Wiki Loves Women/Results and best practices 2024
Introduction
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Wiki Loves Women is a key initiative by Wiki In Africa, focused on closing the content gaps about women and Africa across Wikimedia projects. Our mission has two main goals: expanding the available content on women and fostering broader community participation in contributing to Wikimedia.
This Yearly Review explores the outcomes, challenges, and a comparative analysis of the progress and hurdles from this year versus last. We invite you to join us in reflecting on our journey, learning from our experiences, and planning strategically for a more inclusive and dynamic Wikimedia community.
2024 Initiative Highlights
editIn 2024, Wiki Loves Women implemented three key projects—two drives and a leadership program, with some changes compared to the previous year. Each project made a significant contribution to the initiative’s overarching goals:
- ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Herː Women In Art (March - April 2024)ː A special campaign used the ISA tool to add descriptions to images on WikiCommons, improving how women are shown. Held in March, this project aimed to give a clearer and fuller story to images of women in art.
- Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January - December 2024)ː The Wiki Loves Women Focus Coaching programme is a practical, mentored online training initiative aimed at supporting community leaders. It is designed to empower participants by sharing skills and knowledge, helping them create gender-equity programs within the Wikimedia and Open movements.
- SheSaid campaign (October - December 2024): The SheSaid drive celebrates and honors women by increasing their representation and visibility on Wikiquote.
- Inspiring Open Podcast (2024)ː to be updated
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Wiki Loves Women Logo -
SheSaid Logo -
Focus Group Logo -
Inspiring Open Logo -
ISA Tell Us About Her Logo
ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Her: Women in Art (13th - March - 30th April 2024)
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The ISA Challenge - Tell Us About Her: Women In Art aimed to enrich WikiCommons images with descriptions, promoting a more inclusive and global representation. This year's theme focused on pictures from the categories women artists and women in art, featuring a level 1 depth of detail. See more here.
Results
editThe ISA campaign resulted in
- 32,826 contributions
- 38 Contributors
- 8,158 Images worked on
In comparison to last year, the ISA Tell Us about Her Campaign 2024 surpassed the quality of descriptions, marking a decrease in the overall volume of image descriptions but an increase of the quality of the descriptions and a better understanding of using the tool.
Communications & Metrics
editSocial Media Engagement
editFrom March 13th to April 30th, the WLW team run a social media campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A total of 18 posts on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː
- 33 Instagram new follows.
- 16.3% increase of Facebook visits.
Email Outreach
editTo 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, titledː Women in Art – ISA Tell Us About Her 2024 Results which was prominently featured on the Wiki In Africa Website.
Challenges & Lessons Learned
Wiki Loves Women Focus Group (January - December 2024)ː
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For the fourth consecutive year, the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group continues to provide mentored online training to community leaders, empowering them to develop impactful gender-equity programs within the Wikimedia and Open movements. The program emphasizes guidance and skills transfer, enabling participants to effectively plan and implement initiatives in their respective communities.
The group's principal activities include:
- Monthly Thematic Working Sessions: Facilitating targeted discussions and collaborative learning.
- Active Private Telegram Group: Encouraging ongoing dialogue and support among members.
- Contributions to the #SheSaid campaign 2024: Engaging in activities by hosting local events.
This year, group members have made significant changes to the leadership program by launching a new global campaign, which will be organized and managed entirely by the members themselves. Additionally, the working sessions will adopt a hands-on learning approach, enhancing engagement among participants and increasing the group's visibility within the broader community.
This initiative aims to strengthen the impact of the Wiki Loves Women movement and foster a more inclusive and equitable environment for all.
Leadership Programː Working Sessions
edit| Date | What? | Coordinator | Topic / Guest | Explanation / Links |
| December 2023 - January 2024 | Offline Activity | Afek | 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:
Future Focus:
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| February 14th, 2024 | Working Session |
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On February 14th, the Focus Group convened its inaugural working session for the year 2024. The gathering took the form of a visionary meeting, uniting all members to deliberate on the future trajectory of the Focus Group. Key topics covered during the session included:
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| March, 20th 2024 | Working Session |
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During the working session, the group welcomed the new members. There was a presentation about the focus group, detailing its members and the activities conducted in 2023 and the SheSaid campaign followed by an icebreaker discussion.
