Community
In 2025, the Community Programme focused on creating sustainable pathways for volunteer engagement through strategic partnerships and community-led initiatives.
© Niccolò Caranti – Itwikicon
Overview
The Community programme exists to support and empower the dedicated individuals who freely share their time and expertise to advance free knowledge. We are deeply grateful to all volunteers who contributed to Wikimedia projects in 2025. Their work lays the foundation on which Wikimedia CH operates.
A major theme in 2025 was addressing gender gaps on Wikipedia by expanding successful programmes like the Edit-a-thon for More Visibility series and supporting new volunteer-driven projects. We also prioritised community health, launching a pilot project to support French-speaking contributors facing interpersonal challenges and discrimination.
The programme continued implementing the Wikimedia CH Community strategy, using insights from our community survey to guide decisions about how we allocate resources and support. By balancing planned activities with flexibility to respond to new opportunities, we strengthened our contributor base whilst maintaining the health and sustainability of our existing community.
Highlight activity
Expanding community-led initiatives for gender equity on Wikipedia
© Linda Käsbohrer
© Linda Käsbohrer
A highlight for the Community Programme was expanding our support for volunteer-driven initiatives that address gender gaps on Wikipedia. By growing successful programmes and funding new community-led efforts, we helped create sustainable pathways for contributors to improve representation of women on Wikimedia projects.
The Edit-a-thon for More Visibility on Wikipedia series continued to evolve in 2025, expanding its reach through new partnerships whilst maintaining its focus on increasing visibility for women in sport. In May, we welcomed Somedia as a regular partner, enabling parallel events in Chur and Davos alongside our established Zurich venue. This expansion brought the editathon to new regions and attracted participants who might not otherwise have engaged with Wikipedia editing.
A significant development came in November with a pilot project involving around 100 students from the Basel University of Art and Design (FHNW). This collaboration marked the first time the editathon series engaged with higher education at this scale. Beyond creating new content, participants focused on improving existing articles that had been flagged with maintenance modules, addressing quality gaps in Wikipedia’s coverage.
Equally important was the emergence of a new community-led initiative that we helped fund. New monthly writing evenings launched in Zurich, organised independently by community members and focused on increasing the presence of women cultural workers on Wikipedia. Unlike one-off events, these regular meetups create a low-threshold, ongoing programme that helps new authors develop the confidence and skills to contribute to Wikipedia independently. This shift from event-based engagement to sustained community practice represents an important step in building a more self-sufficient and active contributor base.
Key programme activities
As part of the Wikimedia CH Community strategy, conducted and published the results of a survey to better understand the needs of our community and how to best support contributors and published the results.
Launched a pilot project to support the well-being of French-speaking contributors to Wikimedia projects and Wikimedia CH association members in Switzerland.
This included a psychological hotline to support those facing interpersonal problems while contributing to Wikimedia platforms, legal advice for those impacted by hate-speech or other forms of discrimination in the Wiki community, and a webinar about requesting support from Wikipedia admins.
© Maurus Achermann (WMCH)
Co-hosted an exceptionally well-attended and productive Wikipedia writing workshop on biographies of female stage artists with the Institute of Theatre Studies at the University of Bern and the Swiss Archive of Performing Arts (SAPA).
© Aimeabibis
Continued support of long-term partners Les sans pagEs, Who writes his_tory?, and Noircir Wikipédia to increase representation of marginalised groups in Wikimedia projects, and SCI Switzerland for the Wikipedia for Peace Camp, in an expanded, co-funded format that resulted in substantially more participants and output.
Awarded two scholarships to Wikimedians who presented at the Wikimania2025 conference in Nairobi, Kenya
Provided funding to a new partner, the non-profit organisation Loreley Films in Basel, for the MAKE THEM VISIBLE! event to increase information about women filmmakers and authors on Wikipedia.
Programme impact
Key accomplishments
Expanded the Edit-a-thon for More Visibility series to new regions through the Somedia partnership and engaged 100 students through the FHNW pilot, demonstrating how strategic partnerships can multiply our impact.
Supported community-led monthly editing events, continuing our shift from one-off events to ongoing community-building activities. This replicable model allows for low-threshold engagement that helps new contributors develop independence and confidence.
Strengthened community health infrastructure with the French-speaking contributor well-being pilot, which provides meaningful support and guidance to contributors and tackles issues that can drive them away.
Lessons learned
Clear intentions support and, in some cases, achieve many important milestones. Early planning and clear conceptual clarification really do lead to better results.
A substantial part of our capacity should not be fully planned so that we can respond to new opportunities and challenges as they arise. We must take good care of ourselves and the existing community to remain motivated and capable of action beyond the short term.
There are still many interesting partners out there. If we take a close look at their motivation and needs, and combine them with our capabilities, we can tap into significant new potential. Although it is not easy to develop new formats initially, it is worth embarking on this journey.
Looking ahead
In 2026, the Community Programme will continue successful projects and partnerships whilst expanding our work on hate speech, community health and volunteer support structures.
A major focus will be strengthening feedback systems through a second phase of our community survey and regular partner meetings to better identify needs and obstacles. We will evaluate the community care pilot services for French-speaking contributors and, if successful, adapt and expand them to other regions. Building on lessons learned in 2025, we will develop clearer pathways and support structures to help new volunteers overcome barriers to participation whilst monitoring engagement to provide timely support.
We will expand our thematic networking around diversity and sustainability topics and coordinate hate speech response efforts with partners in Switzerland and internationally.
New partnerships with like-minded institutions will complement our continued collaborations with major, long-term partners. Last, but not least, we will help host the ItWikiCon for the first time in Ticino, strengthening connections with countries that share languages with Switzerland.