Wiki Loves Women

What Wiki Loves Women does

Wiki Loves Women is a non-profit community initiative founded in 2016 by Isla Haddow-Flood and Florence Devouard, operating as a cornerstone project of Wiki In Africa, a South African-based non-profit established in November 2016. The initiative addresses two intersecting knowledge gaps — women and Africa — on Wikipedia and its sister Wikimedia platforms (Wikiquote, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons) by mobilizing volunteer contributors through targeted editing, sourcing, and community-event campaigns. Its product portfolio includes the SheSaid campaign (adding women's quotes to Wikiquote, with 15,555+ quotes since 2020 and 11,029 articles in 19 languages in 2024), the ISA Tell Us About Her campaign (using the in-house ISA Tool to enrich metadata on images of women, producing 32,826 contributions to 8,158 images in 2024), the Focus Group coaching program (35 women leaders from 14 African countries plus France as of 2025, up from 28 in 2023), and the Wiki OTO Wikidata structured-data campaign launched in 2025. The organization also produces the Inspiring Open podcast, distributed across 12+ platforms under CC BY SA 4.0.

The initiative operates on a community-led, volunteer-driven go-to-market model with distributed teams across Africa and beyond, leveraging Wikimedia's open-source platforms and CC BY SA 4.0 licensing for all outputs. It is not a commercial entity; there is no pricing model and no revenue-generating product. Funding is sourced from institutional grants — primarily the Goethe-Institut (founding partner in 2016, with ongoing support through the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021) and the Wikimedia Foundation (annual organizational grants to Wiki In Africa), with the Orange Foundation as a minor supporter. Target beneficiaries include African women as contributors and subjects, Wikimedia user groups operating in 19+ languages (Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda, Senegal, Madagascar, the Philippines, Serbia, Ukraine, Libya, plus others), GLAM institutions (e.g., District Six Museum, Simon's Town Museum), and civil society organizations working on gender equity. Distribution and awareness flow through Wikimedia conferences (WikiIndaba, Wikimania, WikiWomenCamp, UN Open Science Conference 2025), social media, a Mailblaze email newsletter, and the podcast network.

Wiki Loves Women's underlying technology is not proprietary AI or SaaS but a workflow-and-tooling layer atop Wikimedia's open infrastructure: the ISA Tool for image Structured Data annotation, Wikidata contributions through Wiki OTO, and CC BY-SA-licensed training resources and campaign toolkits. The technical footprint is small but technically credible — the ISA Tool won the Coolest Tool Eggbeater Award at Wikimania 2024, and the broader WikiChallenge African Schools program (operated alongside Wiki Loves Women under Wiki In Africa) won the Open Pedagogy Prize at the Open Education Awards for Excellence 2024. With 11–50 employees and a distributed volunteer organizer base, the organization's scaling model is non-monetary: it grows campaign output and language coverage, not revenue.

Name

Wiki Loves Women

Legal name

Wiki Loves Women

Website

https://wikiloveswomen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wiki Loves Women is a non-profit initiative founded in 2016 under Wiki In Africa that mobilizes volunteer contributors across 19+ languages to add and improve open-knowledge content about African women on Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons via SheSaid, ISA Tell Us About Her, Focus Group, and Wiki OTO campaigns.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Knowledge Community Initiative

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Translation and Interpretation Services (541930)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (BPAGABAF), Gender Equality & Women’s Rights (BPADAGAF), Knowledge Management & Wikis (BPAMAMAH)

Keywords

• Open knowledge contribution
• Wikimedia community campaigns
• Gender gap editing
• Wikipedia content creation
• Women representation initiatives

Headquarters

HQ city

Dar Es Salaam

HQ country

Tanzania

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Wiki Loves Women is funded through grants from institutional partners including the Wikimedia Foundation (annual organisational grant), the Goethe-Institut (initial founding funding and ongoing support through the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021), and the Orange Foundation.
2. Donations and Community Support: The project operates as a non-profit initiative under Wiki In Africa and relies on donations, volunteer contributions, and partner support. All outputs are freely available under CC BY SA 4.0.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Wiki Loves Women is a non-profit community initiative of Wiki In Africa that mobilizes volunteers globally to contribute quality information about African women to Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. It delivers year-round campaigns and training programs including SheSaid (Wikiquote quotes), ISA Tell Us About Her (image metadata), Wiki OTO (Wikidata structured data), the Focus Group coaching program for women leaders, and the Inspiring Open podcast. All activities, resources, and outputs are free under CC BY SA 4.0.

