WikiIndaba 2023/Submissions/What’s this about Wikipedia? Lessons from African Wikimedians speaking at major digital rights conferences

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Author(s): Ziski Putz, Sadik Shahadu, Dr. Nkem Osuigwe, Candy Khohliwe, Carol Mwaura, Terry Boke, Ronald Lamoro and Sandra Aceng	Username(s): Shoodho; AfricanLibrarian; Shahadusadik; Lomoraronald; cmwaura; Queen Asali; Sandra Aceng; FPutz (WMF)	Type of submission: Roundtable
	Affiliation: Wikimed Foundation; Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda; Dagbani Wikimedia User Group; AfLIA Wikimedia User Group; Igbo Wikimedia User Group; Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana; Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya; Wikimedia Community User Group South Sudan	Theme(s): Strategy and Legal
Abstract: This year, African Wikimedians have presented at major regional and international conferences where they joined policymakers, journalists, and researchers to shape digital policies in Africa. Whether promoting indigenous languages, addressing the digital divide the women and refugees experience, overcoming internet disruptions, or decolonizing how knowledge is categorized, Wikimedians across the continent are creating a more informed and educated world. In this panel, the Wikimedians who attended RightsCon and the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum will share what they learned from representing the movement internationally, and what African Wikimedians need to continue to share with the digital rights world outside of Wikimedia. Hint: other allies in the free knolwedge movement need Wikimedians to be active in policy discussions, just as we need these partners to do the same.		Level of advancement: Basic
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How will this session be beneficial for the communities in the region? This session will bring together Wikimedians from diverse communities to share their experiences at major conferences, both with the other panelists as well as with the audience. The discussion will highlight how much other stakeholders enjoyed Wikimedians’ presentations, and the learnings that the Wikimedians themselves were able to take back and share with their own communities. Having Wikimedians from across Africa share how valuable their presentations were at international conferences will help encourage more Wikimedians to represent their work on the global stage, while also highlighting the importance of bringing issues that concern Africa to global limelight. It is important to raise awareness that African Wikimedians are not only adding content, and that their projects can help address problems that other actors are trying to solve, from digital inclusion to offline access to information and combating disinformation and widely contributing or impacting varieties of sustainable development goals.

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