Wiki In Africa/Wiki Loves Africa/Ambassadors

See all open positions here : Wiki In Africa

Call for ambassadors 2024

Context Wiki Loves Africa

Now entering its 10th year, Wiki Loves Africa is one of the largest photography and media contests on the African continent. It is run across the whole continent, however, some specific actions (training, communication etc.) are held in some countries with national organisers.

Wiki Loves Africa has achieved much over 9 years:

• Over 102,026 images collected
• 11,165 unique submitters
• Images viewed 1,044,490,672 times altogether (June 2022)
• 337+ events in 26 African countries
• Submitted images viewed 25,072,328 times each month (June 2022);
• 80%+ of competitors are newbies;
• A Wiki Loves Africa winning image was included in the Journeys Through Our Fragile Heritage exhibition at the UNESCO, Paris; and
• Wiki Loves Africa’s ISA tool is the Winner of the Best Multimedia Tool Prize at WikiData Conference 2019

Over the last 9 years, Wiki Loves Africa has been activated by up to 31 communities in 26 countries across Africa's many linguistic regions. We wish to provide more support for these linguistic communities, through effective communication in those languages.

The theme for the 2024 Wiki Loves Africa will be Africa Creates. The 2024 contest will take place from 1st March – 30th April 2024.

The role – WLA Linguistic Ambassadors

We are looking for 4 individuals to become Wiki Loves Africa Linguistic Ambassadors to heighten awareness of, support during, and participation in the Wiki Loves Africa contest and related activities. The ambassadors will assist the international organizing team to manage and coordinate the project throughout 2024 and will be distributed in linguistic categories thus:

• French
• Portuguese
• English
• Arabic

We are looking for people who have proven organizing experience within their language Wikimedia community. They must enjoy good standing amongst the members of their community accompanied by significant past participation experience in Wiki Loves Africa, and a passion for photography and other media (desirable). The roles are entirely remote and volunteer.

Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Translations - Translate (or facilitate community translations of) 2024 contest pages, resources, press releases, and publicity materials as provided by the international organizing team.
• Social media - Assist with sharing contest information, publicity and social media materials amongst members of their linguistic communities.
• Office Hours support - Participate in and encourage linguistic community attendance of the Wiki Loves Africa organizer office hours.
• Training sessions - Get involved in and suggest training topics based on interest and feedback from represented communities.
• Jury support - Nominate jurors to assist the international team with facilitating more linguistically balanced juries to ensure equal representation.
• WLA Website - Translate (or facilitate community translations of) updated contest-related webpages, including information about representative communities.

The activities may differ depending on the linguistic communities. For example:

• translations needs are high for the French community, but not for the English community;)
• it may be more important to focus on translation and Social Media outreach for Portuguese, than on local juries (as there are no Portuguese community participating ...)
• etc.

The ideal ambassador

Consider applying if you have the following:

Essential skills

• 2+ years experience in a Wikimedia recognized language community - [Fr, Ar, Pt or En]
• Wikimedia Commons knowledge, including licencing, permissions, etc.
• English skills sufficient to interact with the international team.
• Native language proficiency for the intended language ambassador role.
• Experience in facilitating groups and building communities,
• Recognized and proven contributions in local language community with associated language proficiency.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to websites (WordPress), social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, and/or Instagram), word processors and spreadsheets.
• Previous experience of Wiki Loves Africa is a bonus!

Appreciated skills

• Photography as a passion or profession

Duration and terms

• This is a volunteer position.
• 8 month duration; start 1st January – ends 31st August 2024.
• Expect 3-5 hours per week during peak periods (January-April).

Application

• Apply here
• DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS : 4 December 2023 – midnight, everywhere on Earth
• Language of application : English or French