Increasing access to digitization and decolonizing the internet especially in Global South Countries require innovative approaches that do not just concentrate on access but also training and mentorship. This is what the Kiwix project has been doing and I am proud to be an integral part of this movement, sweeping through the African continent the change we need
Otuo Acheampong Boakye
Educator
What you will learn?
Kiwix is a free and open-source offline web browser created by Emmanuel Engelhart and Renaud Gaudin in 2007. It was first launched to allow offline access to Wikipedia. But it has expanded to include other projects from the Wikimedia Foundation and public domain texts from Project Gutenberg. and others.
It is available in more than 100 languages. Kiwix has been included in several high-profile projects, from smuggling operations in North Korea[ and encyclopedic access in Cuba to Google Impact Challenge's recipient Bibliothèques Sans Frontières.
Founder Emmanuel Engelhart sees Wikipedia as a common good, saying "The contents of Wikipedia should be available for everyone! Even without Internet access. This is why I have launched the Kiwix project."[6]
After becoming a Wikipedia editor in 2004, Engelhart became interested in developing offline versions of Wikipedia. A project to make a Wikipedia CD, initiated in 2003, was a trigger for the project.
Awards
In 2012 Kiwix won a grant from Wikimedia France to build kiwix-plug, which was deployed to universities in eleven countries known as the Afripedia Project. In February 2013 Kiwix won SourceForge's Project of the Month award and an Open Source Award in 2015.
Read more- https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwix
Introduction
Imagine a world where education is accessible to all, regardless of access to the internet. This vision is being made a reality by Open Foundation West Africa through the launch of the Kiwix Mentorship Program. With the goal of empowering African individuals with the knowledge and skills to use Kiwix software, the program aims to eliminate barriers to educational resources in areas with limited connectivity. Join us in making education more inclusive and reachable for all.
The Kiwix Mentorship Program is just one of the many initiatives undertaken by Open Foundation West Africa to promote open knowledge and equal access to education. With a team of dedicated mentors, participants will receive hands-on training and support to maximize their use of the Kiwix software. This will enable them to make a positive impact in their communities by providing access to a wealth of educational resources and information. With the successful completion of the program, mentees will become ambassadors of the open knowledge movement and help to spread the reach of Kiwix. Join us in creating a future where education knows no boundaries."
Why is mentorship Important?
The Kiwix Mentorship Program is important because it addresses the issue of unequal access to education and information, particularly in areas with limited internet connectivity. By providing mentees with training and support, they will be equipped to overcome these challenges and make educational content readily available in their communities. This not only helps to bridge the digital divide but also empowers individuals to take control of their learning and development. By fostering a new generation of advocates for open knowledge, the Kiwix Mentorship Program has the potential to make a lasting impact on education and information access for years to come.
What will happen?
The participant will be taken through a training course with assignments
Mentors will be connected with at least 2 mentees
Continuous support will be provided throughout the project
Certificates would be awarded to mentees who complete the course
Mentees will stand the chance of winning our mini fund award to implement the Kiwix project in their community
Who can participate?
Wikimedia Volunteers
Educators
Wikimedia Affiliate/user groups, Organizations
Organizations/Institutions
Individuals
Benefit
Learn new project
Learn new skills, eg; how to use the Kiwix software to access educational content offline
Networking and collaboration opportunities
Access educational content
Educators and learners will be able to access educational content in their schools without any internet cost when the project is implemented
Students can access content like Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Ted Videos, Subject matter content etc to improve learning
Kiwix is a free and open-source offline web browser that brings internet content to
millions around the world who don't have access to the internet.
Who is responsible for Kiwix?
The organization name is also called Kiwix.
Kiwix is a registered not-for-profit entity which neither collects user data, nor
put out ads.
Do I need to pay for the software?
●Kiwix is entirely free and open-source, meaning that you can share and
distribute it without having to ask for our permission.
●Also ensure that content are also fully open-source and free to use and share.
