Positions in: Democratic Republic of Congo
Do you want to counter mis/disinformation and establish fact-checking desks that spotlight toxic mis/disinformation in Africa?
Code for Africa (CfA) is offering stipend-based fellowships to two African journalists or fact-checkers, whose newsrooms are members of the African Fact-checking Alliance (AFCA) network and based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to tackle issues related to mis/disinformation.
These part-time fellowships are part of the joint initiative between CfA and the United Nations (UN) to support African newsrooms in debunking content that subverts public discourse or undermines democratic processes.
We will award two six-month long stipend-based fellowships to pioneering journalists or fact-checkers in the DRC to produce fact-checking debunks and spotlight the most egregious or toxic disinformation.
The fellows will receive intensive editorial mentoring from our in-country PesaCheck/iLAB investigators via webinars/workshops, while their newsrooms will receive strategic support to develop mass-impact audiences and sustainable business models.
Fellow’s fact-checks will be syndicated to the rest of African Fact-Checking Alliance’s 349-member newsroom network and, where appropriate, submitted to social media platform partners such as Facebook and TikTok to help counteract misinformation on the platforms.
The details of the fellowship are outlined as follows:
Number of awards: Two fellowships
Duration: Six months
Award amount: Each Fellow will receive a US $450/month stipend.
Additional support: Fellows will receive hands-on technical training, followed by one-on-one project mentorship by the fact-checking team from PesaCheck, investigative analysts from the iLAB, along with support from CfA’s staff technologists, data analysts, multimedia producers and editors. Fellows will also receive support to establish flagship fact-checking desks that spotlight the most egregious or toxic disinformation.
Publishing support: Fellows will publish their project in their ‘home’ media, but will receive support to also publish internationally.
Applicants must meet the following criteria
- You must be an established journalist or digital storyteller with a minimum of one year working in the media. You must have a portfolio of published work you can share.
- Preferred experience in fact-checking.
- You must have participated in at least one Code for Africa’s African Fact-checking Alliance (AFCA) network activity/event.
- You must be fluent in French. Fluency in English is an added advantage.
- You must be affiliated with a media partner: As such you must publish/broadcast your work in mainstream media.
- You must be based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
How to apply:
Please fill in this form by 25 July 2023.
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 90 staff in 22 countries, who build digital democracy solutions that are intended to give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and that strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
This includes building infrastructure such as the continent’s largest open data portal, open.AFRICA, and the largest open source civic software portal, commons.AFRICA, as well as the largest repository of investigative document-based evidence, source.AFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network that gives citizens their own ‘eyes in the sky’, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative in 12 African countries, and the sensors.AFRICA remote-sensing citizen science initiative to combat air/water pollution.
CfA also incubates the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), as an association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional mainstream media to smaller specialist units. ANCIR member newsrooms investigate crooked politicians, organised crime and big business. The iLAB is ANCIR’s in-house digital forensic unit, with teams in East, South and West Africa. ANCIR uses its resources to strengthen newsrooms’ own internal capacity, by providing access to the world’s best whistleblower encryption and investigative semantic analysis technologies, as well as skills development, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
At CfA, we don’t just accept differences – we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community. CfA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
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.