Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki for minorities Photo contest (Arab Community) (ID: 22579564)/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)
Over the course of two months, we successfully organized two major contests and launched the Wiki for Minorities Ambassador Program to promote inclusion and representation on Wikimedia platforms. The first contest focused on editing in Arabic Wikipedia, encouraging participants to create new articles and improve existing ones about minority groups and underrepresented topics. The second contest, held on Wikimedia Commons, aimed to visually document minority communities across the Arab world, resulting in the upload of high-quality images that showcased cultural diversity. Complementing these efforts, the Ambassador Program mobilized a network of dedicated individuals who promoted the contests locally, organized workshops, and provided guidance to participants, ensuring the initiative’s success and its lasting impact on Wikimedia projects.
1- Editing contest:
The Wiki for Minorities Editing Contest was held from September 1st to September 30th, with the winners officially announced at the end of October.
The contest achieved outstanding results, significantly enhancing Arabic Wikipedia’s content on minorities:
485 new articles were created, highlighting various minority groups and topics that were previously underrepresented.
30 existing articles were extensively revised and enriched with additional information, making them more comprehensive and reliable.
This substantial output underscores the dedication of participants and the impact of collaborative efforts to bridge the content gap on Ar Wikipedia.
2- Images contest:
The Images Contest ran concurrently with the Editing Contest, from September 1st to September 30th, and the winners were revealed at the end of October.
The results exceeded expectations:
1,248 images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, contributed by participants from 8 different countries across the Arab world.
The contest featured a focus on capturing and documenting underrepresented communities, with the 4 winning images representing:
Nomadic Arabs (First Place, Ethnic Minority). Bishari Tribes (Second Place, Ethnic Minority). Bohra Community (Third Place, Religious Minority). Autism Awareness (Fourth Place, representing People with Special Needs).
You can explore the entire collection of uploaded images here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Wiki_For_Minorities_in_the_Arabic_community
Key Insights:
The jury praised the high quality of submissions, with the most distinguished images originating from Egypt, demonstrating both creativity and technical skill.
Jordan achieved the highest number of uploads, thanks to the successful organization of photo walks. This initiative encouraged local engagement and resulted in unique and culturally significant contributions.
Inspired by this success, we are now considering providing small grants to support similar photo walk events in other countries. This would enable more communities to participate and showcase their diverse cultures and heritage.
3- Ambassador program
To amplify the contest’s reach, we launched an Ambassador Program, which involved 17 ambassadors from across the Arab region.
These ambassadors played a pivotal role in:
1-Promoting the contests locally. 2-Organizing educational sessions and workshops to guide participants. 3-Assisting participants in uploading images and improving Wikipedia articles.
Recognition and Rewards, to honor their exceptional contributions:
1-Special gifts were awarded to the top two ambassadors who demonstrated outstanding commitment and impact.
2-Their efforts directly contributed to the success of the contests, fostering greater engagement within their communities.
The Ambassador Program proved instrumental in expanding participation and strengthening local representation, and it serves as a model for future initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion.
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
We used the following documentation;
Articles contest:
1- Arabic wikipedia page: https://w.wiki/Axjn 2- Arabic Wikipedia Category: https://w.wiki/C9dP 3- Social media Ads: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_for_Minorities_in_Middle_East_Group/Ads 4- Dashboard: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wiki_for_minorities/Wiki_loves_Minorities,_Arab_Community_editing_and_writing_competition
5- Articles report: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_DLGloRWE_5bcySL_NEPMc_fbJJrCJeI4ukTrkq32DM/edit?usp=sharing
Images Contest:
1- We used social media platforms and mailing lists to announce the photo contests. 3- We asked all photographers to fill a form and use their emails to send them detailed instructions and reminders to help. 4- We asked jury members to share with their community and our wiki friends to share with their user groups. 5-We used montage tool in the first 2 stages of the jury process, then did a google meet to choose the final list. 6-We created a commons page as a landing page of the contest: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_For_Minorities_in_the_Arabic_Community 7- Categories: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Wiki_For_Minorities_in_the_Arabic_community 8- Registration Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlN-AzT-_Ul9Ut5zxfYOQ8LVh5Qs7q5DPoBt2QvbCLErfQhw/viewform 9- Minorites list; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15K_VuE6ISMpOYAv0adoDhZvEvh0i39CGAaxot_ZaKQo/edit?gid=0#gid=0
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
for Articles contest:
1- guides Page: https://w.wiki/Axjo 2-Minorities list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15K_VuE6ISMpOYAv0adoDhZvEvh0i39CGAaxot_ZaKQo/edit?gid=0#gid=0
For the images contest;
1- guides Page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_For_Minorities_in_the_Arabic_Community/Rules 2-Minorities list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15K_VuE6ISMpOYAv0adoDhZvEvh0i39CGAaxot_ZaKQo/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Project Outcomes: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_for_Minorities_in_Middle_East_Group/Outcomes
Winners: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_for_Minorities_in_Middle_East_Group/Winners
Articles report: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_DLGloRWE_5bcySL_NEPMc_fbJJrCJeI4ukTrkq32DM/edit?usp=sharing
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 | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | 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: This project will help us to identify minorities and disabilities in the Arabic community and the challenges they face which will help the whole Arabic community in the next projects to reach them and engage them in the community more and more. Furthermore, with collaboration between photographers, editors, jury members and organisers we hope to create a productive environment which enriches the experience of all of us.
