Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Lagos (ID: 23630784)
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)
Jonywikis
- Organization
Wikimedians of Lagos User Group
- 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)
I'm a group leader of a Wikimedia User Group (submitted to the Affiliation Committee)., I'm a bank account signatory for the joint bank account of a Wikimedia affiliate, group, or organization.
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Leader and Outreach Coordinator: promotes the Wikimedians of Lagos User Group and its activities to the broader Wikimedia community, as well as to potential partners and sponsors outside of Wikimedia.
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Lagos
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2026-02-01 - 2026-03-31
- 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)
Feminism and Folklore
- 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)
Our goal with Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Lagos is to deepen the work we started in 2025 by continuing to close the gender gap on Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia through folklore, and women-centered narratives. During the 2025 edition, we realized that although the campaign helped increase awareness and participation, there is still a visible imbalance in the representation of women in folklore, cultural leadership, and local narratives. Most Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia articles still focus on men, and general topics, leaving the voices of women and feminine identities under-documented.
In the 2025 edition, we successfully trained new editors, improved local knowledge about Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia editing, and produced new articles. However, we noticed recurring challenges - including limited editing confidence among participants after the event, difficulty finding credible local sources on women in folklore, and a lack of advanced technical understanding of Wikipedia policies. These learnings shape our 2026 strategy.
In this new edition, we aim to go beyond awareness by building deeper skillsets and creating a strong content culture around gender and folklore. We will address gaps in quality and consistency through targeted mentorship, advanced training on reliable sourcing, and improved use of Wikimedia tools like the Content Translation tool, Visual Editor, and Wikimedia Commons for media contributions.
We are also introducing a mentorship and follow-up structure that ensures participants continue contributing beyond the campaign timeline. We plan to connect editors with linguists and cultural researchers who can help them locate credible materials about women in Lagosian folklore traditions.
Our long-term vision is to make Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia not just a translation space but a cultural archive - a digital place where Lagosian folklore, women’s history, and gender narratives in Pidgin can live permanently and grow each year. Through this continuity, we hope to build a sustainable, gender-balanced and language-inclusive Wikipedia community in Lagos and beyond.
- 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.
Our 2026 edition will retain the strong structure of 2025 but with refined improvements based on lessons learned. The activities will emphasize quality, mentorship, and sustainable community engagement.
Recruitment and Pre-Engagement: We will begin by recruiting participants from the Wikimedians of Lagos User Group, existing 2025 participants, Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia editors, linguists, students from the Universities in Lagos, and gender-focused organizations in Lagos. Recruitment will take place via our WhatsApp group, as well as social media platform (X). We will also reach out to past trainees to serve as assistant mentors.
Training and Workshops: We will conduct six in-person training sessions covering:
- Introduction to Feminism and Folklore 2026 themes.
- Practical editing and translation in Nigerian Pidgin.
- Sourcing and citation techniques, especially for oral folklore.
- Copyright, plagiarism, and Wikimedia Commons uploads.
- Gender-sensitive writing and neutral language use.
- Peer review, mentorship, and content polishing.
The workshops will also include guided translation sessions of English Wikipedia articles into Nigerian Pidgin, ensuring new editors learn while contributing.
Content Creation and Writing Contest: We will host writing contests focusing on women’s stories, folklore heroines, and cultural gender roles. Prizes will be given to participants with the highest-quality contributions. All content will be reviewed collaboratively during an edit-a-thon weekend to maintain Wikipedia’s quality standards.
Partnerships: We plan to collaborate with feminist collectives and cultural researchers for awareness promotion.
Follow-up: After the event, we will hold two online meetups for review and mentorship. We will also maintain active communication channels to support continued editing.
Timeline Summary:
- Day 1: Registration (Recruitment), Introduction to Wikipedia, Wikipedia essentials, Editing basics, Group editing session
- Day 2: Evaluating articles and sources, mainspace and drafts, hands-on practical
- Day 3: Sources and Citations, Plagiarisms and Copyright Violation, Contributing image and media files, Group editing sessions
- Day 4 & 5: Translating articles from English Wikipedia to Nigerian pidgin Wikipedia (using Visual edit, Source edit and Content Translation tools)
- Day 6 : Edit-a-thon, Writing Contests Review and Editing, evaluation, mentorship assignment, follow-up plan.
