A reflection from Wikimedia Kenya User Group on why skills development, shared leadership and opportunities for growth are essential to building resilient communities.

There was a point during Wikimedia Kenya User Group’s recent team-building day when somewhere between the conversations, laughter and uncomfortable moments of reflection, the room changed. The titles and responsibilities that usually defined us seemed to fall away, and for a while, we were simply what we had spent years trying to build: a community.

We spent the day competing in well-crafted games, laughing at our desperate attempts to win and the missteps that cost us points, while discovering just how differently each of us approaches a challenge. But beneath the fun, the activities revealed something more important; they showed us how much we rely on trust, communication and listening to work towards a common goal, and how leadership is not always about taking charge, but also about knowing when to step back and make space for someone else.

The people in that room were not only campaign organisers delivering projects and programmes. They were also members of the Core Team supporting Wikimedia Kenya UserGroup’s mission and governance. That made the day about more than team-building but also an opportunity to reflect on how we work together, the kind of leaders we want to become, and ultimately, the kind of community we are building.

“I really enjoyed the team-building activity because it gave us a chance to step away from our usual roles and understand each other differently. It reminded me that building a strong community is also about building trust within the team, understanding the different strengths each one brings to the table, reflecting on and learning from our mistakes, creating space for different people to belong and learning how to support each other better.”  Terry Boke, Community Organiser & Core Team Member

Building Communities Means Investing in People

It is easy to measure a growing community through the number of new contributors, articles created, events delivered, partnerships established or campaigns completed. But behind every one of those numbers are people: people who need the confidence to take initiative, the skills to do it well, the opportunity to take responsibility, and a community that recognises their potential and gives them room to grow.

For Wikimedia Kenya, leadership development is therefore not a separate activity sitting alongside our programmes. It is part of how we are building a resilient and sustainable community.

We don’t just want volunteers whose contribution is limited to editorial work. We want to build a community of people with the skills, confidence and agency to take on different roles, lead initiatives, solve problems and shape the direction of the movement. Whether they are organising campaigns, building partnerships, mentoring others, contributing to governance or creating knowledge, we want people to see themselves not just as participants, but as active contributors to the growth and future of the community across Kenya.

That means mentorship, nurturing talent and creating opportunities for people to practise leadership before they are formally given a leadership title. It means developing the skills to communicate strategically, make decisions, work across different perspectives, take responsibility for outcomes and, just as importantly, make space for others to contribute and lead.

This thinking is reflected in our 2026/27 Strategic Plan, which recognises leadership development as an important part of building a resilient and sustainable community.

From Team Building to Communicating for Impact

Drawing on more than a decade of experience in strategic communications, community building and leadership development, I wanted to inspire the team to think about how we could strengthen the way we work and grow as a community. I therefore led a practical session on “Communicating for Impact: From Strategy to Community Engagement,” built around a simple question:

How do we translate Wikimedia Kenya User Group’s strategy into action, communicate more effectively, engage our community meaningfully, and ensure that we can see, measure and document the impact of our work?

For people taking on leadership and coordination roles, communication is not simply about writing better outreach emails, designing social media posts or making event announcements. It is about understanding people and audiences, listening well, building trust, navigating differences, working collectively and creating the conditions for others to contribute and lead. It is also about connecting the decisions we make and the work we do every day to Wikimedia Kenya’s strategic priorities and the wider movement’s goals.

Developing these skills is an essential part of developing people who can take on greater responsibility, support others and help shape the future of the community.

We explored a simple progression:

Strategy → Communication → Engagement → Action → Impact

The aim was to help us see that communication cannot sit separately from strategy. It should help people understand the purpose behind our work, see where they fit and feel empowered to contribute.

What stood out to me was not simply what people learned, but how quickly the boundaries between training, team building and strategy began to disappear. The conversations moved naturally from how we communicate to how we work together, take responsibility and create opportunities for others to contribute. The session became a practical exercise in leadership development, building the skills needed not only to deliver our work, but to shape what comes next.

That shift was reflected in the feedback from one of our Core Team members:

“This was really great for understanding the bigger picture of our work and learning how to move more strategically. I feel empowered to think differently about how I plan and engage with the community and external stakeholders in future projects and campaigns that I lead.” Faith Mwanyolo, Core Team Member & Lead Organizer, Wiki Loves Africa

One practical lesson from the communications training was the need to make strategic alignment part of our planning process, rather than something we consider after a project is already underway. Going forward, we want every project and campaign to begin by asking how it advances the Wikimedia Kenya Strategic Plan and contributes to what we are working towards as a community.

