Africa Factchecking Fellowship Cameroon: #defyhatenow trains 20 Journalists and civil society actors on tools to fact-check and prevent hate speech and fake news.
4 min read
Drawn from five regions of Cameroon, #defyhatenow Cameroon has trained at least 20 persons including journalists and civil society actors on fact-checking and preventing fake news, misinformation, and disinformation on social media. The training which started in October 2023 is part of the ongoing 3 months fellowship dubbed Africa Fact Checking Fellowship Cameroon – #AFFCameroon implemented by the #defyhatenow initiative through Civic Watch and the r0g_agency, funded by German Federal Foreign Office.
This phase of the project by #defyhatenow is hosting the 9th Cohort for the program which started three years ago. The training which took place from 13 to 15 November 2023 at Bano Hotel in Douala, the Littoral Region of Cameroon was successful thanks to the organization and facilitation of Ngala Desmond who is the Country Project Manager for #defyhatenow Cameroon, Tchiengue Donald who is the Digital Project Coordinator and other highly experienced facilitators.
During the training, emphasis was laid on how to prevent hate speech and fake news on social media with practical examples. The facilitators equally drilled the fellows on some tools which can be used to fact information including Invid and Flourish. These were practical lessons wherein the facilitators drilled participants step by step on how to use this software. Also, the three days of training involve lessons on how to write fact-checking articles, social media health articles/reports and how to organize community meetups. A fact-checking article is an article that clarifies an issue of concern that is being circulated on social media whether it is through or false with the use of data collected and analyzed from trusted sources. The fact-checking articles aims to prevent the spread of fake news. Practical examples of videos and photos, shared by some Cameroonian influencers were given to fellows to fact-check using tools like Invid. A social media health report also aim at promoting peaceful and strategic communications on social media, that is the sharing of information that addresses social ills on social media. Meetups are part of the project that aims to empower the fellows with a stipend to organize events in their various communities to train other community leaders on how to prevent hate speech and promote peaceful communications on social media.
Among the issues of concern that triggered this initiative was the rise in hate speech and fake news and its impact on our communities. Promoting peaceful communications remains a challenge in the 21st Century with the advent of social/digital media. The sharing of fake news, disinformation or misinformation is often faster on social with its widespread effects in our communities.
While addressing the #AFFCameroon fellows through Zoom, the co-founder and rog_agency, Stephen Kovats reiterated that what he is expecting from the fellows is to bring Cameroon to the Forefront of journalistic excellence. On the question as to the sustainability of the fellowship program, he said that the impact of the program at the individual level and the knowledge gained throughout the program is what is going to maintain the sustainability of the fellowship program when the funding for the program must have ended. The objective of the Fact-Checking Fellowship is to build the capacity of journalists and civil society actors to prevent hate speech as well as promote peace journalism in Cameroon. It’s worth noting that, fellows are tasked to train other journalists, civil society actors and community members on the lessons learned throughout the program. Kendi Gikunda who is the Field Guide Resources Lead for #defyhatenow while speaking on zoom highlighted the issues of climate change and artificial intelligence among the trending issues on social media with different views which may need social media health reports or fact checks to educate the public.
Berinyuy Cajetan, the founder of the Human Rights and Legal Research Centre, who doubles as a human rights activist was one of the fellows who benefited from this enriching training by #defyhatenow.
About #defyhatenow
#defyhatenow was initiated in early 2014 by r0g_agency for open culture and critical transformation gGmbH (Berlin), and supported from 2015 through 2018, with means of the German Federal Foreign Office via the ifa/zivik programme for civic conflict resolution as a comprehensive programme “Mobilising Civic Action Against Hate Speech and Directed Social Media Incitement to Violence in South Sudan” and after 2016 including its neighbouring countries Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. The initiative was introuduced in Cameroon in 2018, implemented by a youth-led organisation, Civic Watch. Alongside (social) media literacy trainings and community level facilitation of hate speech and conflict mitigation activities, the project produced a comprehensive ‘Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide’.
Read more about #defyhatenow
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
