Grants:Wikimedia UG Nigeria Grants/Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Community Support Fund/WIKI LOVES AFRICA 2026: RITES AND RITUALS
Project summary
[edit]Briefly summarize your project proposal.
Wiki Loves Africa (WLA) is an annual Wikimedia Commons photo contest that encourages contributors across Africa to document and share media that represents African culture, heritage, and lived experiences. The 2026 edition, themed “Rites and Rituals,” focuses on documenting traditional and spiritual practices as well as culturally significant sites across the continent. This project is a joint field documentation initiative by the Wikimedia Fan Club, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) and the Wikimedia Fan Club, Kwara State University (KWASU). It represents the first inter-fan-club collaboration of its kind within Kwara State. The project will involve a guided photo expedition and a structured upload/training session focused on culturally and historically significant sites in Jebba, which align with the WLA 2026 theme.Participants will document sacred landscapes, ritual sites, monuments, and cultural heritage locations, and will be trained on how to upload, categorize, and describe media accurately on Wikimedia Commons. This project will help to increase high-quality, freely licensed media documenting African rites, rituals, and heritage while strengthening collaboration within the Wikimedia community
Wikimedia Project
[edit]Please state the Wikimedia project your project will focus majorly on (e.g. Tyap Wikipedia, English Wikiquote, etc). It is advisable to focus on one Wikimedia project, but a maximum of two projects is allowed.
wikicommon
Contact person and Location
[edit]Please state the contact details of the contact person(s) for this project including email(s) and location. For more than one contact person, indicate same details for everyone
- Full name: Obayemi Peace Boluwatife
- Email address: boluwatifeobayemi@gmail.com
- Address: Malete, Kwara state
- Location of Project: Ilorin,kwara state
Project class
[edit]Please state if you are applying as an individual or a network/club
Kwara state university wikimedia fan club
Timeline of activities
[edit]Please state the timeline of your activities, and include the start and end date for your project
February 5th - February 28th
Project Goal
[edit]Choose one or more of the following goals. Feel free to add or delete goals as required by your project.
- Create awareness about the Wiki Loves Africa program and its activities.
- Recruit and train new editors through the various photo expeditions, upload sessions and edit-a-thons
- Engage existing editors to contribute effectively to commons and introduce new editors to how to accurately contribute to Wiki Commons by properly adding relevant media files.
- Increase high-quality documentation of African cultural heritage, rituals, and sacred sites on Wikimedia Commons.
- Foster collaboration and peer learning between Wikimedia Fan Clubs in Kwara State.
- Strengthen community engagement within the Fan Club
Project Plan
[edit]Activities
[edit]Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?
one edit-a-thon, one online training
Note ; We will be doing a one-day Photo walk to 4 different sites and the areas we are visiting are: Juju Rock, Jebba: A culturally and spiritually significant monolithic island-hill on the Niger River, deeply rooted in local beliefs, rituals, and historical narratives. Jebba River: A major natural landmark with spiritual cultural, and historical relevance to surrounding communities within. Jebba Bridge: A historically important structure symbolizing connectivity and colonial-era infrastructure. Mungo Park Monument: A heritage monument associated with early exploration history and local narratives tied to ritual memory and place.
2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? You may also provide information about external social media channels you may be using.
3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?
For example, these can include on-wiki spaces, social media channels, mailing lists, messaging apps, or physical/online gatherings.
Participants will be reached through KWASU student community forums, the KWASU Fan Club WhatsApp group, and various social media platforms for wider reach. AGoogle Form will also be created for interested participants to register, and all necessary information about the project and training sessions will be sent directly to their email addresses after registration.
4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead/assist the event? Please provide links to the usernames of these individuals. (NOTE: all experienced Wikimedia editors MUST endorse and sign your proposal as proof of availability)
For example: User:Kaizenify
5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?
Participants will join the campaign with their smartphone/laptop and will also be provided with a Wi-Fi connection for a better internet experience 6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?
To ensure sustainability and continuous engagement, our existing WhatsApp group will be utilized for this purpose together with our social medias like facebooK
7. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?
The Wiki Loves Africa 2026 project themed "Rites and Rituals" is getting a boost from the UNILORIN and KWASU Wikimedia Fan Clubs' collaboration. This joint effort will see members documenting sacred sites, monuments, and cultural heritage locations in Jebba, while learning collaborative documentation skills. The project aims to promote African culture, strengthen Wikimedia presence in Kwara State, and pioneer future inter-fanclub collaborations in Nigeria.
Impact
[edit]How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets (only those applicable to your project):
- Number of events - 2
- Number of participants - 30
- Number of new editors - 10
- Number of of articles created -
- Number of of articles improved -
- Number of of images uploaded - 100+
- Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events) -
Metrics tracking
[edit]How do you plan to track your project metrics? (do not create a metrics dashboard until your project has been approved for funding)
A dashboard will be created for this and this dashboard will linked to Wiki Loves Africa 2026 Category which will be used to track the uploads
Contest & prize-giving events
[edit]How would decide the winners of your contest (If you are going to have a contest, what is your scoring criteria)
5 points – per medias added on Wikimedia Commons
Resources
[edit]What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense as a unit amount and include a total amount.
Hired transportation to convey participants to all locations= #150,000
Food; 4000x30= #120,000
Refreshments = #20,000
Total= #290,000
Endorsements
[edit]Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
I Aashakhan1410 endorse this project as it is one which aims to promote the cultural heritage, rites and ritual of our Nigerian society and Africa at large.