This project aimed to identify minorities and individuals with disabilities within the Arabic community, understand the challenges they face, and use these insights to inform future initiatives that foster greater inclusion and engagement. To achieve this, we conducted in-depth internal discussions involving organizers, jury members from both the photo and editing competitions, and trusted community members to define and map the diverse minority groups within the Arabic community.
Additionally, we carried out targeted research to identify and document these minority groups. With the expertise of the editing competition jury, we curated a list of recommended articles focusing on minorities, particularly individuals with disabilities, to guide content creation. For the photo contest, we collaborated closely with the jury to select four winning images that represented and documented four distinct minority communities, reinforcing the project's commitment to inclusivity and representation.
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)
For Articles contest:
One of the most surprising and heartwarming experiences during the implementation of the writing contest was the participation of individuals who themselves belong to minority groups. Participants from communities in Somalia and Iraq contributed actively, sharing valuable insights and creating content that directly reflected their lived experiences. This was both unexpected and deeply rewarding, as it demonstrated the contest's ability to resonate with and engage the very groups it aimed to represent.
Images contest:
Positives: New emerging communities participated in the photo contests as ambassadors or as photographers such as the Sudanese community, one of them won the 4th place, and this contest is considered the first photo contest in which the Sudanese community joined.
Drawbacks: We did not have entries from some countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Mauritania,.... The issue is that these countries do not have wikimedia community inside, so our plan in the future photo contest is to try to connect and do partnerships with photo clubs there to reach photographers.
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)
On Friday, November 22nd, we hosted a celebratory meeting via Jitsi, open to the entire Arabic community. The event brought together contest winners, ambassadors, and all those who contributed to the success of the Wiki for Minorities in the Arabic Community initiative.
The meeting served as an opportunity to:
1-Celebrate the collective achievements of the project. 2-Share key results from the contests. 3-Announce and honor the two best-performing ambassadors.
To further extend the reach of our celebration, we also shared the results and highlights across our social media platforms, including Facebook and Telegram, ensuring broad engagement and recognition for everyone involved.
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 | 30 | 41 | Articles contest dashboard: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wiki_for_minorities/Wiki_loves_Minorities,_Arab_Community_editing_and_writing_competition
Articles report: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_DLGloRWE_5bcySL_NEPMc_fbJJrCJeI4ukTrkq32DM/edit?usp=sharing Images contest dashboard: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wiki_for_minorities/Wiki_loves_Minorities,_Arab_Community-_Photo_contest |
| Number of editors | 30 | 41 | 24 in Arabic Wikipedia, 17 in commons |
| Number of organizers | 2 | 2 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 150 | 485 | 30 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 500 | 1246 | 0 |
| 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)
3215
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
4535
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/1RzqN7F4JVRJBUyEbQ4KgBoXfEQctRNJTV20SlkJvYmc/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)
I had to use $100 of other expenses to buy prizes for the best ambassadors in the Wiki Ambassadors for the Minorities program for their great effort, and these expenses were from the beginning in the (other) box, which is used for money transfers and unexpected expenses.
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
Yes
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
80 USD, This money was drawn from the other expenses budget, which was allocated at the outset to cover urgent or unplanned costs.
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
B. Propose to use them to partially or fully fund a new/future request with PO approval
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
I can use the remaining funds to organize an online training workshop about how to edit in Wikipedia in my next grant. or I can discuss this with WF employee to find the best way.
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)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A