Wiki In Africa/Wiki Loves Africa/Ambassadors
See all open positions here : Wiki In Africa
Call for ambassadors 2024
[edit]Context Wiki Loves Africa
[edit]Now entering its 10th year, Wiki Loves Africa is one of the largest photography and media contests on the African continent. It is run across the whole continent, however, some specific actions (training, communication etc.) are held in some countries with national organisers.
Wiki Loves Africa has achieved much over 9 years:
- Over 102,026 images collected
- 11,165 unique submitters
- Images viewed 1,044,490,672 times altogether (June 2022)
- 337+ events in 26 African countries
- Submitted images viewed 25,072,328 times each month (June 2022);
- 80%+ of competitors are newbies;
- A Wiki Loves Africa winning image was included in the Journeys Through Our Fragile Heritage exhibition at the UNESCO, Paris; and
- Wiki Loves Africa’s ISA tool is the Winner of the Best Multimedia Tool Prize at WikiData Conference 2019
Over the last 9 years, Wiki Loves Africa has been activated by up to 31 communities in 26 countries across Africa's many linguistic regions. We wish to provide more support for these linguistic communities, through effective communication in those languages.
The theme for the 2024 Wiki Loves Africa will be Africa Creates. The 2024 contest will take place from 1st March – 30th April 2024.
The role – WLA Linguistic Ambassadors
[edit]We are looking for 4 individuals to become Wiki Loves Africa Linguistic Ambassadors to heighten awareness of, support during, and participation in the Wiki Loves Africa contest and related activities. The ambassadors will assist the international organizing team to manage and coordinate the project throughout 2024 and will be distributed in linguistic categories thus:
- French
- Portuguese
- English
- Arabic
We are looking for people who have proven organizing experience within their language Wikimedia community. They must enjoy good standing amongst the members of their community accompanied by significant past participation experience in Wiki Loves Africa, and a passion for photography and other media (desirable). The roles are entirely remote and volunteer.
Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Translations - Translate (or facilitate community translations of) 2024 contest pages, resources, press releases, and publicity materials as provided by the international organizing team.
- Social media - Assist with sharing contest information, publicity and social media materials amongst members of their linguistic communities.
- Office Hours support - Participate in and encourage linguistic community attendance of the Wiki Loves Africa organizer office hours.
- Training sessions - Get involved in and suggest training topics based on interest and feedback from represented communities.
- Jury support - Nominate jurors to assist the international team with facilitating more linguistically balanced juries to ensure equal representation.
- WLA Website - Translate (or facilitate community translations of) updated contest-related webpages, including information about representative communities.
The activities may differ depending on the linguistic communities. For example:
- translations needs are high for the French community, but not for the English community;)
- it may be more important to focus on translation and Social Media outreach for Portuguese, than on local juries (as there are no Portuguese community participating ...)
- etc.
The ideal ambassador
[edit]Consider applying if you have the following:
- Essential skills
- 2+ years experience in a Wikimedia recognized language community - [Fr, Ar, Pt or En]
- Wikimedia Commons knowledge, including licencing, permissions, etc.
- English skills sufficient to interact with the international team.
- Native language proficiency for the intended language ambassador role.
- Experience in facilitating groups and building communities,
- Recognized and proven contributions in local language community with associated language proficiency.
- Demonstrated experience contributing to websites (WordPress), social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, and/or Instagram), word processors and spreadsheets.
- Previous experience of Wiki Loves Africa is a bonus!
- Appreciated skills
- Photography as a passion or profession
Duration and terms
[edit]- This is a volunteer position.
- 8 month duration; start 1st January – ends 31st August 2024.
- Expect 3-5 hours per week during peak periods (January-April).
Application
[edit]- Apply here
- DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS : 4 December 2023 – midnight, everywhere on Earth
- Language of application : English or French
Ambassadors
[edit]2024 Ambassadors
[edit]- Minette is one of Wiki Loves Africa French Ambassador. She is a Wikimedian from Cameroon. She has been an organizer of WLA in Cameroon since 2021.
- Ogalihillary is Wikimedian from Nigeria, a member of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group and core team for Igala Wikimedia Community. Hilary was the community lead for IG WIKI-COMMONS HUB in the year 2023.
