Visibility Project/East Africa/Report

General overview

Scope

The Visibility Project for East Africa is a gender-focus initiative in partnership with the African Women in Media, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to train female journalists in East Africa on the basics of Wikipedia editing and copyrights. It's one of our initiatives to bridge the gender gap on the internet and to recruit female contributors to Wikipedia. More than 200 Journalists from the East-Africa were trained on how to contribute to Wikipedia. The project started on the 5th of June 2020 and ended on 6th July 2020. Series of online training was organized and facilitated by the Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc., Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania and the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. The logistics supports were provided by the African Women in Media, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Participants are professional journalists from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Zanzibar, and South Sudan. They were trained by experienced Wikipedians in English and Swahili followed by mentorship sessions for 7 days. At the completion of the project, participants acquired the necessary skills in editing Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons, and about 50 Wikipedia articles were created by the participants.

Organizing team and facilitators

SN	Name(s)	Designation	Role(s)
1.	Olaniyan Olushola	Chair, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Project manager & volunteers coordinator
2.	Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola	Chief Executive Officer, African Women in Media	Co-project manager (admiistrative)
3.	M.s Bamidele Ogunleye	Chief Operation Officer, African Women in Media	Project strategist (administrative)
4.	Isaac Olatunde	Secretary, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation	Project strategist (technical)
5.	Kayode Yusuf	Communication manager, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Training moderator
6.	Ms. Olayinka Maja	Interim community liaison, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Program officer
7.	Ayokanmi Oyeyemi	Head of photography, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation	Training facilitator & mentor (English)
8.	Sam Oye	Outreach coordinator, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Training facilitator (English)
9.	Antoni Mtavangu	Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania	Training facilitator & mentor (Swahili)
10.	Alice Kibombo	Member, Wikimedia Usergroup Uganda	Training facilitator & mentor (Swahili)
11.	Uzoma Ozurumba	Co-founder of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group	Training facilitator & mentor (English)
12.	Medi Ashioma	Coordinator, Wikimedia Fan Club, Ekiti	Technical support

Project goal and measures of success

Project goal

Our specific goals for the project are to:

Improve the feasibility of African women
Bridge the gender gap on the internet and Wikipedia
Enhance female Journalists understanding of copyrights and free licenses
Promote understanding of reporting from a neutral point of view
Capacity building
Recruitment of female professional journalists for Wikipedia

The secondary goals of the project are:

Build long-term networking, relationship and partnering opportunities with aligned organizations in the African
To bridge the gap between encyclopedists and journalists

We believed we achieved our project goals based on our reflections during and after the project, and the feedback from participants (see our evaluation feedback), facilitators, and partners.

General overview of activities

Area	Task (summarized)	end outcome
Project management	Project design	Complied
	action plan design, timeline design, management and milestones,
	Strategic and Wikimedia movement alignment evaluation
	Budget and actual cost overview
	Feasibility assessment & contigency plans
Volunteers management	Volunteers recruitment	Complied
	Communication
	Engagement
	Retention
	Tracking
Training mangement	Moderation strategy"	Complied
	Training material developent
	Training patform set up (Zoom pro)
	logistics and resources
	Participants confirmation and email reminder
	Communicating with participants
	Contents uploading
	Training delivery
	Tracking and assessing learner performance
Mentorship	Outreach dashboard set up	Complied
	Lesson preparation
	Grouping of participants
	Assignment of lessons
	Timely response to questions
	Monitoring and evaluation of mentees performance
	Participants support during contents creation
Communication Management	Creation and maintenance of meta page	Complied
	Sending information and updates via mail to participants
	Creation and administration of communication platforms
	Respond to individual needs and requirements of participants and other stakeholders

Training sessions

Participants were trained by experienced Wikipedia editors from Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania. At least five (5) training were conducted from 8th of June 2020 - 12th of June 2020 and the following important topics and concept were covered;

Copyright and free licenses: This was facilitated by User:T Cells, an experienced license reviewer at the Wikimedia Commons
Cheat Sheet of Wikipedia Editing: The session was facilitated by User:Jamie Tubers, an experienced Wikipedia editor at the English Wikipedia
Basic Wikipedia Editing and How to Cite a Wikipedia Article: Facilitated by User:Uzoma Ozurumba, an experienced editor from the Igbo Wikimedia Community
Jifunzekuhariri Wikipedia (Learning how to edit Wikipedia): Facilitated by Anthoni Mtavangu & Alice Kibombo, experienced Ugandan & Tanzanian Wikipedia editors from the English and the Swahili Wikipedia community.
Work-Flow of Creating Wikipedia Page: Facilitated by Ayokanmi Oyeyemi, the regional Ambassador, 1L1B1REF Project

The sessions were moderated by Kayode Yusuf, Yinka Maja, and managed by Olaniyan Olushola.

