{"id":5004,"date":"2025-07-24T19:34:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lanfrica.com\/blog\/?p=5004"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:55:26","slug":"announcing-the-2025-cohort-of-the-naijavoices-language-heritage-micro-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lanfrica.com\/blog\/announcing-the-2025-cohort-of-the-naijavoices-language-heritage-micro-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the 2025 Cohort of the NaijaVoices Language Heritage Micro-Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nigeria is home to a rich tapestry of over 500 languages, yet most of them are undocumented, unappreciated, and largely endangered. In the digital landscape, only the main languages \u2013 Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, and sometimes Nigerian Pidgin \u2013 receive the most attention and efforts, while the other languages are largely untouched. This neglect has severe consequences: currently, 12 Nigerian languages have already gone extinct, one in five faces severe endangerment, and many others are disappearing from daily use[<\/sup>source<\/sup><\/a>]<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NaijaVoices<\/a> is a community-centered initiative working to change this narrative. We are dedicated to building a digital future for all Nigerian languages, irrespective of their popularity or status.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024: Building a Foundation with Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, we released the largest African speech dataset to date<\/a>, spanning over 5,000 unique voices and 1,800 hours. With over 500 monthly downloads, this dataset is unlocking digital applications for the three main Nigerian languages \u2013 Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. Our ethos of \u201cdata farming\u201d ensures that our documentation process is value-creating, mutually beneficial, and sustainable. Learn more about our sustainability-focused approach in this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025: Putting Communities in the Driver\u2019s Seat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our journey of language documentation, we recognized a fundamental gap: preservation efforts are most impactful when the language members themselves, regardless of academic or career status, drive the process: such as deciding the dialects to work on, who to work with, and how the work is done. However, documentation projects are typically led by researchers (who most often are not speakers of the language or in a much better economic position than the target language communities), with funding routed to universities or outside institutions, while the indigenous language members are relegated to annotator roles, having very little to no input in the decision-making process of the project. This model is not sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to inspire a new model where community members are leading their heritage projects as decision-makers, with NaijaVoices providing support and guidance based on our experience. As a step towards realizing this vision, we launched the NaijaVoices Language Heritage Micro Grant program<\/a>, a unique program to support and empower language community members, regardless of career, academic status, or popularity, as leaders of their documentation work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

\n The NaijaVoices language heritage program is a testament that we can achieve sustainable impact in endangered language conservation with limited funding, by putting it in the hands of passionate language community members alongside meaningful support and guidance.\n <\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

\n \u2014 Chris Emezue (Lanfrica Labs)<\/cite>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On July 9, 2025, we announced the first cohort during a seminar with over 100 attendees celebrating Nigeria\u2019s rich diversity and the digital age. The seminar session can be re-lived here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n