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LDH Runyankore Community Mentorship 2025 - 2026

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This is the central documentation page for the mentorship relationship between the Runyankore Wikimedia community and the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub (LDH).

Overview

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Incubator:Wp/nyn

Community Assessment Summary

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(Based on initial diagnostic call)

Current Status & Strengths

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  • Active Contributors: 113 active contributors, demonstrating a large and engaged community base.
  • Recent Output: 20,627 edits and 536 articles (Dashboard).
  • Organization: Has an existing leadership structure.
  • Communication: Active community coordination.

Primary Goals

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  1. Graduate from the Incubator.
  2. Increase the number of quality articles.
  3. Strengthen community leadership and engagement with media partners (TV, newspapers).
  4. Secure funding for outreach, training, and volunteer support.

Identified Challenges & Support Needs

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  1. Critical Access Barrier: Mobile-only editing is the primary mode for most contributors, with limited or no access to PCs, making complex editing and sustained work difficult.
  2. Technical Workflow: The Incubator interface is not mobile-friendly, creating a significant technical hurdle for new and existing editors.
  3. Content Focus: Current content is narrow (focused on Politics, Bible, Disasters). Desire to broaden content and improve quality.
  4. Resource Mobilization: Funding is the most urgent need for outreach, training, and to acquire shared devices (e.g., a community laptop) to improve productivity.
  5. Partnership Development: Desire to build partnerships with local media and cultural institutions.

Mentorship Action Plan

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Phase 1: Optimize Workflows & Launch Partnerships (Months 1-3)

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Objective: Improve the mobile editing experience and initiate strategic outreach.

Action Item Lead Status Notes/Deadline
1. Work towards test project graduation Community + Mentor In progress Identify language expert for test project expert verification.
2. Create Content Diversification Plan Community + Mentor Completed *Publish a list of 5-10 new article topics on the Incubator page to guide editing.*
3. Draft Partnership Outreach Pack Community + LDH Mentor Completed Create a press release and one-pager for media/institutional outreach.
4. Community Management Workshop LDH Mentor Planned Session on volunteer coordination and engagement.

Phase 2: Diversify Content & Secure Key Resources (Months 4-6)

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Objective: Execute new content strategy and secure essential tools.

  • Launch a "Content Broadening Month" focusing on new topics.
  • Prepare and submit a strong micro-grant application for a community data packages.
  • Facilitate connection with Wikimedia Uganda User Group for peer support.

Phase 3: Scale Impact & Institutionalize (Months 7-9)

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Objective: Increase productivity with new tools and formalize partnerships.

  • Collaborate with secured media partners for a "Public Contribution Drive."
  • Conduct training on content quality assessment.

Phase 4: Graduation Readiness & Sustainability (Months 10-12)

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Objective: Prepare for graduation and ensure long-term sustainability.

  • Conduct a mock graduation review against all Incubator criteria.
  • Develop a sustainability plan for partnerships and shared resources.
  • Showcase success stories to institutional partners.

Meeting Notes & Logs

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2025-11-14 Community assessment call

2026-01-23 Kick-off & Strategy Meeting Discussed the community's strength in numbers and the critical bottleneck of mobile-only editing. Agreed to prioritize mobile workflow optimization and funding for internet as a pathway to graduation.

February 2026: Received about $4,000 to implement a Runyankore mentorship for a selected 15 volunteers from the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. Here is the Metapage of the mentorship.

March 2026 Key action Items:

  1. Workshop on April 10th (tentatively) with Runyankore and Luganda representative and the LDH team - Completed
  2. Owobusingye to apply for the LDH Microgrant - Completed and successful. The funded project aims to organize a focused Runyankore Wikipedia edit-a-thon at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, a university in South-Western Uganda, to improve both the quality and quantity of Runyankore content in Wikimedia Incubator.

April 2026 Key action Items:

  1. Submit request for graduation out of incubator - Completed
  2. Submit panel proposal to be presented at the Language Diversity Conference 2026 in Accra, Ghana.
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Contact

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To support the community, kindly reach out to

*This page is maintained collaboratively by the Runyankore Community and the LDH team. Please feel free to add updates, notes, and reflections below.*

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