Africa Day 2023: Preserving African heritage

Africa Day, which is observed on May 25th each year, serves as a powerful reminder of Africa's journey towards independence, unity, and progress. It offers a platform for Africans worldwide to reflect on their collective achievements, honor their shared history, and acknowledge the challenges they have overcome. The Africa Day Campaign 2023 is aimed at "Preserving African heritage," emphasizing the importance of safeguarding and cherishing our diverse legacies. In conjunction with Africa Knowledge Initiative, the Africa Day Campaign is a challenge dedicated to curating and improving the online representation of Africa on Wiki projects. Our primary objective is to bridge the information gap by creating high-quality content that accurately reflects Africa's culture, heritage, and its people. By doing so, we aim to provide an accurate portrayal of the continent for both Africans and the global community. The African Knowledge Initiative (AKI) spearheads this campaign, leveraging the powerful tools and platforms of Wikimedia to bring innovative solutions to the content gap on global digital knowledge networks. This year's edition of the Africa Day Campaign is themed around "Africa Continental Free Trade," presenting a unique opportunity to document Africa's stories and promote the benefits of free trade.

Africa Day 2023

The Igbo community, in particular, will play a vital role in this initiative by encouraging contributions through the translation of content on Wikipedia and Wikidata. By expanding the visibility and reach of African knowledge, we can enhance the representation of our world, our languages, our people, and actively contribute to the development of a more comprehensive and accurate digital landscape.

Join us as we embark on this journey of preserving African heritage, celebrating the unity and diversity of our continent, and creating a more inclusive representation of Africa in the digital sphere. Together, we can foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the African narrative while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.

Key Priority

The main focus of creating Africa Day 2023: Preserving African Heritage and the Africa Wiki Challenge can be summarized as follows:

  1. Raise Awareness: The primary objective is to raise awareness about the importance of preserving African heritage. This includes highlighting the diverse cultures, histories, languages, and traditions that contribute to the rich tapestry of the African continent.
  2. Celebrate African Heritage: Africa Day serves as a platform to celebrate and honor African heritage. The objective is to showcase the achievements, contributions, and resilience of the African people throughout history, fostering a sense of pride and unity among Africans worldwide.
  3. Educate and provide information: The Africa Wiki Challenge aims to bridge the information gap by curating and improving the online representation of Africa. The objective is to provide accurate and comprehensive information about African trade,culture, history, people, etc enabling individuals from all backgrounds to access reliable knowledge about Africa.
  4. Preservation: Another objective is to emphasize the importance of preserving and protecting African heritage for future generations. This involves promoting the conservation of cultural artifacts, historical facts, traditional practices, and everything that concerns Africa, ensuring that they are safeguarded and passed down to future African generations.
  5. Promote inclusivity and representation: The Africa Day Campaign seeks to promote inclusivity by encouraging contributions from Africans themselves. The objective is to foster a more diverse and accurate representation of African perspectives, narratives, and knowledge in online platforms, empowering Africans to tell their own stories and shape their own digital representation.
  6. Enhance accessibility: By translating content on Wikipedia and Wikidata, the Igbo community aims to enhance the accessibility and reach of African knowledge. The objective is to overcome language barriers and increase the visibility of African heritage, allowing individuals from different linguistic backgrounds to engage with and learn from Africa's rich cultural tapestry.

Major areas of interest

For this challenge, we hope to work on

  • Tourism in Africa
  • African Business people
  • African Union
  • Banks of Africa
  • Companies of Africa
  • Other areas can be found here

In collaboration with

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