Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/R@/Bibliothécaire III (ID: 23561523)/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)
As part of the R@/Bibliothécaires III project, initiatives were undertaken to build the skills of librarians and other professionals in the book industry regarding contributions to Wikimedia projects.
Workshops, both online and in-person, focused on the basics of contributing (creating and improving articles, uploading images, and using collaborative tools). A session led by a Wikimedia volunteer, who is also a librarian and president of Wikimedia Canada, highlighted the benefits of contributing as a book industry professional and offered concrete ways to get involved. Hands-on exercises focused on content related to Beninese culture facilitated the learning process.
Activities related to the Lingua Libre project were also organized to improve the pronunciation of African names. Participants worked on biographical articles and contributed to recording pronunciations.
These initiatives led to an increase in high-quality contributions, strengthened participants’ skills, and fostered better collaborative dynamics among them.
The most effective approaches were guided practice, participant follow-up, the combination of in-person and online learning, and the grounding of content in the local context, which fostered engagement.
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
In-person session
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Activit%C3%A9_de_formation_du_31_janvier_2026_dans_le_cadre_du_projet_Wikimedia_%C3%A0_l%E2%80%99intention_des_biblioth%C3%A9caires_10.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%E2%80%99activit%C3%A9_suivante_est_programm%C3%A9e_pour_le_28_f%C3%A9vrier_10.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Activit%C3%A9_de_formation_du_31_janvier_2026_dans_le_cadre_du_projet_Wikimedia_%C3%A0_l%E2%80%99intention_des_biblioth%C3%A9caires_05.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Activit%C3%A9_de_formation_du_17_janvier_2026_dans_le_cadre_du_projet_Wikimedia_%C3%A0_l%E2%80%99intention_des_biblioth%C3%A9caires_06.jpg
- Virtual session:
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects:
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lylly_Houngnihin
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciara_%28chanteuse%29
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ay%C3%B4d%C3%A9l%C3%A9
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bateau_du_D%C3%A9part
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:R@/Biblioth%C3%A9caire_III
- Print media
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://docs.google.com/document/d/19ksHU3fxNlmBSlxJ7ml8Ey3er-PpvXU-rKZkEcJblw4/edit?tab=t.0
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 | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | 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: With this project, we want to learn how to better involve documentation and archive professionals in Wikimedia projects and see the effect of their role with young people. We're also looking to find the best ways of showcasing Benin's local languages and heritage through free content such as audio, photos and data. This project will help us understand how to make libraries and documentation centers real places for communities to share and create knowledge.
Through this project, we have learned that library, archive, and information professionals are more engaged when they clearly understand the connection between their work and Wikimedia projects. They also play an important role in supporting young people. We have also found that highlighting local languages and culture strongly motivates participants, particularly through content such as images and audio recordings. Furthermore, libraries can become true hubs for knowledge exchange and creation when activities are practical and context-specific. Moving forward, we plan to build on these lessons by strengthening activities related to local languages, providing greater support to professionals, and developing sustainable partnerships with documentation institutions to expand the project’s impact. Also, through the Wikimedia community, we plan to better communicate our efforts by sharing our experiences, successes, and challenges with other volunteers, participating in discussions at international meetings, and writing a Diff article to highlight what worked well and what did not.
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)
Throughout the project, we encountered unexpected situations, both positive and more challenging. On the positive side, the commitment of some participants—particularly regarding local languages and cultural content—exceeded our expectations, with some even going so far as to suggest ideas and support others. On the other hand, we also faced challenges such as scheduling conflicts, unstable internet connections during online activities, and varying skill levels among participants. On the organizational side, we encountered an issue with the dashboard that prevented two participants from being properly registered; to resolve this, we created a second dashboard and linked it to the first one to better track and understand each participant’s statistics. From these experiences, we learned the importance of remaining flexible, adapting activities to participants’ skill levels, prioritizing hands-on practice, and providing regular follow-up to maintain engagement despite unforeseen challenges.
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)
As part of this project, we plan to share our lessons learned and results with the Wikimedia community by documenting our experience in a Diff article that outlines our activities, outcomes, successes, and challenges. We also plan to regularly share feedback through community communication channels, participate in contributor meetups to exchange ideas and learn from others, and organize local debriefing sessions with participants and partners. Some of this sharing has already begun informally and will be further structured to reach a wider audience.
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 | 20 | Satisfied |
| Number of editors | 15 | 20 | Satisfied |
| Number of organizers | 2 | 2 | Satisfied |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 20 | 28 | 171 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 120 | 133 | 43 |
| Wikidata | 150 | 431 | 49 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikisource | Last year, we worked exclusively on Wikisource. So we may return to it this time around to allow new participants to contribute as well. | 10 | We've created a few pages for this project, which we launched last year. | |
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)
1592475
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2843
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/1IHudQ7iam0fL3xY1-bDKWr9NeyWUdNEY_7KiJkH0cnM/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)