The Wikimedia Ghana User Group presented a session at Wikimania 2026 in Paris, France, exploring an important question about volunteer participation: Do internet data refunds help remove barriers to participation, or can they unintentionally create transactional expectations around volunteer engagement?

The session, titled “Supporting Participation or Creating Transactional Engagement? Rethinking Internet Data Refunds as Volunteer Support,” examined six years of experience providing internet data support to Wikimedia volunteers in Ghana.

Session Details

• Event: Wikimania 2026
• Location: Paris, France
• Date: 21–25 July 2026
• Format: Virtual presentation and open discussion with Mentimeter Q&A
• Session by: Wikimedia Ghana User Group
• Presenters: Sandister Tei and Justice Okai-Alottey

From In-person Activities to Virtual Participation

In 2020, the Wikimedia Ghana User Group transitioned its in-person Wikipedia 101 workshops and edit-a-thons to virtual formats in response to COVID-19 restrictions.

Before the transition, participants involved in in-person activities could receive support such as transportation, refreshments, and free Wi-Fi. When activities moved online, the user group adapted its support model by providing internet data packages or reimbursing participants for data used to take part in virtual Wikimedia activities.

For many volunteers, particularly those in low-resource communities outside Accra, this support became an important equity measure.

Reliable internet access remains a significant barrier to digital participation in many parts of Ghana. Covering connectivity costs helped volunteers from different geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds continue contributing to Wikimedia projects, even when the cost of getting online could otherwise prevent them from participating.

When Support Becomes an Expectation

Over the years, a substantial portion of the user group’s annual grant funding has been allocated to internet data refunds. While the initiative has helped sustain participation and community growth, it has also raised new questions about its long-term sustainability.

After six years of the practice, the user group is reflecting on whether data refunds continue to serve primarily as a mechanism for removing barriers, or whether they may also be contributing to increasingly transactional expectations around volunteer participation.

This raises a broader question for Wikimedia communities: How can organisations provide the practical support volunteers need without undermining the intrinsic motivation at the heart of volunteerism?

Rethinking Equitable Volunteer Support

The discussion also created an opportunity to consider whether support models designed around local realities can provide a more sustainable approach to participation.

Rather than assuming that a single model of volunteer support works everywhere, Wikimedia Ghana is exploring approaches that respond to the specific economic, geographic, and technological circumstances of communities in Ghana and across Africa.

The goal is not simply to determine whether data refunds should continue, but to understand what kinds of support can promote equitable participation while strengthening sustainable volunteer engagement.

At Wikimania 2026, participants were invited to share their perspectives and help shape the future direction of Wikimedia Ghana’s data refund programme. Learnings will be shared with the community.

Building Participation Across Ghana

The Wikimedia Ghana User Group has conducted outreach across all 16 regions of Ghana since 2012, working to expand Ghanaian participation in Wikimedia projects.

As the community continues to grow, the user group remains committed to exploring approaches that recognise both the shared challenges faced by volunteers and the different realities of communities across the country.

The conversation around internet data refunds is therefore part of a wider effort to understand how Wikimedia communities can create more equitable and sustainable pathways for people to participate.

Resources

You can view the presentation used during the session: Supporting Participation or Creating Transactional Engagement? Rethinking Internet Data Refunds as Volunteer Support