Read more about Kiwix, what it is and history behind it here (in 41 languages) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwix
Kiwix comes into two folds;
Reader + Content
The Kiwix reader runs on almost any device (mobile phones, computers, etc.).
For the end user it feels pretty much like a regular browser as the experience is almost
identical to browsing the source website(s). Except that there is no internet.
The content are the websites that have been turned into zim files
Where do I find zim files?
Kiwix comes without content files. You need to download them from the app’s
library, download them from their repository, or generate your own via Zim
How do I deal with content with large files
We can make highly compressed copies of entire websites that each fit into a
single (.zim) file. Zim files are small enough that they can be stored on users’
mobile phones, computers or small, inexpensive Hotspot.
I can not copy Zim files on my hard drive or SD card?
Storage is often formatted using the FAT32 filesystem which can’t store files
bigger than 4GB.
We recommend using exFAT or NTFS which can deal with large files and are
broadly supported.
How do I store Large Zim files?
In some languages, Wikipedia, in particular, can be particularly large (it has
If you are on a phone, consider hosting your ZIM files onto an external
There are also thematic contents (e.g. Maths, History, etc.) so that you can
more than 6 million of articles, after all).
microSD card, or download a version without images (nopic, 60% smaller) or
limited to the introduction and info box of each article (mini, 95% smaller).
pick and choose only the parts that you want.
Can I only download parts that have changed since I last
downloaded Wikipedia?
Incremental updates are not available yet, but we’ve started looking into it. This is
a pretty complex project, and we need your help to make it happen!
What do mini, nopic and maxi mean in the Wikipedia zim
files?
File size is always an issue when downloading such big content, so we
Mini: only the introduction of each article, plus the infobox. Saves about 95%
nopic: full articles, but no images. About 75% smaller than the full version
Maxi: the default full version.
Dealing with older computers
- Older computers: So in case regular desktop Kiwix does not work on a computer
(usually because it’s on older Windows, or 32-bit processor), you can either use
the browser extensions or an electron app. Caveat emptor: because the tech is
slightly different some zim files might not work properly (for instance Youtube
videos will lack sound, I think). Wikipedia should be ok as it is our benchmark.
I have a 32-bit computer (Windows XP or Vista) and can't
run Kiwix 2.0 nor read the newer zim files. What can I do?
We recently released Kiwix-JS for 32-bit Windows Try it!
In this session, you will learn the step-by-step practice of downloading Kiwix Reader and how to convert content and out on Kiwix
Kiwix is available as a native
application for Android, Linux,
Mac OS, iOS and Windows
operating systems. It is also
available as Chrome, Firefox
and Edge extensions.
Content files can be downloaded from
the apps or from the library.
Does Kiwix have a Library?
Yes!
You can access the Kiwix Library here-library.kiwix.org
How to request new resources-Zim Files?
●You will need to open a ticket on GitHub at
https://github.com/openzim/zim-requests/issues.
●It’s pretty straightforward: The name, URL, short description, a link to their
logo, etc is needed.
●This works also for Youtube channels and playlists.
●NB:Please open only one ticket per resource (ie, 10 tickets for 10 different
websites)
Example of content
Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Project Gutenberg
TED Talks
Phet
What is the objective?
Affordable access to knowledge
Uncensored content
More resources for students
Assignment
Section A (Theory)
1. After taking this course what is your understanding of what Kiwix is?
2. How do you think Kiwix can be useful for your community?
3. What are the challenges in your community which you perceive that this
software could be an ideal solution to it?
Section B (Practical)
Download the Kiwix reader
Look for an open-source website and turn it into a zim file
Add the Zimfile on the kiwix and share screenshots of the process and end
email to info@ofwafrica.org
Need Help?
Join Weekly office hour
Or contact your Mentor for further assistance.
