Grants:Wikimedia UG Nigeria Grants/Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Community Support Fund/Wiki Loves Africa 2026 - Exploring Yoruba Rites and Rituals in Osun State

Project summary

Briefly summarize your project proposal. This project aims to preserve, document, and celebrate the living traditions of the Yoruba people in Osun States by amplifying the visibility of their cultural practices on Wikimedia platforms. Rooted in the theme “Rites and Rituals” for Wiki Loves Africa 2026, this project seeks to bridge the gap between Africa’s vibrant cultural heritage and its representation in the global open-knowledge ecosystem.

Across Yoruba communities, rites and rituals form the foundation of social identity, spirituality, and communal belonging. These practices, ranging from initiation ceremonies to annual festivals and sacred rituals carries profound meaning and continuity within the society. However, many of them are transmitted orally and risk being lost to modernization, urbanization, and generational disconnect. Despite the global influence of Yoruba culture, there remains a striking underrepresentation of its rich visual and spiritual heritage on Wikimedia projects.

This project seeks to address these gaps by combining cultural documentation through photowalk through a cultural photowalk in a selected community in Osun State, we will document traditional festivals, sacred places, and traditional ceremonial practices.

One of the key challenges we aim to confront is cultural erosion, driven by modernization and the gradual disappearance of oral traditions. This project will collaborate with traditional custodians, worshippers, professional photographers who are locally based, and Wikimedia volunteers.

This project will produce tangible outcomes by producing freely accessible photographs and videos, train and imcrease number of Wikipedia projects comntributors and strenghten the open knowledge movement.

Wikimedia Project

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.

Wikicommons

Contact person and Location

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: Joy Kolapo John
Email address: johnjoyk@gmail.com
Address: Osogbo, Osun State
Location of Project: Osogbo, Osun State

Project class

Please state if you are applying as an individual or a network/club Individual

Timeline of activities

Please state the timeline of your activities, and include the start and end date for your project 1st March - 31st March, 2026

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. Feel free to add or delete goals as required by your project.

Recruit new editors
Add or improve content
Bridge knowledge gap
Improve editors Wikicommons skills

Project Plan

Activities

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?

A Photowalk session and An upload session

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. I have annouced the project on the Osun Wikimedia Network WhatsApp platform

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. Through the WhatsApp group of Osun Wikimedia Network and other social media channels to recruit new contributors.

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 User:Ogundele1 User:RukayatAjeigbe

5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

Yes, participants have their mobile phones for photographs and laptops for editing. Participants will be trained on how edit there photos like a pro during the project.

6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)? Participants will be engaged on the communities WhatsApp group before, during and after the project. This will equally serves as the retaining mechanism for new contributors.

7. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project? Wiki Loves Africa campaign is an annual project that aim to promote African cultural heritage to the global space and this project tends to tell the Osun state story and preserve its traditions and culture.

Impact

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 (a Photowalk session and an Upload session)
Number of participants - 20
Number of new editors - 10
Number of of articles created -
Number of of articles improved - 10
Number of of images uploaded - 100
Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events) -

Metrics tracking

How do you plan to track your project metrics? (do not create a metrics dashboard until your project has been approved for funding)

Wikimedia Outreach dashboard tool

Contest & prize-giving events

How would decide the winners of your contest (If you are going to have a contest, what is your scoring criteria)

Result from the Outreach dashboard will be used.

Resources

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).

User:Ogundele1 - Facilitator User:RukayatAjeigbe - Co-facilitator

No other resource.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense as a unit amount and include a total amount.

Venue - N50,000
Refreshment;

Photowalk - N70,000 Upload session - N80,000

Projector: N10,000
Prize for top 3 contributors - N60,000
T-shirt for facilitators (2)- N12,000
Communication/Flier - N20,000
Identification tags for particpants - N15,000
Data support for the upload session - N25,000
Chid care support - N15,000
Photo walk Logistics- N50,000
Miscellenaous - N10,000
- Total - N417,000

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

Submit your report