Global Reach/Governments

Government partnerships

We will be looking to build partnerships with government entities that are keen on promoting educational and open-source projects. We will collaborate with Ministries of Education, Technology, and ICT to increase Wikipedia’s footprint across our regions. We believe that government endorsement can positively affect Wikipedia’s awareness and credibility in many of our focus countries. We know that besides the lack of awareness, Wikipedia also faces considerable credibility criticism in countries such as Brazil. It has also been our experience to see governments investing in education and technology. Our team wants to leverage existing government programs and meet supply with demand as far knowledge and local content goes.

What we are currently exploring

The BharatNet Project - INDIA. A government project in India called BharatNet, is planning to connect 250,000 rural areas via broadband (an optical fibre network). Along with connectivity, the department is thinking about including services to ensure that the network is useful when it’s ready. They are interested in Wikipedia and view it as a critical platform to share and distribute knowledge in local languages. This partnership might involve preloading WP on devices in rural broadband hubs, community work to educate rural youth about WP, and testing specific product and distribution needs in the rural context.