Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Preserving Bauchi’s History and Culture Through Reliable Knowledge Creation on Wikimedia (ID: 23544550)/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 project was implemented through focused training sessions, practical editing workshops, and post-event mentorship. Participants were introduced to Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, with guidance on account creation, Wikipedia policies, reliable sourcing, article creation, and content improvement related to Bauchi’s history and cultural heritage.
During the hands-on sessions, participants created new articles, improved existing ones, and added structured data on Wikidata. Experienced editors provided real-time support to ensure quality contributions.
As a result, new editors were successfully onboarded, multiple articles were created and mproved, and participants strengthened their skills in reliable knowledge creation and digital documentation of local heritage.
The most effective approaches included practical live editing, use of locally relevant topics to increase engagement, collaborative group work, and continuous mentorship after the event. These strategies significantly contributed to achieving the project’s objectives.
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
- Event's dashboard tool
- Project page on Meta-Wiki
- Facebook post
- Events' Photos
- Project's Diff
- Event's video
- Created content on Hausa Wikipedia
- Created content on Wikidata
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
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: Through this project, we hope to learn in the following ways:
- How effective are Wikimedia training activities in helping new editors from the region not only create accounts but also remain active contributors after the event?
- What strategies work best in introducing cultural and historical heritage topics to participants so they can contribute confidently on Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons?
- How can collaboration with local organizations and community leaders strengthen awareness and long-term engagement with Wikimedia projects?
- To what extent do participants understand and apply skills in sourcing, referencing, and adding reliable citations to articles related to the region?
- How does focusing on regional history and cultural heritage encourage participants to see themselves as knowledge contributors and custodians?
- What models of mentorship and follow-up can be developed to sustain the momentum of editors trained during this project?
Through the implementation of the project, we learned that practical, hands-on training was most effective in helping new editors not only create accounts but also remain active contributors. Participants who edited live during sessions and received follow-up support were more confident and engaged after the event.
We also found that focusing on Bauchi’s cultural and historical heritage increased motivation, as participants felt personally connected to the topics. Collaboration with local organizations and community leaders strengthened trust, participation, and long-term awareness of Wikimedia projects.
Although participants initially faced challenges with sourcing and referencing, structured guidance improved their ability to use reliable citations. Importantly, many participants began to see themselves as custodians of local knowledge.
In the future, we plan to apply these learnings by strengthening mentorship, improving follow-up systems, and deepening partnerships to ensure sustained engagement and high-quality contributions.
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)
Yes, several unexpected situations occurred during the implementation of the project, both positive and challenging.
On the positive side, we were pleasantly surprised by the high level of enthusiasm from participants, especially their interest in documenting Bauchi’s local history and cultural heritage. Many participants showed strong emotional connection to the topics and expressed pride in contributing to global knowledge platforms. This level of engagement exceeded our initial expectations and demonstrated the strong potential for regional knowledge initiatives.
However, we also encountered some challenges. Internet connectivity issues affected the pace of practical editing sessions, and some participants initially struggled with Wikipedia editing policies, particularly around reliable sourcing and neutrality. Additionally, a few newly created accounts faced technical restrictions, which required additional guidance and time to resolve.
From these experiences, we learned the importance of building flexibility into the program schedule, preparing offline training materials when possible, and allocating extra time for hands-on support. We also recognized the need to strengthen pre-event orientation on Wikimedia policies and account setup procedures.
Overall, these unexpected situations helped us improve our facilitation approach, strengthen our problem-solving skills, and design more resilient and adaptable training models for future projects.
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)
Our plan to share the project learnings and results with other community members includes both online and offline strategies.
First, we published a detailed project report on Meta-Wiki, outlining the key outcomes, challenges, lessons learned, and best practices. We also shared the story of the project on Diff to reach a wider Wikimedia audience and highlight the impact of documenting Bauchi’s history and culture. These platforms allow other communities to learn from our experience and adapt similar approaches in their regions.
In addition, we organized knowledge-sharing discussions within our local community, where participants reflected on their experiences and shared feedback. We also disseminated highlights of the project through community mailing lists, WhatsApp groups, and social media platforms to increase visibility and encourage broader engagement.
Furthermore, we plan to continue mentoring interested participants by sharing our training materials, facilitation strategies, and practical insights gained during implementation.
By openly documenting both our successes and challenges, we aim to contribute to shared learning across the Wikimedia movement and strengthen future heritage-focused initiatives.
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 | 40 | 53 | Dashboard tool |
| Number of editors | 30 | 40 | Dashboard tool |
| Number of organizers | 5 | 5 | The organizer and four facilitators. |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 400 | 333 | 941 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 80 | 331 | 898 |
| Wikidata | 200 | 59 | 302 |
| Wiktionary | 80 | 64 | 192 |
| 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)
1465150
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
1000
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/1EnJB_DODUWXC8g-gWKRv_Yh7leLwkeXGX1_wWQaNorI/edit?usp=drivesdk
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)
One key reflection from this project is the importance of starting with community context. Projects that are rooted in local identity, culture, and history naturally inspire stronger participation and ownership. When participants see their own communities represented, they contribute with greater commitment and responsibility.
We also recommend investing more time in pre-event preparation, including early account creation, introductory sessions on Wikimedia policies, and identification of reliable local sources. This helps maximize productive editing time during the main training activities.
Another important recommendation is to build structured mentorship into project design from the beginning. Sustained engagement does not happen automatically after training; it requires consistent follow-up, recognition of active contributors, and clear pathways for continued involvement.
Finally, we reflect that partnerships with local institutions such as cultural groups, libraries, and educational institutions can significantly strengthen both credibility and long-term sustainability. Future projects would benefit from formalizing such collaborations to ensure continued growth of regional knowledge on Wikimedia platforms.