UNDP Türkiye organized a Wikimarathon and contributed to the creation of accurate and reliable content on "refugees"

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (SGDD-ASAM), and the Support Foundation for Civil Society (SFCS) took a significant step forward in establishing inclusive and accessible information during the Wikimarathon event held on 1 July 2022, in cooperation with the Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey (WMTR). Aiming to provide everyone with accurate and reliable information about "refugeeism", one of the most important concepts of the 21st century, experts on the subject came together to create content on Wikipedia.

Before the event, which lasted 3 hours and involved 15 participants, a list of issues to be developed that relate to refugees was prepared by UNDP Türkiye. The experts who participated in the event, accompanied by experienced Wikipedia volunteers, brainstormed and generated content on these topics and published some of them on the Turkish Wikipedia during the event.

Whilst creating the content, issues such as the compatibility of the terminology and concepts within the socio-cultural context, the prevalence or lack of use of certain Turkish terms, and the subtitles to be included were discussed thoroughly. Participants expressed that they found developing content on Wikipedia to be much easier than they initially thought.

To achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that world leaders have agreed to reach by 2030, the reliability of information sources and the fight against disinformation are crucial. As stated in SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, it is essential to ensure that the public has access to reliable information. For this reason, action has been taken to update and complete the information on "refugeeism" on Turkish Wikipedia, as this is a popular platform used by the public to gather information.

This important step is the beginning of a series of events. Content development efforts that will continue in the coming weeks will help improve the content covering the subject area of refugees and any related subheadings on Wikipedia. As a result, higher-level objectives will be supported, such as making reliable resources in Turkish language accessible, disseminating accurate and up-to-date information, tackling disinformation, and supporting information activism.