Send Assignment twice (2 time) the ff way;
First Assignment
Subject - Assignment 1 - (Insert full Name) - (Insert Team Number)
Email to - rbrown@ofwafrica/(include your mentors email)
Second assignment
Subject - Assignment 2 - (Insert full Name) - (Insert Team Number)
Email to - rbrown@ofwafrica/(include your mentors email)
Background
The 74th UN General Assembly proclaimed
28 September as the International Day for
Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) at
the UN level in October 2019
Read more here- https://www.un.org/en/observances/information-access-day
Right to internet access a fundamental
human right - United Nations 2016
Resolution.
Read more here- https://www.article19.org/resources/un-human-rights-council-adopts-resolution-on-human-rights-on-the-internet/
As a continent, Africa has seen steady growth in Internet penetration since its rate of 0.78 percent in 2000. Internet has now reached 28.7 percent of Africa, but there are major disparities in Internet access and use across the continent. In this video, we compared all the Countries in Africa with the most Internet users and Internet Penetration Rate.
An "Internet User" is any individual who can access the Internet, via a computer or mobile device, within the home where the individual lives. In order to have access, the hardware equipment must be in working condition, the Internet subscription service must be active, and the individual household member must have access to it at any time (there must be no barriers preventing the individual from using the Internet).
The Internet Penetration Rate corresponds to the percentage of the total population of a given country or region that uses the Internet
Source: https://youtu.be/WSQHDxEU8qY
What do you think, let us know your comment in the comment section.
What Covid-19 Thought us!
How did our education
system coup?
How have the world
coped?
Online learning
e-health
Working online
Online events
How did your country adapt? Share in the comment.
What are the pros and cons of e-learning?
In this video, Florence Devouard shares a broad perspective on open-source offline tools and OER resources available, as well as initiatives happening in the Wikimedia ecosystem, in relationship to the education sector as of 2021.
It was created to be displayed during the OE Global Connect 2021. https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/using-... Links
In this Video Felix Nartey talks about his journey on the kiwix project and what inspired him.
In this video, Otuo Acheampong Boakye shares his Kiwix Experience.
In this section, you will learn tips on how to implement Kiwix in your community.
This video takes you through the pre-project survey. This is the. survey you take before you start the installation. Here is the link to the survey.
The information collected is very vital for our evaluation and assessment of the program.
This video take you through some survey questions that implementers of the Kiwix project. complete after their visit to the school.
Here are some of the resources that can be useful to you;
1. Introductory to Kiwix training slides for Trainers
About the course
Kiwix4schools Africa Mentorship Online Course
Introduction
The Kiwix Mentorship Program is just one of the many initiatives undertaken by Open Foundation West Africa to promote open knowledge and equal access to education. With a team of dedicated mentors, participants will receive hands-on training and support to maximize their use of the Kiwix software. This will enable them to make a positive impact in their communities by providing access to a wealth of educational resources and information. With the successful completion of the program, mentees will become ambassadors of the open knowledge movement and help to spread the reach of Kiwix. Join us in creating a future where education knows no boundaries. By the end of the mentorship program, participants will acquire the skills needed to operate and use the use Kiwix software and explore an innovative approach to using Kiwix for their project.
The program will take a hybrid approach and leverage the following in its delivery;
E-learning platform for self-learning
Live sessions
One-on-one mentorship support
Selected outstanding participants will be supported with a mini fund to pilot the project in one school in their country.
The material created by OFWA is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0. The terms and conditions, including how to legally reuse and adapt the material by crediting us OFWA and others are available upon request.
For Participants
Participants are mandated to take a 4 weeks online course with 2 assignments to report on.
There will be an onboarding virtual meeting to take participants on how to navigate the course.
There will be one online office the hour every week for 3 weeks to provide support and answer questions for the online participants
Course Structure
Section A- The first section will introduce participants to the Kiwix tool, the organization responsible for the tool. It also takes participants through how the software functions and helps participants to navigate through the software. Participants have access to text and supporting lesson videos while navigating through the course. There are also external reading materials that students will have access to for further reading. After the first section, there is 2 assignment that students need to complete before the end of the course. Assignments are to be emailed to your mentees or uploaded to the assignment folder (Work with your mentors to ensure that your assignments are uploaded to the folder in the drive.
