Introduction

Wiki Loves Women is a flagship initiative by Wiki in Africa, dedicated to addressing the content gaps related to women and Africa on Wikimedia projects. Our mission is twofold: enriching the content available about women and encouraging greater participation from different communities in contributing to the Wikimedia projects.

This Yearly Review delves into the results, challenges, and comparative analysis between the achievements and obstacles faced in the previous year and the current one. Join us on this journey of reflection and strategic planning as we assess our progress, learn from experiences, and set the stage for a more inclusive and vibrant Wikimedia community.

2023 Initiative Highlights

In the year 2023, Wiki Loves Women undertook three impactful projects, each contributing to the broader goals of the initiative:

ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Her: Women on the Frontline Climate (March 2023):
- A unique campaign utilizing the ISA tool to add descriptions to WikiCommons images, enhancing the portrayal of women. This initiative, held in March, aimed to provide a more nuanced and comprehensive narrative to images representing women on the frontline of climate.
Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January - December 2023)ː
- The Wiki Loves Women Focus Coaching programme, a practical and mentored online training initiative, served as a catalyst for community leaders. Designed to empower and transfer skills and knowledge, this program facilitated the creation of gender-equity programs within the Wikimedia and Open movements.
SheSaid campaign (October 2023 - January 2024):
- The SheSaid drive celebrates and recognizes women by amplifying their representation and visibility on Wikiquote.

ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Her: Women on the Frontline Climate (1st - 31st March 2023)

Aimed to enrich WikiCommons images with descriptions, fostering a more inclusive and global representation, the ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Her: Women on the Frontline Climate, themed this year "Women in Climate" coincided with the Africa Environment Project, spotlighting the often-overlooked contributions of women in environmental and climate-related endeavors both across Africa and abroad.

See more here.

Results

The campaign resulted in

43,835 contributions
28 Contributors
2076 Images worked on

In comparison to last year, the ISA Tell Us about Her Campaign in 2023 surpassed the quantity of descriptions, marking a significant 491.56% increase in the overall volume of image descriptions.

Communications & Metrics

Social Media Engagement

From March 1st to 31st, the WLW team run a social media campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A total of 20 posts on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

50.9% - 62.3% on Instagram Increase of the reach.
68.8% on Facebook Increase of the content interactions.

Email Outreach

To promote the campaign,Telegram GenderGap groups and mailing lists served as effective channels for outreach.

Blogpost

The outcomes of the campaign were encapsulated in a blog post, titled "Women on The Frontline of Climate – ISA Tell Us About Her 2023 Results" which was prominently featured on the Wiki In Africa Website.

Challenges & Lessons Learned

In navigating the challenges encountered, a key lesson learned pertains to the need for more communication about the Depiction guidelines. Moving forward, it is imperative to communicate more effectively regarding changes in the edit rank policy. Specifically, edits that represent more than 20% of the total should be carefully monitored, and any exceeding this threshold will be promptly discarded. This proactive measure aims to maintain the integrity and quality of contributions within the campaign.

A significant challenge faced during the ISA Tell Us about Her Campaign in 2023 was the scarcity of images featuring women in climate-related contexts on Wikimedia Commons.

Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January - December 2023)ː

Embarking on its third consecutive year, the Wiki Loves Women Focus Coaching program provides mentored online training to community leaders, empowering them to create gender-equity programs within the Wikimedia and Open movements. The program offers guidance and skills transfer as participants plan and implement initiatives in their communities. The group's principal activities includeː

Monthly thematic working sessions
Office hours depending on the need
Active private Telegram group for ongoing discussions
Contributing to the #SheSaid drive in October 2023

Results

The addition of 4 new members from diverse backgrounds has strengthened the group, fostering collaboration among women from 9 African countries and France.

This year, a total of 20 office hours and working sessions were hosted as part of the projectː
- 9 Office hours about the AKI project, the ISA tool and the #SheSaid campaign
- 10 Working sessions covering diverse topics, including central notice banners, governance issues, grants and reports..
- 1 End of the year party

See all the leadership program 2023 here.

2 rapid grand applications were submitted by the Focus Group members.

In 5 different countries, a total of 8 #SheSaid local events were successfully organized by the Focus Group members.
2,381 articles created and 2,673 articles improved during the 8 #SheSaid local events.
More than 7 memers participated in thematic and international Wiki conferences in 2023.

Lessons Learned

Success Factors:

Inclusion of External Trainers: Inviting external guests to participate in working sessions and training brought valuable perspectives, expertise, and insights to enhance the learning experience.

Effective Communication: The success was fueled by strong communication between members and organizers.
Emphasis on Diversity: Acknowledging and embracing diversity within the group contributed to a rich and varied exchange of ideas, creating an inclusive and dynamic learning atmosphere.
Knowledge Transfer through Hosting Sessions: Focus Group members took initiative by hosting themselves sessions, facilitating the transfer of skills.
Discussion-Based Working Sessions: Success was evident in working sessions that prioritized discussions, as they proved to be the most effective platform for collaborative problem-solving and knowledge exchange.

