From 25 August to 25 September 2026, Wiki OTO brings together contributors to help close the gender gap in Wikimedia’s free knowledge and improve the representation of African women on Wikidata.
Wiki OTO is a campaign dedicated to creating and improving Wikidata items about women, helping to address the gender gap in Wikimedia’s free knowledge. The campaign was initiated in 2025 by the Wiki Loves Women Focus Group and is now entering a new chapter following the transition of the Focus Group into a new programme format.
For the 2026 edition,Wiki Loves Women, an initiative of Wiki In Africa, is partnering withAfrica Wiki Women to organize the campaign together. The partnership brings together two communities working to address the gender gap in Wikimedia and ensure that African women’s lives, achievements and contributions are better represented in free knowledge.
Àrà-Ọ̀tọ̀, meaning “unique” in Yoruba, reflects the campaign’s focus on the diverse women whose stories and contributions deserve greater visibility.
A campaign to close the gender gap
Wikidata is the free, collaborative knowledge base behind Wikipedia and many other Wikimedia projects. It helps connect information about people, places, organizations and events, making knowledge easier to discover, reuse and share.
Yet African women remain underrepresented in this knowledge. Wiki OTO aims to help address this gap by documenting African women and enriching their Wikidata entries with accurate, reliable and well-sourced information.
The 2026 campaign will focus on Women in Politics, highlighting women and their contributions in this field.
Who can participate?
You don’t need to be an experienced Wikimedian to take part. Anyone interested in contributing to the documentation of African women can join the campaign, including newcomers, researchers, students and Wikimedia communities.
A training session on how to edit Wikidata will also be hosted during the campaign, giving new contributors an opportunity to learn the basics and get started.
Join the Wiki OTO dashboard to register, access campaign information and resources, and track your contributions!