Product overview

Wiki Loves Women is a community project by Wiki In Africa focused on bridging two knowledge gaps — women and Africa — in online content. The initiative operates year-round through a portfolio of campaigns and programs: the core SheSaid Campaign (adding women's quotes to Wikiquote), the ISA Tell Us About Her Campaign (adding metadata to images of women via the ISA Tool), the Focus Group coaching program (empowering African women Wikimedians), and Wiki OTO (adding structured data on African women to Wikidata). Supporting initiatives include the Inspiring Open Podcast, WikiAfrica Hour, the #16WikiWomen Translation Drive, and the #15Challenge Writing Contest. All project documentation and outcomes are published under CC BY SA 4.0.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Inspiring Open: A podcast series from Wiki Loves Women featuring interviews with inspiring African women and their contributions to open knowledge and the Wikimedia movement.
• SheSaid
• ISA Tell Us About Her
• Wiki Loves Women Focus Group
• Wiki OTO

Products and services

• SheSaid Campaign A global Wikimedia campaign running since 2020 that adds and improves quotes by notable women on Wikiquote across multiple languages to address gender imbalance in public knowledge platforms; engages volunteer contributors globally.
• Wiki Loves Women Focus Group A pan-African coaching and mentorship community of women leaders launched in 2021 by Wiki In Africa that empowers women to create gender-equity initiatives within the Wikimedia movement; expanded to 35 members from 14 African countries and France by 2025.
• Inspiring Open Podcast A podcast series that amplifies the voices and stories of women in the Wikimedia and open knowledge movement across Africa; available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and others under CC BY SA 4.0.
• Wiki OTO (Wiki Àrà-Ọ̀tọ̀) A Wikidata campaign launched in 2025 by the WLW Focus Group that adds structured data about African women to Wikidata, making their achievements visible and searchable globally through structured contributions every two months on rotating themes.
• ISA Tell Us About Her Campaign An annual campaign using the ISA Tool on Wikimedia Commons to add metadata to images of women, enriching their documentation on Wikidata; themes have included Women in Architecture, Climate, Art, and Sports.
• WikiAfrica Hour A live online show hosted by Wiki In Africa featuring guest speakers discussing community topics relevant to open knowledge and Wikimedia across Africa; available on YouTube.
• #16WikiWomen Translation Drive A translation campaign launched in 2017 around International Women's Day to translate biographies of notable African women into at least 16 languages, including African languages such as Yoruba, Swahili, and Igbo.
• #15Challenge Writing Contest The inaugural writing contest launched in January 2016 to coincide with Wikipedia's 15th anniversary, challenging teams to write biographical articles about notable African women on Wikipedia in English, French, and Armenian.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 15,555 women's quotes added to Wikiquote across 18+ languages since SheSaid launched in 2020
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Art+FeminismminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 March 2025Wiki Loves Women was invited by Art+Feminism in March 2025 to host a special virtual #SheSaid editing event in celebration of International Women's Day. This collaboration brought together contributors globally to add and improve Wikiquote entries for notable women.
• WikiAfrica Heritage (Simon's Town Museum)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2022WikiAfrica Heritage is a collaboration between the Simon's Town Museum and Wiki In Africa. The partnership organized a SheSaid workshop at the District Six Museum's Homecoming Centre in Cape Town, training heritage and culture professionals to add notable women's quotations to Wikiquote.
• Wiki In AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2016Wiki Loves Women is a cornerstone community project of Wiki In Africa. Wiki In Africa is a South African-based non-profit formally established in November 2016 to create a legal framework for the WikiAfrica movement. Wiki In Africa provides the organizational, operational, and grant management infrastructure for Wiki Loves Women and other initiatives including Wiki Loves Africa, WikiChallenge African Schools, WikiAfrica Hour, and the ISA Tool.
• Africa CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2016Wiki Loves Women was originally conceptualized at the Africa Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The Africa Centre is both a physical entity and a pan-African philosophical journey exploring how cultural practices can be catalysts for social change. It houses programs including WikiAfrica and provides the initial organizational home for the initiative.
• Wikimedia User Groups (Nigeria, Rwanda, DRC, etc.)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 15 January 2016Various Wikimedia user groups in Africa (Nigeria User Group, Rwanda User Group, DRC User Group, Libya, Kenya) serve as local organizing partners that execute Wiki Loves Women campaigns (SheSaid, Tell Us About Her) in their respective countries and languages, recruiting and training local participants.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Art+Feminism: Art+Feminism is a global campaign that organizes edit-a-thons to improve Wikipedia's coverage of women and the arts. It is the most direct peer to WLW: same Wikimedia-platform mechanism, same gender-gap mission, similar volunteer-organizer structure, and WLW was invited by Art+Feminism in March 2025 to co-host a virtual #SheSaid editing event for International Women's Day.
• AfroCrowd: AfroCrowd is a campaign to increase representation of Black/African diaspora people on Wikipedia through edit-a-thons, training, and outreach. It is a direct peer of WLW operating in the same Wikipedia-representation space with overlapping target demographics (Black/African content creators and subjects).
• Whose Knowledge?: Whose Knowledge? is a global campaign to center the knowledge of marginalized communities (including women, people of color, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQ+) on the internet and Wikipedia. It is directly comparable to WLW through its focus on representation gaps on Wikimedia platforms and similar multi-stakeholder convening model.
• WikiDonne: WikiDonne is the French-language Wikipedia user group dedicated to closing the gender gap on French Wikipedia and Wikiquote. It is a direct peer of WLW operating in adjacent linguistic territory (Francophone Africa) with overlapping methodology (edit-a-thons, training) and target beneficiaries (women's representation on Wikimedia).
• Women in Red: Women in Red is the longest-running Wikipedia WikiProject dedicated to creating biographies of women, with a focus on the red (non-existent) links for women on English Wikipedia. It is a direct functional peer of WLW, addressing the same Wikipedia gender-gap problem through volunteer-led article creation.

