Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy/Implementation/Affiliate health criteria/Reports/2025/Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group
| Affiliate basic information | ||
|---|---|---|
| What is the affiliate name? | Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group | |
| Please list the languages supported by this affiliate | French, Fon | |
| Please list countries where this affiliate operates | Republic of Benin | |
| Reporting timeline (e.g. January-December) | 1er mai 2025 au 30 avril 2026. | |
| Reporting year (e.g. 2024 or 2024-2025) | 2025-2026. | |
| Primary contact (user name) | Adoscam | |
| Secondary contact (user name) | Fawaz.tairou | |
| Goal delivery | ||
| What is the affiliate mission? | Develop a nationwide community of active contributors capable of editing articles about Benin, its history, culture, and people.
Build a community of volunteer developers to contribute to MediaWiki by fixing bugs and creating new gadgets and extensions. Promote Beninese indigenous languages on Wikipedia and its sister projects by launching editions in our local languages. Establish partnerships with national and international institutions to encourage both the use of and contributions to Wikipedia in schools and universities. | |
| What are the affiliate goals? Link to the strategic plan, if there is one. | Plan stratégique 2026 - 2028 decisionmaking=The Board of the Wikimedia Benin User Group, with the support of the community, volunteers, and partners, oversees the implementation of activities planned in the annual plan, in line with the current strategy.
As in previous years, new members have been engaged and given responsibilities in project management, strengthening our mission of skills transfer. The Board remains composed of four members (two women and two men) and is supported by a gender-balanced audit committee, reflecting our commitment to inclusion and gender equity. The group is also expanding its presence beyond Cotonou, particularly through activities organized in northern Benin. Decisions are mainly made during monthly online meetings. | |
| Organizational development | ||
| How does the affiliate make decisions? How are decisions communicated? | {{{decisionmaking}}} | |
| What is the current state of the affiliate finances? Link to the latest financial report, if there is one. | Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Benin Annual Grant 2024 - 2025/Final Report | |
Affiliate health and resilience
| ||
| How many people participate in the decision-making process in the affiliate? | At least ten (10) people participate in the decision-making of the group. | |
| Has there been any significant changes in the level of the affiliate membership body (e.g. increase/decrease of number of dues-paying members)? | More than 40 people are as members, but the 2025-2026 list is not up to date | |
| Are there any affiliate activities in the past year that were led by affiliate members? Please share the highlights. | More than ten (10) persons of our team, along with other community members, have worked on Wikimedia projects, events, and activities in Benin. These include:
Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 au Bénin Participation aux Vodun Days 2025, Ouidah Wiki Loves Africa 2025 au Bénin Wiki Loves Earth 2025 au Bénin Journée de l’Arbre 2025 à Savalou Wiki African Independence Month 2025 au Bénin WikiPortraits au Festival 2025 des Masques, Porto-Novo Women Digital Week 2025 – Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group Activités Wikifon 2025 WikiCarto Bénin : connexion des données géographiques et des contenus libres Event:Wikipedia et IA, Webinaire Wikipédia Edit-a-thon – MakeAfrica 2025 Wikimedia Commons – 21e anniversaire au Bénin (présentiel et en ligne) Wiki Portrait – We Love Eya 2025 au Bénin WikiForHumanRights 2025 au Bénin (partiellement réalisé) Gender Equality 2025 au Bénin : activité non réalisée en raison de la non-disponibilité des fonds nécessaires. WikiForHumanRights 2025 au Bénin SheSaid 2025 Wikidata Bitrhday | |
| Leadership and inclusion | ||
Diverse, skilled, and accountable leadership
| ||
| What kind of skills does the affiliate leadership possess? | Here are some training topics that a Wikimedia User Group can benefit from to grow, organize, and contribute better to the movement:
Community Project Management Group Facilitation and Leadership Skills Wikipedia Editing and Article Improvement Advanced Use of Wikimedia Tools Diversity and Inclusion Awareness Communication and Social Media Management Introduction to Technical Contribution (MediaWiki, Extensions Development) Open Data Collection and Management Conflict Management and Problem Solving Fundraising and Grant Writing | |
| Is there any kind of succession plan for the affiliate leadership? | no | |
