Wiki Loves Women/Results and best practices 2025

Introduction

Wiki Loves Women is a key initiative of Wiki In Africa, dedicated to addressing the content gaps about women and Africa across Wikimedia projects. The initiative pursues two main goals: to increase the visibility and representation of women through freely accessible knowledge, and to encourage broader community participation in contributing to Wikimedia.

This Yearly Review presents an overview of the outcomes, challenges, and key learnings from the past year. It also provides a comparative analysis of progress and obstacles relative to the previous year. We invite you to reflect with us on our journey, draw insights from our experiences, and plan strategically for a more inclusive and dynamic Wikimedia community.

2025 Initiative Highlights

Wiki Loves Women in 2025

In 2025, Wiki Loves Women continued to expand its impact through four key initiatives — three community drives, aand a leadership program. Each activity built on lessons from the previous year and contributed meaningfully to our mission of improving content about women and Africa, while strengthening participation across Wikimedia communities.

ISA Challenge – Tell Us About Her: Women in Litterature (March – April 2025):

This campaign used the ISA tool to enhance image descriptions on WikiCommons, helping to portray women more accurately and comprehensively. Through this drive, participants added valuable context to visual content featuring women in litterature.

Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January – December 2025):

The Focus Coaching Programme continued to mentor and support community leaders through a structured, practical online learning space. Epowering participants with the skills and confidence to design and implement gender-equity initiatives within Wikimedia and the wider Open movement.

SheSaid Campaign 2025 (October – December 2025):

The SheSaid drive once again celebrated and amplified women’s voices by increasing their visibility on Wikiquote. This year’s campaign encouraged contributions in multiple languages and regional collaborations, expanding its global reach.

Wiki Oto (Launched 2025):

Newly introduced in 2025, it is a new campaign started by members of the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group in 2025. It is part of the group’s new learning-by-practicing approach, developed after three years of the leadership program. The campaign works to reduce the lack of information about African women on Wikimedia platforms. It encourages people around the world to create, improve, and add content that shows the achievements of African women. The campaign focuses on adding and improving structured data about African women and their contributions on Wikidata, with the possibility of expanding to other Wikimedia projects in the future.

ISA Challenge – Tell Us About Herː Women in Litterature (1st – 30th March 2025)

The ISA Challenge – Tell Us About Her: Women In Litterature aimed to enrich images on WikiCommons with detailed and meaningful descriptions, promoting a more inclusive and global representation of women. This year’s theme highlighted images related to women writers, poets, and literary figures, focusing on a level 1 depth of detail to enhance discoverability and storytelling within the Wikimedia ecosystem. See more here.

Results

The ISA campaign resulted in

19,209 contributions
10 Contributors
60,682 Images worked on

Compared to the previous year, the ISA Tell Us About Her Campaign 2025 demonstrated a notable improvement in the quality and depth of image descriptions. While the overall number of contributions decreased, participants produced richer, more accurate content and showed a stronger understanding of the ISA tool’s functionality and purpose.

Communications & Metrics

Social Media Engagement

From 1 to 31 March, the Wiki Loves Women team ran a coordinated social media campaign across X, Instagram and Facebook, sharing a total of 15 posts on each platform. Complementing the social media effort, email and Telegram communications were also used to engage community members, broaden outreach, and encourage participation throughout the campaign.

137 Reach on Instagram.
6.9K views and 377 interactions on Facebook.

Blogpost

The outcomes of the campaign were encapsulated in a blog post, titledː Looking Back at ISA Tell Us About Her 2025: Women in Literature which was prominently featured on the Wiki In Africa Website.

Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January – December 2025)

In 2025, the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group adopted a learning-by-practicing approach, designed to strengthen members’ skills through direct participation in real projects. This new model is implemented through the Wiki Àrà-Ọ̀tọ̀ (Wiki Ọ̀tọ̀) campaign, which serves as a practical platform for members to apply knowledge, collaborate, and develop leadership capacity.

Under this approach, the annual activity plan includes:

Working sessions: to plan the campaign and identify key tasks and needs.
Internal trainings: closed sessions for members to build technical, communication, and project management skills.
External trainings: open sessions for the wider community to encourage participation and knowledge sharing.
Public Office Hoursː open office hours related to different topics like the SheSaid campaign.

