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: Building on Momentum

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 WLW team run a social media campaign on . A total of 6 posts on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

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.

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 12 working sessions (till November 2025) were hosted as part of the project.

Blogposts

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

Lessons Learned

Challenges:

To be added

Solutions implemented

To be added

Feedback Survey

To be added

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.
xx Contributors
xx 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

To be added

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 November 2025)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.
3 new languages joined the campaign in 2025.

25 Wikiquote language projects impacted.
18 national, regional or theme-focused teams (usergroups or volunteer groups) participated in.
The 2025th edition resulted in xx new articles (To be added).

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

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 38 posts (Till November 7th) on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

To be added

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
- To be added
Diff Wikimedia
- 5 Reasons You Should Join the #SheSaid Campaign This Year

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

Challenges & Lessons Learned

Challenges

Solutions implemented

Organizers Feedback survey

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