Let's Connect Across Zones in Nigeria

General Overview

This phase of the Let’s Connect Peer Learning Program is focused on expanding its implementation beyond Kwara State to other regions in Nigeria, fostering greater community engagement and knowledge sharing. Building on the success of previous implementations, this expansion seeks to create a more inclusive and collaborative environment, allowing more Wikimedia organizers to benefit from shared experiences, network building, and skill development.

This implementation will extend to other states within the North-Central zone 'Kogi and Abuja' and other geopolitical zones, including the South-East 'Anambra and Imo', South-South 'Rivers and Akwa Ibom', North-East 'Gombe', and South-West 'Oyo, Osun, and Ogun'. This broader reach aims to engage more community members and ensure wider participation across diverse regions.

During the second implementation, several challenges were identified, including limited engagement during online sessions especially among new participants, and the need for additional skills beyond those initially covered. Participants also faced barriers such as limited connectivity, lack of access to necessary tools, and financial constraints, which affected their ability to fully engage during the program.

To address these challenges, this phase aims to:

Expanding regional engagements by reaching more organizers across different geopolitical zones.
Enhancing participant interaction through online learning clinics that foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Providing access to training resources that address both on-wiki and off-wiki skill gaps.
Encouraging knowledge transfer by ensuring participants select a skill they can share with their communities and letting them take the lead by organizing a session with their community members where they can share their identified skills.
Addressing evolving participant needs by introducing new skills relevant to project organization and community development.

By fostering a culture of continuous learning and collaboration, this initiative will empower participants with valuable skills, enhance their contributions to the Wikimedia movement, and strengthen local communities through knowledge-sharing and capacity building.

Timeline

Start Date: 2025-02-10

End Date: 2025-07-12

Activities Outlined to Implement for this Program

Planning

Receiving rapid grant fund. Done
Defining Let’s Connect participants to invite. Done
Designing the Learning Clinics and Participant-led session structure and learning outcomes. In progress…
Create a WhatsApp group for the selected Let's Connect participants. Done
Participants' selection of skills to share. Done
Social media publicity. In progress…
Creating feedback/Evaluation survey form. Done
Organising any pre-session material for the Let's Connect Learning Clinics and reviewing and sending them to registered participants In progress…

Learning Clinics (Online)

Determine two skills/topics for learning clinics by checking participants' Let's Connect profiles.
Organize registration for participants interested in the selected skills.
Design the learning clinic session structure and define learning outcomes.
Organize invites and distribute pre-session materials to participants.
Collaborate with the Let’s Connect working group to refine session content.
Identify case studies or guest experiences from Wikimedian communities or external organizations.
Facilitate 2 learning clinics
After each session, prepare and distribute learning materials to participants.
Upload relevant materials to the Let’s Connect meta resource page
Conduct follow-up evaluations through surveys.
Analyze feedback and integrate findings into the grant report.

Participants-led Connections (Online)

Provide support, including Zoom subscriptions for participants.
Review learning materials from participants for a minimum of one hour before each session.
Facilitate 1.5-hour live connection sessions for each session.
Conduct a minimum of 1.5-hour follow-up sessions to review and share learning materials.
Ensure that each participant engages in the 2 learning clinics organized by the team and also hosts their own sessions.

These activities will be implemented within the first and second quarters of 2025, with flexibility to accommodate any community dynamics that may arise.

Learning Clinics

1st Learning Clinic

This learning clinic will be held on the 14th of March, 2025. Topic: Let’s Connect Across Zones in Nigeria: Discover, Learn, and Engage.

Facilitators: Bukky658, Ridzaina

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2nd Learning Clinic

This Learning Clinic will be held in April, 2025. Participants learnt: [slide]

Trainer: name

Reports

Participant-Led Connections

This approach allows each participant involved in the proposal to lead a session on a topic of their choice, sharing their expertise with others.

Here’s the twist: To make this more engaging and valuable beyond the project team, each participant will share their chosen skill with their respective community members. They will select any on-wiki or off-wiki skill that is practical and beneficial to Wikimedia community members and project organizers. These sessions will be scheduled at their convenience within the project timeline: March – June 2025.

Team

Ridzaina Project Lead
Linason Blessing Co-lead
James Rhoda Facilitator and disbursement of fund
Mijesty Communication Expert
Bukola James Let's Connect Liasion, Sub-Saharan Africa