We will make use of the training module in the outreach dashboard. We have prepared an on-wiki landing pages, where more information about the program can be seen:
- Meta-wiki: Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Lagos
- pcmwiki: Wikipedia:Wuman-dem an Kolsho-dem 2026
- 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.
- Project Coordinator: Jonywikis, leader and founding member of Wikimedians of Lagos User Group. I am a sysop on the Nigerian pidgin Wikipedia. I have organised and participated in various Wikimedia events. My role will be to coordinate the project and activities.I will equaly lead the training of participants during the events.
- Project Assistant and Lead Facilitator: Biowikician, leader and founding member of Wikimedians of Lagos User Group. He is an admin on the Nigerian pidgin Wikipedia. He will assist in training participants during the events. He has organised Wikimedia events and participated in many. He will oversee the technical parts of ensuring participants adheres to creating Wikipedia articles in Nigerian pidgin.
- Project promotion and Communication Manager: Opeolade, She will be responsible for communicating with intended participants and will oversee the recruitment of new participants. She is an active member of Wikimedians of Lagos User Group. She will take an active lead during the training sessions and assist in events facilitation.
- 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 target participants include members of the Wikimedians of Lagos User Group, students, Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia contributors, linguists, writers, and new editors interested in language and gender issues. We are especially focusing on women who speak or understand Nigerian Pidgin but have never edited before.
Pre-Event Engagement: Before the campaign starts, we will conduct strong online mobilization through our social media pages, the Naija Wikipedia Village Pump, and direct invitations to our existing community. We will also reach out to participants from the 2025 edition to share their success stories and encourage new editors to join. Pre-event communications will include a clear training schedule, expected outcomes, and available mentorship opportunities.
During the Event: We will create an inclusive learning environment that combines practical editing with cultural folklore-centered article writing. Our trainers will use simple and relatable examples drawn from local folklore to make learning more natural for Nigerian Pidgin speakers. We will also introduce a “mentor system” that pairs experienced editors with new participants during hands-on editing. This structure worked well in 2025, and we are expanding it in 2026 to strengthen confidence and collaboration. Participants will have real-time guidance, ensuring that no one feels lost or left behind.
Post-Event Follow-up: After the campaign, we will build on one of our biggest learnings from 2025 - the need for continuity. We will create an active WhatsApp mentorship group where editors can receive feedback, share challenges, and request help from experienced mentors. We will host follow-up sessions to review progress and highlight success stories.
Through these strategies, we aim not just to train participants but to build a strong, motivated, and gender-aware editing community that continues to enrich the Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia long after the project ends.
- 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.
We held open discussions in our Wikimedians of Lagos User Group WhatsApp, where we reviewed the success and feedback from the 2025 edition. Many members expressed interest in continuing the campaign and expanding our focus. We also posted a notification on our Wikimedians of Lagos User Group meta-wiki discussion page and in the Naija Wikipedia community discussion section to gather inputs.
- 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)
Content Gender gap
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Gender and diversity
- 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)
Through Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Lagos, we hope to learn:
- How does culturally relevant engagement influence sustained participation among editors?
- To what extent does cultural engagement contribute to improving article quality in Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia?
- How effectively does continuous mentorship increase long-term editor retention in Nigerian Pidgin Wikipedia?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 40 | We expect to have at least new participants 15 and 25 returning participants for the events. |
| Number of editors | 40 | We expect to have 15 newly registered users and 25 returning editors for the events |
| Number of organizers | 3 | 3 persons will be organising and facilitating the events |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 220 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
We plan to create 150 articles and improve 70 article in Nigerian pidgin Wikipedia
- 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)
Campwiz, dashboard, event registration tool and google form
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IZRgBLKP2yfMIKmF1ycfgUdLPwGLpQKYHOpnqmX_VFU/edit?usp=sharing
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
3003000 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.
2046.89 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).