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2024:Program/6 editions of the education offline initiative WikiChallenge Ecoles d'Afrique

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Session title: 6 editions of the education offline initiative WikiChallenge Ecoles d'Afrique

Session type: Poster
Track: Education
Language: en

The WikiChallenge initiative is a training and writing program designed for schools in (mostly French speaking) Africa. It is targeted at the education community towards using wikimedia tools to acquire and share knowledge to develop skills of the youth and of their teachers. Over 6 editions, the initiative has benefited about 450 participating schools. Several hundred of kids were trained and increased their digital schools. Over 460 texts were produced and published on Vikidia, over 2600 illustrations published on Commons, 62 schools won for the direct benefit of hundreds of pupils and their teachers.

Description

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The WikiChallenge African Schools is a writing competition. It is a competition dedicated to pupils aged 8-13 and which takes place in several French-speaking African countries such as Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Tunisia, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal etc. as well as in Sierra Leone.

The objective is to learn how knowledge is constituted by contributing through the Vikidia platform, the Wikipedia for children. Pupils from participating schools are invited to write encyclopedic articles on a subject relating to their immediate environment. The competition is open to organizations that are part of the network of Orange Digital Schools and using (WikiFundi), a platform of Wiki editing in offline mode.

Many of those schools are not connected to the Internet. It therefore implies the presence of an on-site digital facilitator (and possibly the help of Wikimedians and Vikidians) for training, facilitating and ultimately collecting the content produced by the students. The articles submitted by the children are all published on the Vikidia encyclopedia.

Better known in educational circles, Vikidia has been developing on principles similar to those of the well-known encyclopedia, but aimed at a younger audience, 8-13 year olds. It is distributed in the same way as Wikipedia, under the same license, and is open to the participation of young and old, according to rules co-constructed by the community of editors.

The competition is open to schools in the Digital Schools network of the Orange Foundation. It is aimed at students from around 9 to 13 years old, and fits into the pedagogical and educational framework. A teacher or school staff as a team can supervise and support it, with the local support of the Orange Foundation. Orange’s support is expressed through the presence and support of a digital facilitator. The theme of writing is free…but it is strongly suggested to create an article concerning the environment close to the school: its city, its village, a geographical point of interest, a museum located nearby or a local curiosity. The writing style should be suitable for an encyclopedic publication.

Links

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

This initiative is a collaboration between

  • Wiki in Africa, an association active in the wikimedia ecosystem primarily
  • Fondation Orange as the main funder but also as an implementing partner
  • Several wikipedians and wikimedia affiliates helping locally (such as in Mali, Cameroon, Tunisie, Morocco, Guinea...)
  • The editors of the Vikidia platform, which is... build upon very similar rules and software than Wikipedia, but is not a wikimedia project; and the Vikidia association, which is a member of WikiFranca

In short... this collaboration extend beyond the wikimedia ecosystem

The poster (and my presence in front of it during the poster session) will be a way to learn from each other and share knowledge like community initiatives (here, the contest) tools usage (such as WikiFundi and Vikidia), organizing events (working in poorly connected areas), governance (partnership with Fondation Orange, Vikidia community, African uaergroups), online campaigns (6 years campaigning), and edit-a-thons, solving Wiki-related problems (how to source within our guidelines when the editor is offline…), and more.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

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Speakers

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  • Florence Devouard
Username:Anthere (She/her). French. Languages : FR N; EN-4.
* Co-Executive Director of Wiki in Africa
* Wikipedian-in-Residence at World Intellectual Property Rights (WIPO)
* Former Chair of Wikimedia Foundation
* Co-founder, former Vice-Chair and currently member of Wikimédia France
Key words : Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Africa, IP rights, Open Movement, Community Building, Open Source, Creative Commons, Life-long learning, accountability, Gender Gap, Equity
More info and contacts
* fdevouard//@//anthere.org
* https://www.linkedin.com/in/devouard/
  • Islahaddow
Isla is the co-executive director and founder of Wiki In Africa. She has been a Wikipedian since 2011, co-creating projects that activate Africa’s collective voice and experiences through the Wikimedia and Open movements. She co-leads ground-breaking Africa-focused projects such as Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Women, WikiAfrica Hour, African Environment WikiFocus, ISA Tool, WikiFundi, and WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique. She also works part-time as Director of Communications for Open Education Global.
Isla is a project and communications strategist, a Zimbabwean by birth and a Capetonian (South Africa) by adoption. She is passionate about open access to Africa’s knowledge and facilitating the growth of previously under-represented or ‘invisible’ communities to share their stories, experiences, creativity, and heritage with the world.
In 2019, Isla was a member of the Advocacy Working Group for the completed Wikimedia Movement Strategy 2030. In 2020, she researched, wrote, and published an analytical report on the motivations, needs, expectations, and philosophical intentions of Creative Commons’ Global Network members. The report is compiled from the thoughts and experiences of 188 Creative Commoners members.
Before working within the WikiAfrica movement, she was the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Africa Centre, raising the brand and national profile of event-based arts brands. Before that, she worked as a writer to accelerate and support the growth of Africa’s film industry both as a skilled destination and a burgeoning creative force.
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