In line with WLW’s inclusivity goals, bilingual training sessions (English and French) have also been introduced to better support the group’s diverse and multilingual membership, especially its strong Francophone community.


Type	Date & Language	Topic & Guest	Description
Working Session	January 15, 2025 English, French	Reconnection meeting Tochi	In response to the needs identified through a feedback survey, the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group organized a reconnection session at the beginning of 2025. Moderated by Tochi, the meeting opened with an engaging icebreaker that fostered a collaborative atmosphere among participants. The session concluded with a comprehensive summary of the work accomplished to date, highlighting key milestones and progress while setting the stage for the upcoming phases of the campaign.
Internal Training	January 29, 2025 French	Wikidata Basics Trainer: Minette Moderator: Fatima	Cette session Wikidata, destinée aux francophones du WLW focus groupe était une découverte pour certains membres et une occasion de revisiter certains points de Wikidata pour celles qui connaissaient déjà. La session s'est ainsi déroulée en plusieurs parties : Présentation de la campagne Wikimedia Oto par la modératrice Présentation des Basics de Wikidata par la formatrice du jour Wikidata en pratique avec la liste des tâches qu'a préparé la formatrice : ajout d'éléments wikidata, ajout de déclarations, ajout de sources, etc. Réponses aux questions des participantes et conclusion
Internal Training	February 1, 2025 English	Wikidata Basics Trainer: Tochi Moderator: Oteng	This session is to help the member of the focus group to but hands on the basics of Wikidata.
Working Session	February 12, 2025 English, French	Planning next steps Maram	During the working session, members discussed the next steps, planned upcoming activities, and assigned tasks. Key agreements included: The campaign will officially launch on March 1, 2025, at 4 PM UTC. Members will be present at the launch. Identified needs include training sessions in French and English on using the events tool and dashboards before the launch. The communications plan was reviewed, with further preparations needed. Work on preparing redlists is underway.
Internal Training	February 19, 2025 French	The Events Tool & Dashboards Trainer: Bachounda Moderator: Afek	During the training session, Bachounda, as the ambassador of the Events Tool, guided us through the following: Introduction to the Events Tool – Understanding its purpose and functionalities. Creating an Event Page – A hands-on exercise using a test page. Managing Events and Participant Registration – How to oversee events and handle subscriptions. Linking the Dashboard to an Event – Ensuring proper integration for tracking contributions.
Internal Training	February 21, 2025 English	The Events Tool & Dashboards Trainers: Maram Rukaya Ola	During the training session, Maram introduced the dashboard tool and who to create a campaign and sub program within the campaign events. Then Rukaya and Ola continued explaining the event tool and helped creating an Event Page – A hands-on exercise using a OTO campaign page as live example. then steps on how to use the tool in managing Events and Participant Registration – How to oversee events and handle subscriptions. Linking the Dashboard to an Event – Ensuring proper integration for tracking contributions.
External Presentation	March 1, 2025 English, French	Wki OTO Launch Speakers Ola Dominique Eliane	The official launch of the new Wiki OTO campaign took place successfully, marking a significant step in advancing gender representation within Wikimedia projects. During the event, Eliane Dominique and Ola introduced key aspects of the initiative, including: An overview of the Wiki Loves Women initiative and its impact. The Wiki Loves Women Focus Group. The new approach adopted by the focus group to enhance content creation and community involvement. The launch of the new campaign. The first theme of the campaign, setting the direction for initial contributions and activities. Link to presentation.
External Presentation	April 11, 2025 English	Wiki OTO Office Hour Speaker Maram	In this session of our office hour, Maram provided more details about how to participate in the campaign and answered questions.
External Presentation	April 11, 2025 French	Wiki OTO Office Hour Speaker Essenam	In this session of our office hour, Essenam provided more details about how to participate in the campaign and gave a training on how to edit Wikidata.
Public Office Hour	September 16, 2025 English	SheSaid Office Hour Speaker Tochi	To better support the WLW FG organising local SheSaid campaign and their communities, the WLW team hosted an office hour that provided hands-on training on how to edit Wikiquote. The session was led by Tochi.
Public Office Hour	September 18, 2025 French	SheSaid Office Hour Speaker Minette	To better support the WLW FG organising local SheSaid campaign and their communities, the WLW team hosted an office hour that provided hands-on training on how to edit Wikiquote. The session was led by Minette.
Public Office Hour	September 24, 2025 English	Wikimania Scholarships Office Hour Speaker Patricia Díaz Rubio	To support Focus Group members in applying for the Wikimania 2026 scholarships, the WLW team organized a special office hour in partnership with WikiWomen Africa and the WikiWomen Summit. The session aimed to guide participants through the scholarship application process, share tips for writing strong applications, and answer individual questions. Facilitators walked attendees through eligibility criteria, timelines, and best practices for highlighting their community engagement and Wikimedia contributions. This collaborative session also encouraged members to see Wikimania 2026 in Paris as an opportunity for growth, networking, and amplifying women’s voices across the movement.
End of the year party	January 21st, 2026 English & French	All	Continuing its positive traditions, the Focus Group closed the year with a celebratory end-of-year gathering. The session provided a space to reflect on another year of achievements, share personal experiences and benefits gained from the journey, discuss the upcoming transition of the Focus Group, and strengthen bonds through a fun, interactive game.

