CFI launches two misinformation prevention projects at the Africa Facts summit, the annual gathering for Africa's fact-checking community
To effectively fight the rising spread of false information in Africa, CFI is taking its partnership with Africa Check, the continent's leading independent fact-checking organisation, to the next level.
This initiative includes the launch of two projects designed to tackle misinformation. They are being unveiled at the Africa Facts summit, which is being held in Port Louis, Mauritius, on 5 and 6 October 2023.
Misleading information poses unprecedented global challenges when it comes to public access to reliable information of a high standard. It is considered a key factor in instability and social disorder in a growing number of countries. For several years, CFI has been committed to tackling misinformation through its projects undertaken primarily in Africa and the Arab world.
Desinfox Youth: training 200 people to fight misinformation
Since 2022, CFI has been conducting various information and media literacy pilot initiatives as a means of tackling information tampering and hate speech. Training is provided to young people in Chad and Cameroon through these initiatives.
Desinfox Youth is building on these success stories to roll out and consolidate these initiatives in four African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire.
The project will begin in November 2023 and will run for two years. It will provide information and media literacy training to 200 social activists so that they can help combat misinformation and hate speech on social media.
Desinfox Youth also supports the creation of press cartoons depicting information tampering as well as their circulation on the digital platforms most used by young African people, in partnership with the international NGO Cartooning for peace and Africa Check.
Cartooning for Africa Facts celebrates press cartoons
In partnership with the Cartooning for Peace association, CFI is also working with Africa Facts to launch the Cartooning for Africa Facts project.
This project raises awareness among the journalists at the summit of the role that press cartoons can play in the battle against misinformation. Press cartoonists spent several months working with fact checkers to illustrate press articles. The finished work was unveiled at the Africa Facts summit to show the fact-checkers in attendance how useful press cartoons can be as a means of relaying fact-checking investigations in a simplified format for public consumption.
Africa Check and CFI, a partnership going from strength to strength for over three years
Initiated in 2021 through the Désinfox Afrique project, the partnership between CFI and Africa Check was significantly reinforced at the Media and Development forum that CFI organised in Paris in 2023. The event welcomed 50 fact-checkers from around 20 countries and they held productive discussions.
The Africa Facts summit, which is being held on 5 and 6 October 2023, is a key date in the calendar. The event unites 200 African fact-checkers who share their knowledge and skills. These fact-checkers work together to make the campaign against misinformation in Africa more effective. CFI provides crucial support to help around 40 French-speaking fact-checkers from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa to attend the event. The aim of this is to consolidate the long-established network of English-speaking journalists.