| Are there any trainings that affiliate leadership undergo before they assume their leadership position? | no | |
| Are there any requirements for affiliate leadership to disclose their conflict(s) of interests? | no | |
Diversity balance (especially gender)
| ||
| What is the diversity level of the affiliate leadership and membership body? | The board of Wikimedia Benin is composed of four members, including two women and two men. This reflects a gender-balanced representation, with 50% women and 50% men. | |
| How is the affiliate leadership encouraging gender diversity in the decision-making process(es) of the affiliate? | The implementation of innovative and high-impact initiatives such as, and Les Sans Pages Bénin, actively contributes to highlighting women's leadership these are, Wiki Mentor Africa - Women Tech Summit (WMA-WTS) 2026 AU Bénin , SheSaid 2025 au Bénin, Art + féminisme 2026 au Bénin, Wikiportrait at FIFF Cotonou 2026 au Bénin les 3,4,5,6,7 février 2026 | |
Universal Code of Conduct compliance
| ||
| How does the affiliate leadership ensure, enforce, and evaluate compliance with the Universal Code of Conduct obligations? | We do not yet reference the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) within our User Group, but we plan to consider its integration in the future. | |
| Engagement and Collaboration | ||
| Please share the publicly available records of regular meetings, activities, events, or conference in the past year where the affiliate has participated. | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9diens_du_B%C3%A9nin_User_Group/Reports/2025_2026_Annual_Report
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9diens_du_B%C3%A9nin_User_Group/Rapport_final_et_apprentissage_du_grant_annuel_2025 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Conference_Fund/WikiConvention_Francophone_2025/Final_Report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/General_Support_Fund/Wikimedia_Benin_Annual_Grant_2026 | |
| Community connection | ||
| How many affiliate members are active contributors to the Wikimedia projects? | At least 120 people participated in our Wikimedia activities throughout 2025 and 2026. | |
| How many affiliate members are not active contributors to the Wikimedia projects? | Ten (10) people are involved in organizing activities, and most of them also contribute as editors on Wikimedia projects. | |
| How many affiliate members are active organizers (of projects, events, conferences, initiatives, etc) within the Wikimedia movement? | Three (03) people help organize activities. | |
| How many people have participated in affiliate projects, events, conferences, and/or initiatives in the past year? | Fifteen people help organize activities. | |
| Partnerships and collaboration | ||
| Please list all activities/initiatives that the affiliate has organized or co-organized in past 12 months. | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9diens_du_B%C3%A9nin_User_Group/Reports/2025_2026_Annual_Report
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9diens_du_B%C3%A9nin_User_Group/Rapport_final_et_apprentissage_du_grant_annuel_2025 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Conference_Fund/WikiConvention_Francophone_2025/Final_Report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/General_Support_Fund/Wikimedia_Benin_Annual_Grant_2026 | |
| What would affiliate leadership list as the top 3 (three) capacities of the affiliate? (e.g. evaluation, community governance, programs and events, organizational governance and resource policies, conflict management, partnerships, fundraising, communication and media relations, contributor development, on-wiki technical skills, policy advocacy, etc) | Training on advocacy and partnerships within the Wikimedia movement | |
| Training on Wikimedia technical tools (Dashboard, Petscan, Outreach, etc.) | ||
| Training on conflict management and community communication | ||
| What are the 3 (three) capacities that the affiliate would like to strengthen in the next 12 months? | Content creation and Editing | |
| Training on organizing edit-a-thons and community events | ||
| On-Wiki technical skills | ||
| What are the organizations, community projects, or groups that the affiliate had been working or seeking to work with to develop and support the 3 capacities? | The Wikimedia Benin User Group has developed several partnerships and collaborations at both national and international levels, with actors from the Wikimedia movement as well as non-affiliated organizations. These partners include Bibliothèque Bénin Excellence, Le Labis Porto-Novo, Rencontres Amicales Francophones du Logiciel Libre, Montpel’libre, WikiPortraits, Les sans pagEs, AfroCROWD, Wiki In Africa, Wiki Mento Africa, WikiTongues, and Igbo Wikimedians User Group. Kila Karo, Blolab, | |