Africa Environment/Microfunding/Wiki-ing the Way to a Sustainable Future: A Youth Environmental Literacy Edit-A-thon in Osun State

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This request for micro-funding to Africa Environment has just been submitted by Bukky658 on 12-05-2024 and is awaiting support.

Description

The African continent is facing numerous environmental challenges, including deforestation, land degradation, desertification, sea level rise, droughts, and floods caused by climate change. These environmental problems have a significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of people, especially the most vulnerable communities.

Nigeria, as the giant of Africa, is also facing the adverse effects of climate change and other planetary crises that has affected nature, leading to biodiversity loss and pollution. According to an op-ed by the Nigerian President, it was revealed that 34 out of 36 states in Nigeria are facing severe flooding, which has displaced 1.4 million people. However, only a few selected states have received visibility on Wikipedia, with insignificant data about the topics available on Wikidata.

Osun State, is located in the southwestern Nigeria, and is the ninth most populous state with an estimated population of 4.7 million people as of 2016. The State is known for its rich cultural heritage and natural beauty, but like many other parts of the country, it is facing various environmental challenges that threaten the well-being of its residents and ecosystems which has not been documented on it existing article on Wikipedia and Wikidata items which also applies to other Southwestern states (Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Lagos and Ogun) in Nigeria. Some of the environmental issues in Osun State include deforestation, water pollution, land degradation, and waste management.

The deforestation in the state has resulted in soil erosion, loss of wildlife habitat, and decreased water quality. According to Global Forest Watch.org, there have been 4,993 deforestation alerts detected in the past 4 weeks, affecting an area of approximately 61.0 hectares.

The increasing contamination of the Osun River, a popular water source and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nigeria, has become a threat to human health and the environment. The river has become turbid and unsafe for consumption, posing a threat to its cultural and biodiversity significance, as reported by Emmanuel Akindele in 2022.

Poor land management practices and illegal gold mining activities in Ijesha have led to 354 mining pits being discovered in 10 communities in Osun state, causing adverse land degradation, destroying the environment, water, and people's cultural assets, reducing the productivity of the land, and affecting the livelihoods of farmers and pastoralists. Improper waste disposal is becoming a major environmental issue in Osun State, causing health problems for residents and polluting the environment. According to Adepoju and Salimonu (2009), 35% of Osun State residents dispose of their waste by the roadside, at dumpsites, or in nearby bushes. The authors reported that only 25% of Osun State residents utilize waste collectors, who charge them a small fee to dispose of the refuse.

A report by Okojie in 2019 found that many Nigerian youths lack an adequate understanding of the triple planetary crisis, despite its negative impact on the ecosystem.

This project aims to promote environmental literacy among Nigerian youths in Osun State, particularly students, to increase their understanding of these issues and stimulate innovation to address climate risks. As a certified organizer on climate change and sustainability, I propose to implement the Youth Environmental Literacy Edit-A-thon in Osun State to raise awareness about these environmental challenges among the youth population, specifically students.

The goal of this initiative is to engage the youth in roundtable discussions, with climate activists and environmental experts at the federal, state, and local levels to identify and close the existing content gaps about the triple planetary crisis in Osun and other Southwestern (Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Lagos and Ogun) States in Nigeria on Wikipedia and Wikidata.

Context

• This initiative will involve Youths, Ministry of Environment Osun, and youth-oriented organisations that are passionate about environmental justice and literacy, to increase the number of well-informed students actively engaged in climate actions as well as articles about the triple planetary crises in Osun State and other Southwestern States in Nigeria.

• By engaging the youth population in Osun State and its environs, we hope to increase youth involvement in climate change advocacy, and right to a sustainable healthy environment campaign, whilst bridging the existing content gap on Wikipedia and Wikidata using onwiki and off wiki signals.

• This training/edit-a-thons will last for a period of 1 month from March to April 2023.

• We will organize 2 in-person event and 1 online follow-up training which will focus on improving, expanding and creating Wikidata items as well as Wikipedia articles to help achieve the goal set out in this project. The project Team will provide participants with African Environment resources/ Lists and also curate new list of suggested articles/items to be created or improved by participants. The project will be tracked using Outreach dashboard and manual listing of articles by participants on the project metapage.

• During the in-person events we will hold round table discussions with Environmental experts and Climate Change activists which will focus on promoting and increasing youth engagement in environmental literacy, and climate action to create a road map to more meaningful youth engagement in Osun State. This will help participants identify and understand the intersection between environmental issues, Climate actions, and Wikimedia movements and promote a youth-open Climate community.

Organizing Team

1. Bukky658-Project Lead (Experienced Wikimedian, Certified Trainer of the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom, and Certified Organiser,Community Content Campaign Wikimedia)
2. RukayatAjeigbe-Facilitator (experienced Wikimedian and Coordinator Wikimedians of Osun State)
3. Ridzaina-Facilitator (experienced Wikimedian, and Project Cordinator)
4. James Rhoda-Facilitator/Graphics (Experienced project Coordinator and facilitator)
5. Mijesty-Moderator/Communications (Experienced Wikimedian)
6. Linason Blessing-Facilitator (Experienced Wikimedian)

Fallout

• Build and empower youths in Osun State to contribute Environmental and climate change knowledge about Osun State and other southwestern states on Wikipedia and Wikidata: This will provide better positions to contribute Climate Change and other environmental information on Wikipedia, and Wikidata.
• Improving the content coverage of environmental and climate change topics in Osun, and southwest, Nigeria : By organizing activities that focus on widening the coverage of quality, and quantity of environmental related topics in Southwest Nigeria to increase readership adding images to articles with no images and improving them.
• For Edithathon and Data-thon contests:

1. Number of participants-40
2. Number of new editors-20
3. Number of Roundtable Discussions: 2
4. Number of physical event -2
5. Number of Online follow-up training - 1
6. Number of articles created or improved -150+
7. Nummber of Wikidata Items created or improved - 200+

Budget

Object	Unit price ($)	Quantity	Total ($)
Rental of Training space to organize 2 physical edit-a-thons	$146	2	$292
Internet connection fees for 2 physical events	$50	2	$100
Data vouchers for 40 participants during online training	$130	1	$130
Certificate of attendance for 40 participants	$90	1	$90
Small gifts for 5 top contributors	$40	5	$200
Small transport costs for project team	$22.5	4	$90
Projector/Camera rental	$80	2	$160
Food and drinks for 40 participants during the 2 physical event	$165	2	$330
Social Media promotions / Zoom subscription for online training	$84	1	$84
Branded T-shirts for Project Team	$8	4	$24
Total			... $1500

Any changes made to the budget after the application is submitted will void the application. You will then need to submit an updated application.

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