Results

At the start of 2025, we welcomed five inspiring new members from Senegal, Madagascar, and Kenya, the Focus Group now counts 35 members from 14 countries across Africa and France.

This year, a total of 13 working sessions were hosted as part of the project.

Blogposts

Growing Together: The Wiki Loves Women Focus Group Welcomes New Members

Lessons Learned

Challenges:

Not all members were able to participate consistently due to workload, community responsibilities, and time constraints, which affected collaboration.
Operating in multiple languages required separate sessions, which at times limited cross-group interaction.

Solutions implemented

The Focus Group adopted shared responsibilities through smaller working groups, allowing members to contribute based on availability while maintaining progress.
Dedicated coordination and translation support were provided, and sessions were conducted in both English and French to ensure more inclusive participation and improved communication across language groups.

Feedback Surveyː

Impact on Participants

Overall, participation in the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group had a positive personal and professional impact on most respondents. Members reported increased confidence, leadership development, professional exposure (especially in librarianship and community leadership), and a strong sense of belonging to a pan-African women’s Wikimedia network. Several highlighted feeling empowered, heard, and motivated to contribute more actively to Wikimedia projects.

Satisfaction & Level of Engagement

Satisfaction with 2025 sessions: Mostly moderate to high (3–5)
Self-reported activity levels: Mixed (2–4)

While participants appreciated the sessions, many acknowledged limited availability, workload, or competing community responsibilities, which reduced consistent participation.

Wiki OTO & “Learning by Practicing” Model

The hands-on approach through Wiki OTO was widely appreciated.

Key benefits:

Practical learning through real campaign design and implementation
Skill-building in planning, communication, leadership, and coordination
Co-creation strengthened ownership and community bonding

Key challenges:

Uneven participation and follow-up
Difficulty sustaining motivation and engagement
Lack of clear guides, milestones, or reference materials
Language barriers and fixed meeting schedules

Despite challenges, most respondents agreed that organizing a real campaign significantly supported their growth.

Community-Level Influence

Participants applied lessons learned to:

Improve local campaign planning and execution
Strengthen community management and mentoring
Encourage women’s leadership and participation

Even where Wiki OTO engagement was limited, exposure to cross-cultural collaboration increased confidence and understanding of Wikimedia processes.

Identified Needs

Key needs emerging from responses:

Clearer structure, timelines, and reminders
Stronger facilitation of participation and accountability
Flexible scheduling and improved multilingual support
More practical examples and documentation
Continued access to grants or resources for local implementation

Future Engagement & Cohort Training

Strong interest in continuing with Wiki Loves Women
Many expressed willingness to contribute as trainers or mentors, particularly in:
- Campaign planning
- Community engagement
- Mentoring new members
- GLAM and communication activities

Some members noted a need for clearer communication about the Cohort Training model to better understand their future roles.

