Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Digital Youth Clubs in Tanzania (ID: 23657334)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
The Wiki Digi-Youth Clubs pilot programme was implemented as a regional initiative across Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania to test a challenge-based learning methodology for engaging young people in the Wikimedia movement. The project combined regional coordination with local implementation, bringing together country leads, trainers, volunteer jurors, and Wikimedia communities to support youth participation through Wiki Clubs.
Rather than organizing standalone editing events, the project adopted a structured learning model where participants progressed through three Wiki Quests. Each Quest began with a regional virtual training session facilitated by experienced Wikimedians, followed by trainer-led physical workshops within each club. Participants then worked collaboratively to complete their Quest submissions, which were evaluated by a volunteer jury. After every Quest, clubs received detailed feedback and rankings, allowing them to improve their skills and contributions throughout the programme. As a pilot, the project also emphasized continuous learning and adaptation through regular coordination meetings and evaluations with participants, trainers, jurors, and the core team to inform the design of a second phase.
In Tanzania, the project was implemented in collaboration with various educational institutions, including universities and colleges(Arusha Technical collage, Arusha Institute of Acountance, Moshi Co-operatie University and Tengeru Institute). Through these partnerships, three clubs were successfully established, each comprising 10 participants and two trainers who were responsible for supporting the club, ensuring all activities ran smoothly, and guiding participants throughout the development of their Quests.
Each Quest involved three workshops per club, consisting of one held virtually at the regional level and two conducted in person by trainers, resulting in 12 workshops delivered across all three Wiki Quests. Through this blended learning model, participants steadily developed their Wikimedia skills while working together to complete their Quests and contribute content across Wikimedia platforms.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Tanzania Metapage: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Wikimedia_Digi-Youth_Club/Countries/Tanzania
Commons Category: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Digi_Youth_project_in_Tanzania
Participant Contributions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NDoTNQZts23Jgmy8rucGLwPed1tLUIEE/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=110360329214596959502&rtpof=true&sd=true
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Project Instagram page (@wikidigitalyouthclubs): https://www.instagram.com/wikidigitalyouthclubs?igsh=MTB3Y29qbTV2ajJ6Zw==
General project Meta page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Digi-Youth_Club
Commons Category: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Digi-Youth_Project
Quest 1 Trainers Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XbjiYLSR-mboMXfefv-aEJXOZTYr4V93m1-8gHaG7q0/edit?usp=sharing
Quest 2 Trainers Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e0caP0mQ2b2Hv9s03jM3NtHN8cAM1ShNypvKCOQeQwc/edit?usp=sharing
Quest 3 Trainers Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y_yga78RmwqmZ8bF0PUdgSUekOqubIVUIDuNh678ZsY/edit?usp=sharing
Quest 3 Students Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v6WK3iTmQLGCTUOLepEU-Z0J7yY-QVRZ29Q05518Nus/edit?usp=sharing
Presentation Slides and Recordings: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Digi-Youth_Club/Reports
Project Metrics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ug-MCsUWFAE5BkIYfk8Bbc6jsBqff0ywtZeTJ_qvdyU/edit?usp=sharing
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: Learning questions: Does this methodology work to motivate youth to contribute more actively on Wiki Does this methodology work to bring in new contributors? Does this methodology prove to build key Wiki skills through a hybrid learning approach? Does this methodology work to build other digital and soft skills that youth value?
1. Does this methodology work to motivate youth to contribute more actively on Wiki? Yes. The Wiki Digi-Youth Clubs model demonstrated that a challenge-based approach can effectively motivate young people to contribute to Wikimedia projects. The use of themed Wiki-Quests, friendly competition, mentorship, and recognition encouraged sustained participation and kept Clubs engaged throughout the project. The practical nature of the activities also helped participants see the real-world impact of their contributions.
2. Does this methodology work to bring in new contributors? Yes. The project provided an accessible entry point for new contributors by combining structured training with hands-on activities. Many participants joined with little or no prior Wikimedia experience and were able to make meaningful contributions to Wikimedia projects with the support of trainers and their fellow Club members. The collaborative Club model also created a welcoming environment for learning and participation.
