Are you a journalist based in Southern Africa and interested in strengthening your capacity to conduct open-source investigations?
Code for Africa (CfA) is offering six African Academy for Open Source Investigation (AAOSI) Fellowships to equip journalists from investigative media outlets and watchdog civil society organisations (CSOs) with open-source intelligence (OSINT) and social media intelligence (SOCMINT) forensic analysis skills to produce evidence-driven analyses. The fellowships will enhance information integrity in the target countries by tackling information manipulation and interference (IMI), coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB), disinformation campaigns, hate speech, incitement, or otherwise polarising or extremist information sharing.
The thematic areas of focus for this programme include climate and LGBTQ+ issues.
The AAOSI is a joint initiative by CfA’s iLAB forensic research team, CivicSignal Artificial Intelligence/machine-learning team, and the PesaCheck fact-checking team.
Our goals for the AAOSI Fellowships are to:
- Equip journalists with OSINT, SOCMINT, and forensic analysis skills and tools to turbocharge their investigations into information manipulation.
- Help newsrooms reach larger audiences and build deeper engagement with the public for data-driven discussions on key issues.
- Build a strong pan-African network of OSINT, SOCMINT, and forensic investigators who can collaborate on transnational investigations with peers worldwide to unmask influence operations and information manipulation.
The fellowship programme
The programme will last six months and will consist of:
- Financial support: Participants will receive a monthly stipend to cover related activities and costs.
- Technical support: CfA will offer hands-on OSINT investigations training, followed by one-on-one mentorship from its team of data analysts, data technologists, editors, and multimedia producers.
- Publishing support: Participants will publish content packages produced under the project on their respective media platforms, with additional support from CfA to publish internationally.
During the fellowship, participants will be required to produce evidence-driven content packages, including, but not limited to, written reports, videos, and podcasts, on the highlighted issues. At least one content package will be published every two months.
Still interested? Check if you are eligible.
Candidates:
- Must be based in one of the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- Must have a minimum of one year of experience in journalism, with a strong track record in investigative or data journalism.
- Must have evidence of recently published content packages (reports, articles, videos, podcasts, etc.).
- Must be attached to or affiliated with a media house, digital news outlet, or other relevant organisation where content produced during the fellowship will be published. This requirement also applies to freelance journalists.
- Must commit to publishing/disseminating their work on an appropriate public platform. CfA will assist with partnerships/syndications where appropriate.
- Must commit to agreed-on weekly online training and mentorship sessions.
- Must be willing to share their new skills and knowledge within their organisation by presenting their projects and techniques to their peers.
- Must be fluent in either of the languages of tuition and mentorship (English or French).
Candidates with a strong track record of reporting on cross-cutting issues across multiple Southern African countries will be prioritised.
If you are eligible, please apply by no later than Saturday, 31 May 2025, by completing this form.
Questions? Reach out to mitchelle.awuor@codeforafrica.org or @kunle.adebajo@codeforafrica.org.
Please note: Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to respond to each one individually. If you are shortlisted or selected for an interview, we will contact you.
About the partners:
Code for Africa is Africa’s largest civic technology and open data incubator, and supports digital democracy and investigative data journalism initiatives as part of our mission to give citizens access to actionable information and to 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 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.
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.