Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group/Reports/2023-2024

Overview

This is a report on Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group’s activities from July 2023 to June 2024. For the period from 2023 to 2024, the Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group has continued to implement its annual grant entitled ‘Reviving Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group: Initiating Programs’. This was an opportunity for the community to rectify the situation with regard to the activities begun in July 2022 with the launch of its first annual grant, and to find new strategies for achieving better results. The period covered was characterised by better organisation, greater serenity and a team that is gradually finding its feet. The community has remained steadfast on existing projects and has also explored new projects that should extend over the long term. The User Group still faces a number of challenges, and is looking for ways to overcome them in order to grow the Wikimedia movement in the country.

Activities carried out

WikiPolis

Wikipolis is a project designed and implemented since January 2023 by Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group. It contributes to improving the visibility of Cameroonian public and political figures and institutions on Wikimedia platforms such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiquote, etc. For 2024, the project ran from 27 April to 27 May within the community. Workshops and edithatons were held for this purpose in the community's four hubs in Cameroon. These were Buea, Douala, Maroua and Yaoundé. At the end of this edition, 52 articles were created on ministries, members of government (past and present), members of parliament and various other public figures. 611 articles were also modified. Details of the data can be consulted. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedians_of_Cameroon_User_Group/WikiPolis_Cameroun_2024

Cameroon Literature Month

Activities under this theme ran from April to May 2024 and helped to revive interest in works by Cameroonian authors. Contribution workshops were organised in Yaoundé, Douala and Maroua. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Atelier_de_contribution_sur_la_littérature_camerounaise_à_Yaoundé_le_06/05/2024

Wikikwatt Session in Bafoussam

On 26 May 2024, a photowalk was held in the town of Bafoussam. The aim was to document the town of Bafoussam on Wikimedia Commons, in order to update the Wikivoyages page for Bafoussam while adding Wikidata elements. The next step will be to add metadata using the ISA tool. To date: 27 pages created, 29 pages modified, 1,130 modifications in total, 276 uploads to commons, for 3 contributors during this session. This action is part of the expansion of the User Group's activities in the Western Region. It follows on from the activity launch session held a few weeks earlier in the same town. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedians_of_Cameroon_User_Group/Wikikwatt_Bafoussam

ISA month

This year, the UG has tried new approaches to building the capacity of contributors to handle certain tools or master certain platforms. The Douala cluster (Littoral - West) has been the pilot for this initiative, with the first step being to master the ISA tool. The idea is to take a whole month (2 sessions per month) to focus on a tool or platform so that contributors can really master it. https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Le_mois_ISA_à_Douala_(ateliers_Wikimedia_Commons,_avril_2024)

African Athletics WikiFocus

To coincide with the African Athletics Championships to be held in Douala, Cameroon, from 21 to 26 June 2024, the Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group has decided to create a content project focusing on African athletes. The project had two objectives: to create and improve articles on the Wikipedia platform about athletes taking part in the competition and to photograph and upload images of the competition to Wikimedia Commons.

Competitions / International Campaigns

Wiki Loves Folklore 2024

As part of the national and international Wiki Loves Folklore photographic competition organised each year on Wikimedia commons with the aim of documenting traditional cultures from different regions of the world, the Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group organised this competition at local level in the various cities of Yaoundé, Douala, Buea and Maroua, followed by information and training workshops to help professional photographers, amateur photographers and volunteer Wikimedians to understand the rules and criteria of the competition, to improve their understanding of the competition theme and to make the most of the event to promote and celebrate culture and tradition through captivating media (audio, video, photos) so that these media can be used on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. Photo walks and workshops on uploading media to Wikimedia commons also took place in the various cities. There were 50 participants at local level, with 531 media uploaded in the Wiki Loves Folklore 2024 in Cameroon category. The organisation of this competition in Cameroon can be consulted at the following link: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Folklore_2024_in_Cameroon

Wiki Loves Africa 2024

Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group has organised the local Wiki Loves Africa competition, which is held every year on Wikimedia commons in four towns in Cameroon: Douala, Yaoundé, Maroua and Buea. For this 2024 edition, Wiki Loves Africa's theme is ‘Africa Creates’. It has brought together professional photographers, amateurs and volunteer Wikimedians at information and training workshops so that they can understand the rules and criteria of the competition, improve their understanding of the competition theme and make the most of the event to promote and celebrate African creativity through captivating media (audio, video, photos) so that these media can be used on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. Photo walks and workshops on uploading media to Wikimedia commons also took place in the various cities. 717 media were uploaded to the Wiki Loves Africa 2024 in Cameroon category. Details of the organisation are available at the following link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2024_in_Cameroon

