Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/She Said 2025 in Senior Citizens Network (ID: 23478724)/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 She Said 2025 in Senior Citizens Network project was organized as a sustainable effort in documenting and improving the content of African women on Wikiquote. It involved documenting quotes from notable but underrepresented female authors, activists, political leaders, industrialists, and captains of different industries, which increased the visibility and representation of female voices. The project ran from 15 September to 15 November, 2025. Mobilization, outreach, and communication materials were distributed before and during the campaign. We organized a virtual launch, hosted online training sessions, and held 2 physical events as well to better support the participants. A total of 36 editors were engaged. However, some new editors forgot to register in the outreach dashborad. only 24 editors were captured in the dashboard. 448 pages were edited, with a total of 7.42K article views and 644 edits. We also developed a mentorship for the senior citizens to help support their learning and editing skills, answer their questions, and assist with technical difficulties. The practical training sessions, physical events, tracking contribution method, and rewarding top contributors were most effective in achieving these results.
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
Outreach dashboard - https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wiki_for_Senior_Citizens_Network/SheSaid_2025_in_Senior_Citizens_Network
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
Session recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vyHtxjKUHsSgvMqjI2sr342bnUFXsbyQ/view?usp=drivesdk
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: How effectively senior citizens can bridge digital knowledge gaps - Does their unique access to archival materials significantly expand underrepresented content on English WikiQuote? What strategies best engage older adults in Wikimedia projects - Do hands-on workshops or peer-led sessions yield higher participation than self-paced learning? How intergenerational collaboration impacts content quality - Does combining seniors’ historical knowledge with younger editors’ technical skills improve accuracy and depth? Whether documenting marginalized women’s voices inspires sustained contributions - Does focused thematic editing motivate seniors to continue contributing beyond the campaign? We’ll track metrics like new quotes added, participant retention, and post-project surveys to answer these questions.
We learnt- 1. that when learning is helpful and contextual, senior folks can successfully close digital knowledge gaps. We discovered that confidence and having access to patient counselling were more important than age as a barrier to involvement. Senior participants were able to acquire Wikiquote editing abilities, utilise digital tools, and make significant contributions on their own when instruction was provided through practical workshops with step-by-step assistance. Their confidence and willingness to try new things were greatly boosted by reassurance, live demonstrations, and repetition.
2. Senior participants contributed special resources to the project, such as long-forgotten literature, oral histories, and personal collections. As a result, quotations and figures—particularly marginalised women—that were either absent or inadequately represented on English Wikiquote were added. Their contributions showed that involving senior citizens is an effective method for revealing information that is rarely accessible through research conducted just online.
3.Compared to self-paced materials alone, we discovered that peer-led sessions and facilitated workshops produced more engagement, completion, and retention. When seniors supported one another, asked questions in real time, and learnt together, their level of engagement increased. Peer support helped maintain momentum during sessions and decreased anxiety related to "making mistakes."
4.It was very interesting and successful to pair older participants with younger editors. While younger editors assisted with technical duties including formatting, sourcing, and platform navigation, seniors provided historical context and subject-matter expertise. In addition to producing more precise, well-cited, and thorough Wikiquote pages, this partnership promoted respect and intergenerational learning.
How we can use it in the future
1. Instead of largely depending on self-paced resources, future trainings should be designed with hands-on, assisted learning in mind.
2. incorporating intergenerational cooperation and peer assistance as a fundamental program framework rather than an optional element.
3. To maintain motivation and enhance contributions, thematic initiatives (e.g., women, culture, language, and local history) should be prioritised.
4.Seniors should be actively sought out as knowledge partners because they are not passive learners but rather guardians of archival and lived experience.
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)
We tried to manage the event properly and supported all the participants. However, some editors were entirely new to wikimedia and it took a long time to teach them.
the most unexpected thing was that we discovered after the programme that some new participants did not remember to sign in to outreach dashboard throughout the programme. their edits were therefore not captured. Also some forgot their login details and some forgot to use the hashtag. the physical events were mostly helpful because couching seniors online is not exactly easy as many of them were not so used to online platforms.
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)
We will publish a diff blog post to share our learnings, results, and recommendations. We will also continue to share content on our social media pages.
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 | 35 | 37 | |
| Number of editors | 30 | 30 | |
| Number of organizers | 5 | 5 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |||
| Wikimedia Commons | |||
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | 200 | 263 | 305 |
| 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)
2886507
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
1881
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/1sxODxqdh6Qiz7_8BIRSC9Bp2mmhhpkaXFsDv_3oodBo/edit?usp=sharing
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)