To support this, we are developing a standard project planning template for organisers and a review checklist for the Core Team. The template will help teams identify the strategic objective their project contributes to, the activities they will undertake, the outputs they expect to deliver, the outcomes they aim to achieve and the metrics they will use to track progress.

The checklist will provide a consistent and transparent approach to reviewing internal proposals, helping us assess not only whether an activity is well designed, but also how clearly it contributes to our strategic priorities and how responsibility for results is shared.

The intended outcome is a more deliberate approach to how we plan, implement and evaluate our work. Over time, this should help us understand which activities are contributing to our goals, where we are making significant progress, where gaps remain and where we need to adapt.

Four Lessons That Have Shaped How We Build Our Community

For emerging communities, especially those building themselves with limited resources, investing in leadership can easily become an afterthought-something to address once the community is larger, programmes are more established or funding is more secure.

Our experience over the past five years has taught us something different: leadership development is not something that should follow community growth; it is one of the things that makes sustainable growth possible. As more people develop the skills and confidence to take responsibility, lead others and shape the direction of the community, growth becomes something the community can build and sustain collectively.

Below are four lessons that have shaped how we build our community.

1. Make leadership development part of the strategy

Don’t wait for people to emerge as leaders by accident. Create deliberate opportunities for mentorship and for people to take responsibility, experiment, make decisions and learn from experience.

Leadership grows when people are trusted with meaningful roles and supported as they take them on. This also means recognising that people develop at different stages and may need different opportunities to grow—from taking on their first organising role to leading a major campaign, mentoring others or contributing to governance.

2. Don’t separate team building from organisational development

Games, reflection and informal conversations can reveal things that formal meetings don’t. A team that understands how its members communicate, solve problems and respond under pressure is better equipped to collaborate when the real work begins.

Team building therefore has a role beyond creating a good atmosphere. It can help people understand one another’s strengths, identify areas where they need to work differently and build the trust needed to share responsibility.

3. Connect activities to purpose

People taking responsibility for campaigns and community activities should understand not only what they are doing, but why it matters and how it contributes to the community’s wider goals and the Wikimedia movement’s strategy.

When people understand the connection between an edit-a-thon, partnership, training or outreach activity and the bigger organisational goal, they are more likely to take ownership of the work and see how their contribution fits into the community’s growth.

As one of our Core Team members reflected:

“When we understand why we are doing something and how it contributes to our wider goals, the work takes on a different meaning. We are no longer just delivering activities; we are making deliberate contributions towards the kind of community and movement we want to build.” Lebu Ayiga, Community Organiser & Core Team Member

4. Create room for leadership to move

Volunteer burnout can quietly undermine growing communities when too much responsibility rests on a small number of committed leaders. Those who help build a community can easily become the people expected to organise every campaign, solve every problem and keep everything moving. Over time, this can limit both their capacity and the community’s growth.

We have learned that investing in people also means creating room for leadership to move. This means creating pathways for members to take on new responsibilities, develop the skills and confidence to lead, and step back when others are ready to step forward.

For us, this is not only about preventing burnout. It is about building a wider base of people who can share responsibility, mentor others and take on greater leadership roles. When leadership is shared, the community becomes less dependent on individuals and better able to sustain its growth.

Invest in Leaders at Every Stage

Wikimedia communities are built around knowledge, but they are sustained by people. If we want our communities to grow and remain sustainable, we have to invest in people at every stage of their journey.

That means creating pathways for new leaders to emerge, while also giving existing leaders opportunities to deepen their skills, take on new challenges and progress into new roles. Leadership development should create space for people to build confidence, share responsibility, mentor others and continue finding meaningful ways to contribute.

Leadership should not be viewed only as a pathway towards replacing one person with another. People who have already taken on leadership responsibilities also need opportunities to learn, evolve and take on new challenges. In a volunteer movement, creating those opportunities can be just as important to sustaining engagement as bringing new people into leadership.

Over time, this creates resilient communities where people at different stages can continue to grow, contribute, lead and support others.

Winnie Kabintie is the Executive Director, Wikimedia Kenya User Group

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