. However, these realities are often underrepresented on Wikimedia platforms, reducing opportunities for communities to share their stories, raise awareness, and advocate for change. The campaign strategy includes:

Creating and improving Wikipedia and Wikidata content focused on Tanzania’s environmental and human rights challenges;

Translating key content into Swahili and ensuring broader linguistic accessibility;

Collaborating with UNEP and Climate Hub Tanzania to provide training, mentorship, and technical support to bridge content and knowledge gaps;

Engaging experts, students, and local communities to ensure content is reliable, inclusive, and locally relevant.

By closing these content and language gaps, the campaign seeks to empower Tanzanian communities especially youth, women, and underserved groups to become active contributors to open knowledge. Using Wikipedia and Wikidata as tools for advocacy, education, and environmental justice, the campaign aims to foster meaningful participation aligned with the SDGs and human rights principles.

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.

Edit-a-thons We will host regular edit-a-thons, both online and in-person, focused on creating and improving articles in Swahili. These sessions will center around key themes such as Climate Justice, Clean Water Access, Environmental Laws in Tanzania, Women and the Environment, and Youth-led Sustainability Projects, with the aim of enriching Wikimedia platforms with locally relevant and impactful knowledge. Capacity Building and Training Workshops In collaboration with UNEP and Climate Hub Tanzania, we will organize both online and offline training sessions aimed at building the capacity of youth, women, environmental activists, students, educators, and community leaders. The sessions will cover key topics such as Wikipedia editing, Wikidata, environmental rights, open knowledge, and reliable sourcing, empowering participants to contribute effectively to Wikimedia platforms and advocate for environmental and human rights. Translation Campaign

The Translation Campaign will focus on translating essential environmental content into Swahili and, where possible, to ensure greater accessibility and inclusion for diverse communities, enabling more people to engage with and contribute to environmental knowledge on Wikimedia platforms.

Partnerships and Collaboration Strengthen and expand partnerships with organizations such as UNEP, Climate Hub Tanzania, academic institutions, and community groups. These collaborations will support training, content creation, translation efforts, and community outreach to ensure the campaign’s impact is broad, inclusive, and sustainable.

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.

1. Pellagia Njau Username: Pellagia Njau

Lead Coordinator and Campaign Organizer
Pellagia is an experienced Wikimedian and the lead coordinator for the WikiForHuman Rights 2024 campaign in Tanzania. She has a strong track record of organizing impactful Wikimedia campaigns, including Wiki Loves Africa, #Shesaid, and WikiGap. Pellagia will oversee the overall direction of the project, manage partnerships, and lead community outreach efforts.

2. Hussein Issa Username: Husseyn Issa

Hussein is a vital member of the team and part of the Global WikiEducation Initiative. He will manage project coordination, ensuring smooth collaboration among team members, partners, and participants. His responsibilities include overseeing implementation, tracking progress, and compiling reports. Hussein’s background in Wikimedia education outreach and strategic planning makes him an essential leader for the project.

3.Johnson Massawe Username: Jonny Frosty

Johnson will lead the training workshops and edit-a-thons, teaching participants how to contribute effectively to Wikipedia.He is also an experienced organizer who lead different camapigns such as Africa WikiChallenge, Afrocuration project in Tanzania.

4. Euphemia Uwandu Username: EUwandu-WMF Euphemia provides strategic advice on community engagement and communications, leveraging her leadership experience from the WikiForHuman Rights campaign to support outreach development. Her guidance helps ensure the project effectively connects with diverse communities and maximizes its impact across Tanzania.

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)

The target participants are youth, environmental advocates, educators, and Global WikiEducation Team from Tanzania, particularly those from underrepresented communities with limited access to knowledge creation and digital tools. We will prioritize participation from rural areas, university students, and members of local NGOs working in relevant thematic areas such as human rights, gender, environment, and open knowledge.

10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)

No

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.

N/A

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 Tanzania Community about this project through WhatsApp and Telegram groups.

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)

Not applicable

13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)

Human Rights

14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)

Geographic

15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)

Improve User Experience

Learning and metrics

17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)

How to bridge knowledge and language gaps on climate and environmental topics through community driven content creation, particularly in local languages.

The role of Wikimedia projects (e.g. Wikipedia, Wikidata) in advancing awareness, education, and local action around climate change and human rights issues.

Best practices for collaboration with environmental and human rights organizations, to ensure accuracy, impact, and sustainability of the knowledge being shared.

18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)

Number of participants, editors, and organizers
Other Metrics	Target	Optional description
Number of participants	35	This involves participants from Tanzania community
Number of editors	35	This includes both experienced and non-experienced editors
Number of organizers	3

Number of content contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project	Number of content created or improved
Wikipedia	50
Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata	100
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 Data
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)

The outreach dashboard and google form will be used to measure each participant's contributions.

Financial proposal

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

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mNJugqw7iJWKqgtS98CX9fH85QZZPF-reJUg3f9jI9w/edit?gid=0#gid=0

22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)

12900000 TZS

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.

4998.7 USD

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

Yes

Endorsements and Feedback

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).

Endorse