Education/News/January 2024/Wikimedia Foundation publishes its first Child Rights Impact Assessment

Wikimedia Foundation publishes its first Child Rights Impact Assessment

Author: RGaines (WMF)

Summary: The Wikimedia Foundation has published an independent assessment to understand the impacts, risks, and opportunities posed to children who access and participate in Wikimedia projects.

The Wikimedia Foundation published its first child rights impact assessment on 17 January. This report, which is available on Meta, evaluates the impacts, risks, and opportunities posed to children who access and participate in Wikimedia projects and offers a number of recommendations that the Foundation and community can implement together in order to protect children on Wikimedia projects so that they can receive the maximum benefit these projects offer. This report was developed by an independent firm with expertise in human rights, responsible innovation, and sustainability and involved interviews with Foundation staff, Wikimedians involved in working with children, outside experts, and even young Wikimedians themselves. You can read more about this report, the methodology that was used to develop it, and what it means for the Wikimedia community here on Diff. Importantly, the Foundation is seeking information about recent community-led projects working to empower and protect youth on Wikimedia projects and is looking forward to engaging with the EduWiki community on this work. Read more about how you can provide feedback about this report and tell us about your youth-facing projects here.