Hubs/Implementation/Hub Research in West Africa/Interview 2

This page is part of the Implementation Report for West Africa Regional Hubs. It specifically regards Interview 2.

Background

• Date: September 20th, 2022
• Duration: 1 hour
• Profile: Wikipedia Editor - Community Leader (active online and offline)
• Region: West Africa
• Gender: Man
• Interview language: English

Questions and answers

1.What is your understanding of the movement strategy and regional thematic hubs?

Already I find this strategy very good, and I am sure it will be very much appreciated by the members of the Community. The regional hubs have long expected by us and unfortunately, we just did not voice the need for it out. Therefore, I am very glad to be part of this movement. And since the establishment of this movement in 2018, we have been able to put our opinions across on the path that it is taking now (the previous stages, strategic orientation and analysis of the movement) and youth meeting. We have been waiting for it and we are proud to participate in it. That is all I have for now. I am sure the rest will follow as the discussion continues.

2. Are you aware of the movement strategy recommendations? What do you understand by the recommendations of the regional and thematic hubs?

What we think of the recommendations of the regional and thematic hubs is that it will contribute to the improvement on the conditions and modernization of the users. They come in as a support to the upcoming communities. They will help the groups that will be created at the regional level to improve.

3.So how will you integrate the political aspects of our region into the recommendations of the regional and thematic hubs? What role will the Government play?

We are already working on a strategy to collaborate with government institutions to build good relationship. And I see the recommendations going the same direction we have already taken regarding the Government. They will help improve and making more impact and influencing the decisions taken by the government. So, this question is very much welcomed in the case where we have to first of all understand the relationship between publishers and government related issues. Since I started on Wikipedia till now, I am still not able to understand the link we have with the Government because they say Wikipedia is not managed by the government. Maybe with you we can now get those answers and now know how to approach them. It seems a bit complicated but together, we can find the right strategy to approach our leaders. To conclude my answer, I will say for instance if it is me that is writing to my government, there might not be as much credibility as compared to if the note is coming from a West Africa Region where Wikimedia Ghana has signed, Nigeria has signed and many mor countries. On the local level we do not even have an office, headquarters and anytime we approach them, they ask about your head office and we do not have answers. So together we can improve on this.

4. How do you want the hub to look like? An infrastructure?

My answer might be influenced by the fact that I am also part of the Wikifranca movement. I think regional hubs should be a strong support to the other group growing in the same region very importantly. By being a support to the communities, there needs to be capacity reinforcement, help with management of internal resources. We Africans have lots of resources, question is do we share them? They need to assist the group in achieving their objectives. Mali has an objective, Ghana, Nigeria all together the hubs should be able to assist them all together.

5. The benefits of the regional hubs? How will the hubs contribute to the movement strategy and community affiliation?

The benefits to begin with are double, they are very important to us the groups belonging to the same region, because usually in the same region we have similar issues, and realities and the group that will come may also have same issues. The advantage is to facilitate the journey to the new groups to join the movement without many difficulties. Secondly, it is good for the foundation because they do not know our real problems and reality of our local groups and they can use this to get more information, so they know how to delegate people, share the funds and how to help in specific ways. (Provide better visibility). Just like how we want to do it with Wikifranca, leverage on expertise from other communities to achieve goals. For instance, if I am in Guiney and I have Wikidata skills that is needed in Ivory Coast, I can help. They will follow up on the effectiveness of the recommendations of the movement. They will bring together all the resourceful people to bring their ideas together.

6. What are some of the challenges the implementation of the hubs can solve?

Reduction of barriers between communities and improve the relationship between the communities.

7.When you look at some of the challenges in Africa, there is a language barrier between English and French, can this project solve the problem of communication?

I strongly believe that yes, they will help because as we are discussing the research and the details today, we have Jessica who is translating and facilitating the interview. And the hubs are integrated, they will help because for instance before this interview we did not know each other but from now we can connect and if the project is successful work together. We have already started it, this year we invited Nassima from Morocco and Yamen from Algeria, they came to Guiney to assist their community in training on the use of Wikipedia. So I am sure the hubs can help.

8. Can you tell us some of the challenges associated with implementing the hubs?

I think the challenge will be lack of clarity in what a hub is and what it does. And if we all don’t have the same perceptions on the hubs, we might face a big challenge. We should all align and have the same understanding.

9. How do we manage these challenges?

This my most preferred question from all the questions. And we should all involve everyone regardless of their level. And make sure everyone in the different communities understand what the hubs are meant for. We should also eliminate superiority in membership of the community, whether regional or not, lets make sure the members are treated on equal basis with equal respect and opportunity. Once we do this the hubs will be successful.

10. Since there is already for Instance Wikifranca, where francophone countries are also part, if the regional hubs are implemented some might end up belonging to the two different movements. Will that be considered as a challenge?

No, I rather see it as very beneficial because even some of the communities in Wikifranca also belong to WikiEurope so it is very normal for the community belonging to both because we can use what we have learnt in one to assist the others.