Dubawa Inducts 26 Fact-Checkers for 2021 Fellowship

West Africa’s verification and fact-checking platform, Dubawa, has announced the conclusion of plans to induct 26 fellows into its 2021 cohort of fact-checkers to combat misinformation in the sub-region.

The stage, under the guidance of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), reported the initiation of the yearly cooperation in Abuja on May 17, 2021.

Presently in its third year, the 2021 fellowship is dedicated to Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking and Research Fellowship in honor of Ghanaian Professor, Kwame Karikari.

26 applicants were chosen from more than 200 applications across African countries including Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, will from Tuesday, these chosen applicants have started training on trimming the spread of misinformation in its West African sub-region.

Dubawa program administrator, Adedeji Adekunle speaking on the subject said that upon finishing and proof of capability after a ten-course module the members will graduate into the half-year in-country partnership.

Mr. Adekunle said the preparation staff for the program is drawn from a pool of the main worldwide specialists in the field of fact-checking who accompany individual and organizational talents. These individuals include: Peter Cunliffe-Jones, originator of Africa Check, and ebb and flow course co-chief/scientist at the College of Westminster in the Unified Realm; Youri van der Weide, analyst and coach at the worldwide insightful association, Bellingcat; and Craig Silverman, creator, mentor, and the advanced supervisor, at BuzzFeed.

Participants at the course will learn about the accountability journalism ecosystem in the sub-region; how to fix the current information disorder through legal, regulatory responses, and misinformation literacy.

They will also learn fact-checking methodology, the skills and steps involved in fact-checking, ethics of journalism and fact-checking; data presentation and analysis for fact-checking, media literacy, monitoring, and analysis of social media content and accounts; investigating websites, as well as freedom of information/right to Information laws in West Africa.