Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group Report Annual Grant 2022-2024

Overview

This report presents a summary of the activities carried out as part of the first annual grant of the Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group for the period 2022-2023. This is the first annual grant entitled Reviving Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group: Initiating Programs, which took effect on 2 July 2022 with the User Group's elective general meeting to set up a team. In view of a number of challenges encountered, this grant was finally extended over two financial years, covering the period from July 2022 to June 2024. We will therefore present the main activities carried out during this period in the context of this annual grant, while highlighting the aspects linked to the life of the association, the difficulties encountered and the prospects envisaged.

Formalisation of the User Group's administration

Election of a new executive board

Following the elective general meeting of the Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group held at the Goethe Institute of Cameroon in Yaoundé on 2 July 2022, new members have taken up their positions on the association's executive board. Various positions were filled. They are as follows President: Alexandra Tchuileu Vice-Chairman: Benoît Folamo Secretary General: Ingrid Nguemeni Deputy General Secretary: Harouna Treasurer: Paul Emmanuel Ndjeng Financial Secretary: Chia Jelvis Jefrey Auditor N°1: Hugues Tchoumegni Auditor N°2: Stephen Eru

Creation of the Reviving team

In order to carry out the projects linked to the annual grant that the community benefits from, the elected executive committee decided to form a team to decentralise activities as much as possible and to carry out activities for the whole community at the same level. As a result, given the commitment of volunteers based mainly in four towns, the UG now has four major zones in which to carry out its various activities: Centre-Sud (Zone 1), Sud-Ouest (Zone 2), Littoral-Ouest (Zone 3) and Septentrion (Zone 4). The team set up also aims to equip as many community members as possible to manage the activities, so as not to limit or concentrate all the thinking on just a few people. We have therefore begun to develop a dedicated team, initially made up of around ten people, which continues to grow and develop as the activities take shape and are carried out. This team is made up as follows:

Area coordinators

Zone 1: Alexandra Tchuileu Zone 2: Benoît Folamo Zone 3: Paul-Emmanuel Ndjeng Zone 4: Harouna

Project managers

In charge of challenges: Minette Lontsie In charge of local activities: Landry Mbe Ndetatsin In charge of photography: Georges Tankam In charge of university outreach: Carine Sabine Babadana

Trainers

Zone 1: Landry Mbe Ndetatsin / Alexandra Tchuileu / Ingrid Ngueumeni Zone 2: Stephen Eru / Benoît Folamo Zone 3: Minette Lontsie / Paul Emmanuel Ndjaneg Zone 4: Harouna

Heads of communication

Zone 1: Ingrid Ngueumeni (coordination) Zone 2: Adeso Divine Mbaku Zone 3: Arno Boujika Zone 4: Abba Bichair

Social Media Manager: Joël Djengue Community Manager: Maureen Wepngong Webmaster 1: Fotso Fonkam Webmaster 2: Aurelien Xavier Payong

All these positions are listed on www.wikimedia.cm

Legalising the association

Another aspect of our activities to enable us to move forward was the legalisation of the newly elected board. The administrative formalities took several weeks, but the UG finally obtained an updated receipt in November 2022. This document enabled the UG to operate legally in Cameroon. In addition, this updated receipt was the only way to gain access to the association's bank account at UBA. To update the signatures on the bank account, several administrative documents had to be provided, including this updated receipt. In this way, the association was able to access the funds sent by the Foundation in February 2023, given the need for a double signature (president and treasurer).

Negotiating spaces to accommodate UG activities

Integration of a new space for expression

This year saw the creation of the Douala Wikipedia club, within the Institut français du Cameroun. As a result, the library has become a new space adapted to the development of the community in the city of Douala.

Negotiations for a dedicated space in Buea

Discussions have been underway for several months with ActivSpaces Buea, which has been demanding an agreement with new terms for hosting volunteer meetings since March 2023. The agreement has been signed and work is underway to mobilise as many participants as possible.