Wiki Loves Earth 2024

In 2024, Cameroon took part in the Wiki Loves Earth 2024 competition for the fifth year running. This year, the UG provided the necessary resources to enable teams to visit several protected areas in order to capture as many new images of the sites as possible. Volunteers went down to the Bénoué National Park in the North region and the Santchou Reserve in the West region, among other natural sites. By the end of the competition, a total of 509 media items had been uploaded to Commons. Details of the organisation can be found at the following link: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2024_in_Cameroon

Francophone Authors' Fortnight

Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group (WCUG) organised the 2024 Cameroon Francophone Women Authors' Fortnight as part of the les sans pagEs project in three cities in Cameroon: Douala, Yaoundé and Maroua. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projet:Les_sans_pagEs/Quinzaine_des_autrices_francophones/2024/Cameroun / https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedians_of_Cameroon_User_Group/Quinzaine_des_autrices_francophones_2024_Cameroun

SheSaid campaign

As part of this campaign, Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group organised various activities in the various User Group centres in Cameroon. The SheSaid campaign aims to celebrate and highlight these women by improving their representation and visibility on Wikiquote. It ran from 1 October to 31 December 2023.

Launch of User Group activities in Bafoussam, West Cameroon

This was an introductory workshop in which 25 new contributors were enrolled. The different Wiki platforms were presented, and 27 articles were modified, for a total of 78 modifications. The following dashboard has been created, giving details of contributions: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedians_of_Cameroon_User_Group/Lancement_Wikipedia_dans_la_Région_de_l'West_Cameroon_-_April_2024

Activities carried out with partners

Francophone Contribution Month 2024 (WikiFranca)

Having taken part in Francophone Contribution Month activities in previous years, Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group organised activities in the cities of Douala Maroua Buea and Yaoundé for this year 2024. The Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group strengthened the skills of former volunteers and introduced new ones to contributing to the collaborative platform (Wikipedia) and its sister projects. The focus was on Cameroonian women during the contribution workshops. 72 pages created and 295 modifications.

African German Phrase Book (Goethe Institute)

Launched in 2021, the African German Phrase Book project aims to create an encyclopaedia of African national languages on Wiki platforms. The project uses platforms such as LinguaLibra and WikiData to create and document content on everyday words and expressions. To achieve this, language committees, wikimedia volunteers and various experts have been called upon to make progress in creating and putting the hoped-for platform online. After recording the sounds and creating Wikidata elements of a series of words and expressions, the User Group moved on to creating an application and a platform from which users could learn African languages. The project, which was implemented with financial support from the Goethe Institute, entered a new phase following a demonstration workshop on putting content online and creating new elements, held at the Goethe Institute in Yaoundé on Saturday 4 May 2024. Gradually, wikimedia volunteers and language committees in Cameroon will be able to contribute to improving and expanding this content. This project has received exclusive financial support from the Goethe Institute in Cameroon.

Wikichallenge Schools in Africa (Orange Foundation)

Conducted in partnership with the Orange Foundation, the Wikichallenge Écoles d'Afrique 2024 competition involved training pupils from Orange Digital Network schools in the use of the Vikidia platform and WikiFundi tools. The User Group travels to schools across Cameroon to train teachers and introduce the Vikidia platform to pupils so that they can create articles to take part in the competition. For the year 2024, the project team was able to cover nine (09) schools across the Far North, North, Centre, South and Littoral regions. https://fr.vikidia.org/wiki/Projet:WikiChallenge_Écoles_d'Afrique_2024/Cameroun

Participation in international meetings

Wikimania 2023

Wikimania 2023 is a global conference dedicated to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. It is a gathering of the global Wikimedia community, including volunteers, editors, researchers and enthusiasts. The event aims to provide a platform for discussions, workshops, presentations and collaboration opportunities related to free knowledge and open-source initiatives. Wikimania 2023 was held in Singapore from 16 to 19 August, and two members took part in this international meeting.