Recordings from the Webinar sessions

Visibility Project ( East Africa) Day 1-Wikimedia Commons: Licenses and the Use of Freely Licensed Images on Wikipedia
Visibility Project ( East Africa) Day 2-Basic Wikipedia Editing and How to Cite a Wikipedia Article
Visibility Project ( East Africa) Day 3-Work-Flow of Creating Wikipedia page
Visibility Project ( East Africa) Day 4-Cheat Sheet of Wikipedia Editing
Visibility Project( East Africa) - Day 5 Jifunze kuhariri Wikipedia (Learn how to edit Wikipedia)

Mentoring sessions

This aspect of the project was a very flexible session dedicated to following up with participants after the training, assignment of lessons to participants, tracking of learning, review of contents draft, timely response to questions, and feedback. The mentors were experienced editors of Wikipedia and all the activities took place on the Wikimedia outreach dashboard and WhatsApp was our major channel of communication. There were no mentor-mentees physical contacts in line with the WMF recommendations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each of the participants created a Wikipedia account and they were grouped into 7 (Group A - G) and a mentor was assigned to each of the groups. These mentors meet regularly with the mentees and maintain frequent communication with them. One of the mentees described the lessons as interesting. According to her "The lesson was good and interesting. it helps us to improve our work" The mentorship session lasted for one week and at least 50 articles were created. At the end of the project, Prizes were awarded to the best participants in different categories. The mentorship session is the most interesting aspect of this project.

S/N	Mentor	Dashboard
1	Olaniyan Olshuola	Class A
2	Isaac Olatunde	Class B
3	Oyeyemi Ayokanmi	Class C
4	Ashioma Medi	Class D
5	Uzoma Ozurumba	Class E
6	Antoni Mtavangu	Class G
7	Alice Kibombo	Class H

Measures of success

40 participants completed the training program. We conducted a survey to evaluate the project and only 34 of the 40 people completed the survey. The metrics are based on the above data.

Measure (as proposed in the grant)	Results	Compliance
73.5% of participants were satisfied with our trainers.	73.5% in total agreement	Complied
79.4% of participants were satisfied with our trainers delivery	79.4% in total agreement	Complied
70.6% of participants were satisfied with our trainers' communication skills	70.6% in total agreement	Complied
70.6% of participants agreed that the learning goals were achieved	94.1% of participants agreed they would recommend the training to a colleague	Complied
88.2% of participants agreed that their knowledge or skills have improved by taking the training	88.2% in total agreement	Complied
58.8% of participants agreed that new article creation was the most valuable part of the training	58.2% in total agreement	Complied
44.1% of participants agreed that copyright & free licenses were the most valuable part of the training	44.1% in total agreement	Complied
26.5% of participants agreed that improvement of existing articles was the most valuable part of the training	26.5% in total agreement	Complied
200 people from more than 10 different countries in East Africa were trained	40 people completed the training	Complied

List of articles created by participants

43 biographies of notable women were created by the participants. Although, some of them need some improvement

