Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya

Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya
Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya
	; Kenya
Location	Kenya
Country code	254
Official language(s)	Swahili, English

The Wikimedia Kenya User Group community seeks to mobilize and organize a new generation of volunteers in Kenya, who are passionate about Free Knowledge, for meaningful engagement in the Wikimedia Community.

Our focus will be on English (En:Wiki) and Swahili Wikipedia (sw:wiki). The User Group is also quite deliberate on shrinking the Gender Gap on Wikipedia and in the internet at large and will therefore be keen on projects that advance Gender Equality.

Prior to our affiliation in September 2022, We have been involved in edit-a-thons, photo walks, training new editors, Movement Strategy Discussions, Wikimania, Wiki Indaba and we plan to continue to leverage on these activities to contribute to the growth of Wikimedia projects in Kenya.

Collaboration is also a value we hold dear, that has contributed a great deal to the growth of this group. We've been beneficiaries of mentorship and the goodwill of the Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania and the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda and we plan to leverage on collaborating with communities within the East Africa Region and the movement at large to achieve our goals in line with the Movement Strategy 2030.

The User group's primary contacts are User:Cmwaura User:Ms Kabintie

Objectives edit

To grow the Wikimedia Community in Kenya and provide structure as well as community representation in Decision making within the Movement.
To promote Wikimedia projects and free Knowledge in general and to encourage the use of Wikimedia resources in community empowerment.
To synergize and collaborate with other affiliates, regionally and globally in the implementation of the 2030 strategy
To Invest in Capacity Building of members
Organizing of conventions, conferences, meetings, workshops and contests in line with Movement's vision.
Train and recruit newcomers
Shrink the Digital Gender gap

Proposed Activities edit

Organising Thematic Wikimedia Projects that include Edit-a-thons, Worshops and Photowalks in Kenya
Trainning more youth in Kenya on how to contribute to Wikipedia and champion Free Knowledge
Advancing the growth of Swahili Wikipedia
Media Relations for press coverage in our events
Creating Partnerships with like-minded communities and organisations
Collaboration with regional and global communities to achieve the 2030 strategy
Capacity building workshops

History edit

The idea to form the Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya started in September 2019 when five Kenyans, including User:Ms Kabintie, User: FaithMwanyolo and User:TeriWanderi met in Kampala during the East Africa Strategy Summit. We learned from the communities present that there had been a Kenyan Wikimedia Chapter that is nolonger in good standing with the community. We resolved to synergise once back in Kenya and see how we could carve a new identity for ourselves and grow into the movement as a new generation of like-minded individuals.

We have since been able to bring more members onboard, majority of whom have been recruits from the afrcocine edit-a-thon 2020 and 2021 while some have been recommended by our neighbouring wikimedia communities. This include some librarirans such as Carol Mwaura and Raymond Chepkwony that had worked with User:AKibombo in the 1Lib1ref project.