Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Fellowship program for health editors in Africa (ID: 23547162)/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 following are the approaches for successful fellowship program of the African health editors
Create Awareness: To drive participation, we leveraged various social media platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter), to share content and updates. We organized public talks and outreach sessions to engage prospective participants and raise awareness about the project’s goal and the value of contributing to the Wikimedia movement. Result: 209 applications was recieved across Africa from which the 30 participants were selected.
Partnership building: Wiki Health Africa as a developing iniative recognizes the importance of building partnerships with other organizations and initiatives that share its vision and goals. This includes other health organizations like Medical World, Optometric Association, HealthForAll Initiative For Community Health, ,Africa African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST), Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) among others. By building partnerships, we aim to share knowledge, resources, and best practices and amplify the impact of its initiatives. Result: The partnerships yielded positive resulted in the applications we recieved from doctors, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists, radiographers and nutritionist who became a fellow after a duration of 2 months.
Sustained Remote Mentorship and Peer Review: To support participants beyond the workshops, a structured mentorship system using WhatsApp, Google Meet, and asynchronous support channels will be implemented. Peer review mechanisms helped to reinforce learning, and foster community accountability. Result: The mentorship allow 22 out of the 30 appplicants become fellows, the follow up and constant communications guided them throughout the fellowship.
The most effective approaches include mentorship, partnership and one-one mentorship with the fellows.
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
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Fellowship_program_for_health_editors_in_Africa https://x.com/i/status/1995012013588623563 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wiki-health-africa_wiki-health-africa-inaugurated-22-health-activity-7424090154535055360-u5Qm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAACir-TgBAImtqfPtXSlCAXNTfDOq8E69V30 https://thereporters-diary.com.ng/fellowship-for-health-trains-health-editors-journalists-on-wikimedia-core-curriculum/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virtual_onboarding_session_graphics_for_the_fellowship_program.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fellowship_program_for_health_Editors_in_Africa.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Regional_Panelist_session_for_Health_Editors_in_Africa.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Community_Session_for_Health_Editors_in_Africa.jpg
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
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Medicine-related_articles https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/training/professional-development/editing-medical-topics-professional https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Nigeria/Nigerian_sources
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 | 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: What specific barriers hinder African health editors from participating as editors within the Wikimedia movement? We want to identify the systemic and cultural obstacles that African health editors face in gaining visibility and representation.
What lessons can we learn from existing health wikimedia initiatives across Africa that can inform our strategic direction? We hope to identify best practices and successful approaches from similar initiatives to avoid redundancy and enhance our impact.
How effective are our initiatives in increasing the engagement of African health editors in Wikimedia?We will evaluate the success of our programs, workshops, and strategic discussions in empowering health editors to take on more prominent roles.
We identified that busy schedules, difference in time zone and poor internet works are parts of the challenges health editors are facing in Africa. We identified that while there are existing health initiatives in Africa, there has not been collective efforts to bridge the health knowledge gap. Our initiative has been able to reach 7 countries in Africa including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Benin, Cameroon and Gambia with health articles translated into local . Also, local coordinators were selected among the fellows who will continue to champion the contribution to health knowledge gap in their country.
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)
Disbursement of data to participants was tough at first, however we were able to distribute in local currencies through use of different fintech apps and softwares. in subsequent projects, we have figured out how to disburse data across 8 countries in Africa
Also, the project was warmly welcomed by the African communities with the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) from Uganda, Icanstudent and Daily reporters and Daily trust publishing about the fellowship and inauguration of the health fellows.
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)
I have already drafted a diff blog about the project highlighting how the fellowship went and what it entails
We are also going to share the project learnings as a 2026 proposal sharing experience and how it feels to organize the first of such project in Africa. We have also documented the project on two local newspapers in Nigeria, Daily Reporters and Daily trust.
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 | 60 | 60 | Event meta page, goggle form |
| Number of editors | 30 | 30 | Event page |
| Number of organizers | 8 | 5 | Meta page |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |||
| Wikimedia Commons | |||
| Wikidata | |||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partnerships/Collaborations | 5 partnerships established
Details: This includes formal partnerships with Wikimedia affiliates, and local institutions aimed at promoting women’s involvement in Wikimedia projects. |
5 | ||
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)
2783785
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
1900
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/1lfsUw4dC-h2IR-M5g3Q76eqxayrm_g__/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=112148448026670238048&rtpof=true&sd=true
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)