Tyap Wikimedians User Group/Annual Report 2022-2023

Here is the first annual report for the Tyap Wikimedians User Group. It details the activities of the group from 8 July 2022 (the date when the user group was recognized) to 8 July 2023.

Two major achievement of the group in the year 2023 include the registration of the Tyap Wikimedians Organisation with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Nigerian government as a corporate entity on 3 January, and the creation of the Tyap Wiktionary (Tyap Wiktionary) by the Language Committee on 20 April, after a number of months of activities in the Wikimedia Incubator by the members of the group.

Events

First Meetup to Celebrate Wikidata @10 in Kaduna, Nigeria.

• October 29-30, 2022: Tyap Wikimedians User Group Celebrates Wikidata's 10th Birthday Meetup

Tyap Wikimedians at Gurara River during Wiki Loves Africa photowalk.

• February 13-18, 2023: Wiki Loves Africa 2023 by Tyap Wikimedians Community
• July 1 - August 31, 2023: Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos in Tyap Wikipedia

Outreach

[Watch video]

In 2022 and 2023, we used our social media handles (on WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook) to invite and teach those interested among our community members, in learning how to edit Wikipedia and Wiktionary and also have some tutorials on YouTube on how to add images to Wikipedia articles from those taken during our past photowalks.

Voting in board members and adoption of a bylaw

On 30 August 2022, we held our first elections by inviting attendees from the community to come and participate in the process. This meeting resulted in the electing of the following people and positions created in the table below.

Board of trustees members
SN	Board Member(s)	Designation	Date of appointment	Expiration of appointment
1.	Levi Kambai Timothy	Executive Director	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
2.	Zwandien Bobai	Assistant Director	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
3.	Linda Bello	Secretary	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
4.	Friday Kuyet Musa	Financial Secretary	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
5.	Didam Valentine Michael	Events, Meetups, and Grants Coordinator	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
6.	Stephen Kalad Jonathan	IT, Communications, and Outreach Coordinator	30 August 2022	30 August 2023
Advisory board members
1.	Akila D. Bungwon	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A
2.	Genesis Kambai Shan	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A
3.	Endurance Dogara Akut	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A
4.	Obadiah Audu Abui	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A
5.	Jonathan Boman	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A
6.	Elisha D. Sako	Advisory board member	N/A	N/A

These 12 persons present in the meeting held online via Google Meet adopted these tentative Bylaws for the group, subject to further adjustments.

Visit to the Agwatyap (paramount ruler of Atyap Chiefdom)

Tyap Wikimedians on an introductory visit to the Agwatyap (traditional ruler of Atyap Chiefdom).

We submitted a request in October 2022, to reach out to the grand custodian of the Atyap culture and by extension, the Tyap language, HRH Sir Dominic Yahaya (KSM), and we got an invitation to come over to see him on Thursday, 3 November 2022.

Tyap Wikimedians on an introductory visit to the Agwatyap (traditional ruler of Atyap Chiefdom).

The meeting with him was successful, and he gave us an admonition to continue with the work we are doing towards the progress of the Tyap language and encouraged us to get more people involved.

We had in attendance, also, a member of our Board of Advisors and the Vice Chairman of the Tyap Language Development Board (TLDB), Atyoli Akila D. Bunggwon, who introduced us to the king.

Community Support Fund

In February 2023, we applied for our first Community Support Funding to take effect from June 2023 - May 2024, but it was declined.

In view of this, we had roles drawn up for the Administrative staff, including:

• Two paid staff:
  • Executive Director
  • Project Manager
• Two contract staff
  • Auditing and Financial Consultant
  • Learning/Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
• Four volunteering staff
  • Communications and Advocacy Officer
  • Educational Content Officer
  • Field Officer
  • Secretary

Since the application was turned down, the group applied for a rapid grant to fund its activities which are still in the pipeline.

Leadership and name changes

• The Board of the TWU met on 30 April 2023 officially to replace the IT, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Stephen Kalad Jonathan, with Dorothy Habila who should, henceforth, serve as Communications and Advocacy officer of the group on an interim basis and as a volunteer, before the elections of the group would be held on 30 August 2023, to get a replacement.
• The position of the "Events, Meetups and Grants Coordinator" also changed to "Field Officer".

Partnerships

Tyap Language Development Board (TLDB) and Tyap Wikimedia User Group members after a meeting in which members of the Tyap Wiki - Kambai Akau, Zwandien Bobai, and Stephen Kalad Jonathan, were added to sub-committees for the Tyap-English dictionary development; literacy centers and materials development; and Tyap language curriculum development; on 7 May 2022. This meeting was held at the College of Agriculture, Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Chenkwon (Samaru Kataf), Kaduna State, Nigeria.

• Tyap Language Development Board (TLDB): In November 2022, we held a meeting with the TLDB on the development of a curriculum for the teaching of Tyap language in to-be opened literacy centers in four areas comprising of the home area (Southern Kaduna), Kaduna, Zaria, and Abuja. As a result, the TLDB allowed us to work with their unpublished dictionary to boost our Wiktionary entries.

Future

We have two events we have been preparing for to happen soon:

• 15 September - 1 December 2023: Editing together in Tyap, Romanian, and English, - to be done in collaboration with the Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group - to be our first collaborative project.
• October 1-29, 2023: ABU Zaria Outreach - Tyap Wikimedia UG in Collaboration with Wikimedia Nigeria, to be done in collaboration with the Wikimedians of Nigeria User Group.