Introductory and hands-on workshops

Throughout the year, introductory workshops were organised to help people get to grips with wiki platforms. The aim was to enable the community to grow not only quantitatively, but above all qualitatively. These workshops were run in conjunction with thematic activities linked in particular to national and international challenges.

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

Organisation of thematic workshops

WikiKwatt 2022

Initiated since March 2018 within the community, Wikikwatt is the first project implemented for the execution of the Reviving project. This project aims to make Cameroon's neighbourhoods visible in Wikipedia by illustrating them with significant photos and creating articles on the Wikipedia platform. Several visits were made to traditional chiefdoms to gather existing sources. Photo shoots enabled more than 300 photos to be downloaded. In addition, around twenty articles were created on the districts of Yaoundé, Douala, Maroua and Buea. WikiKwatt will run until November 2022.

Wikikwatt Session in Bafoussam 2024

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. Results: 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.

Wikidata 2022 anniversary

The celebration of Wikidata's 10th birthday was an opportunity for the whole community to get together to publicise the platform and organise an editathon in the cities of Buea, Douala, Maroua and Yaoundé on the same day (26 November 2022).

WikiPolis 2023

This project consists of creating content, articles, photos, Wikidata elements, quotes and other photos on Cameroonian politicians and public institutions to enrich the Wikipedia encyclopaedia and its sister projects such as Wikidata, Wikiquote and Wikimedia Commons. The meta page created for this purpose can be consulted at this link.

WikiPolis 2024

Wikipolis is a project designed and implemented since January 2023 by Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group. It helps to improve 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.

WikiCiné 2023

WikiCiné is a project that aims to promote film professionals in Cameroon on Wikipedia and its sister projects. These are professionals who have established a reputation in their field. They include actors, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers and promoters of film events. Contribution workshops have been organised for this purpose in the wiki hubs of Cameroon and volunteers have created or modified articles in these profiles. Link to the meta page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_WikiCine_Cameroon_Project/fr

Cameroon Literature Month 2023

Activities under this theme ran through to May and helped to revive interest in works by Cameroonian authors. Once again, contribution workshops were held in Yaoundé, Douala and Maroua. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Atelier_de_contribution_sur_la_littérature_camerounaise_à_Yaoundé_le_06/05/2024 Month of Cameroonian Literature 2024 For the year 2024, the activity took place from April to May 2024. The workshops helped to revive interest in books written by Cameroonian authors. Contribution workshops were held in Yaoundé, Douala and Maroua.

African Athletics WikiFocus 2024

To coincide with the African Athletics Championships being 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 -Photograph and upload images of the competition to Wikimedia Commons

International campaigns

Wiki Loves Folklore 2023

This competition ran from 1 February to 31 March 2023 in the four centres of Cameroon that host User Group meetings. It enabled Wikimedia Commons to be enriched with images of folk culture in the various regions of Cameroon.

Wiki Loves Folklore 2024

As part of the national and international Wiki Loves Folklore photographic competition organised each year on Wikimedia Commons, the aim of which is to document the traditional cultures of 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. The competition attracted 50 participants at local level, with 531 media uploaded in the Wiki Loves Folklore 2024 in Cameroon category.

Wiki Loves Africa 2023

This is a photographic competition aimed at illustrating Africa on Wikipedia. The theme of this year's 2023 competition was ‘Climate and weather’. Several thematic workshops were held in Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam and Maroua to raise awareness among professional and amateur photographers.

Wiki Loves Africa 2024

The Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group has organised the 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.

Lumières sur les femmes 2023

The "Lumières sur les femmes" (Spotlight on Cameroonian Women) competition is a new initiative that has put the spotlight on women, and specifically Cameroonian women, on wiki platforms. One of the innovations is the competition launched in Douala at a press conference. The aim of the competition is to create articles on the Wikipedia encyclopaedia, create Wikidata elements and create Wikis.

SheSaid campaign

As part of this campaign, Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group has 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.

