Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Expanding the Visibility of Minority Languages across 19 States of Northern Nigeria (ID: 23519753)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Fulani215
- 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.
Expanding the Visibility of Minority Languages across 19 States of Northern Nigeria
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-08-15 - 2026-02-28
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Nigeria
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 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)
Northern Nigeria hosts one of the richest linguistic diversities in sub-Saharan Africa, with over 200 distinct indigenous languages spoken across its 19 states. Many of these languages are endangered due to a lack of documentation, shrinking native speakers, and limited digital representation. This proposal aims to expand the visibility and digital presence of minority languages across Northern Nigeria by building on the successes of a recents project Visibilizing Minority Languages in Northern Nigeria. The current proposal will focus on capacity building, grassroots mobilization, and the creation of digital content in indigenous languages through community engagement, multilingual training, and partnerships with cultural and educational institutions.
The changes we are trying to bring through this project is to document, preserve, and showcase the minority languages across the 19 states of Northern Nigeria through the knowledge repository. Currently, many articles on minority languages, are stubs or have very weak translations, making them difficult to read and understand. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of information about the Minority Languages in Nigeria. The project goals is to documents and preserve information about minority languages in Northern Nigeria on Wikipedia. This will help indigenous language researchers and lovers to find the necessary information about minority language, thus increasing the readership of linguistic minority on Wikipedia and its sister project.
By tackling these challenges, we believe this project will play a vital role in promoting diversity and inclusion. It will support multilingual education, empower community-led language revitalization efforts, and advocate for inclusive language policies, helping to preserve and sustain these linguistic heritages for future generations through Wikipedia as a repository of knowledge.
- 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 threat to linguistic diversity in Northern Nigeria is real and growing. Modern education systems, urban migration, and digital exclusion continue to undermine the transmission and survival of minority languages. The absence of these languages from digital platforms like Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wiktionary has further contributed to their invisibility in the global knowledge space.
To address this outstanding issue of Linguistic Minority across Wikipedia and its sister project :
We plan to host a total of 8 editathons/trainings with 3 weeks intervals between each training and the next, i.e, after every one training there would be three weeks of contributions and engagement from the facilitators before we would host another training, the same goes to the subsequent trainings up to the last one. Since our aim objectives is capacity building, grassroots mobilization, and the creation of digital content in indigenous languages through community engagement, multilingual training, and partnerships with cultural and educational institutions. we planned to make this activities an effort to boost the morale of everyone within and outside the community. Hence, the training would be hosted in 6 out of the Nineteen states of northern Nigeria which are the places with highest number of Minority Languages The overall activities would be 6 physical trainings and 2 online cleanup events to boost the credibility of articles created.
- 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. Fulani215 (Project Leader)
- Details: A long-term Wikimedian editor, language advocate, and content creator. Administrator at Fulfulde Wikipedia with several organized campaigns for indigenous languages.
- Responsibility: Leads the event and oversees all aspects of the project to ensure its success.
2. Umargana1 (Project Facilitator)
- Details: Founder of Central Kanuri Wikipedia community and tireless language advocate. Helped Central Kanuri Wikipedia graduate from incubator status.
- Responsibility: Facilitates training sessions on language writing and actively engages participants.
3. Igallards7 (Online Facilitator)
- Details: Chilean Wikimedian since 2008 and founder of Wiki for Minority. Director at Wikimedia Chile User Group with national and international training experience.
- Responsibility: Facilitates online sessions, ensuring they align with project goals and run smoothly.
4. El-hussain14 (Project Anchor)
- Details: is a seasoned and accomplished editor with a deep understanding of Wikimedia projects. El-hussain14 Is a founder of Bole Wikipedia Community a minority language in Yobe state, his extensive expertise has been instrumental throughout his career. El-hussain14 has actively participated in numerous impactful Wikimedia initiatives, including Nigeria Wikimedia Community user Group local grant review Committee, Train the Trainers program. He has received multiple awards for his contribution to Wikimedia projects and also serves as facilitator in various Wikimedia initiatives.
- Responsibility: He will anchor the program and engage all of our editors through out the project period
Additional Roles of Facilitators :
- Content Review and Quality Control: Ensure accuracy and quality of created articles.
- Technical Support: Assist participants with Wikimedia tools and troubleshoot issues.
- Community Engagement: Promote the project locally and build strong participation.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: Track progress and assess project impact.
- 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 for this project are the general linguistics Communities from across the states, interested staff of media organizations and institutions, linguists and students of various educational institutions. Men and women of different backgrounds and age group will be considered part of the participants in this project. To engage participants before the activities, we will conduct awareness campaigns as mentioned earlier via social media, local radio stations, and community meetings. We will partner with local research institutes like National Institutes for Nigeria Language [NINLAN], Centre for Research in Nigerian Languages, Translation and Folklore [CRNLTF] Language Development Center [LCD] to reach potential participants. Preliminary workshops and informational sessions will introduce the project and outline participation methods. During the activities, interactive workshops, field trips, and writing contests will be organized to facilitate hands-on training and motivate contributions. Continuous support will be provided to ensure effective participation. After the activities, we will follow up with participants through regular communication, advanced training sessions, and community-building efforts.
Recognition and feedback will be part of our strategy to maintain engagement and celebrate contributions.
- 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.
Getting feedback and support are the key elements for any project to succeed, we took several important approach.
- Firstly, I discussed the idea with the Wiki for Minority [WfMin] council members on our Telegram page which I was one of them. We talked about how the project will shaped the future of linguistics minority in Nigeria and align with Wiki for Minority movement in preserving and documenting Linguistic Minority across Wikimedia movement.
- Secondly, we discussed the idea with the facilitators who will be helping with the project. We talked about what we want to achieve, how to engage participants, and the best ways to carry out the activities.
- Finally, we also reached out to National Institutes for Nigeria Languages [NINLAN], Centre for Research in Nigerian Languages, Translation and Folklore [CRNLTF] Language Development Center [LCD] to share our plans. Both the three research institutes were excited about the project and agreed to collaborate, which will be very helpful for preserving and documenting the history of our linguistic Minority in Northern Nigeria.
- 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)
Language
- 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)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
- We hope to learn whether long term plan activities can solve the aforementioned challenges.
- We hope to learn whether the participants engagements would accelerate.
- We hope to learn what to do next by the end of this plan activities
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 160 | Number of participants to train, 20 in each training. |
| Number of editors | 80 | Number of trained participants to edit Wikipedia |
| Number of organizers | 8 | 4 organizers from the community members and 4 more from other groups to poster collaborations and friendships |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 350 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 400 |
| Wikidata | |
| 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)
Yes
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Mentorship | Train our mentors who will continue guiding editors for the project sustainability. | 5 |
| Follow-up Discussion with some fellow professionals body | Follow-up discussions with key personalities /subgroups/networks to evaluate the long-term impact of the training and development a promising project for all. | 3 |
| 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)
1. Dashboard Tool
2. Commons Category Tool
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tyqmSHdjF2MnyGiY9lR-EDQ2GAIMpW5c03R2cv30R1k/edit
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
7279500 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.
4751.3 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).