CIS-A2K & WBG (West Bengal Wikimedians User Group) have collaborated with RIWATCH organisation in Arunachal Pradesh to document tribal culture and diversity on Wikimedia projects. The project was launched in March 2022 and progressed well with active participation of RIWATCH and the local community. Taking inspiration from this project, the organisations in Meghalaya have approached us to implement similar programs in the state. The initial meetings and Wikimedia introduction sessions were conducted with Ramakrishna Mission Sohra, 100 year old organisation working among the tribal communities and local organisations - Jeebon Roy Memorial Trust Library and Seng Khasi (Socio - Religio Organisation of Indigenous faith of Khasis, Niam Khasi). All the stakeholders have mutually agreed to collaboratively work on:
- digital documentation of the rich cultural heritage in Khasi, Jaintia and Garo hills of Meghalaya state along with museum collections, art collections, books, manuscripts, audio files etc. produced or collected in different regions of the state,
- online storage and display of the digitally documented products in the free and open-access platform of Wikimedia, and,
- gradually building a stable long term partnership between the Wikimedia world and Ramakrishna Mission along with other local organisations to improve the quality content about Meghalaya on different Wikimedia projects with verifiable and reliable resources.
The implementation plan consisting of digitisation and photo-video documentation has been prepared. The launching of this project is planned after the rainy season.