More Africans have been challenged to contribute to the online knowledge sharing platform, Wikipedia. Anusha Alikhan, the Chief communications officer, Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia noted that only two percent of editors on Wikipedia come from Africa adding that people from around the world are interested in African history, and it would be great if Africans shape this history, and the rich experiences that only they can talk about.
‘We want to close knowledge equity gaps on Wikipedia, and one of our focus areas is the African continent, because there are large gaps on the content about Africa on Wikipedia. We don’t have enough editors to add content about Africa to Wikipedia, and this shouldn’t be the case. Africans should be contributing in large numbers to Wikipedia and we deeply want to represent African history on Wikipedia, so we hope more Africans will contribute’ noted Abusha.
Her sentiments were echoed by Bobby Shabangu, the President of Wikimedia in South Africa, who added that there is a lot of content about Europe and USA on the internet but there is death when it comes to African content.
‘Over the years, we have realized that most Africans only consume online content but only a few contribute to the online knowledge. The African community should know that they can contribute freely towards online knowledge’ he stated.
This year’s theme for twentieth edition of Wikimania Conference, held in Nairobi was inclusivity, impact, sustainability, underscores Africa’s contribution in reshaping how global knowledge is accessed, represented, and shared. The over 500 participants help shape the efforts to disseminate, preserve, and promote knowledge on Wikipedia and beyond. It is for this reason that this conference, help in Africa for the third time, was organized to raise awareness and raise the number of Africans that are contributing to the platform.
Mayur Paul, Senior Director, Wikimedia Foundation, stated that ‘Wikimenia is an opportunity to bring generations together, an opportunity for communities from Africa to come together and add to the knowledge on Wikipedia.
Anusa also noted that there is gender gap on Wikipedia, adding that there are less articles about women and less women also contribute to the platform.
‘More women, not just from Africa but across the globe, should add more content about women issues, women’s history, it is very important that such topics are written from women’s perspective’ said Anusa.
Carol Mwaura, wikimedian from Kenya, admitted that there is huge gap when it comes to gender, stating that notable women are lacking articles written about them, adding that the Kenyan community tries to identify such women, write articles on them and even translate to other local languages.
‘As East Africans, we are adding content in Swahili language. For instance, we added Ken Walibora’s, the author, biography in the Swahili language. The East Africa Community Hub (EARTHub) wants to drive inclusivity. Wikimedia user group Kenya, has collaborated with institutions of higher learning like Pwani University, to establish the gaps in the arts and feminism, we are still mapping out to expand to other universities. Kenya is also collaborating with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to close knowledge gaps in climate change and human rights’ she added.
They made the remarks during the Wikimania 2025 conference taking place from 6–9 August 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya, where wikimedians from over 120 countries have converged to improve the online encyclopedia – Wikipedia. This year’s Wikimania, which marks the event’s 20th anniversary, was hosted by the Wikimedians of Kenya, East African Regional and Thematic Hub (EARTHub), and the Wikimedia Foundation.
