Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Green In Northern Nigeria:Documenting Hausa Native Plants On Wikimedia Commons Through Photo Walks (ID: 23552780)/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 project implemented a series of organized photo walks across selected locations in Northern Nigeria to document Hausa native plants and local vegetation. Participants were trained on basic photography techniques, image quality standards, and how to upload files to Wikimedia Commons with proper descriptions, categories, and licenses. During the photo walks, community members captured high-quality images of indigenous plants, including medicinal, food, and environmental species commonly used in Hausa communities. The images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, making them freely available for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The project also helped raise awareness about environmental documentation, biodiversity preservation, and open knowledge contribution among local volunteers. As a result, the project increased the number of high-quality images of Hausa native plants on Wikimedia Commons, strengthened local contributor capacity, and encouraged new editors to participate in environmental documentation. Participants gained practical skills in photography, metadata entry, and Wikimedia contribution workflows. The most effective approaches were hands-on field photo walks, practical training sessions, and close mentorship during uploads. Learning by doing helped participants quickly understand the tools and standards. Community engagement and local knowledge sharing also improved plant identification accuracy and participation motivation.
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
- Project Meta Page: here
- Event Dashboard / Programs & Events Tool:here
- Uploaded Images Sample:here, here, here, here.
- Some posts in social media channels
Facebook , Facebook, Facebook, Facebook and Facebook.
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
The material and resources that we used during the project is practical training and guides on photography, image quality standards, and uploading files to Wikimedia Commons. We also used event work plans, participant registration sheets, photo walk schedules, and safety guidelines. Additional resources included Wikimedia Commons help pages, the Programs & Events Dashboard, and locally adapted plant identification notes to support accurate documentation. All materials supported effective training, coordination, and quality contributions.
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 | 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: By the end of the project, we expect to:
Document 700 native plants on Commons, providing the world with previously inaccessible information about Hausa Native Plants knowledge.
Translate content into Hausa, ensuring linguistic inclusivity for millions of audience and enhancing content accessibility.
Empower 50+ local participants through training and involvement in photo walks and workshops, fostering a deeper connection to their natural environment.
Raise global awareness about the ecological importance of Northern Nigeria’s plant biodiversity and contribute to the global movement for open knowledge. Then the Quality and Accuracy: Reviewing content for adherence to Wikimedia’s editorial standards and the accuracy of plant identification and descriptions.
Community Engagement: Assessing the level of involvement from local communities through participant surveys, interviews, and feedback sessions.
Content Reach: Monitoring the usage and impact of uploaded content through Wikimedia analytics to track how widely it’s accessed and used by global audiences.
Sustainability: Ensuring that local communities continue to contribute to the documentation and that the project creates lasting knowledge on Wikimedia projects. This project will be a vital step in preserving and sharing the indigenous knowledge of Northern Nigeria’s plant life with the world. By documenting this knowledge through community-driven photo walks and translating it into Hausa, we will ensure that millions of people have access to free and culturally relevant information, helping to safeguard biodiversity while fostering a deeper appreciation of local heritage. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the Wikimedia Foundation to bring this vision to life.
Through the project, we learned that hands-on field activities such as photo walks significantly improve participant engagement, skill development, and quality of contributions. We also learned that providing clear guidance on image quality, licensing, and proper descriptions helps reduce upload errors and improves usability on Wikimedia Commons. Community members’ local knowledge greatly supported accurate plant identification and documentation. In the future, we will apply these learnings by strengthening practical training sessions, improving pre-event orientation on Commons standards, and involving more local experts to enhance content accuracy. These improvements will help scale similar environmental documentation projects more effectively and sustainably.
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 surprise was the high level of interest and enthusiasm from participants and community members, which increased engagement and content contribution. Some participants also demonstrated strong local knowledge of native plants, improving the quality of documentation. A challenge encountered was limited internet connectivity during uploads and occasional device limitations, which slowed real-time contributions. From this experience, we learned the importance of planning offline data collection, scheduling uploads for better connectivity, and providing technical backup support for participants in future 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)
The project learnings and results will be shared through a project report on Meta-Wiki, community social media channels, and local Wikimedia community meetings. Participants will also be encouraged to share their experiences with other volunteers to inspire similar initiatives. Where possible, documentation photos and project outcomes will be presented during local trainings and outreach activities to promote environmental documentation on Wikimedia projects.
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 | 50 | 50 | It was achieved 50 check here |
| Number of editors | 40 | 50 | It was achieved 50 check here |
| Number of organizers | 4 | 4 | It was achieved |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 500 | 2899 | 3127 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 700 | 786 | 3701 |
| Wikidata | 150 | 265 | 3015 |
| Wiktionary | 200 | 64 | 149 |
| 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)
Yes
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)
The main difficulty faced during the project was limited funding, which made it impossible to complete activities in all five planned states. While the project was designed to cover Kano, Taraba, Jos, Niger, and Nasarawa, only three states (Taraba, Jos, and Kano) were completed before the budget was exhausted. This affected full geographic coverage and data collection. In the future, we plan to improve cost estimation, prioritize activities based on available resources, and explore complementary partnerships or local support to reduce operational costs. As a recommendation, we kindly request that the Wikimedia Foundation consider supporting a follow-up or additional funded application to enable the completion of activities in the remaining two states (Niger and Nasarawa). These communities have significant indigenous plant knowledge that is currently underrepresented on Wikimedia projects , and completing the coverage would strengthen the overall impact and sustainability of the project.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
2197725
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
1500
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/1Y4XHHTipWRwjuH5ICh7sKc_N5BVpo4m7p_Zcpx1oHtw/edit?usp=drivesdk
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)