Wiki Loves Earth 2023

As it does every year, the WCUG took part in this international photography competition, the main aim of which is to encourage the promotion of protected natural areas through the Wikimedia project (mainly the Wikipedia encyclopaedia and its Wikimedia commons media library) from 1 to 30 June 2023. Photo walk sessions and upload workshops took place in towns across Cameroon. More than 300 photos were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Below is a link to the category of images uploaded during 2023 for WLE CMR 2023 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Wiki_Loves_Earth_2023_in_Cameroon

Wiki Loves Earth 2024

In 2024, Cameroon took part in the Wiki Loves Earth 2024 competition for the fifth consecutive year. 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 these 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

Fortnight of French-speaking women authors

Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group (WCUG) organised the 2024 Cameroon Francophone Women Authors' Fortnight as part of the les sans pagEs project in three towns 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

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 took place in Singapore from 16 to 19 August, and two members took part in this international meeting.

WikiConvention francophone 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 association

Annual General Meeting

In order to present an overview of the activities carried out during 2023 and to provide volunteers with the same level of information about the progress of our 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. The general meeting was also an opportunity to strengthen the links between the Wikimedians of Cameroon and to gather the opinions of volunteers to breathe new life into the movement.

Regular meetings of the Executive Board

The objectives set by the User Group to achieve the goals of the annual grant have required numerous meetings of the Executive Board. Given the diversity of the activities and the existence of four specific clusters, these meetings made it possible to coordinate and gather as many proposals as possible to implement the planned activities. Extending the deadline for completing the annual grant to the end of June 2024 has required financial adjustments, and even in terms of the involvement of the team set up a year earlier to implement this 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. These ceremonies, held on 24 August 2024 and 31 August 2024, were an opportunity to award prizes to the winners of the Wiki Loves Folklore 2024, Wiki Loves Africa 2024 and Wiki Loves Earth 2024 competitions.

Difficulties encountered/Challenges

Slow transition between the outgoing and incoming executive boards, which had an impact on the launch of activities
Difficulty in accessing the association's bank funds, which led to a delay in the effective implementation of activities
Unavailability of some members of the Reviving team to carry out the activities for which they were responsible (mobilisation of pupils and students in particular)
Difficulties in organising virtual meeting sessions every month as hoped, due to the unavailability of trainers
Progressive rehabilitation of the ‘Buea’ centre in the South-West of the country
Insufficient number of qualified trainers for the Buea centre
Difficulties in finalising the contracts of the various team members to enable them to work in an optimal manner. Procedure underway.
Formation of a committee to select the ‘contributor of the month’ at the end of the UG's monthly activities.
Loss of motivation on the part of former volunteers to ensure continuity and establish a solid base within all the centres in Cameroon.
Insufficient number of trained volunteers to take over when the main trainer is unavailable
Unavailability of dedicated meeting spaces for almost a year, resulting in new costs for activities that had not been foreseen
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 particularly volatile security situation.

Perspectives

Set up a committee to select the Wikimedian of the Month. This initiative is designed to encourage volunteers who are dedicated either through their contributions to projects or through their particular involvement in the life of the community.
Take an active part in international events by taking charge of one or two volunteers per event. In particular: WikiIndaba, Wikiconvention francophone, Wikimania, etc.
Involve a foreign Wikimedian (online) on a monthly basis to share information with the community on a specific topic in order to open up the community to the Movement and facilitate the creation of new projects.
Introduce certified training sessions for trainers to equip as many volunteers as possible to take over and train more Wikipedians.
Expand the community of Wikimedian volunteers by equipping volunteers based in the towns of Dschang (Western region), Bangangté (Western region) and Kribi (Southern region).Implement new local projects to create and establish the Cameroon brand in existing wiki projects;
Create a genuine 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 for increasing student participation in the various wiki projects being implemented
Reorientate the communication strategy to effectively involve the community and anyone interested in our activities.