Claude Bunny Massassa is a contemporary artist from Gabon. She created Bunny Studio in 2016, a start-up dedicated to photography production, which became DWABI Studio in 2021. As an artist, she has represented Gabon in many international exhibitions in Senegal, Uganda, France, the United States, and Italy. In her art, she denounces social stigmas around issues of identity and mental health, and explores themes of traditions and myths.
Executive Director Kimberly Aceves- Iñiguez has been passionately committed for over 20 years to social justice organizing and advocacy efforts that bring voice and power to youth, LGBTQ people, people of color, and working-class communities in the Bay Area. Before coming on as the Executive Director for RYSE, Kimberly served as the Executive Director for Youth Together, the founding organization of the RYSE Center.
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal is one of the co-founders of RYSE and currently acts as the Associate Director. She supports and guides the implementation and integration of healing-centered practices, grounded in racial justice and liberation, and also develops, promotes, and advocates for policies, investments, practices, and research that enliven healing, justice, and liberation. Kanwarpal believes that the purpose of her work and life is to contribute to movements, communities, and legacies of liberation that honor the ancestors who fought for her existence and survival, and to forge a world that is just and gentle for future generations.
Sagal Ali is the founder and executive director of SAF. After a few years in her career in heritage protection in the cultural sector, she decided to develop the initiative to directly support young creatives in Somalia by launching her own foundation. She hopes to bridge the social gaps and inequalities women face in Somalia, both in society and in the arts scene.
Co-founders Catherine Dunga and Marleen Palmaers created Kitambo to bridge the gap between the African diaspora in Colombia and the narratives from the continent. From Kinshasa and Antwerp respectively, they work to connect African artists from the continent and their peers from the Colombian diaspora.
Martha Kazungu is a curator, art Historian and Founder of Njabala Foundation, an organization that curates periodic exhibitions and organizes a public program of activities to create a safe space for female artists to thrive and blossom.
Alicia Hansen is a photographer and teacher from New York. She founded NYC SALT in 2008 and, beyond teaching valuable creative skills to her students, has developed a long-term support system to uplift them through school and into their early artistic careers.
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Afrocuration
The Moleskine Foundation and our partners, supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, invite youth to join this movement by supporting the pan-African AfroCuration event series in 2022/23.
AfroCuration is not your regular edit-a-ton. Rather, it is a cultural and inspirational experience where participants feel empowered to create knowledge about their culture and identity, redressing the historical bias, and taking ownership of the digital narrative.
The Moleskine Foundation relies on partnerships with cultural and educational institutions, associations, networks and organizations, and Wikipedia communities across Africa for the sustainability and success of WikiAfrica Education.
Higher Education Initiative
As part of the WikiAfrica Education, the Moleskine Foundation is partnering with Fondazione Aurora to train African language speakers at Higher Education institutions to create content relevant to their fields of study and expertise in the African languages, therefore reducing of global intellectual inequalities.
The program trains the participants to be autonomous knowledge producers, gives them a deep foundation of the Wikipedia platform, and follows them during the process of content production.
Donors
Strategic partners
Partners
Our response to Covid-19 pandemic
In 2020, whilst most of the world discussed Coronavirus, millions could not join the conversation because this information was not available in their language.
The Moleskine Foundation partnered with writers of African languages and African Wikipedia communities to collaboratively translate vital content on Wikipedia into 17 African languages.
This was a global effort by over 400 volunteers.
”I’m a Dagomba by tribe and I’ll love to see the Dagbani language being among other international languages when searching for something in Dagbani, so this motivated me to join this challenge…”
Hajara, a student from Tamale, Ghana
Initiative history
Since 2006, WikiAfrica has supported access to knowledge and promoted Wikimedia as an international arena to give voice and visibility to Africa and to add more facets to the symbolic imagination of this complex continent. In 2017, WikiAfrica stepped into the education field, supporting WikiAfrica Schools, an initiative co-created with and implemented by Wiki In Africa, aiming to pilot the roll-out of Wikimedia-inspired curricula in South African secondary schools.
Based on lessons learned from this initiative, WikiAfrica Education, launched in 2018, partners with organizations, educators, and youth who are enthusiastic about Wikimedia through AfroCuration events, and supports them using participative methods and communities of practice.
