Africa Wiki Challenge Launches with a Call to Reclaim Our Narrative

The 5th edition of the Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) writing contest was launched on Friday, 23rd May 2025, by Open Foundation West Africa.

The Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) aims to address the underrepresentation of African content online by leveraging Wikipedia and its sister projects to document the true story of Africa written by Africans.

This year’s theme is: “Reclaiming Our Narrative: Justice for Africans and the Diaspora through Reparations”. Each year, the contest theme aligns with the African Union’s annual theme.

According to Jael Serwaa Boateng, Executive Director of Open Foundation West Africa, the Africa Wiki Challenge is a flagship initiative that began five years ago in a bid to generate more African content online. She noted that the continent currently accounts for only 2.69% of the overall content on Wikipedia.

“In our bid to bridge the content gap between Africa and the rest of the world, we initiated this campaign to encourage more Africans to contribute our story on Wikipedia. That is why we are here today for this challenge,” she stated.

Although there are challenges in getting more people to contribute to Africa’s story on Wikipedia, she said the foundation has made tremendous strides. She noted that last year alone, this contest generated over 1,000 new editors online and over 80,000 articles have been created cumulatively since the Africa Wiki Challenge began.

The competition is open to Africans and people of African descent. Participants are encouraged to create new articles or improve existing ones related to African content, focusing on this year’s theme.

Articles should emphasize justice, reparations, and historical redress for Africa and the diaspora. Participants are also encouraged to upload images and media to Wikimedia Commons to further enrich African content online.

Open Foundation West Africa is an NGO and a tech-based soft skills organization that hosts a network of communities. It aims to decolonize African content online by training volunteers in open knowledge and open-source software, enabling them to contribute free knowledge of African story on Wikipedia platform. The foundation is affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Winners of the contest will receive fantastic prizes for their contributions.

By Francis Quasie