Key Insight

The WLW Focus Group successfully fostered a supportive, women-centered learning environment with meaningful personal and community impact. Strengthening structure, inclusivity, and participation mechanisms will be critical to maximizing the effectiveness of the upcoming Cohort Training model.

Inspiring Quotes from Membersː

"I really enjoyed connecting with new people and learning through hands-on activities. I hope the new Cohort Training continues to empower contributors, build skills, and foster collaboration."

"Since the first round I joined the community I felt welcomed I was glad I had the opportunity to be able to express my though suggest ideas and even share my personal feeling around my capacity my dreams in a community where I felt safe and supported . I am great full for the whole journey that made me a stronger leader in my our life and community of Wikimedian."

Wiki OTO (February – December 2025)

The Wiki Àrà-Ọ̀tọ̀ – Which means unique in Yoruba – is a new campaign started by members of the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group in 2025. It is part of the group’s new learning-by-practicing approach, developed after three years of the leadership program. The campaign works to reduce the lack of information about African women on Wikimedia platforms. It encourages people around the world to create, improve, and add content that shows the achievements of African women. The campaign focuses on adding and improving structured data about African women and their contributions on Wikidata, with the possibility of expanding to other Wikimedia projects in the future.

Results The Wiki Oto resulted inː

3 editions run
9 working sessions, public and internal trainings hosted. Read more here.
674 Items created or improved

Communications & Metrics

Social Media Engagement

From 22 February to 4 April , the WLW Focus Group run a social media campaign on the WLW Social media accounts to raise awarness about the Focus Group and introduce its activities and members. A total of 34 posts (images and videos) on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

15,637 views on Facebook with 1415% increase.
961 interactions.
244 Reach on Instagram with 183.7% Reach.

Blogposts

Wiki in Africa Websiteː Introducing Wiki OTO: A Campaign to Celebrate the Uniqueness of African Women

Diff Wikimediaː Wiki Oto: A New Milestone for the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group

Challenges & Lessons Learned

Co-designing the campaign name, theme, and structure increased ownership, but the experience showed that clearer timelines, milestones, and task assignments are critical for smoother implementation.
Consistent communication and follow-up are vital, especially in a distributed, volunteer-led campaign. Gaps in communication slowed coordination and reduced collective momentum.
Multilingual collaboration is achievable but requires intentional planning, translation support, and flexibility to ensure meaningful participation across language groups.

SheSaid Campaign (1st September – 31st December 2025)

#SheSaid is an international campaign under the Wiki Loves Women umbrella that focuses on improving the visibility of women by creating and enhancing entries about them on Wikiquote. By documenting their words, wisdom, and achievements, the campaign addresses the persistent gender gap in the representation of notable women across open knowledge platforms.

Since its launch in October 2020, the #SheSaid campaign has achieved outstanding success, thanks to the dedication of volunteers and Wikimedia communities around the world. A total of 27,109 articles have been created or improved across 22 languages, significantly amplifying the presence of women’s voices on Wikiquote.

Results (Till December 31st)ː

4 Office hours hosted in 2 languages (French and English)ː
- 2 office hours on how to edit Wikiquote.
- 2 office hours on how to document the SheSaid stories through Diff.

28 grant applications (27 Rapid grants and 1 micro financement WikiFranca) have been submitted and 15 were approved.
5 new languages joined the campaign in 2025.

21 Wikiquote language projects impacted.
25 national, regional or theme-focused teams (usergroups or volunteer groups) participated in.
The 2025th edition resulted in 15 588 New or Improved articles (14 196 New and 1 392 Improved) as followingː

