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Africa Environment WikiFocus Celebrates Wangari Maathai Day

“No matter how dark the cloud, there is always a thin, silver lining, and that is what we must look for. The silver lining will come, if not to us then to next generation or the generation after that. And maybe with that generation the lining will no longer be thin.” ― Wangari Maathai, Unbowed: A Memoir

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Communications and Brand Materials

The resources below are to assist community and event organisers as they engage with the press and partners about Africa Environment WikiFocus activities and events taking place across Africa during March and April 2023.

How to talk about Africa Environment WikiFocus

With the information below, you will be equipped to speak to a range of audiences, providing a consistent voice and message for the campaign. The material offered below should ensure consistency, but also be flexible enough to ensure adaptability to your local community, language and context.

About the subject

A 2019 Afrobarometer report found that only 28% of Africans (34 countries surveyed) were aware of climate change as a concept. This worrying lack of knowledge is, in part, due to a pervasive lack of visibility of relevant information about Climate, Weather and Climate Change, especially from the media, across Africa. Wikipedia is one of the media that Africans consume.

You may also know that there is a significant lack of coverage of content on Wikipedia that relates to Africa. Some of us have been working to close these gaps for some time. This is especially true of the coverage of topics that relate to, and further knowledge about, climate, the environment, and the impact of climate change and environmental destruction on local communities across Africa.

Wiki In Africa and Wikimedia Community UserGroup Côte d’Ivoire have been tasked by the African Knowledge Initiative (a collaboration between the Wikimedia Foundation and the African Union) to organise, support, and launch a month-long content campaign on Africa’s climate and environment, called the Africa Environment WikiFocus.

About the project

The Africa Environment WikiFocus is a month-long drive that encourages Wikimedia and other communities to contribute content related to Africa’s Climate to the Wikimedia projects in March 2023 and beyond!

The WikiFocus is a project created and developed by Wiki In Africa (WIA) and Wikimedia Community User Group Côte d’Ivoire (WMUG IC) as an integral part of the African Knowledge Initiative (AKI) series of campaigns. The African Knowledge Intiative is supported by the African Union, Wikimedia Foundation and Africa No Filter. The Africa Environment WikiFocus is a content creation and contribution WikiFocus that launched on the African Union’s Wangari Maathai Day (3rd of March).

Talking to media

Press Release

In March 2023, Wiki In Africa sent out a blanket press release to 845 media professionals across Africa. Please forward this link to interested parties.

Organisers can create their own press releases to talk with local media by using these google templates as a base: in English • in French

Why the Africa Environment WikiFocus is important – Africa: Climate Facts

Statistics on the environment and climate change in Africa:

According to the World Bank, Africa has the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per capita of any continent, but it is also the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The African continent is responsible for only around 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is disproportionately affected by climate change^[1].
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change^[2] (IPCC) predicts that Africa will experience more frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts, and floods due to climate change.
According to the African Wildlife Foundation, Africa has lost 66% of its wildlife in the last 50 years ^[3] ^[4].
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that Africa could create 1.5 million new jobs in renewable energy by 2030.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that deforestation and land degradation in Africa are responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions^[5].
In 24 African countries, less than 50% of their population has no access to electricity ^[6].
For additional discussion points and statistics, read this article on Key Takeaways for Africa from COP27 from Africa Renewal

Organising partner's communication platforms

WikiAfrica (Wiki In Africa) Communications links:

Social Media guidelines:

It is exciting to support the Africa Environment WikiFocus and show people how your community is contributing to Wikimedia and improving their access to free and important knowledge! There is an international communications team for the duration of the competition, but we would love your support wherever possible! Here are some ways you can do just that:

Starting your social media profile

If you do not already have a Wikimedia Community profile on one or two of the social media platforms, now is your opportunity to start. Before you do, it is a good practice to create one under the Wikimedia Usergroup/Volunteer group you have chosen and not specific to one contest or drive. For example, instead of creating Africa Environment Antartica, chose Antartica Wikimedians or Antartica WM Community so that you can post about other drives or campaigns you will join in the future.

Share our posts

Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds and share our posts. The more organic reach we get the more we will be rewarded with so every share counts.

Comment on our posts

Comment and tag on the comments of a post. Any words of encouragement or tagging a friend or organization on the comments feed will also help Africa Environment WikiFocus to be seen by more people, more often.

Make your own posts

We realise you may want to personalize your call to enter or mention your own events happening locally, but please make sure you note the following:

When creating visuals, use the contest colour pallet and social media visuals linked below,
Include the @wikiafrica handle in your post so that we can share it from our channels,
Include the hashtags #africaenvironment or #afrienviro23 on all your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Instagram
The shortlink to the WikiFocus page is https://bit.ly/AfriEnviro23
Ensure that any photos you use to illustrate your posts are big enough, and do not distort or pixelate – you can find CC licenced images for AfriEnviro23 with their image attributions.
When using images on social media, always include the following detail on any photos: photographer name, site of access, licence.
When writing a post about a local event, please include the location or country in your post (this can be done straight away or as a hashtag) – this will cause less confusion when people repost or share your post with their individual accounts
Be sure to include these bits of info – not necessarily all at once but over a few posts.
- The competition is open to anyone, anywhere but the information added must relate to climate and environment.
- All work entered is subject to a Creative Commons licence
- The WikiFocus runs from 1st March - 30th April

Please use the hashtags

#africaenvironment
#afrienviro23
#wikiafrica
#environmentaction
#climateaction
And you can # the subject e.g. #clouds #rain etc…

Talking to participants

Presentation and Training Materials

These amazing presentations have already been created for the WikiFocus. You are free to use all or parts of them in your introductions or training events, but you must attribute or credit the original creator - do not pass these presentations off as your own work!

Other training sessions have been recorded and can be accessed on YouTube here:

Why adding information about climate in Africa is important – Africa Environment WikiFocus launch on WikiAfrica Hour
How to improve Wikipedia's articles on Climate Change by Su-Laine Brodsky
How to create an Outreach Dashboard (for Africa Environment WikiFocus)
Wikidata Office Hour Session by Yamen Bousrih

Brand Manual

This is a continent-wide campaign. You are encouraged to create your own posts and can make your own visual materials, but the brand elements below should be used when making those visual materials so that the campaign is easily recognisable in every country, regardless of which community is talking about it.