Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Say-It-Right event in Nigeria (ID: 23551280)/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 Say It Right event in Nigeria implemented a series of coordinated activities to improve the representation of correct pronunciation of Nigerian names and terms on Wikimedia projects. We began with online and offline awareness efforts, using social media materials, public talks, and collaboration with Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa Wikimedia communities to mobilize native speakers and language enthusiasts. Two virtual sessions were organized: an introductory session to explain the project’s goals and cultural importance, and a closing reflection session to evaluate impact and gather participant feedback. Each language community hosted a one day in-person training, a technical training on recording and editing audio using Lingua Libre and Spell4wiki, followed by an edit-a-thon where participants uploaded pronunciation files in .ogg format to Wikimedia Commons and linked them to relevant Wikipedia articles. To sustain engagement, the campaign concluded with a contest that rewarded top contributors and outstanding new editors across the three language groups.
As a result, a substantial number of pronunciation audio files with a total of 3,500 correct audio pronunciation in Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa were produced and integrated into Wikipedia articles about Nigerian people, places, and cultural concepts, making content more accessible and respectful of linguistic identity. Participants developed practical multimedia skills and became more confident contributing audio content to Wikimedia projects. The collaboration between native speakers and experienced Wikimedia contributors ensured both linguistic accuracy and technical quality, while also strengthening community ties. The most effective approaches included community led validation of pronunciations, hands on practical training combined with immediate contribution opportunities, a blend of virtual and physical engagement, and the use of a friendly contest to motivate sustained participation. Framing the project around cultural identity and the importance of preserving authentic voices also deeply resonated with participants and increased their commitment to the campaign’s goals.
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
Dashboard: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Say_it_right_event_in_nigeria Pictures: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Say_it_right_event_in_Nigeria_4.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Say_it_right_event_in_Nigeria_3.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Say_it_right_event_in_Nigeria_2.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Say_it_right_event_in_Nigeria_1.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
Training materials and guides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S4MPjKzOiPlSr_Nw7j70hO6DFWrd8HJSil1_QvQ4fJk/edit?slide=id.p1#slide=id.p1
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: 1.Effective Engagement Strategies: We hope to learn the most effective methods and strategies for engaging people and language community in contributing to Wikimedia projects, ensuring sustained participation and community building.
2.Challenges and Solutions: Identifying common challenges faced by new and existing contributors, and developing tailored solutions to address these issues, will be a key learning outcome to enhance future training and support programs.
3.Impact of Digital Literacy Initiatives:Understanding the impact of our digital literacy initiatives on participants' ability to contribute high-quality content to Wikimedia projects will help us refine our educational approaches and materials.
4.Community Insights: Gaining insights into how local communities interact and collaborate within the Wikimedia ecosystem will provide valuable knowledge for fostering stronger, more cohesive community networks.
5.Long-Term Sustainability: Learning how to create and maintain long-term interest and motivation among participants through continuous support, recognition, and incentives will be crucial for the project's success.
6. inclusiveness : learn how wikipedia can be a means for for free knwoledge throuh audio representation.
1. Project Management As project leads and facilitators, our goal was to strengthen our project management skills by taking full responsibility for planning, coordinating, and executing all aspects of the project. This included managing resources, guiding volunteers, and ensuring that every activity aligned with the overall objectives. We also used this project as a platform to make audio recordings of Nigerian names, places, and cultural terms publicly available. These recordings contribute to improving pronunciation accuracy and enhancing knowledge accessibility across Wikimedia platforms.
2. Community Building Our goal was to better understand how communities grow and to identify the key factors that inspire volunteers to remain committed. We implemented strategies to foster long-term engagement by providing consistent support, mentorship, and sharing future Wikimedia opportunities to sustain participation beyond the project timeline. Through our collaboration with language communities, we gained valuable insights into how different community ecosystems operate. These collaborations enabled cross-learning, strengthened our project strategies, and created shared value for all communities involved.
3. Enhanced Editing Skills Through hands-on participation particularly in adding audio files using tools such as Lingua Libre and contributing to Wikimedia projects we aimed to improve our technical skills. This included uploading audio files to Wikimedia Commons and matching them to their corresponding pages on Wikipedia. This experience strengthened both our direct contributions to the project and our overall proficiency across Wikimedia platforms, including the effective use of relevant extension tools.
4. Understanding Editors’ Challenges Through this project, we sought to identify the challenges contributors face when adding audio files to Wikimedia Commons, which differs significantly from the more common process of uploading images. The insights gathered will help us address these technical and procedural challenges more effectively in future projects and design better support systems for contributors.
5. Feedback and Continuous Improvement We aimed to gather structured feedback from participants in order to refine our project planning and implementation strategies. This approach will help us make future initiatives more impactful and encourage sustained participation in Wikimedia projects.
Reflections and Key Learnings from Implementing the “Say It Right” Event in Nigeria
Implementing the “Say It Right” event in Nigeria enabled our team to translate theory into practice across project coordination, community engagement, and contribution quality.
From a project management perspective, we learned the importance of early planning, clear role definition, and consistent communication in keeping volunteers aligned and motivated. Managing timelines, expectations, and partnerships reinforced the value of structure, accountability, and proactive coordination in community led projects. In terms of community building, we discovered that sustained engagement depends on relevance, follow up, and fostering a strong sense of belonging. Participants were more likely to remain active when they received mentorship, recognition, and clear pathways for continued involvement. Collaborations with external communities further demonstrated that shared goals can strengthen participation when expectations are clearly aligned.
On the technical side, hands-on editing highlighted the importance of practical guidance particularly in audio recording and uploading to build contributor confidence and improve content quality. The project also revealed specific challenges associated with adding audio files to Wikimedia Commons, emphasizing the need for clearer documentation, training resources, and ongoing technical support. Overall, the event strengthened our capacity as organizers, deepened community relationships, and improved the quality and sustainability of our Wikimedia 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, a few unexpected situations came up during the implementation of the activities, both challenging and encouraging, and they provided valuable lessons for future improvements.
One of the main unexpected challenges was the technical difficulties participants encountered while uploading audio pronunciations using Lingua Libre. Some contributors struggled with account authorization, file processing delays, and understanding parts of the upload workflow. These issues slowed down contributions at certain points, especially close to the contest period, and caused delays in final submissions. From this experience, we learned the importance of providing additional technical support, clearer step by step guides.
On the positive side, we were pleasantly surprised by the high level of enthusiasm and participation. Many contributors were excited because this was a different and refreshing form of contribution compared to the usual text based editing on Wikipedia. Recording pronunciations felt more personal and culturally meaningful to them, and this connection increased engagement and commitment. We learned that introducing new, culturally relevant contribution formats can strongly motivate participants and attract people who may not usually be active in traditional editing tasks. This insight will guide us to include more multimedia and voice based activities in future Wikimedia programs.
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)
The team plans to share the project’s learnings and results through clear documentation on Meta-Wiki and intentional knowledge sharing within each language communities during meetings, training sessions, and through online communication channels, ensuring that others can replicate and build on the experience.
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 | 90 | 80 | |
| Number of editors | 90 | 80 | |
| Number of organizers | 4 | 4 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 300 | 30 | 3300 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 300 | 3400 | 3400 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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/1BROouJbfQAh5BOwyiWIGKeHaTS2l3_0i3pkon7jE4XU/edit?gid=0#gid=0
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)