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Our remit

CFI provides support to journalists, media outlets and members of civil society across the world to ensure that populations are as well informed as possible.
Our actions revolve around the fight against misinformation, the safeguarding of gender equality, the protection of the environment, and the promotion of democracy and citizen engagement.

 

Pushing back against misinformation

Misleading information is an unprecedented global challenge when it comes to public access to reliable information of a high standard. For the last decade, misinformation that is deliberately biased or truncated with the aim of influencing public opinion has been circulating widely on the Internet, especially on social media. It is considered to be a key factor in instability and social disorder in a growing number of countries.

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Through its projects conducted mainly in Africa and the Arab world, as well as in the Balkans, Ukraine and Southeast Asia, CFI is actively involved in pushing back against the circulation of misinformation.

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62%
of projects conducted in 2022 focused on pushing back on misinformation

We support projects that train journalists in fact-checking, networking for information professionals, and support for the creation of columns and segments on fact-checking etc.

> Find out about all our projects to push back against misinformation 

Promoting gender equality 

Given the fundamental role played by the media in conveying values and representing identities, CFI has chosen to make gender equality a high priority. 

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To achieve this, the agency trains media outlet directors on non-sexist, inclusive management, rolls out awareness-raising initiatives in newsrooms and helps to produce content on gender-related issues. 

The agency thus helps to improve the standing of women in political and economic debates and within media outlets. 

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100 %
of the projects conducted in 2022 incorporated the promotion of gender equality

> Find out about all of the projects aiming to promote gender equality

Protecting the environment 

In light of climate emergency and its irreversible consequences for our planet, CFI raises awareness among journalists as to their role in sounding the alarm bells on this issue. 

For this, the agency provides them with scientific and environmental journalism training, supports the production of documentaries and digital content and engages with the managers of schools of journalism to empower the creation of courses focussing on environmental journalism within their establishments. It also establishes contact between the media outlets and all the stakeholders involved in pushing back against climate change: the scientific world, civil society, the local communities impacted, public organisations etc.

CFI’s support was easy to understand and inspiring, and helped me to improve how I address sustainable development issues.
Robert Gichira
Kenyan producer for the television channel NTV

CFI also organises meetings that are open to all, encouraging local people to take an active role in debates on environmental protection. 

> Find out about all our environmental protection projects

Promoting democracy and citizen engagement

Freedom of expression via an independent media is a crucial part of politics and society of both states and regions, with the media providing a much-needed service to the people. The media help citizens make an informed opinion, and encourage society to foster ties more easily among communities, social groups and generations.

CFI staff are convinced that media outlets play a crucial role in promoting citizenship and human rights. They thus implement projects that promote democratic values.

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These projects are tailored to the socio-political context of the geographical areas in which the agency operates and take a number of forms: initiation of studies; meetings organised among information professionals; public debates organised among citizens, the media and the authorities; support for the production of journalistic content covering human rights; support for the production of awareness-raising magazines etc. 

CFI invited me to share my experience of the citizen initiative aimed at monitoring a presidential election through social media. [...] The use of social media to drive citizen engagement in social and political projects is essential in African countries, which is why I tried to contribute to this popular demand in my own way.
Cheikh Fall
President of AfricTivistes (the African League of Cyber-Activists and Bloggers for Democracy)