Challenges:

Diverse Skills: In the Wiki Loves Women focus group, members have different skill levels, leading to variations in how quickly they contribute and understand certain topics.
Unequal Internet Access: Another challenge is the internet connectivity across the represented countries. Members in regions with less reliable internet may face difficulties in participating effectively.

Feedback Survey

In December 2023, the members answered to the annual feedback survey in purpose to improve the activities of the Focus Group.

Areas for Improvement:

Enhancing Individual Impact: While the individual has gained valuable skills, including venturing beyond their comfort zone and assuming a leadership role, there is a potential area for improvement in ensuring a more focused and strategic application of these skills.

Future Focus:

Integration of New Members: Welcoming and incorporating new members into the group.
Continuous Participation in Skill-Enhancing Sessions: Consistent engagement in working sessions, specifically aimed at refining technical skills.
Launch of a New Project or Campaign: The introduction of a fresh project or campaign resulting from three years of collaborative endeavors by the group.

See more about the WLW Focus Group in 2023 on the Results and best practices 2023 page.

The #SheSaid campaign (1st October - 15th January 2024)

The #SheSaid drive, a part of Wiki Loves Women, boosts the visibility of women leaders by creating and improving Wikiquote entries about them. Since its launch in October 2020, the campaign has achieved significant success, resulting in more than 8 443 new or improved articles in 12 languages.

This year, the 4th edition ran from October 1st 2023 to January 15th, 2024.

Results

7 Office hours hosted in 3 languages (Arabic, French and English)ː 2 office hours about grants and micro-financement and 5 office hours about on how to edit on Wikiquote.

14 grant applications have been submitted and 6 were approved.
6 new languages joined the campaign in 2023.

18 Wikiquote language projects impacted.
16 national, regional or theme-focused teams (usergroups or volunteer groups) participated.

The 2023rd edition resulted in +5 407 new articles created and +1 271 articles improved in 18 languages as followingː

(See all queries here)


English Total created : 1950 Total improved : 190	Igbo Total created ː 1 320 Total improved ː 7	Tagalog Total created ː 642 Total improved ː 560	French Total created : 378 Total improved : 47
Ukrainian Total created ː 275 Total improved ː 39	Italian Total created ː 213 Total improved ː 68	Telugu Total created ː 161 Total improved ː 7	Spanish Total created ː 147 Total improved ː 0
Serbian Total created ː 90 Total improved ː 10	Arabic Total created ː 71 Total improved ː 11	Gungbe Total created ː 53 Total improved ː 0	Hausa Total created ː 44 Total improved ː 127
Bikol Total created ː 39 Total improved ː 205	Catalan Total created ː 19 Total improved ː 0	German Total created ː 5 Total improved ː 0	Assamese Total created ː 0 Total improved ː 0
Slovene Total created ː - Total improved ː -	Swahili Total created ː - Total improved ː -

Communications & Metrics

To enhance engagement within participating communities, the WLW team crafted bookmarks, social media visuals, and postcards. Explore more details here. Link to the category SheSaid 2023 visuals

Social Media Engagement

From March 1st to 31st, the WLW team run a social media campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A total of 57 posts on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː

197.5% on Facebook and 220.3% on Instagram Increase of the reach.
288.3% on Facebook and 981% on Istagram Increase of the content interactions.

Email Outreach

To promote the campaign,Telegram GenderGap groups and mailing lists served as effective channels for outreach.

Blogposts

The outcomes of the campaign were encapsulated in the following blog postsː

Wiki In Africa Websiteː #SheSaid: Honoring the Influence of Women and Their Impactful Quotes
Diff Wikimediaː Empowering Through Words: Celebrating Women and Their Powerful Quotes

Conferences

This year, the SheSaid campaign was showcased at two conferences:

Wikiconvention Francophone 2023
WikiWomen Camp 2023

Challenges & Lessons Learned

Challenges during thos edition of the SheSaid campaign includedː

Delays in grant reviews.
Dependence on scheduled training sessions.
Limitations in language coverage, and complexities associated with supporting languages in incubation.
Tracking results and hashtag usage also posed difficulties.

Solutions implementedː

Involved collaboration with the WMF Grants team.
Hosting additional training sessions, and successful strategies included collaborating with Wikiquote admins and presenting the campaign during conferences for increased awareness.

Organizers Feedback survey

70% of organizers gave a rating of 5 for the effectiveness of the communication campaign in informing them about the #SheSaid campaign.
50% found the office hours very helpful in understanding the Wikimedia grant application process.
In-person meetings were attended by over 168 participants.

Inspiring quotes from the organizers

"SheSaid campaign has become very dear to me. With this campaign i have witnessed the number of women articles rising rapidly on the Wikiquote platform. The campaign is fighting gender disparities in the digital space."
"We will always love SheSaid Campaign! Through this campaign we were able to develop our two local Wikiquotes and at the same time involve more women in our trainings and edit-a-thons. Thank you WLW! :)"

See more about the SheSaid 2023 on the Results and best practices page.