Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/WikiAcademics:Expanding Wikimedia in Northern Nigerian Universities (ID: 23544402)/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)
We implemented the WikiAcademics Project through a mix of physical and online activities. In-person training workshops were successfully organized in Kano and Maiduguri, where we worked with lecturers and students from different universities. Due to budget limitations, we were unable to organize the Jos project physically, so the Jos activities were conducted online.
Across all locations, participants were trained on how to use Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects for teaching, learning, and research. The training included Wikipedia editing basics, adding reliable references, improving articles, uploading media to Wikimedia Commons, and understanding Wikimedia policies. Practical editing sessions were carried out using the Wikimedia Programs & Events Dashboard.
The project achieved strong results. According to the Dashboard, 58 editors actively participated and made over 7,700 edits. Participants created around 1,790 new articles, improved more than 4,000 articles, added over 1.84 million words and 13,000 references, and uploaded 126 files to Wikimedia Commons. The content produced has already received over 17,700 article views.
The most effective approaches were partnering with universities, using hands-on practical training, combining physical and online sessions to manage budget limitations, and providing follow-up support through the Dashboard and communication channels. These approaches helped participants stay engaged and produce meaningful contributions.
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
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 | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly 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: From this project, we hope to learn:
1. How effective are partnerships with universities in bringing more lecturers, researchers, and students into Wikimedia projects? 2. What methods of training and follow-up work best to keep new contributors active after the workshops? 3. How can we make Hausa Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects more trusted by academics and students who at first doubt their reliability? 4. What motivates students and lecturers to continue contributing after the first training? 5. What challenges do new academic contributors face when editing, and how can we support them better?
From the project, we learned that partnerships with universities are very effective. When lecturers support the program, students participate more seriously.
We also learned that practical training and follow-up support help new editors stay active. Many academics trusted Wikipedia more after we explained its policies and showed how quality content is added with references.
Students and lecturers are motivated when they see their work published and tracked on the Dashboard. New contributors face challenges like fear of mistakes and wiki technical skills, so guidance and encouragement are very important.
In the future, we will strengthen university partnerships, improve follow-up activities, and create simpler training materials for academic contributors.
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)
One positive and unexpected experience was the high level of interest from lecturers. Some lecturers who initially doubted Wikipedia became very active after the training and supported their students to participate.
A challenge we faced was limited funding, which made it impossible to hold the Jos project in person. We adapted by organizing the Jos activities online, which still allowed participants to join and contribute, though with less interaction than physical sessions.
We also noticed that some participants struggled with internet access and technical skills at the beginning. This taught us the importance of flexibility, patience, and providing continuous guidance.
From these experiences, we learned that good adaptation, clear communication, and flexible training methods are key to successfully implementing academic Wikimedia 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)
We plan to share the project learnings and results with other community members through multiple channels. This includes writing and publishing a Diff blog post, sharing project outcomes and Dashboard results on social media, and discussing the experience during local Wikimedia community meetings and training sessions.
We will also share the lessons learned with other organizers during future workshops and use the experience to improve and support similar WikiAcademics activities in other universities and communities.
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 | 150 | 130 | In the application, we planned to train at least 150 participants. However, due to funding limitations, we were able to train a total of 120 participants through in-person sessions, and an additional 20+ participants from Jos were trained remotely. |
| Number of editors | 60 | 58 | |
| Number of organizers | 4 | 4 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 1200 | 1798 | 4093 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 150 | 126 | 340 |
| Wikidata | 500 | 5 | 1868 |
| Wiktionary | 50 | 54 | 139 |
| Wikisource | 50 | 26 | 26 |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | 50 | 1 | 67 |
| 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)
3660628
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2581.18
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report Report Link
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)