French-speaking Wikiconvention Abidjan 2023

As it does every year, Cameroon took part in the WikiConvention Francophone 2023, an annual gathering of the French-speaking Wikimedia community, which was held in Abidjan from 22 to 23 September. Seven members of the UG took part in this international meeting. For the first time, the User Group was able to fund the participation of two volunteers at this international meeting. These two people have distinguished themselves over the last twelve months through the quality of their contributions and their involvement in the life of the movement.

Wikindaba Morocco 2023

Wiki Indaba 2023 is the fifth edition of the Wiki Indaba conference, which is a community gathering for contributors to Wikimedia projects in Africa. Wiki Indaba was held from 5 to 7 November in Agadir, Morocco, and 1 WCUG took part. The aim of the conference was to bring together Wikimedians from across Africa to discuss and collaborate on topics related to the Wikimedia movement, including content creation, community building and advocacy.

Wikimedia Summit 2024

For the first time, the Wikimedia of Cameroon User Group took part in the Wikimedia Summit organised in Berlin from 19 to 21 April 2024. This was a physical participation, following the online participation for the September 2022 edition. The UG was represented by its president. It was also an opportunity to gather experiences from elsewhere, and to share best practice.

Life of the community

Ordinary General Meeting

In order to present a report on the activities carried out during 2023 and to provide volunteers with the same level of information on the progress of projects, we organised an ordinary general meeting. This meeting brought together volunteers from the User Group's four centres across Cameroon on 27 January 2024 in Yaoundé. Held in compliance with the association's bylaws, the meeting was primarily an opportunity to set out the course chosen for the annual programme and to identify the concerns of volunteers with a view to more effective implementation. It was also an opportunity to share ideas and discuss the challenges and future ambitions of the User Group. A number of topics were addressed. These included a presentation of the previous year's activities and the financial report. Current and future projects were also discussed, in particular the implementation of the new Wikispecies project at the level of the four poles in Cameroon and the Wikifesti project, which aims to document the contours of festivals in Cameroon. The general meeting was also an opportunity to strengthen the links between Wikimedians in Cameroon and to gather the opinions of volunteers with a view to breathing new life into the movement.

Regular meetings of the Executive Board

The objectives set by the User Group to achieve the overall goals of the mandate and specifically the annual grant required multiple meetings of the Executive Board members. Given the diversity of activities and the existence of four specific areas, these meetings have made it possible to coordinate and bring together as many proposals as possible to provide the best possible services within the Wikipedian movement. The extension of the deadline for the annual grant to the end of June 2023 has required some financial adjustments, and even in terms of the involvement of the team set up a year earlier to implement the programme.

Competition closing ceremonies

At the end of the various competitions organised across the country, WCUG set about organising official ceremonies to present the various prizes to the competition winners. This was an opportunity for the UG to generate interest and communicate more about its activities and the Wikimedia movement. The high-profile events attracted new potential partners who were constantly discovering the activities of this movement. On each occasion, these ceremonies were organised in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala in order to decentralise the activities as much as possible and attract the attention of potential new volunteers.

Challenges faced

At the end of the year, the User Group faced a number of challenges. These included the loss of motivation on the part of former volunteers to ensure continuity and build a solid base in all the centres in Cameroon A shortage of trained volunteers to take over when the main trainer is unavailable The unavailability of dedicated spaces for meetings for almost a year, which led to unforeseen new costs for the activities. Institutional obstacles to reaching as many university clubs and raising awareness among students as envisaged The availability of funding was often delayed, which meant that activities were not always carried out in the best possible way or on time. Inadequate communication about the activities carried out within and outside the community; Security instability in the South West region, which has prevented the wiki movement from optimising its presence in Buea, the capital of this region, which is in the grip of a particular security situation.

Prospects

In order to extend and improve the presence of the Wiki movement in Cameroon, we plan to do the following over the coming year: Implement new local projects in order to create and establish the Cameroon brand in existing wiki projects; Create a real network of trainers to make each hub truly autonomous and equip as many volunteers as possible. Concentrate energies on promising projects and no longer embrace all the existing campaigns within the global movement Increase Cameroon's participation in international meetings to prepare volunteers to organise potential meetings; Forge partnerships with cultural institutions to enrich existing or future content on wiki platforms. Review the strategy to increase student participation in the various wiki projects being implemented Reorientate the communication strategy to effectively involve the community and anyone interested in our activities.