WikiIndaba 2023/Report/Martin Hipangwa

Report on the Participation of Martin Hipangwa at WikiIndaba 2023 in Agadir, Morocco

Overview

Provide insights into your participation at the conference, including details about your contributions, experiences, and noteworthy encounters.

File:Martin Hipangwa at Wiki Indaba 2023.jpg

The Wiki Indaba conference held in Agadir, Morocco, from November 3rd to 5th, was a gathering of Wikimedia communities to discuss strategies, share experiences, and collaborate on advancing the goals of the movement. I was soo much grateful to represent my community at the conference.

Outcome

What significant learning or outcome do you take away from your participation?

Several activities were proposed, including the Wiki Learn platform, motivational gifts for outstanding graduates, hackathons for editing Wikipedia, and the creation of open educational resources.

Key take away: The focus is on programmatic outcomes, local language development, inclusion of underrepresented communities, and gender balance.

The need for strategic planning, capacity development, and regional committee funding was emphasized, and this helped me to go back to my community to strategize how we are going to work around affiliating our community to the Wikimedia Foundation.

File:Participants at WikiIndaba conference 2023 flanking Alice Kibombo for her recorgnition as an influencial wikibrarian.jpg

Among the highlights was the presentation by the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda, which conducted a SWOT analysis to identify community needs on Wikipedia.

Impact

What impact the conference had on you and community plans, and what actions will you undertake to share learnings with your community?

Africa Agenda: Looking ahead, the agenda includes a commitment to re-evaluate engagement strategies, consider new approaches, and assess readiness to implement proposed changes.

Addressing engagement issues, the question arises: What are we ready to do differently to achieve the desired outcomes? This is one of the question I have been asking myself on what are we going to do different to counter these challenges.

File:Martin Hipangwa and Ndlovu at Wiki Indaba conference 2023 in Morroco.jpg

The conference impact me positively because I managed to spearhead a session to successful completion.

Anything else?

If you have a link to your slides or particular pictures from the event, you can share them here. Please also feel free to share any other feedback, information, or thoughts with us in this section.

The Wiki Indaba conference provided a platform for collaborative planning and strategizing to enhance the Wikimedia movement's impact in Africa. The emphasis on aligning local missions with the global community, financial transparency, and active engagement is crucial for the sustained growth of the movement. The commitment to driving change and being champions for impactful programs is highlighted as a key takeaway from the conference.