Section B - This section takes participants through why this matters, the history behind Kiwix, the African internet penetration rate, how Covid-19 transforms learning, how educators are adapting, learn how offline tools are used to build open content and introduce knowledge. Participants will have access to lesson videos, external video resources, and reading materials to expand their knowledge of the topic. There is a second assignment after this session.
Experiences - This section introduces participants to the OFWA Kiwix4schools program, how it started, impact achieves. It also shows participants how the project has been implemented in the past, how to form collaborations and partnerships and learnings from the project. It challenges participants to be innovative around their projects.
When you visit the school- This session provides you with tips on what to do when you arrive at the school and resources you can localize to suite your context.
Office Hours/Live Sessions
The live sessions will be hosted every Friday at 14:00 UTC for a duration of 90 minutes. These sessions will be hosted by the trainers and mentors to provide additional support to participants. Why participants should join these live sessions?;
Interaction and Engagement: The Live sessions will provide an opportunity for learners to interact with their instructor and peers in real-time. This can help to increase engagement and motivation, as learners can ask questions and receive immediate feedback.
Personalization: The Live sessions allow instructors to personalize their teaching approach to the needs of the learners. They can adapt the pace and content of the session to suit the level and learning style of the learners, which can help to improve learning outcomes
Collaboration: Live sessions also enable participants to collaborate with each other and work on group projects, which can help to build teamwork and communication skills.
Feedback: In live sessions, participants can receive feedback on their progress and performance, which can help them to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments.
Community Building: Live sessions also help to build a sense of community among learners. By participating in group discussions and activities, learners can feel more connected to their peers and the broader learning community.
Overall, these live sessions will enhance the learning experience for the Kiwix e-learning program by promoting interaction, personalization, collaboration, feedback, and community building.
Recommended technology resources
A laptop/desktop or smartphone or tablet with a stable or reliable internet connection.
The MS Office suite that can properly render documents in MS Word and PDF, MS Excel for data sets, and MS PowerPoint for presentations
Suitable software to enable playback of pre-recordings and recorded sessions for example VLC Media Player
An external disk or sufficient storage space on your computer or phone should you wish to download the course material for later study or engage with some space-intensive programs.
A set of speakers, earphones, or headphones.
A smartphone enables interaction and communication through various channels out of class.
Contact course managers
Ruby D-Brown- rbrown@ofwafrica.org
Eugene Masiku emasiku@ofwafrica.org
Maxwell Beganim - mbeganimgh@gmail.com
Otuo Boakye Acheampong- otuo2004@gmail.com
About the teachers
Ruby D-Brown
Kiwix4schools Africa Mentorship - Program Manager
Ruby Damenshie-Brown is a passionate open knowledge enthusiast, Wikipedian, and women's and climate advocate with a wealth of experience in project and program management. Since 2019, she has been an active editor on Wikipedia and has contributed to numerous articles on a variety of topics.
As an experienced project and programs manager, Ruby has a talent for conducting evaluations that lead to impactful projects and community building. In her role as a leader at Open Foundation West Africa, she launched the Kiwix4schools project in 2020, drawing inspiration from other experienced volunteers who were implementing it at the time. Under her leadership, the Kiwix4schools project has grown from a local event to a continental-wide program, building skills and creating impact beyond Ghana and Africa at large.
Ruby's expertise and experience developing and implementing programs and projects were recognized when she was selected as the Wikiforhumanrights Fellow 2022. As part of this campaign, Ruby's impact was doubled, making a significant contribution to the global Wikiforhumanrights community.
In addition to her work with Wikipedia and Open Foundation West Africa, Ruby was a member of the UCOC Enforcement guidelines and volunteers as the Eduwiki Sub-Sahara Africa Regional coordinator. She is passionate about building lasting and fruitful connections, and her hobby is cooking.