Language	Number of new articles	Number of improved articles	Total of articles
SheSaid on the Arabic Wikiquote	373	3	376
SheSaid on the Catalan Wikiquote	11	2	13
SheSaid on the Central Bikol (bcl) and Tagalog (tl)	0	4	4
SheSaid on the English Wikiquote	1 472	247	1 719
SheSaid on the Fante Wikiquote (Incubator)	371	0	371
SheSaid on the French Wikiquote	828	272	1 100
SheSaid on the Gungbe Wikiquote	61	2	63
SheSaid on the Hausa Wikiquote (Incubator)	4 976	0	4 976
SheSaid on the Indenesian Wikiquote	2 810	0	2 810
SheSaid on the Igbo Wikiquote	1 693	480	2 173
SheSaid on the Italian Wikiquote	118	67	185
Shesaid on Central Kanuri Wikiquote (Incubator)	9	0	9
SheSaid on the Malay Wikiquote	15	0	15
SheSaid on the Serbian Wikiquote	92	49	141
SheSaid on the Setswana Wikiquote (Incubator)	789	0	0
SheSaid on the Spanish Wikiquote	28	0	28
SheSaid on the Swahili Wikiquote (Incubator)	119		0
SheSaid on the Ukrainian Wikiquote	185	11	196
SheSaid on the Uzbek Wikiquote	170	2	172
SheSaid on the malayalam Wikiquote	62	21	83
Icubators	6 278	232	6 510
Total	14 196	1 392	15 588

Snapshots of #SheSaid 2025

She said 2025 in Igala community
SheSaid 2025 au Sénégal
SheSaid 2025 in Rwanda
SheSaid 2025 in Nigeria (Hausa)
SheSaid 2025 in Chad
Shesaid 2025 in Anambra, Nigeria
SheSaid 2025 in Burundi
Shesaid 2025 in Anambra, Nigeria
SheSaid 2025 in Makassar
SheSaid 2025 in the Philippines
SheSaid 2025 Women Leaders and Entrepreneurs
SheSaid 2025 in Strasbourg
SheSaid 2025 in Bénin
SheSaid 2025 in Senegal

Communications & Metrics

To strengthen engagement across participating communities, the WLW team developed a range of promotional materials — including bookmarks, social media visuals, and postcards. Discover more details and explore the full collection here: #SheSaid 2025 Visuals. What made this year special was our use of illustrations from two gender-related projects, adding a richer visual and thematic dimension to our campaign:

Ilustratona WELx – an illustration contest organized by Wiki Editoras Lx as part of the VisibleWikiWomen 2023 and 2024 campaigns.
Portraits (Les sans images) – portraits of women created through the Les sans images project, a sub-initiative of Les sans pagEs on the French Wikipedia.

Social Media Engagement

From September 1st to December 31st, the WLW team run a social media campaign on X, Instagram and Facebook. A total of 70 posts (Till December 31st) on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

13.9K Views on Facebook (Increase of 218.2%)
517 Content Interactions (Increase of 130.8%)
527 Visits (Increase of 134.2%)
3.3K Viewers

Email Outreach

To promote the campaign,Telegram GenderGap groups and mailing lists served as effective channels for outreach.

Blogposts

The outcomes of the campaign were encapsulated in the following blog postsː

Wiki In Africa Websiteː
- SheSaid 2024: Amplifying Women’s Voices, One Quote at a Time
- SheSaid 2025 Results
Diff Wikimedia

Celebrating Success and Looking Forward: #SheSaid Campaign 2024 Recap - Diff February 2025
5 Reasons You Should Join the #SheSaid Campaign This Year - Diff September 2025
SheSaid 2025 in Indonesia: The Inaugural Edition Advancing Women’s Voices on Wikimedia - Diff January 2026
SheSaid 2025 in Nigeria - Diff January 2026
CBSUA, PhilWiki Community boost digital literacy with Wiki Edu Program - Diff January 2026
SheSaid 2025 in the Wiki for Senior Citizens Network - Diff January 2026
SheSaid 2025 in the Wiki for Senior Citizens Network Diff January 2026
Central Kanuri Wikipedia Anniversary - Diff February 2026
Fante Wikimedians Join SheSaid 2025 As They Mark The 2nd Edition Of SheSaid Campaign - Diff January 2026
From Zero to 200+ Articles: #SheSaid 2025 on Uzbek Wikiquote - Diff January 2026
SheSaid 2025 Results Are Here! - Diff March 2026

Mentions & Hilights

The use of the illustrations was featured in The Portrait Lady comic, read here.
The SheSaid campaign, which helped the community reach the milestone of 10,000 Wikiquote pages, was featured in the French Regards sur l’actualité du mouvement Wikimédia (RAW), highlighting its impact within the broader Wikimedia movement.