Broad incumbents

• Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation operates Wikipedia and sister projects and is WLW's primary institutional funder and infrastructure provider. It is a broad incumbent in the open-knowledge space, enabling WLW's work through platform provision and grants rather than directly competing.
• Open Knowledge Foundation: The Open Knowledge Foundation is a global non-profit that advocates for open knowledge, open data, and transparency. It is a broad incumbent in the same open-knowledge space, addressing representation and access gaps in information through policy and tooling that complement WLW's community-editing model.
• Wiki In Africa: Wiki In Africa is the South African non-profit parent organization of Wiki Loves Women and operator of related Wikimedia projects (Wiki Loves Africa, WikiChallenge African Schools, WikiAfrica Hour). It is a broad incumbent providing the legal, operational, and grant management framework under which WLW operates.

Emerging players

• Akili Dada: Akili Dada is a Kenyan-based non-profit that invests in young African women's leadership through scholarships, mentorship, and training. It is an emerging peer with overlapping pan-African women's-empowerment mission but operates through direct leadership development rather than open-knowledge contribution.
• Africa No Filter: Africa No Filter is a narrative-change organization that supports African storytellers and challenges stereotypical representations of Africa. It is an emerging peer in the adjacent space of African representation, sharing WLW's goal of expanding whose stories are told but operating through funding/grantmaking rather than direct Wikipedia contribution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WikiLovesWomen
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCvyE0yEt-BKgEQ11NDJ8tfk6FZB3603qn
• Facebookfacebook.com/WikiLovesWomen
• Instagraminstagram.com/WikiLovesWomen
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wiki-loves-women-tanzania

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wiki Loves Women