Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub/Activities

About Stakeholders Documentation Activities Get involved LDH Microgrants

Mentorships

Language Diversity Hub Mentorship Program – 2025 Cohort

The Hub is currently providing tailored, year-long mentorship to 13 language communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America. This cohort represents diverse stages of growth, from early incubator reactivation to post-graduation strategic development. Mentorship focuses on overcoming specific technical, organizational, and outreach barriers to sustainable growth.

Tibetan (བོད་ཡིག / bo)

Stage: Established Wikipedia, incubating Wikisource. Focus: Technical capacity for **Wikidata integration & template adaptation** to support their "4 EPICS" strategy (Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikidata, Outreach). High-output community seeking to systematize quality and secure a Wikisource domain. Key Support: Advanced technical mentorship, connection to WMF technical teams, grant strategy for outreach. The mentorship documentation can be found here.

Runyankore (nyn)

Stage: Active Incubator community. Focus: Overcoming mobile-only editing barriers** and **securing device access** for a large, active contributor base (60+ editors). Goal: graduate from the Incubator by improving workflows and content diversification. Key Support: Mobile editing optimization, micro-grant guidance for devices, content strategy. Community mentorship documentation page.

Fante (fat)

Stage: Recently graduated Wikipedia, incubating Wikiquote. Focus: Volunteer retention systems** and **leveraging institutional partnerships** (University of Education, Winneba). Goal: Increase active editors, graduate Wikiquote, and build a sustainable training model. Key Support: Community engagement strategies, partnership development, Wikidata skills. Community mentorship documentation page here.

Nupe (nup)

Stage: Recently graduated Wikipedia, incubating Wiktionary/Wikiquote. Focus: Affiliate recognition strategy** and **scaling a successful digital literacy outreach model** via their partner language centre (ILLEC). Goal: Secure Wikimedia User Group status and integrate Wikipedia into classrooms. Key Support: AffCom application guidance, template/bot skills, micro-grant strategy for outreach. Community mentorship documentation page here.

Kinyarwanda (rw)

Stage: Incubator for Wikipedia/Wikisource. Focus: Building technical infrastructure** (templates, infoboxes, bots) to support systematic growth and quality. Strong institutional backing needs channeling into wiki-skills. Key Support: Template/Data box development, technical workshop facilitation, source-finding (e.g., Global Voices). The community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Songhay (son)

Stage: Reactivated Incubator (dormant since 2019). Focus: Critical technology access** (devices & internet) for local contributors in Mali/Niger and **creating simple templates** to standardize article quality. Diaspora-led revival with clear content targets. Key Support: Micro-grant advocacy for devices, basic template creation, mobile editing support. Community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Mandika

Stage: Early Incubator. Focus: Language standardization and **mobile editing challenges**. Community is active but needs structure and improved workflows to progress toward graduation. Key Support: Style guide development, mobile app training, basic wiki onboarding. Community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Bauolé (bci)

Stage: Early Incubator. Focus: Addressing fundamental internet and device access** as the primary blocker. Once access is secured, focus will shift to basic editing literacy and first article creation. Key Support: Urgent micro-grant strategy for connectivity, absolute-beginner training. Mentorship documentation can be found here.

Rinconada (Bikol Rinconada / bto)

Stage: Incubator (Wiktionary). Focus: Recruiting and retaining native-speaker editors for Wiktionary, supported by the Wiki Advocates Philippines User Group. Goal: Build a sustainable engagement model to reach 1,000+ word entries. Key Support: Engagement program design, Wiktionary-specific tools (Lingua Libre, templates), peer networking. Link to community mentorship documentation here.