Media Coverage

20 women, 100 students trained on Wiki ‘SheSaid’ campaign in Kaduna, Katsina; News Agency of Nigeria
SheSaid 2025 in Indonesia: Amplifying Women’s Voices

Challenges

Consistency of the Hashtagː Maintaining a cohesive use of the #SheSaid hashtag across different languagesː
Multilingual Communicationː The diversity of language communities highlighted the need for extra effort to make guidance, templates, and updates fully accessible and easy to use.
Coordinating Grant Supportː The timing of local campaign activities in relation to the grant application and review process required careful coordination, with organisers adapting their plans to maintain momentum.

Solutions Implemented

Organisers were encouraged to track contributions using dashboards, lists, and hashtag tools, helping monitor the creation and improvement of articles and maintain a cohesive overview of campaign activities across communities.
Materials and instructions were adapted and translated where possible to ensure accessibility across diverse language communities.
The global team provided direct support and clarification, including office hours in multiple languages, helping organisers effectively apply materials and guidance in their local context.
The global team reviewed applications early to provide timely feedback and support the Foundation’s decision-making process.
Organisers were encouraged to begin activities online or use local resources where needed, so campaigns could progress without waiting for final approvals.
Provided application templates, guidance, and advice to help organisers prepare proposals effectively.

Lessons Learned

Campaigns work best when timelines, materials, and processes can adjust to local needs and circumstances.
Sharing instructions, templates, and updates in different languages helps organisers understand and use them easily.
Close cooperation between the global team and local organisers helps campaigns run smoothly. Tools like the Telegram group made it easier to coordinate, share ideas, and respond quickly.
Providing space and support for organisers to adapt materials and design local activities allowed for more innovative and engaging events.

Organizers Feedback survey

This report is based on feedback from local #SheSaid 2025 organisers, collected through a survey with responses submitted in both English and French. Respondents include a mix of experienced organisers and newer participants, representing different communities, languages, and event formats. This diversity provides a balanced overview of organisers’ experiences and perspectives across the campaign. Respondents included:

Long-term organisers involved since 2022–2023
Newer organisers participating since 2024–2025

Motivation for Organising #SheSaid

Across all responses, organisers expressed deeply aligned motivations:

Addressing the systemic underrepresentation of women on Wikiquote and other Wikimedia projects
Amplifying local, African, Asian, and underrepresented women’s voices
Encouraging women’s participation as editors, especially first-time contributors
Strengthening local language communities and cultural representation

Many organisers described #SheSaid not only as a content campaign, but as a tool for feminist advocacy, digital inclusion, and collective memory-building.

Campaign Awareness & Communication

How organisers learned about #SheSaid:

Community networks (most common)
Meta and Central Notice
Telegram and peer sharing

Effectiveness of communication:

Average rating: Very high (mostly 5/5, some 4/5)
Communication was perceived as clear, timely, and accessible

Communication Materials: Usefulness & Adaptationː

Most useful materials:

Social media visuals
Presentations
Adaptable templates

Less used materials:

Bookmarks and postcards (often due to local context or event format)

A key pattern emerged: Organisers strongly preferred adaptable materials rather than fixed designs.

Many communities created:

Flyers, roll-ups, posters
Radio programmes
Locally contextualised visuals uploaded to Commons

Suggested Communication Improvementsː

Organisers recommended:

Text-free visual templates for easier localisation
Short campaign videos
Radio outreach kits
Clearer guidance for recurring or long-term SheSaid activities

Grants & Funding Support

Most respondents applied for Rapid Grants
The provided template and guidelines were rated Very Helpful
Few challenges were reported

Main concern raised:

Delayed responses
Changing national funding pathways, particularly in Nigeria and Francophone regions

Most respondents applied for Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grants, and the application template and guidance provided by the #SheSaid team were rated as Very Helpful. Organisers generally found the application process clear and well supported.