Ruby's dedication to open knowledge, women's and climate advocacy, and community building make her an asset to any conference or event. Her leadership, expertise, and passion for creating positive change will undoubtedly inspire and motivate others in the Wikimedia community and beyond.
Asare Paul Yaw
Mentor for Team 1 - Email-asare23paul@gmail.com
I'm Asare Paul Yaw. You can call me Yaw Tuba since that's what I'm popularly known by. I'm from Ghana and my hometown is Mumford in the Central Region of Ghana. I'm an IT Technician, Musician, and a Proud Wikimedian. I love to translate Wikimedia projects to various local languages and am always willing to help people with stuff concerning any Wikimedia projects. I've won more awards to my credit such as Winner of the African Youth Month contest, Winner of Fante Wikipedia Writing Contest(s), Winner of Ghanaian Pidgin Writing Contest(s), Top New Editor/Contributor for Africa WikiVibrance Writing Contest and many more. Per my experience in Kiwix, I've learned and benefitted a lot so far such that I don't need to get access to the internet before I can do my research or get information online. I hope you will also benefit the same or even more from this project. Thank You
Ziblim Abdul-Rahim
Mentor for Team 2 (Email-ziblimabdulrahim172@gmail.com)
Ziblim Abdul-Rahim is both process and results-oriented young man who hailed from Ghana. He has served in multiple leadership positions since his childhood. With great zeal, passion, and focus, he completed his senior high school as the overall best student of his badge. Ziblim Abdul-Rahim is currently a final year Community Nutrition student at the University for Development Studies(UDS) where he serves as the president of the Ghana Muslim Students Association(GMSA), the president of The Nutrition Cohort, the Head of Projects for Enactus and the electoral commissioner of the Debate and Public speaking Society. He was recently appointed among a panel to scrutinize and select deserving students to benefit from the Sungtaba scholarship of the University. Within the Wikimedia space, he participated in Wikimania 2021 and assisted in the local organizing of the Wikimania 2022 in-person event at Wikipedia Tamale Hub. To accelerate education, Ziblim Abdul-Rahim led the implementation of Kiwix at various senior high schools in Tamale to aid both teachers and students in accessing free internet content offline. He continues putting efforts to make the world a better place to live
Maxwell Beganim
Mentor for team 3
A Wikimedian from Ghana, Kiwix Implementation Partner, Educator, Open Advocate, Climate and Energy Consultant, and Tech Enthusiast. Knowledge Manager of Open Education and Technology Initiative.
Otuo Boakye Acheampong
Mentor for Team 4 (
Otuo-Akyampong Boakye CM: Otuo-Akyampong is an Environmental Scientist, High School Teacher, Open Knowledge enthusiast, Wikipedian, and an awarding winning Climate Activist. He is a CSP fellow and a Climate Reality Leader.
He holds a master's in Environmental Science and a BSc. Biological Science from KNUST and many other professional certificates as an environmentalist. He is a Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Associate, Youth In Landscape boot camper, Falling Walls Lab finalist Community Solutions Program fellow, and a Climate Reality leader.
Otuo-Akyampong is a public speaker having spoken on many international platforms on sustainability. He has an international presence and has won some awards. He is an award-winning SDG 13 advocate in Ghana. He won the Best SDG 13 (Climate Action) Advocate award from Humanitarian Awards in Ghana. He was also a finalist for the Landscape Stewards Awards organized by Global Landscape Forum.
Alhassan Sananu Zakaria
Mentor for Team 5 (Email-nyememawa@gmail.com)
Hey, I'm Alhassan Sananu Zakaria from Chereponi Ghana, a graduate of Tamale Technical University, where I studied ICT. My experience with Kiwix is great, I volunteered for Kiwix4schools where I implemented the program in schools within my community. I must say that Kiwix is Power, with Kiwix schools within rural areas can also have access to information to enhance teaching and learning outcomes.