3. Does this methodology prove to build key Wiki skills through a hybrid learning approach? Yes. The combination of virtual training sessions, local workshops, self-paced learning resources, and practical Wiki-Quests proved to be an effective way of building Wikimedia skills. Participants gained experience contributing to different Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata, while developing the confidence to apply these skills independently and collaboratively.
4. Does this methodology work to build other digital and soft skills that youth value? Yes. Beyond Wikimedia-specific skills, the project helped participants develop a range of transferable digital and soft skills. Through collaborative Quest activities, participants strengthened their communication, teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, leadership, and digital literacy skills. The project also encouraged critical thinking and increased participants' confidence in creating and sharing knowledge about their local communities.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
As a pilot project, several unexpected situations emerged throughout implementation, providing valuable learning opportunities for the regional team. One of the key lessons was that the original timeline was too ambitious for the challenge-based learning model. As the project progressed, it became clear that participants benefited from having more time to complete each Wiki Quest, apply newly acquired skills, and coordinate activities within their clubs. In response, the implementation timeline was adjusted to provide additional time for subsequent Quests, resulting in improved participation and the quality of submissions.
The project also reinforced the importance of continuous communication and flexibility. Regular coordination meetings with the core team, trainers, and jurors made it possible to identify challenges early, adapt implementation strategies where necessary, and maintain consistency across the three participating countries while accommodating different local contexts.
In Tanzania, the initial plan was to establish 5 clubs, as outlined in the project plan. However, we faced significant challenges during the club formation process. Since we wanted to work with students, it was essential to collaborate with their institutions so that the clubs could be formed within them, and so that trainers could operate inside the universities to make our work more effective.
The main challenge we encountered was around regulations and compliance. Many institutions required us to be registered as an NGO before they could enter into a formal collaboration agreement. As a result, we were only able to form three clubs instead of the planned five.
Most of the trainers in these three clubs had no prior experience with the Wikimedia movement. This was initially a significant challenge, as we needed to teach them various aspects of Wikipedia before they could take the lead in their clubs. This was particularly demanding because we still needed to keep pace with the project timeline.
These experiences taught us as a team that in every project you may face challenges that cause results to differ from the original plan, but that is not a reason to give up. You work with what you have, and plan to do better next time. We also learned a lot from the trainers and participants. They worked very hard to make sure the project succeeded, and as a team we felt that the trainers and their clubs truly took ownership of the project, the trainers picked up the skills quickly and were ultimately able to deliver results that exceeded our expectations.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
Throughout the project, we have actively shared our implementation, progress, and key learnings through the project's Meta page and social media, particularly our Instagram account, to keep the Wikimedia community and the public informed.
At the regional level, the three participating countries are collaboratively preparing a Wikimedia Diff blog post to document the pilot methodology, implementation, results, and lessons learned. We expect this to be published shortly as a way of sharing the project's outcomes with the wider Wikimedia movement. We also submitted a story in the June 2026 EduWiki Newsletter: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/June_2026/Wiki_Digi-Youth_Clubs_pilot_explores_challenge-based_learning_across_three_countries
In Tanzania, we have shared our learnings through several channels, including Instagram. We also shared our experience with the wider Wikimedia community through the EduWiki Newsletter, where we documented how youth in Tanzania are building digital skills through the Wiki Digital Youth Club: (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/May_2026/Wiki_Digital_Youth_Club_Launches_in_Tanzania:_Youth_Build_Digital_Skills_Through_Competitive_Quest_Challenges ).
As the project concludes, we also plan to share the final results and lessons learned with our local Wikimedia affiliates and participating institutions to encourage continued engagement and support for the Wiki Clubs.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 30 | 29 | 15 female, 14male from the 3 participating clubs. The target number of participants was between 8-10 per club. |
| Number of editors | 50 | 29 | 15 female, 14male from the 3 participating clubs. The target number of participants was between 8-10 per club. |
| Number of organizers | 6 | 9 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 10 | 201 | 200 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 50 | 312 | 312 |
| Wikidata | 100 | 88 | 87 |
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
8547900
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
3500
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vnSS1_GL2ef_ubrkUb2N2xKRXy7L5ClmpGvucatvFyM/edit?gid=0#gid=0
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. 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
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)