- Mermoze ADODO is a Wikimedian since 2018. Founding member of the Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group, Co Local Organizer of Wiki Loves Africa in Benin 2019-2020, 2021-2022;
- Since 2020: Verification and evaluation of images from Wiki Loves Africa, in order to make them more visible and useful on other Wikimedia projects; Image clean-up (categories, description, renaming etc.) and submission of our best pictures to quality and featured status. See Commons:Wiki Loves Africa/WLA images under evaluation.
- Alvin Ategyeka, a committed Wikimedian since 2019, is a notable contributor to the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. For over 5 years, Alvin has actively participated in building a diverse collection on Wikimedia Commons, highlighting the cultural richness of Uganda.
- Within the Ugandan Wikimedia community, Alvin serves as a mentor, guiding new contributors to share their unique stories on Wiki Commons. His dedication extends beyond photography to fostering community engagement and cultural representation, making a lasting impact on the Wikimedia landscape in Uganda
- Donia is a board member of Egypt Wikimedians User Group. She has been active in Wikimedia projects since 2019. She has founded the Wikipedian Editor Project and has organized the Egyptian edition of many photo contests; WLM 2020 & WLM 2023, WLA 2021, WLE 2022 & WLE 2023.
- Ola, a Sudanese Wikimedian since 2018, co-founder of Sudan Community Wikimedia Community User Group Sudan. She is mainly involved around recruiting new user community growth and visibility.
- Within the global community, Ola has started the SheSaid Sudan Derive and is a member of Wiki Love Women focus Group which is mainly contributing towards bridging the gender gap on Wikimedia community. Her efforts when it comes to the African community is contributing within the Wiki Love Africa annual Photo contest to motivate more African photographer to join the efforts towards reflecting Africa better and Sudan in smaller scale.
- She is also the organizer of WikiGap 2020, WLA2020, WLA2022
2025 Ambassadors
[edit]- Minette is one of Wiki Loves Africa French Ambassador. She is a Wikimedian from Cameroon. She has been an organizer of WLA in Cameroon since 2021.
- Mermoze ADODO is a Wikimedian since 2018. Founding member of the Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group, Co Local Organizer of Wiki Loves Africa in Benin 2019-2020, 2021-2022;
- Since 2020: Verification and evaluation of images from Wiki Loves Africa, in order to make them more visible and useful on other Wikimedia projects; Image clean-up (categories, description, renaming etc.) and submission of our best pictures to quality and featured status. See Commons:Wiki Loves Africa/WLA images under evaluation.
- Alvin Ategyeka, a committed Wikimedian since 2019, is a notable contributor to the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. For over 5 years, Alvin has actively participated in building a diverse collection on Wikimedia Commons, highlighting the cultural richness of Uganda.
- Within the Ugandan Wikimedia community, Alvin serves as a mentor, guiding new contributors to share their unique stories on Wiki Commons. His dedication extends beyond photography to fostering community engagement and cultural representation, making a lasting impact on the Wikimedia landscape in Uganda
- Albert Mkpongonyong, a wikimedian from the southern part of Nigeria who joined the Wikimedia space in 2021, is a notable contributor to the Igbo Wikimedians User Group. His Wikimedia journey started from improving items on Wikidata to providing translations for articles on igbo Wikipedia down to wikicomons.
- Ola, a Sudanese Wikimedian since 2018, co-founder of Sudan Community Wikimedia Community User Group Sudan. She is mainly involved around recruiting new user community growth and visibility.
- Within the global community, Ola has started the SheSaid Sudan Derive and is a member of Wiki Love Women focus Group which is mainly contributing towards bridging the gender gap on Wikimedia community. Her efforts when it comes to the African community is contributing within the Wiki Love Africa annual Photo contest to motivate more African photographer to join the efforts towards reflecting Africa better and Sudan in smaller scale.
- She is also the organizer of WikiGap 2020, WLA2020, WLA2022
- With over 3 years of experience in the Wikimedia movement, Duaa Khidir is dedicated to fostering community engagement, digital literacy, and knowledge sharing. As the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for Wikimedia UAE, she leads initiatives to promote Wikipedia and its sister projects, organize workshops, and collaborate with partners to expand the reach of free knowledge.