The New members areː
To know more about the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group members, please visit this page. | |
| May, 8th 2024 | Working Session |
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As voted and agreed upon during the dreaming session, the Focus Group members engaged in a discussion about partnerships. Isla facilitated the session, raising several critical questions to guide the conversation:
Isla then presented 18 steps to establishing a successful partnership. These steps covered essential strategies and best practices to help the group build strong, collaborative relationships with their partners, addressing the importance of shared goals, clear communication, and mutual support. The discussion provided valuable insights and practical guidance for the members to enhance their partnership efforts. | |
| June, 21st 2024 | Working Session |
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During the working session, members attended a presentation by Florence Devouard on the topic of Conflict of Interest (COI). She provided an in-depth understanding of COI, explaining how to identify potential COI scenarios and offering an overview of relevant policies. Florence also discussed best practices for managing and disclosing conflicts of interest in various contexts. Following the presentation, group members participated in a showcase where they shared different COI cases they had encountered and explained how they managed those situations. This interactive session allowed for valuable insights and practical learning on navigating conflicts of interest. | |
| July, 17th 2024 | Working Session |
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During the recent online working session, members addressed key challenges related to participation, communication, and group dynamics while setting goals for the future. Low engagement was attributed to conflicting schedules, language barriers, and a lack of clear direction, with suggestions for clearer project goals and more mentorship for new members. Communication channels were deemed ineffective, prompting recommendations for more timely updates and quicker messaging platforms. Members highlighted the need for technical training and centralized resources, proposing workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions for ongoing support. While the overall group atmosphere was positive, stronger interpersonal connections and conflict resolution were encouraged, with informal check-ins and team-building activities suggested to improve collaboration. Clearer task assignments and project management tools were proposed to streamline responsibilities. Looking ahead to 2025, the group hopes to see increased participation, stronger partnerships, and a key role in advocacy, aiming to complete high-impact projects and expand their network. This session provided valuable insights for addressing current challenges and preparing for future growth.
Decision takenː the Focus Group members will start planning and working on a campaign which will run in 2025. | |
| August, 21st 2024 | Working Session |
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The members had their first brainstorming regarding the new campaign answering the following questionsː
Purpose and Goals
Target Audience
Resources and Support
Metrics and Evaluation
Challenges and Risks
Teams needed?
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| September, 25th 2024 | Working Session |
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The team discussed organising a year-long Wikidata campaign with monthly themes, starting in January 2025. They agreed on a bi-monthly theme change to ensure manageable workloads. The campaign will focus on African women, with a global perspective. Training sessions will be conducted both internally for the team and publicly. The team will divide into communication, management, and training groups. They will prepare by conducting Wikidata training in the remaining months of 2024. The name of the campaign is yet to be decided. Future sessions will finalise the campaign's goals and roles, and explore potential expansion to other Wikimedia projects. |
Results
- The addition of 12 new members joined the group to attend 28 women from 13 African countries (Botswana, Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, Zimbabwae, Kenya, Cameroun, Rwanda, Tunisia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Senegal) and France. See all members here.
- This year, a total of 12 working sessions were hosted as part of the project. See all Working Sessions here.
Blogposts
Lessons Learned
editSuccess Factors:
editChallenges:
Feedback Survey
The #SheSaid campaign (1st October - 15th January 2024)
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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 15,555 new or improved articles in 18 languages.
This year, the 5th edition ran from September 1st to December 31st, 2024.
Results as of early October 2024
edit- 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 (13 Rapid grants and 1 micro financement WikiFranca) have been submitted and 6 were approved.
- 2 new languages joined the campaign in 2024.
- 20 Wikiquote language projects impacted.
- xx national, regional or theme-focused teams (usergroups or volunteer groups) participated in.
- The 2024th edition resulted in xxxx new articles created and xxxx articles improved in 20 languages as followingː
Communications & Metrics
editTo enhance engagement within participating communities, the WLW team crafted bookmarks, social media visuals, and postcards. Explore more details here. Link to the category #SheSaid 2024 visuals
Social Media Engagement
editFrom September 1st to December 31st, the WLW team run a social media campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A total of xx posts on each were shared. The campaign resulted inː
- xx
- xx
Email Outreach
edit- To promote the campaign,Telegram GenderGap groups and mailing lists served as effective channels for outreach.
Blogposts
editThe outcomes of the campaign were encapsulated in the following blog postsː
- Wiki In Africa Websiteː
- Diff Wikimediaː
- The #SheSaid campaign is back – Join the 5th edition!
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#1 Florence Devouard]
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#2 Ciell]
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#3 Bashir ]
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#4 Essenam]
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#5 Masana]
- #SheSaid 5th Edition Interviews: [#6 Abigali]
Conferences
editThe #SheSaid campaign was showcased at two conferences:
- Wikiconvention Francophone 2024 (to be coming)
- WikiArabia 2024
Challenges & Lessons Learned
editChallenges during thos edition of the SheSaid campaign includedː
Solutions implementedː
Organizers Feedback survey
editInspiring quotes from the organizers
editThe External Impact of Wiki Loves Women
editAs part of the global gender gap community, the Wiki Loves Women (WLW) initiative not only runs its own projects but also actively participates in various global events that align with its mission of closing the gender gap. In 2024, WLW took part in several key events:
- The Wiki Loves Women initiative was featured in a special edition of WikiAfrica Hour, a three-part series dedicated to highlighting efforts aimed at bridging the gender gap within the Wikimedia movement, including some work within education. This event, held in celebration of International Women’s Day, showcased key projects contributing to gender equality on Wikimedia platforms. The session was hosted by Nigerian Wikimedian Tochi Precious, who led the discussions and celebrated the impactful work being done to uplift women’s voices and representation in the Wikimedia community.
- WikiWomen Summit at Wikimania 2024
- WikiWomen Launch at Wiki Indaba 2024
- WikiWomen Summit at WikiArabia 2024 (to be coming)