Maya Yucatec (yua) – Yucatán, Mexico

Stage: Active Incubator (Wikipedia). Focus: Technical unblocking and educational integration for 100+ teachers in the Konechkanik Maya program. Goal: Graduate from the Incubator by reducing technical friction, completing interface localization, and embedding Wikipedia as a classroom resource. Key Support: MediaWiki translation sprint, mobile-first/low-bandwidth training, teacher-monitor leadership development, equipment/connectivity micro-grants. Link to community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Náhuat (El Salvador) – El Salvador

Stage: Advanced Incubator (Wikipedia). Focus: Graduation readiness and language identity correction. Goal: Secure full Wikipedia status while rectifying the inaccurate and offensive "Pipil" designation to reflect community self-identity as Nahua/Náhuat. Key Support: Advanced technical workshops (templates, homepage, Wikidata), language code advocacy, governance sustainability planning, regional participation enablement. Link to community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Bono/Abron (abr) – Ghana

Stage: Active Incubator (Wikipedia). Focus: Core contributor stabilization and leadership distribution. Goal: Move from a leader-centric model (2–3 highly active editors) to a sustainable core of at least five active monthly editors, reduce dependency on personal funding for incentives, and build institutional partnerships to anchor long-term sustainability. Key Support: Graduation requirements documentation, equipment/connectivity micro-grants, partnership cultivation (Bono Foundation Institute, Bible Society of Ghana), volunteer motivation and expectations management strategies, connection to Wikimedia Ghana User Group and local mentor Sadik Shahadu. Link to community mentorship documentation can be found here.

Fulfulde (ff) – West Africa (Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Gambia, and beyond)

Stage: Established Wikipedia (independent site). Focus: Retention-first stabilization and dialect governance. Goal: Sustain and strengthen a ~15-editor Wikipedia operating under challenging connectivity and nomadic/semi-nomadic conditions. Shift effort from recruitment to protecting and supporting existing contributors through data access, localized training, and constructive management of dialect diversity. Key Support: Fulfulde-language onboarding and anti-vandalism guides, small-scale connectivity stipends, dialect documentation and dispute-resolution norms, peer learning with other small Wikipedias, partnership cultivation with the Institute for Language Development and northern Nigerian universities. Link to community mentorship documentation here.

--- Mentorship Model: Each community is paired with a dedicated mentor and receives support through monthly one-on-one calls, bi-weekly thematic workshops, micro-grant facilitation, and cross-community networking. The program runs from 2025 through 2026.

Other activities

Community calls

We believe there is a need for a space for discussion, involving community members from emerging communities, experienced Wikimedians, decision-makers at different levels, and representatives from affiliates and other communities.

The goal of community calls is to celebrate the achievements in new communities, share experience and connect across geographic and linguistic barriers.

First community call

• Wikimedia Language and Product Localization/Community meetings
• Friday, Nov 29th, 16:00 to 17:00 UTC (Zonestamp!)
• Showcase: WikiMedistas Wayúu

Second community call

• Wikimedia Language and Product Localization/Community meetings
• Friday, Feb 28th, 16:00 to 17:00 UTC (Zonestamp!)
• Showcase: To be defined

Blogs and publications

• Tochi Precious visited the Mercator Language Conference, and shared her experiences on Diff.
• Exploring Wikimedia Collaboration on Language Preservation: Highlights from the 2024 Global Voices Summit in Nepal The recent Global Voices Summit 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal, saw strong participation from the Wikimedia movement, spurring new ideas for collaboration with a like-minded community and ways to bring more diverse knowledge to Wikimedia projects. Several Wikimedians who have previously participated and collaborated with Global Voices (GV) were invited..
• Join us for the Wikitongues Pre-Conference at Wikimania 2025! We are thrilled to announce the Wikitongues Pre-Conference at Wikimania 2025, taking place on August 5, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya, with full online participation available for those joining us from around the world..
• Language Diversity Hub Announcing Selected Communities for the 2025–2026 LDH Mentorship Program The Language Diversity Hub (LDH) is delighted to announce the selected communities for the 2025 – 2026 LDH Mentorship Program, a 12-month initiative designed to support emerging and recently launched Wikimedia language projects. This year’s cohort represents dedicated communities working to preserve, document, and grow their languages on Wikimedia platforms, each at varying but promising stages of development. After a competitive call for applications, the following communities have been selected:.
• Many Tongues, One Movement: the CapX Translat-a-thon 2025 The Wikimedia movement thrives when knowledge is accessible in all languages, and the CapX 2025 Translat-a-thon proudly brought that vision to life in December 2025. Organized in partnership with the Language Diversity Hub, the Capacity Exchange online translation marathon brought together volunteers from around the world to collaboratively translate and localize its tool, documentation, and Capacity Directory.