WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique is a writing competition specifically designed for pupils aged 8-13 in various French-speaking African countries.
At the core of the competition are several key elements. Firstly, it aims to enhance teachers’ proficiency in learning, understanding, and contributing to Vikidia Wikipedia (“an encyclopedia written for 8 to 13-year-old children and anyone seeking easy-to-read content on a subject.”) and other Wikimedia projects within their schools.
Additionally, each participating school is tasked with creating an illustrated article on Vikidia about their village, city, neighborhood, local industry, or nearby geographic feature. This approach fosters a friendly, inclusive, and transdisciplinary project environment, generating satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment among all participants.
The WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique project is recognized for its significant impact on education and community empowerment. Through its inclusive and collaborative model, the project has engaged thousands of students and educators in creating and sharing knowledge about their local environments. By leveraging Vikidia and WikiFundi (“open source, digital environment that allows people to edit Wikipedia offline”) , the initiative has overcome barriers to internet access in rural areas, ensuring equal participation and access to educational resources.
The project’s impressive results, including the creation of hundreds of articles and multimedia content, demonstrate its effectiveness in promoting digital literacy, critical thinking, and cultural preservation. Moreover, by fostering a sense of pride and ownership among students for their communities, the project contributes to social cohesion and identity formation.
The results of the WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique project are indeed impressive. Since its inception, the program has reached across 12 countries, including Niger, Mali, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, R. of Congo, Guinea, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, and now Sierra Leone, engaging a total of 794 schools. Through their participation, students have contributed 618 articles to Vikidia and shared over 3,361 photos, drawings, and videos. This initiative not only enriches the internet with valuable information about Africa but also instills a sense of pride in the students for their communities.
This education program is run as a partnership between Wiki in Africa and Fondation Orange and also involves the Vikidia association and several Wikimedia UserGroups locally.
This competition serves as a compelling example of how open knowledge can revolutionize education, particularly for children living in rural areas… Recognizing the WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique project would not only honor its achievements but also inspire other initiatives to adopt similar approaches to open education and knowledge sharing.
Award NominatorWow. I am blown away by this. “Open Pedagogy not only engages in the production, use and reuse of content but also demonstrates effective open teaching practices as well as ways of educating that increase access to learning and address equity and fairness.” – This does all of that. Talk about increasing access to learning. I found myself looking at all of the student created entries-it is so easy to get lost in them-they are so engaging and interesting. The fact that they are student created with all of that information and beautiful images and hyperlinks is amazing. The impact this competition has is outstanding: hundreds of schools and students across 12 different countries. I hope this continues to grow!
Award Reviewer
