The Wikimedia Ghana User Group, a non-profit which empowers Ghanaians to contribute to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia and other projects, has received a Knowledge Equity Fund Connected Grant to work with Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), another grantee, to promote knowledge equity in Ghana and other parts of West Africa.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that hosts Wikipedia, established the $4.5 million Knowledge Equity Fund in 2020 to support organisations working to remove racial and systemic barriers to accessing free knowledge. The initiative provides funding to organisations committed to promoting information equity and inclusivity.

The grant funds work that deepens collaboration between organisations like Wikimedia Ghana User Group, which promotes free knowledge projects like Wikipedia, and organisations that promote freedom of expression and access to information, like MFWA.

The two grantee organisations aim to address critical knowledge gaps in areas such as freedom of expression, human rights, and digital rights within this grant work.

The collaboration also seeks to make MFWA’s work more widely accessible across West Africa and beyond through Wikimedia platforms, like Wikipedia.

The initiative will focus on building capacity in open knowledge systems, principles and licensing, while strengthening ties between MFWA, which promotes freedom of expression and access to information across all 16 West African countries.