The 2026 International Women’s Day (IWD), themed “Give to Gain,” offered a powerful moment for us as a community to pause and reflect on how far we have come through the sacrifices of African women, especially female Wikimedians who have given to us and to their grassroots communities.
To mark this auspicious celebration, the Africa Wiki Women went beyond a single day of celebration to rolling out a series of activities that grew into a month-long campaign focused on impact and inclusion.
The Africa Wiki Women officially launched the Give to Gain 2026 campaign on 6th March 2026 through a virtual event on Zoom, graced by voices of women givers such as Rejoice Agbi, the Founder of the Heels and Sips Network, Ghana, Obiageli Ezeilo, co-founder of the Wiki For Senior Citizens Network, alongside Carolyn Seaman, Founder and Creative Director of Girls Voices Initiatives. Their presence underscored the importance of sustaining conversations around women’s rights beyond just one day, reinforcing the need for continuous engagement and action.
With the focus of the campaign on closing the gender gap on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, the launch unveiled the IWD 2026 edit-a-thon with the aim to create new Wikipedia articles and Wikidata items, while adding the “Philanthropist” statement to the Wikidata items of the African Women Philanthropist category based on their various African languages. As usual, the editors/participants were trained for participation through language-based Wikipedia training, which catered to both our English and French communities, alongside Wikidata training.
Africa Wiki Women’s empowerment through support
In February 2026, the Africa Wiki Women rolled out a call for a female organiser themed “Shape the Narrative” for the IWD Campaign.
This call was to African women in Egypt, Rwanda, Cameroon and Uganda who are Wikimedians and members of the Africa Wiki Women community who have experience as organisers.
After the review of the applications received for this Call, Julie.Acom was granted the support to host the in-person event in Uganda, and through this selection, the Africa Wiki Women collaborated with the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda.
The in-person training event held on the 21st of March 2026 in Uganda, Kampala, was led by the female organiser Julie Acom.
