Dear Wikimedia Community, We are excited to announce the commencement of preparations for the 2026 Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) in conjunction with Open Foundation West Africa’s (OFWA) 10th Anniversary celebration🎉, reaffirming our commitment to strengthening African digital knowledge ecosystems, fostering community collaboration, and celebrating a decade of impactful open-access initiatives .
The Africa Wiki Challenge is an annual writing and media contest that aims to improve content about Africa on Wikimedia platforms while engaging young people and educators across the continent in open knowledge creation. In alignment with the African Union’s 2026 theme <https://au.int/en/theme-year/theme-year-2026-assuring-sustainable-water-availability-and-safe-sanitation-systems> focusing on water and sanitation, the theme for Africa Wiki Challenge 2026 will be "Water for Life in Africa." This year’s challenge will focus on documenting Africa’s water resources, ecosystems, innovations, and the communities that depend on them. Through this theme, we hope to expand knowledge about rivers, lakes, wetlands, water technologies, sanitation systems, and other topics that highlight the importance of water to Africa’s sustainable development. With the prevalence of illegal mining in many African countries endangering water quality, this topic has become very important. We are inviting Wikimedia affiliates, user groups, educators, libraries, and community organizers across Africa to join us as local organizers for the campaign. As a local organizer, you may: - Coordinate local editing activities or workshops - Support participants with training and mentorship - Promote the challenge within your community - Help identify relevant topics related to the theme The organizing team will provide guidance, communication materials, and coordination support to help communities successfully run the campaign locally. If your community is interested in organizing activities for Africa Wiki Challenge 2026, please indicate your interest by responding to this email or filling out the organizer interest form <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexQxaFwJakwv7K6HQox--N6iStyAyNrKw1zD48MX3PulW1MA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=106590699975601144347> and the team will reach out to you with further details. We look forward to collaborating with Wikimedia communities across Africa to make the 2026 edition of the Africa Wiki Challenge impactful and engaging. Best regards, -- Jael Serwaa Boateng Executive Director Open Foundation West Africa
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/RT3TM7YOPMMNHBDPHR63JY7OPCCNYXFE/ To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