Several organisers, however, noted longer-than-expected response timelines for funding decisions. In some cases, communities chose to self-fund initial activities in order to proceed as planned, while others extended their local campaign timelines to allow sufficient time to complete activities once responses were received. As a result, some final reports and outcomes are expected to be submitted later than originally scheduled. These experiences highlight the value of clear, country-specific guidance on funding pathways and timelines to better support organisers in aligning campaign planning with funding cycles.

Office Hours & Capacity Building

Attendance: High
Overall feedback: Positive

Requests for improvement:

More frequent office hours
Deeper focus on:
- Measuring impact
- Long-term contributor retention
- Wikiquote-specific rules and sourcing
- Campaign reporting tools

Local Events & Participation

All respondents organised at least one local event:

Edit-a-thons
Trainings and workshops
Hybrid and radio-supported events

Participation range:

From 5 to 122 participants
Strong presence of first-time editors and women

Success rating:

All events rated Successful or Very Successful

Partnerships & Collaboration

Most organisers collaborated with:

Universities and libraries
Women’s organisations
Media outlets (radio)
Community and cultural centres

Impact of partnerships:

Increased visibility and legitimacy
Better access to sources
Stronger community trust

Future collaboration interests include:

Feminist organisations
Educational institutions
Media partners
African and global women-led Wikimedia groups

Impact & Meaning

Organisers highlighted:

Growth in editor confidence and skills
Strong emotional connection to the campaign
Pride in collective achievement
Reinforced belief in collaboration as a driver of equity
Likelihood of joining #SheSaid 2026 was very high (mostly 5/5).

Key Recommendations

Expand adaptable communication resources
Strengthen capacity-building content, especially for Wikiquote
Clarify funding pathways by region
Increase office hours frequency
Support radio and offline outreach
Invest in long-term contributor retention strategies

Inspiring Quotes from Organisers

Englishː

Organisers shared powerful reflections that capture the spirit, impact, and meaning of the #SheSaid 2025 campaign across communities:

“The success of SheSaid 2025 in Nigeria invites communities across the movement to rethink who gets to contribute, why, and how. When we widen the circle and scope, we don’t just close content or gender gaps; we build a richer and more inclusive Wikimedia ecosystem.”

“With consistency and collaboration, anything is possible.”

“Work in a team is work in steam.”

“Change happens when people are given both the space to be heard and the support to contribute. Organising #SheSaid showed me that collaboration, intention, and shared purpose can turn learning into lasting impact.”

“The line ‘Give her a voice’ made a difference.”

“Organising SheSaid in my country and in my local language (Fante) reminded me that when communities come together with a shared purpose, even small contributions can amplify voices that history has often muted. Through collective effort, we created space for women’s words to live on and inspire others.”

"Beyond the activities and numbers, #SheSaid 2025 was a powerful reminder of the impact of language inclusion and community ownership. Working with volunteers showed how committed people become when they see their language and culture valued in global spaces like Wikimedia. The campaign strengthened collaboration, built confidence among new editors, and reaffirmed that documenting women’s voices especially in underrepresented languages is both necessary and urgent. Most importantly, it reinforced my belief that sustained mentorship and local partnerships are key to growing meaningful participation and ensuring long-term impact."

Frenchː

« Organiser SheSaid dans mon pays, la RDC, c’était transformer un engagement individuel en une force collective. J’ai ressenti de la fierté, de la responsabilité et beaucoup d’espoir en voyant des personnes collaborer pour rendre visibles les voix des femmes sur Wikiquote. Cette expérience m’a rappelé que lorsque nous écrivons ensemble, nous ne documentons pas seulement des faits, nous construisons une mémoire plus juste et plus inclusive.»

« SheSaid 2025 m'a permis de découvrir cette année une association féminine qui défend les femmes battues. Quelque part, ça m'a rappelé cette citation de la romancière sénégalaise Mariama Ba: ‘Chaque vie recèle une parcelle d'héroïsme, un héroïsme obscur fait d'abdications, de renoncements et d'acquiescements sous le fouet impitoyable de la fatalité.’»