S/n	Article	Project	Occupation	Citizenship	Gender	Number of words	References
1	Purity Ngina	En.Wiki	Academician	Kenyan	Female	1054	14
2	Sheila Kawamara-Mishambi	En.Wiki	Journalist	Uganda	Female	2154	26
3	Jacqueline Asiimwe	En.Wiki	Lawyer	Uganda	Female	2096	20
4	Anne Nasimiyu Wasike	En.Wiki	Publisher	Uganda	Female	1817	21
5	Naome Kibaaju	En.Wiki	Politician	Uganda	Female	1393	17
6	NBS Television (Uganda)	En.Wiki	Media Entity	Uganda	NA	1197	15
7	Rukh-Shana Namuyimba	En.Wiki	MCommunication Specialist	Uganda	Female	1183	10
8	Margaret Masagazi	En.Wiki	Communication expert	Uganda	Female	1086	17
9	Achola Rosario]	En.Wiki	News Anchor, Artist and reporter	Uganda	Female	1054	16
10	Josephine Nabukenya]	En.Wiki	NHIV Activitsts+People Living with HIV	Uganda	Female	1040	20
11	Joyce Bagala]	En.Wiki	Journaist+News Manager	Uganda	Female	978	16
12	Emily Maractho]	En.Wiki	Journaist+Lecturer	Uganda	Female	880	9
13	Asiimwe Evarlyne Buregyeya]	En.Wiki	Politician	Uganda	Female	831	10
14	Penny Tinditina]	En.Wiki	News Anchor	Uganda	Female	797	18
15	Aisha Sematiko	En.Wiki	News Anchor	Uganda	Female	449	6
16	Gloria Kamba	En.Wiki	Show Presenter	Uganda	Female	335	4
17	Rama Jacqueline Aol	En.Wiki	Rama Jacqueline Aol	Uganda	Female	809	10
18	carole Mandi	En.Wiki	vaccinologist and immunization exper	Uganda	Female	500	17
19	Hanifa Kawooya	En.Wiki	Administrator and Politician	Uganda	Female
20	Beatrice Waithera Maina	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	407	9
21	Editar Adhiambo Ochieng	En.Wiki	Women's right Activist	Kenya	Female	298	3
22	Jerotich Seii	En.Wiki	Social Justice Campigner	Kenya	Female	138	3
23	Gladys Atieno Nyasuna Wanga	En.Wiki	Politician	Kenya	Female	566	7
24	Kathleen Openda - Mvati	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	331	3
25	Asha Mwilu	En.Wiki	Journalist+Documentary Filmamaker	Kenya	Female	315	3
26	Solange Ayanone	En.Wiki	Journalist	Rwanda	Female	271	3
27	Rose Wangui	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	269	2
28	Tabitha Rotich	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	245	1
29	Mercy Kandie	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	219	1
30	Jane Godia	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	198	1
31	Anne Mawathe	En.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female	198	1
31	Ummy Ally Mwalimu	Sw.Wiki	Journalist	Kenya	Female
32	Gathoni Wa Muchomba	En.Wiki	Entrepreneur+Policitican	Kenya	Female	2020	27
33	Elsie S. Kanza	En.Wiki	Economist	Tanzania	Female	1026	11
34	Edith Kimani	En.Wiki	News Anchor	Kanya	Female	791	8
35	Jane Chemutai Goin	En.Wiki	News Jouinalist	Kanya	Female	1755	21
36	Gloria Laker Aciro	News reporter	Kanya	Female	1755	21
37	Sarah Kimani	Journalist	Kanya	Female	1285	15
38	Solange Ayanone	Journalist	Rwanda	Female	271	3
39	Fausta Shakiwa Mosha	Journalist\|Tansania	Female	308
40	Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho	Journalist	Tanzania	Female	290	4
41	Maryan Seylac	Journalist	Somalia	Female	1080	4
42	Pamella Makotsi-Sittani	Journalist+Author	kenya	Female	779
43	Paula Fray	Journalsit	South Africa	Female

Learning

What worked well

1. Diversity of participants and trainers

Participants were selected by the African Women in Media from more than 10 countries, South-Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, Somalia, Uganda, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Nigeria. This diversity of participants makes the training and mentoring session very interesting and also provide a platform for networking. Kenya recorded the highest number of participation. In a survey completed by 34 participants, 38% of the participants that completed the survey are from Kenya. 14.5% of the participants are from Uganda and Botswana recorded the lowest number of participants with only 2.9%.

2. Diversity of trainers

The trainers were selected from 3 countries, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania. The trainers were experienced members of the Wikimedia community with a track record of leading similar training in their respective communities. Many of the trainees are native speakers of the Swahili language and having a Swahili trainer was very helpful as participants were trained in both English and the Swahili language. This diversity of trainers really worked well during the mentorship session as well.

3. Patnership with journalists

There is a huge gap between encyclopedists and journalists. Journalists and their works are very important to Wikipedia as we rely on contents published by them to write the encyclopedia. This partnership really worked well as it created a platform for us to learn more about their works, and what we share in common as content writers. The pre- and post-meeting really worked well.

4. WhatsApp group for coordination

Identifying the easiest and cost-efficient means of coordination was challenging but the use of WhatsApp really worked well. It is easily accessible, cheap, and popular among the participants and trainers. It was easy for mentors to timely respond to questions from the participants and provide feedback on performance.

5. Post-training mentorship

This was the most interesting aspect of this project. Although, only 40 participants participated in this phase and completed the training. The Wikimedia outreach dashboard was used for this purpose. Each of the participants created a Wikipedia account and they were grouped into 7 (Group A - G) and a mentor was assigned to each of the groups. The mentors meet regularly with the mentees and maintain frequent communication with them.

What did not work so well

1. Internet connection

The Internet is a major problem in Africa. But we manage to provide at least two different internet network and that worked a bit fine for us.

2. Participants selection criteria

We didn't know the criteria used by our partner, African Women in Media to select participants as it appears that many of the participants weren't ready to fully participate as many of them didn't continue after the webinar. Only 40 participants completed the program. So, we think there should be a set of predetermined criteria for selecting participants in the future. This is something we will definitely improve on in the next edition.

Funding

Project Management: USD 2000
Logistics( Gift for Mentors,Faciliators,Internet Subsidies): USD 1000