UikiAfrica Sî-kan/Thuân-tuī
Florence Devouard (aka Anthere) has been a wikipedian since early 2002. She was formely the chair of the Wikimedia Foundation as well as a co-founder of Wikimedia France. She cares very much for diversity, international participation, and multilingualism.
In the late 2012, she decided to refocus her attention on diversity (or lack there-of) and co-created projects with Isla Haddow Flood, with the explicit goal of getting more African editors and more African-related contents on the Wikimedia project.
In the following years, Florence has conceptualised, instigated and been the co-lead for a number of projects related to Wikipedia and Africa, including Wiki Loves Africa (the annual photographic contest), Kumusha Takes Wiki (citizen journalists in Africa collecting freely-licensed content), Wiki Loves Women (related to African Women), WikiFundi (an offline editing environment that mimics Wikipedia), WikiChallenge Ecoles d'Afrique (an education project running on Wikipedia that introduces the next generation of editors to Wikipedia), ISA Tool (a microcontribution tool for adding structured data on Commons). She has also contributed to the Wikipedia Primary School SSAJRP programme research at SUPSI (applied research on Primary School curricula in South Africa), etc.
In 2017, she co-founded Wiki in Africa, a South African based association along with Iolanda Pensa and Isla Haddow-Flood to host some of those initiatives, and ever since then, she has co-led the association with Isla.
More recently, in 2018, she co-founded les sans pagEs Mediterranée with the support of Nattes à chat. Les sans pagEs is an initiative focusing on gender gap in the francophone speaking areas of the wikimedia world.
In 2021, she co-created and launched the WikiAfrica Hour.
Islahaddow is a Zimbabwean by birth, and a Capetonian by adoption. Oxford-educated Isla Haddow-Flood is a writer, an editor, a project and communications strategist, who is passionate about harnessing communications technology and media platforms for the advancement of open access to knowledge; specifically, knowledge that relates to and enhances the understanding of Africa via the Open Movement (and especially Wikipedia).
Since 2011, Isla has been working to Activate Africa. Working as a member of the WikiAfrica movement, she has conceptualised, instigated and has been the co-lead for a number of projects related to Wikipedia and Africa, including Wiki Loves Africa (the annual photographic contest), Kumusha Takes Wiki (citizen journalists in Africa collecting freely-licensed content), Wiki Loves Women (content liberation project related to African Women), WikiFundi(an offline editing environment that mimics Wikipedia), and WikiChallenge African Schools (that introduces the next generation of editors to Wikipedia).
In 2021, she co-created and launched the WikiAfrica Hour and the WikiAfrica Heritage training programme for GLAMs. She lives in Simon's Town, South Africa. She is the Director of Communication for Open Education Global and she co-leads Wiki In Africa.
Donia Domiaty is the WikiAfrica Hour Program Manager.
Donia Domiaty is an intern and medical researcher. She serves as a board member of Egypt Wikimedians User Group and holds the position of relations and communications manager within EgUG. Additionally, she is one of the Movement Charter Ambassadors for the MENA region. Donia has previously served as a member of the Leadership Development Working Group (LDWG) for a one-year commitment. She currently holds the role of Arabic Ambassador for Wiki Loves Africa 2024, following her organization of local editions for various photo contests, including Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 & 2023, Wiki Loves Africa 2021, and Wiki Loves Earth 2022 & 2023.
Donia has been actively contributing to Arabic Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons since 2019. She is the founder of the Wikipedian Editor Project, an initiative aimed at teaching volunteers to contribute to Wikipedia and its sister projects. Donia has led numerous workshops, events, and contests within both the Egyptian and broader Arabic communities.
Nonny Ntlahla is a young Social Dynamics graduate and currently an enthusiastic Health and Fitness student completing their Diploma. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Nonny is extremely passionate about the integration of Mental Health and Sports/Physical Exercise, and what that can do for social and community development. She is currently working as an Administrative Assistant for the Wiki In Africa Organisation and seeks to develop and learn skills that may be useful in aiding her passion and love for Mental and Physical Health.
Alumnus
Ceslause Ogbonnaya was the WikiAfrica Hour host until November 2023. He joined the Wikimedia movement in 2018, and has been actively involved in the Igbo Wikimedians User Group. In 2020, he was one of the grantees of Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) annual project grant, and he was also the Project lead for the 2020 Igbo Wikimedians User Group WPWP project. He won the first prize in the Igbo Wikimedians UG for the 2020 Decolonize the Internet contest. He currently is an Intern at Wiki In Africa, and as such, he will be handling Communications, database and community support across all related projects.
WikiAfrica Hour Advisory Panel
As we always work to improve WikiAfrica Hour more and more, we decided to establish the Editorial Advisory Panel in 2025 to brainstorm and recommend relevant and timely topics that will enrich the WikiAfrica Hour, making it more engaging and beneficial for the Wikimedia community. The panel is composed of members with expertise in areas such as journalism, podcasting, communication, and Wikimedia projects.
Here is the list of people who joined the panel:
- Jan Ainali : Co-founder of Wikimedians for Sustainable Development. From Sweden. He runs a podcast on his website.
- Sandister : one of the founding members of the Wikimedia Ghana User Group. Wikimedian of the Year in October 2020. multimedia journalist and digital media trainer. WMF staff member
- Donatien : Chairman Wikimedia Community User Group of Côte d'Ivoire. elected, in 2013, as General Secretary of the Bloggers Association of Côte d’Ivoire (ABCI). Professor in management
- Mervat Salman: co-founder of the Wikimedians of the Levant user group. a member of the Conference Grants Review Committee (volunteer) since 2016, and a member of the Elections Committee. Established the Wiki for She user group in 2024 and recently has hosted a vodcast in Arabic related to women.
- Anthony : Nigerian Program Director of the Africa Chatbot & Conversational AI Summit. Host of Africa Tech Radio.
- Romeo Ronald Lomora: Team Leader, Wikimedia Community User Group South Sudan.
- Delphine Menard: a postgraduate degree in international communication and marketing. French lives in Germany. Former Manager, Staff Experience, Wikimedia Foundation