Do you want to strengthen information integrity in West Africa?
Code for Africa (CfA) is offering three Media Sentinel Fellowships to frontline grassroots researchers in Benin, Guinea, and Mauritania. Candidates should have expertise in social media listening and analysis, and possess a good knowledge of social media cross-platform coordination and messaging on platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter).
The 10-month part-time fellowships are part of a joint initiative between CfA and the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) to strengthen information integrity by detecting, disrupting, and deplatforming malign actors in Africa.
The programme aims to protect inclusive democracy and human rights in the digital age by leveraging digital technologies, with an emphasis on countering disinformation and harmful narratives.
The successful candidates will work with CfA’s forensic investigations team, iLAB, to provide information that will guide the creation of early warning alerts for information manipulation. The Media Sentinels will provide information on coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) and other information manipulation and interference (IMI) behaviour within their countries.
A team of international experts from iLAB will train and mentor the fellows to analyse data from an ongoing threat actor mapping that partner organisations have developed as part of the project.
The fellowship package will consist of:
- Stipend: Fellows will receive a competitive monthly stipend depending on their influence as macro or nano influencers and experience in similar previous projects.
- Training and mentoring: CfA will provide the fellows with advanced training and mentoring in traditional and social media monitoring.
Are you eligible?
The fellowships will enable individuals to use their social media and analytics skills in conjunction with CfA’s watchlists and lexicons, for proactive pre-grouping and communication of early warning signals for early detection of toxic online content.
Therefore, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- You must be non-partisan, without any link to government agencies, paramilitary organisations, political parties, state-affiliated media, or other bodies that might create the perception of partisanship in either national or local politics.
- You must be fluent in English or French.
- You must have access to a reliable personal laptop or computer with stable internet connectivity to participate in programme activities, online classes, and mentorship sessions.
- You must demonstrate an understanding of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and X.
- You must be available for weekly one-hour virtual meetings.
The deadline for applications is 07 May 2025.
To apply, complete this form.
Questions? Reach out to mitchelle.awuor@codeforafrica.org or jacktone.momanyi@codeforafrica.org.
About the partners:
Code for Africa is Africa’s largest civic technology and open data incubator. The organisation supports digital democracy and investigative data journalism initiatives to give citizens access to actionable information and amplify citizen voices to make society more responsive and accountable. CfA’s mission is to leverage technology and data to foster digital democracies and empower citizens by providing actionable information.
The African Digital Democracy Observatory (ADDO) is the only continent-wide research coalition focused on understanding how disinformation and influence or information operations are being used to subvert African democracies or watchdog institutions. The initiative is member-driven, consisting of 15 organisations that run substantive Africa-focused analytical research or investigations. Find out more about ADDO’s activities and members here.
The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is a network with a global remit to support democracy. In 2008, several organisations came together to create EPD as a partnership to reinforce European democracy support by building a community that advocates and acts for democratic values around the world.
To all recruitment agencies: CfA does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our employment application line, CfA employees or any other CfA contact. CfA is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.
Please note: Due to high volumes of applications, we are unable to respond to each one individually. If you are selected for an interview, we will contact you.