Community
The Community programme expanded Wikimedia CH’s grassroots presence across all language regions, ensuring the Jubilee year engaged the Swiss Wikimedia community.
Overview
In the Community programme, a few new projects stand out. In particular, the Italian-speaking itWikiCon will be held in Switzerland for the first time. This community-driven project, supported by the Outreach programme, represents a major organisational undertaking that will anchor the Jubilee celebrations for the Italian-speaking community. Location and accommodation have been confirmed, a project page is live on Meta-Wiki, and a volunteer committee is in place.
The programme also invested in contributor accessibility. A new partnership with the Swiss Media Archive/Swissdox for now provides 20 licences to long-term Wikipedians, giving them access to paywalled articles for research and referencing. This is a direct response to a longstanding contributor need for better source material on Swiss topics. Meanwhile, the Romansh Wikipedia is coming back to life after nearly a decade of inactivity, with networking and conceptual groundwork underway to build a small active community.
We will soon optimise the Wikimedia CH Meta-Wiki calendar to improve event coordination. We have also hired a freelancer to assess programme reporting, define impact criteria based on the community strategy, and recommend improvements. This represents an investment in shifting from activity documentation toward systematic impact measurement.
Key programme activities
© Kerstin Sonnekalb (WMCH)
Hosted New Year brunches in all three language regions to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
© WMCH
Launched a partnership with Swissdox, providing 20 long-term Wikipedians with access to paywalled Swiss media articles for source research.
Supported a community booth at HIGA in Chur, the regional trade fair, where Wikipedia contributors demonstrated how Wikipedia works and highlighted local Graubünden Wiki activities.
Prepared for the first Italian-speaking itWikiCon in Switzerland, which will take considerable time throughout the year.
Coordinated Wikimania scholarship support for 8 volunteers and 13 staff members, reflecting strong organisational engagement with the global Wikimedia movement.
Approved project grants for six partnerships, including:
- Noircir Wikipédia
- “Wikipedia for Peace 2026” with SCI Switzerland
- “Une autre histoire” with Loreley Films Basel
- Various visibility projects for women in culture.
Supported the edit-a-thon “For more visibility on Wikipedia”, continuing the annual initiative to close the gender gap in Wikipedia content.
© bild-sprache
Supported the expansion of community-driven activity formats:
- A first pilot atelier in Chur
- Regular activities in Winterthur scaled from one to four ateliers per year through a local working group
- A new geological walking format (“WikiGita geologica”) in Ticino,
- A new cooperation with the book festival “Zürich liest,”
- Began the revitalisation of the Romansh Wikipedia after nearly ten years of inactivity, with networking and conceptual groundwork to build a small active community.