A grassroots Wikipedia group that learns by doing

It started with conversations. Young people curious about Wikipedia, Agness Abubakar Saidi says, and what has gradually grown out of those conversations is "a consistent community effort focused on learning by doing."

The group is small but growing, made up of young people interested in digital skills and in contributing to open knowledge through Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia. They organise informal training sessions and hands-on editing activities, where participants learn "how to research, write, and share reliable information about local topics that are often missing online."

“When the time is right everything will work out.”

Agness Abubakar Saidi

She is a student at Arusha Technical College. "At this stage, I am not part of a formal organization, but I support coordination, encourage participation, and help others understand how to contribute effectively to open knowledge platforms," she says.

She cares about this, she says, because "there is a clear gap where much local knowledge is not represented online, while many young people lack opportunities to build real digital skills in a practical way." The group works on both at once, she says, preserving knowledge while building skills in writing, research and collaboration.

She is plain about the difficulties. "The work is still grassroots and depends heavily on volunteer effort and limited resources, which makes activities irregular at times and affects consistent participation," she says. Some members are very active. Others struggle with internet access, time, or a lack of structured guidance. Her answer is to keep making the sessions "more organized and focused on practical learning."