Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Sesotho Chronicles:Strengthening Sesotho Wikipedia through Orthography Documentation and Editor Training (ID: 23739440)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
KeMang??
- Organization
N/A
- 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)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Sesotho Chronicles: Strengthening Sesotho Wikipedia through Orthography Documentation and Editor Training
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2026-04-13 - 2026-04-17
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Lesotho
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
- 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)
1. Problem Statement
Background
Sesotho (Southern Sotho) is a language spoken by more than five million people in Southern Africa. It is an official language in both Lesotho and South Africa and plays a central role in Basotho cultural identity, education, and heritage.
Sesotho is written using two standardized orthographies:
the Lesotho orthography, which uses diacritics and is historically rooted in missionary scholarship, and the South African orthography, standardized through national language authorities.
Both orthographies represent the same language but differ in spelling conventions.
Challenges
On Sesotho Wikipedia, these orthographic differences create several challenges: 1.) Inconsistent articles, where spelling conventions are mixed without guidance., 2.) Editor conflict and discouragement, as contributors revert each other’s edits based on orthography rather than content quality. 3.) Translation difficulties, especially when using the Wikipedia Content Translation tool. 4.) Low awareness and participation in Lesotho, where many potential contributors are unfamiliar with Wikipedia editing in Sesotho.
These challenges reduce article quality, limit editor retention, and affect reader confidence
.
Change the project seeks to bring
This project aims to improve the quality, consistency and sustainability of Sesotho Wikipedia by -1.) Documenting orthographic differences clearly on-wiki,
training editors to work collaboratively across systems and encouraging participation from both South Africa and Lesotho.
The project does not seek to divide the language community but rather to support consensus-based editorial practices that respect both orthographies.
Currently, Lesotho does not have an active Wikimedia User Group, resulting in minimal participation by Basotho contributors and significant underrepresentation of Lesotho’s history, culture, heritage, and notable figures on Wikimedia platforms. Most existing Sesotho content is produced from a South African perspective, while valuable archival and heritage resources held by institutions such as Morija Museum and Archives remain largely absent from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Students and academics in Lesotho also have limited awareness and skills to contribute to Wikimedia projects, contributing to a knowledge equity gap and excluding Basotho voices from documenting and sharing their own history and culture.
- 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.
Key Activities
13 April 2026 Community Activation at Limkokwing University of Technology
Introduce Wikimedia projects to students and staff at Limkokwing University of Technology.
5 Pillars of Wikipedia
Creating Wikipedia accounts
14 April 2026 Capacity Building and Training
Train 100 students in:
Wikipedia editing and core policies
Sesotho language editing and orthography considerations
Article creation, improvement, and referencing
Wikimedia Commons uploads and licensing
15 -16 April 2026 Edit-a-thon
Facilitate structured edit-a-thon sessions focused on:
History and heritage of The Kingdom of Lesotho
Cultural practices and institutions
Notable Basotho figures
Improving existing Sesotho and English Wikipedia articles
17 April 2026 GLAM Engagement
Conduct a one-day visit to Morija Museum and Archives to:
Collect photographs and archival references
Upload images to Wikimedia Commons
Use museum resources to support well-referenced Wikipedia articles
- 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.
@KeMang Project Lead…… Experienced Wikimedia organizer, facilitator, and trainer. WMZA Sesotho Language champion
@ZS Khumalo – Experienced Wikipedian and Researcher.
@Mmaditopo - Project Coordinator, Sesotho Community Project Coordinator and Volunteer, Secondary facilitator.
@SANKOMOTA—Secondary facilitator, SWIP Train the Trainer, Volunteer,
- 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)
The target participants include students, academics, language practitioners,cultural workers and community members interested in contributing to Sesotho Wikipedia in Lesotho.
Participants will be engaged through: Social media outreach, Community networks, Partnerships with cultural and educational institutions.
After the activities, participants will be supported through:
WhatsApp and online community groups, Zoom or Teams virtual calls, and on-wiki talk pages, as well as
follow-up editing support.
- 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.
The issue of Sesotho orthographic differences has been discussed within the South African Sesotho Wikimedia community since 2024. Informal discussions were also held with members of Wikimedia South Africa, who were made aware of the challenges. The project idea was further discussed through community meetings, WhatsApp group discussions, and email communication with Wikimedia ZA outlining the intention to pursue the project.
- 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)
Language
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Geographic
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Improve User Experience
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Consensus-based editorial practices that respect both Sesotho orthographies in Lesotho and South Africa.
Activate an informal Wikimedia community as a first step toward establishing a future Wikimedia User Group in Lesotho.
Advocate and petition for the creation of two Sesotho main space Wikipedia (Sesotho-South Africa and Sesotho-Lesotho)
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 100 | |
| Number of editors | 100 | |
| Number of organizers | 8 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 500 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 1000 |
| Wikidata | 200 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 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)
Dashboard
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
81620 ZAR
- 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.
4960.82 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).