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-ava…>
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--N6iStyAyNrKw…>
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
Dear Wikimedia Affiliates, communities, and individual contributors,
The organizing team of *ESEAP Conference 2026* would like to invite you to
consider hosting a local *Watch Party* during the conference.
While we are excited to welcome participants onsite, we know that many
Wikimedians who are interested in the conference may not be able to
participate on site. Hosting a Watch Party will offer a simple way for
local communities to gather, follow the conference livestream together, and
share discussions in real time. They can also help bring the conference
experience to more members of the Wikimedia movement around the world.
The conference will be held on *16–18 May 2026*. You may choose any day(s)
that works best locally. However, *May 16* may be the best choice because
we are planning a *Wikipedia 25th anniversary celebration* on the day, and
there may be opportunities for Watch Parties to briefly connect with the
venue during that event.
Simultaneous interpretation will be available in *Mandarin, Japanese,
Korean, Indonesian,* and *Thai,* in addition to the original English audio.
Communities using these languages may find it especially easy to follow the
sessions together, and we warmly encourage affiliates and groups in these
language communities to consider organizing Watch Parties and joining the
conference in this way.
To support communities interested in organizing a Watch Party, we have
prepared a *Watch Party Hosting Guide*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Conference_2026/Venue/Online> [1]
with suggested steps and practical information. If you would like to host
one, simply follow the guide to plan your local gathering.
We would be very happy to see communities join the conference in this way.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at
conference(a)eseap.org
Warm regards,
ESEAP Conference 2026 Organizing Team
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Conference_2026/Venue/Online
--
*社團法人台灣維基媒體協會 Wikimedia Taiwan*
*祕書長 / 王則文*
*Secretary General / Reke Wang*
Hello all,
The Election Committee is pleased to announce that the results of the Commons
Photographers User Group (CPUG)
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group>
Board Elections 2026 have now been published.
The election was conducted using the SecurePoll system on Wikimedia Vote
Wiki from 26 February to 7 March 2026 (UTC). A total of 100 ballots were
recorded, of which 90 were valid after removing duplicate votes. The
Election Committee has reviewed the SecurePoll tally and confirms that the
election process was conducted in accordance with the published election
rules.
We can now confirm that the following six candidates received the highest
number of support votes and are therefore elected to the CPUG Board:
1. Frank Schulenburg
2. Suyash.dwivedi
3. Gnangarra
4. Harald Krichel
5. Ailura
6. GPSLeo
We would like to thank all candidates, voters, and community members for
their participation and support in making this election process successful.
Learn more about the results on Commons.
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group…>
Best regards,
Dev Jadiya
On behalf of the Election Committee
Dear Wikimedians,
We are excited to announce that Wiki Loves Africa 2026
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026>
officially started on 1 March 2026!
Wiki Loves Africa
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa> is the
annual pan-African photography, video, and audio contest that invites
people across the continent to contribute media that reflects African life,
culture, and heritage to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other
Wikimedia projects.
As part of the campaign kickoff, the official Wiki Loves Africa 2026 Launch
Event
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026_Contest_Launch>
was held on 5 March 2026 in collaboration with the Wiki Loves Africa
international
team
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026/Media#Int…>
and the Wiki Loves Africa 2026 Ambassadors
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026/Media#Wik…>
.
The launch event brought together over 80 participants from across Africa,
including contributors, past jury members, past and present organisers, and
previous winners of the competition. The event introduced the 2026
campaign, shared participation guidelines, and highlighted opportunities
for communities and contributors to get involved this year.
The session was lively and interactive, featuring icebreakers, a live quiz,
and music, which created an engaging and welcoming atmosphere while
reconnecting members of the Wiki Loves Africa community across the
continent.
If you missed the event or would like to watch it again, the recording of
the launch is available here
<https://youtu.be/7Ud1MntP934?si=bL5BPdk884u5eWbg>.
We warmly invite you to participate in Wiki Loves Africa 2026 under the
theme *Rites and Rituals
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026/Theme>*
by submitting photos, videos, or audios to Wikimedia Commons and by
supporting activities happening in your local communities
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2026/Countries>
.
Join us in documenting and sharing Africa’s rich cultures, traditions, and
everyday life with the world.
Warm regards, Hilary Ogali
Wiki Loves Africa Facilitator
Hi all,
I'm a member of Wikimania (July 21-25 in Paris) program committee for the research track. The research track is open until **March 31st**. The other tracks are closed.
The research track accepts proposal by both professional researchers and Wikimedians. Our goal is to foster discussions between the research community and the Wikimedia communities, mostly regarding structural changes or challenges for the future of our projects. The effects of generative AI, community growth & diversity, and "reliability at scale" are themes we envision but several others are possible as long as they stay on the broad themes: Freedom, Equity, and Reliability.
You can find more details here: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2026:Program/Research
If you need additional information, feel free to reach me.
Have a nice day,
Julien.
Dear colleagues,
We hope you are doing well.
The EduWiki Hub is pleased to invite you to the *March 2026 edition of the
EduWiki Knowledge Showcase*, taking place on *24 March 2026 at 01:00 PM UTC
on Zoom*.
The EduWiki Knowledge Showcase is a space where members of the Wikimedia
and Education community come together to share experiences, highlight
Wikimedia education projects, and learn from one another’s work across
different regions and contexts.
This month’s edition will spotlight Wikimedia education projects and
initiatives from the *ESEAP
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/ESEAP>, CEE
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/CEE_and_Central_Asia>,
and MENA
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/Middle_East_%26_North_Africa>
regions*.
Live interpretation support is available in *Portuguese*, *French*, and
*Hindi*.
In addition to the regional presentations, we are inviting community
members to contribute *short creative pieces* during the session. These can
include reflections, poems, brief storytelling, or other creative
expressions related to Wikimedia and education. Each contribution should
last *no longer than 5 minutes* and will be presented live during the
showcase.
If you are interested in contributing, please upload your creative
ideas to *this
folder
<https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gOwdznTz97UxhQjcXDB6R0L7kxA01P8O?us…>*
with
your *name/username as the title*, and contact *rita.maliqi(a)wmnobrasil.org
<rita.maliqi(a)wmnobrasil.org>* directly if you would like to be featured
live during the showcase, including a brief description of your proposed
contribution. As presentations will take place live during the event,
kindly ensure that you are available on *24 March 2026 at 01:00 PM UTC*.
Selected contributors will be contacted ahead of the event.
Participation in the showcase requires registration. You can register for
the event via the Meta page here: *EduWiki Knowledge Showcase, March 2026
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group_Sh…>*
.
We look forward to learning from the inspiring work across these regions
and celebrating the creativity within the EduWiki community.
Best regards,
Barakat Adegboye <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:BAdegboye_(EdWH)>,
*Communications Assistant,*
*EduWiki Hub
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group/EduWiki_…>*