WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique

WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique (WikiChallenge African Schools) – Empowering African students through knowledge sharing

WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique is a multinational contest that creates a fun and engaging way for 9-12 students to learn about how knowledge is built by contributing to Vikidia. Vikidia is the little sister of Wikipedia, an encyclopedia dedicated to children aged 8-15 years.

The contest challenges schools across the African continent to compete by writing encyclopedic-like articles about something of importance in their area: a city, town, village, or suburb, a local landmark, or a notable individual.

The competition is a fun introduction to writing Vikidia articles, content that can be transferred, and will add information about Africa to Wikipedia, the global online encyclopedia. It also provides young Africans with an opportunity to learn more about their communities, cultures, role models, and environments.

The child has the right to freedom of expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.” – ARTICLE 13, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

WikiChallenge African Schools has taken place annually since 2017. It works in concert with the Digital Schools programme of the Orange Foundation and has been implemented in 11 French-speaking African countries, as well as 3 English-speaking countries. It has operated over the following time periods: 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025!

Link to the contest home page : WikiChallenge_Ecoles_d’Afrique

Status: Active

Impact since 2017

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School registered
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Participating Countries
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Articles added to Vikidia
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Media Contributions to Wikimedia Commons
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Awarded Schools

What is really special about the project? An educational project to bridge the gap between the online world and the offline world…

All of the participating schools are in French or English speaking Africa and most of them are… offline! To be fair, some even have issues with electricity access. Many of those kids have never heard of Wikipedia, if only because they have never been online [1]. Naturally, there are variations between countries !

The project is a training and writing program designed for schools. It is targeted at the education community towards using Wikimedia tools to acquire and share knowledge to develop skills of the youth and of their teachers.

The program helps the children to gain new skills, such as digital skills (using technology), collaborative writing, knowledge sharing, or information searching.
Additionally, they experience critical thinking and peer review. It is also the opportunity to get an initial understanding of intellectual property rights and open source. It is hoped that this project will participate in helping the students grow up as informed and active e-citizens. The project team provides training for the trainers’ activities, hence bringing new skills to the teachers as well.
Finally, the project resulted in the production and publication of information on the Internet, under a free license, for use by the greater public. This participates to the visibility of Africa on the Internet and brings a feeling of pride to under-represented and poorly-served communities.

The program is applied equally to both male and female students.

The project relates to the following knowledge platforms:

  • Vikidia: the children’s encyclopedia. Whilst not a Wikimedia project, this is an active project in our ecosystem.
  • Wikimedia Commons: The kids contribute pictures (and possibly videos) to Wikimedia Commons
  • WikiFundi platform: the schools have access to an offline operational platform including the use of Raspberry Pis, Wikifundi, and Kiwix resources.

To sum up

WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique engages primary school students across Africa to contribute to Vikidia, the younger sibling of Wikipedia. It teaches them to create and improve articles on topics related to African culture, history, the environment, and more. The initiative promotes knowledge sharing, digital literacy, and cultural diversity.

WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique plays a crucial role in empowering African youth, fostering digital literacy, and nurturing a sense of ownership over their cultural heritage. It contributes to the growth of African content online and enhance

The specifics

• Targets students aged 9 to 13 in French-speaking Africa, and 3 Anglophone countries
• Organised within the official education framework
• Open to schools that are members of the Fondation Orange Digital Schools Network
• Free writing theme, but encourages contributions on local cultural, historical, and environmental topics
• Texts and illustrations are published under free licences on Vikidia and Wikimedia Commons
• Winning schools receive prizes ranging from €2,500 to €5,000 to spend on educational materials or school infrastructure

Impacts and benefits

• Promotes educational engagement and active learning among African students
• Amplifies the online representation of Africa’s culture, history, and knowledge
• Fosters cross-cultural understanding and appreciation among students
• Enhances digital skills and familiarity with online platforms such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Vikidia
• Empowers students to become contributors and creators of knowledge
• Builds teamwork and collaboration among participants
• Provides a platform for students to showcase their talents and creativity
• Increases access to information about Africa for a global audience
• Inspires a sense of pride and ownership in African heritage and identity
• Finally, the prizes awarded to winning schools improve the learning environment for hundreds of children

WikiChallenge Photo Gallery

The WikiChallenge African Schools was designed and created to support the development of the next generation of Wikimedia volunteers across Africa. It was created by Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood, and has been managed since 2018 by Florence Devouard. The proof-of-concept was conducted in collaboration with Wikimedia CH and funded by the Orange Foundation. All its outcomes are published under a free licence.

Impact of each contest

  • 2025: 13 countries involving 422 schools, 174 articles and 736 photos/drawings submitted by articles. 38 winning schools.
  • 2024: 9 countries involving 337 schools, 152 articles and 753 photos/drawings submitted by articles. 12 winning schools.
  • 2023: 10 countries involving 190 schools, 110 articles and 634 photos/drawings submitted by articles. 13 winning schools.
  • 2022: 9 countries involving 69 schools, 80 articles and 442 photos/drawings submitted by articles. 12 winning schools.
  • 2021: 9 countries involving 100 schools, 138 articles written and 800+ photos submitted. 20 winning schools.
  • 2019: 7 countries involving 65 schools, 99 articles written and 600+ photos submitted. 11 winning schools.
  • 2018: 4 countries involved 33 schools, 40 articles written. 6 winning schools.

Contributing countries

  • Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Maroc, Niger, Republic Democratic of Congo, Sénégal, Sierra-Leone, and Tunisia,

Project Partners

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