It's a great pleasure for me to have gone through the mentorship program successfully as I will be assigned to mentor 10 or more mentees on the Kiwix Project.
George Abangba Anani
Mentor for Team 6
George Abangba Anani is an enthusiastic, self-motivated, reliable, responsible and hard-working young man. He holds a Diploma in Registered General Nursing and graduated from the Nursing and Training College, Kpembe. He is currently perusing Design Innovation at Design and Technology Institute (DTI). George is the CEO of DG Anointed printing press and Trading enterprise. George is an editor of Wikipedia, a KIWIX trainer and a Mentor for KIWIX Africa. He is also a hub leader for the Walewale Wiki Hub. George is a volunteer and Zonal Treasure for the youth wing of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), and Youth Action Movement (YAM-Gh) in the Northern Zone. He plays a volunteering and leadership role with social organizations including Open Foundation West Africa (OFWA), The Gideons International and North East Connect. He believes in the youth and the need to prepare and empower them.
Offei-Darko Lord
Mentor for Team 7 (Email-lorddarkmann@gmail.com)
Offei-Darko Lord is a biologist with much interest and experience in the environmental advocacy space. In the record of a highlighted experience, he was one of the young African scientists who advocated with UrbanBetter to drive further regional (Africa) air pollution policies, contributing to 2022's International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. As he is gradually building a career, he possesses outstanding writing skills and in-depth and extensive knowledge of various ecosystems he has experience with such as biodiversity conservation, STEM, environmental governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as pollution. He has comprehensive knowledge of project design and is training/mentoring youth individuals all over Africa as a consultant for OFWA’s Kiwix Project. As a certified foundational primer for Agenda 2030’s sustainable development by the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), Offei-Darko Lord has spent the last 2 years working to bridge the gap “between international decisions on issues such as climate change and technology with the reality on the ground.”
KUNMOGLI JULIANA
Mentor for Team 8 (Email-kunmoglij@gmail.com)
I'm Juliana, from Upper West Region, completed my Tertiary in the year 2019. Had to chance to work with tech companies for a couple of years. I was part of Kiwix implementation in 2021. Since then I have had an interest in Kiwix. I released after the Kiwix project, a whole lot of teachers and students from our sample school have never come across Kiwix and did not know how free it was.
After taking part in the second training of Kiwix in 2023, I got to know that if this project is implemented in different locations and schools, it will help students and teachers in their research work which is freely accessible to everyone
BILE Rene
Mentor fot Team 9 (French) - (Email - bilerene@gmail.com)
His parents gave him the name BILE Rene. He is a Cameroonian and a Pedagogue by profession. He loves the world of free and open-source software ... and he found his interest in Wikimedia galaxy, where the community is active around several projects. He likes to learn and share. As Kiwix program where he learns new skills and is available to share around the World. He likes to meet people and even more so to discover new experiences. He would like to grow in the community and contribute in so many ways. His work experience with Wikipedia started in Cameroon in 2017 through the project, Wikivillages of Cameroon. After the contest, he joined the user group(Wikimedians of Cameroon User Group) as a member. Since then, he has been assisting the community in its many projects. He discovered the world of programming on Wikipedia. Topics like WikiData are of great interest to him. He assists these projects in Cameroon as a trainer: Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Women, and WikiChallenge Ecoles d’Afrique/en 2021.
Now, he is a Wikimedia volunteer and Kiwix trainer through the kiwix4schools program.
Amoako Gabriel
Mentor for Team no.10 (Email- nelsongabs77@gmail.com)
Amoako Gabriel is my name, I am a flexible, confident, and highly motivated young gentleman and well organized, a team player with a natural ability to adapt to new or challenging environments.
Increasing access to digitization and decolonizing the internet, especially in Ghana require innovative approaches that do not just concentrate on access but also on training and mentorship. This is what the Kiwix project has been doing and I am proud to be an integral part of this movement, sweeping through the African continent the change we need as people.