The External Impact of Wiki Loves Women

Wiki Loves Women at Global Events 2025

As part of the global gender gap community, the Wiki Loves Women initiative not only leads its own impactful projects but also actively contributes to international events that align with its mission to close the gender gap across Wikimedia and beyond.

In 2025, WLW took part in several key global and regional gatherings that celebrated inclusion, open knowledge, and women’s representation within the movement:

The Art+Feminism programme on the 8th of March 2025.

In this session, participants joined Zita Ursula Zage and Florence Devouard to explore collaborative initiatives such as the Wiki Loves Women “She Said” Campaign, which documents and amplifies quotes from Black women, non-binary, and LGBTQI+ individuals who have inspired many in the ongoing fight against patriarchy and gender-based violence. Through this hands-on workshop, attendees learned how to edit Wikiquote, the free online compendium of sourced quotations from notable people and creative works across languages and cultures. The session aligned perfectly with the campaign’s mission to ensure that the voices and words of women and gender-diverse individuals are equitably represented in the digital knowledge space. See the Presentation and the Recording.

WikiAfrica Hour – Episode #44 – Women Visibility: How Wikimedia Movement sheds light on women

In March 2025, the Wiki Loves Women initiative was featured in Episode 44 of WikiAfrica Hour, a special edition held in celebration of International Women’s History Month. The episode brought together inspiring women from across the Wikimedia Movement to reflect on how the movement supports women — and how it can do even more. Hosted by Isla Haddow-Flood, the discussion explored critical questions such as:

How does Wikimedia’s 2030 strategy support women?
What roles do community initiatives play in empowering women?
What would achieving 50/50 representation across all settings mean — and could there be disadvantages?
How might recent policy changes around the world that challenge Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives impact the Open Movement and Wikimedia at large?

This thought-provoking session celebrated the remarkable work of women within the Wikimedia ecosystem while encouraging deeper reflection on what gender equity truly looks like in practice. See the recording.

WikiWomen Summit at Wikimania 2025

WLW participated in the WikiWomen Summit during Wikimania 2025, contributing to discussions on empowering women within open knowledge spaces, fostering collaboration, and strengthening the visibility of gender-focused projects across Wikimedia communities.

WikiConvention Francophone 2025

As part of its ongoing commitment to inclusivity and multilingual engagement, WLW joined the WikiConvention Francophone, connecting with French-speaking Wikimedians to share strategies, experiences, and success stories related to addressing the gender gap.

Open Science Conference 2025

WLW was featured, by Afek Ben Chahed, at the United Nations Open Science Conference in Japan, where it contributed to conversations on gender equity in open knowledge and data accessibility. Through this participation, the initiative emphasized the importance of integrating gender perspectives into open science and highlighted the role of community-led projects in promoting equitable participation and representation. Presentation

Blog Postsː

Looking Ahead

Leadership & Global Representation Two members of the Wiki Loves Women team are members of the Wikimania 2026 Core Organizing Team, strengthening WLW’s presence and leadership at the global movement level.
Transition to a New Focus Group Context The Focus Group will soon transition into a new and strengthened model, designed to support deeper learning, clearer roles, and broader participation. More details on this transition will be shared with the community in the coming months.
Continuation of Proven Tools & Campaigns We will continue running the ISA Tool and sustaining the Wiki OTO campaigns, building on the lessons learned to improve structure, participation, and community impact.
Ongoing Commitment to the SheSaid campaign The SheSaid campaign will remain a core activity, continuing to amplify women’s voices and contributions across Wikiquote.
New Partnership with Les Sans PagEs A new partnership with Les Sans PagEs is underway, including the launch of the FrancAutrices card game.
Inspiring Open Podcast The Inspiring Open Podcast will continue with a new series of episodes, creating an open and engaging space to share stories, experiences, and insights from women contributors, leaders, and partners across the Wikimedia movement.

Continuing Collaboration & Growth

Moving forward, Wiki Loves Women will continue strengthening collaborations and partnerships, exploring creative formats, and fostering inclusive, women-centered learning spaces that support leadership, knowledge equity, and sustainable community growth.

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