Do you want to expose and disrupt misinformation networks that undermine democracy and public trust?
Code for Africa (CfA), through its flagship network, the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA), is offering a six-month incubation programme to established media organisations or watchdog CSOs based in Southern Africa to help them set up or expand CheckDesks.
A CheckDesk is a dedicated fact-checking/verification unit within a news organisation or CSO that uses the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) compliant techniques to research and debunk misleading or harmful information.
The incubation programme is funded by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is being implemented under the Detecting, Disrupting and Deplatforming Malign Actors project.
The initiative is aimed at safeguarding inclusive democracy and human rights in the digital age. It focuses on supporting civil society in the Global South, particularly in countries where civic space is under pressure. The initiative leverages digital technologies to promote and protect inclusive democracy, with a strong emphasis on youth, women, and marginalised groups.
Through this incubation programme, participants gain access to digital forensic tools, resources, and expertise to counter information manipulation.
The incubation programme
The programme aims to build a diversified ecosystem of local fact-checking champions to help increase resilience to mis/disinformation within the information ecosystem of Southern African countries, including Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Successful organisations will receive technical support from CfA, through its in-house fact-checking newsroom at PesaCheck, and disinformation investigation at the iLAB.
The AFCA incubation programme will also include a seed grant, access to digital resources/tools, advice on cost-efficient editorial production workflows and peer mentoring. The successful participants will also receive strategic advice on market and audience strategies. The incubation programme will run for six months.
The organisations will use their skills and platforms of choice to share and amplify the resulting debunks. The fact-checks can take the form of text, visual, or audio media, primarily in local languages, with a particular emphasis on engaging the youth.
Participating organisations will be expected to abide by IFCN principles and to assign full-time staff and resources to operate their new CheckDesks.
The programme will consist of:
- Financial support: The chosen organisations will receive a grant to cover eligible activities and costs.
- Publishing support: The newsrooms will publish the fact-checking products generated under the project on their respective media platforms. The newsrooms will also be supported to publish internationally.
- Organisation building: The selected organisations will receive online consultations with CfA to better understand their audience, refine fact-checks and develop potential revenue models.
- Growing reach: CfA will offer amplification/growth support, including scaling/syndication support.
Still interested? Check if you are eligible:
- The organisation must not work for any paramilitary or security organisation.
- The organisation must be based in one of the Southern African countries namely Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- The organisation must have an existing online presence, including an actively maintained website and/or social media profiles, or a commitment to establishing a digital footprint at the beginning of the programme.
- The organisation must have internet access to enable participating journalists/trainees/researchers to access project resources and undertake their fact-checking assignments.
- The media organisation or newsroom must be a member of the AFCA network. If not a member at the time of application, fill out this form to become an AFCA member, before applying.
- The organisation must have managerial and editorial staff committed to participating in the programme during the agreed-upon period.
- The organisation must commit to timely and open communication from the management and seconded team members.
- The seconded trainees must commit to agreed-upon weekly online training and task-based class assignments.
- The organisation must commit to broadcasting or publishing content produced through the programme in the specified cadence and driving engagement on an appropriate public platform.
- The seconded trainees must be fluent in the language of tuition and mentorship: English and/or French, depending on the official language of their country.
If your organisation is eligible, please apply no later than 04 March 2025 by completing this form.
About the Partners:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of digital democracy laboratories, with over 100 full-time data scientists, forensic researchers, technologists and digital storytellers working in support of investigative media and watchdog CSO partners in 26 African countries. CfA builds digital solutions that provide actionable information to citizens to encourage informed decisions while
amplifying voices to strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and evidence-driven accountability. CfA will give fellows access to support from its openAFRICA data ‘liberation’ team, the commons.AFRICA open source team, the source.AFRICA evidence research team, and a string of wider communities that CfA manages, including the africanDRONE community of civic drone/mapping pioneers, the sensor.AFRICA community that uses remote sensors to monitor air/water/radiation and other environmental information, the PesaCheck fact-checking team that debunks misinformation, the iLAB forensic investigation team that tracks and exposes hate speech or other toxic content, the CivicSignal media monitoring and content analysis team, and the WanaData network of women data scientists/storytellers who liberate and amplify feminist data.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is the governmental body responsible for Norway’s foreign policy. It is structured into nine departments and oversees nearly 100 diplomatic missions worldwide, including embassies, permanent delegations, and consulates general. Among its key responsibilities is promoting human rights and democratic principles.