Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/From visuals to words:Enhancing Namibian films content project (ID: 23099681)/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)
Training workshop 1: We launched our first training with 20 participants. The day we had our first training is the day we launched the project and introduced the participants to Wikipedia Editing Essentials and the purpose of the project.
Workshop Training 2: We conducted this training to train on the nitty-gritty of the project and make sure participants were well-trained and capacitated. A hybrid training with online and physical participation to give participants equal opportunity to learn.
Four Editathon sessions: These sessions focused on enhancing the representation of the Namibian film industry by equipping participants with skills to document Namibian Film industry work on Wikipedia. One thing that worked with these sessions, they were hands-on and engaging with the participants. It was also time to unearth Namibian film content in various digital archives, which made the session even more interesting.
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
This was our main event page: This is where we documented all the processes and very important information about our projects, the registration, the results, and the prices for the winners. Link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:AfroCreatives_WikiProject%2Bfilm_2025_in_Namibia Attendance register: We were also using this page to take attendance for the the two training sessions: Link:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/From_Visuals_to_Words:_AfroCreatives_WikiProject%2Bfilm_2025_in_Namibia#Attendance
We aimed to have 20 participants, including 3 organisers, but only 15 who managed to finish the whole project; 3 participants did not manage to finish the project.
Article Tracking Table: We also have a table to track the articles created or improved. This was handy for the Jury during the jury process and also for our evaluation. Link:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:AfroCreatives_WikiProject%2Bfilm_2025_in_Namibia#Article_tracker_tables
Tracking Dashboard: We also used the tracking dashboard to track the progress of the participants during the training and editathons. Link: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Namibia/AfroCreatives-FESPACO_2025_Edit-a-thon_in_Namibia
Evaluation Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PU1qRIeTADKWwd2Uu5eawb2xeAjjp3bUZG5DLNpez8w/edit?resourcekey=&gid=1919285513#gid=1919285513
Social Media Posts: Training: https://x.com/Wiki_Namibia/status/1967320293753663520 / https://x.com/Wiki_Namibia/status/1959346906640921071 / https://x.com/Wiki_Namibia/status/1951767540008624260 / https://www.instagram.com/p/DOmHE5BiOlu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link /
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
We have adopted materials from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_AfroCreatives
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 | Neither agree nor disagree |
| 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: How can Wikimedia projects be made more accessible and relevant to filmmakers and creatives in Namibia? This includes understanding barriers to participation and identifying effective outreach and training methods.
What are the most effective approaches to documenting the Namibian film industry, its history, and its key players through Wikimedia projects?
This will help us refine our content creation strategy and ensure we are filling meaningful knowledge gaps.
How can partnerships with local institutions (like the Goethe Institut, Namibia Film Comission, National Theater of Namibia and Media Houses) strengthen awareness, participation, and sustainability of Wikimedia projects in the creative sector? We want to measure the impact of collaboration and co-creation with local stakeholders.
From onset, during planning and getting the project to the starting line, we have learned that the Namibian film industry is a challenging space to penetrate. It proved difficult to get filmmakers and media specialists actively involved in documenting vital information about the creative industry on Wikimedia platforms. As a result, most of our participants were media and information students, as well as returning editors who already had some familiarity with Wikimedia projects.
However, this experience also highlighted the importance of continuous engagement and collaboration. As project leaders, we connected with other organizers and exchanged ideas on strategies for outreach and sustainability, which broadened our perspective and improved our coordination.
One significant area of improvement this year was our media presence and recruitment drive, which resulted in better participant engagement and visibility of our activities.
Going forward,we plan to build on these lessons by strengthening partnerships with local creative institutions, tailoring our outreach strategies to better attract filmmakers and media professionals, and sustaining engagement through consistent communication and targeted training programs.
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)
Positives: We had a good turnout of 30 first-time editors and successfully retained 10 committed first time editors throughout the project. We learned that impact is not always about numbers, but about the quality of engagement and outcomes from a dedicated group.
Challenges: Although many showed interest in joining, distance and poor network connectivity in some regions limited participation. Some could not continue due to financial constraints, such as data costs and transport to access internet facilities. We also faced challenges with participants lacking essential equipment like laptops. There is a clear need to collaborate with local universities in the future to use their computer labs.
Additionally, a few first-time editors were unintentionally blocked, leading to dropouts and temporary IP blocks that delayed the editathon. As a result, we focused more on Wikipedia, with less time dedicated to Wikidata, which participants could explore independently.
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)
Within the community, we also had some post campaign meetings to connect the pictures we just uploaded to their relevant articles or improve articles We do track the post participation here: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Namibia/Namibia_Edit_Counts
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 | 20 | 18 | New participants: 10
Returning participants: 5 Organisers: 3 |
| Number of editors | 20 | 18 | Attendance Register |
| Number of organizers | 3 | 3 | Event Page
Project Dashboard |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 40 | 15 | 53 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |||
| Wikidata | 200 | 4 | 81 |
| 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)
29750
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
1699.27
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/1-XAQyNuV_lqLSWXjzW0c384kMw8MvOUg77rmU-A_bzU/edit?gid=928458698#gid=928458698
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)