Code for Africa (CfA) CheckDesks Fellowship 2024: (Deadline 12 February, 2024)

Code for Africa, through its African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA), is offering an intensive six to eight-month incubation programme for media organisations based in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Togo, Uganda or Zambia with an interest in building a CheckDesk within its newsroom.

A CheckDesk is a dedicated fact-checking/verification unit within a news organisation, fact-checking organisation or Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).Successful organisations will receive hands-on technical training and support to help them develop economically viable models and establish editorial production systems for their CheckDesks.

The US State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) supports the programme.

About Code for Africa (CfA)

Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of civic technology and data journalism labs, with teams in 21 countries. CfA builds digital democracy solutions that give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions, and that strengthens civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability. This includes building infrastructure like the continent’s largest open data portals at openAFRICA and sourceAFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network…

CheckDesks Fellowship

Aim and Benefits of CheckDesks Fellowship

The incubation programme

The incubation programme seeks to build a diversified ecosystem of local fact-checking champions to aid in the fight against misinformation and disinformation. The programme will consist of:

1. Financial support: The chosen organisations will receive a modest grant to cover eligible activities and costs.
2. Technical support: CfA will offer hands-on technical training, followed by one-on-one project mentorship, along with support from CfA’s staff technologists, data analysts, multimedia producers and editors.
3. Publishing support: The newsrooms will publish their fact-checking products generated under the project on their respective media platforms, and will additionally receive support to publish internationally.
4. Organisation building: The selected organisations will receive online consultations with CfA to assist them in better understanding their audience, refining their fact-checking offering and developing potential revenue models.
5. Growing reach: CfA will offer amplification/growth support, including scaling/syndication support.

Requirements for CheckDesks Fellowship Qualification

1. The organisation must not work for any paramilitary or security organisation.
2. The organisation must be based in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Togo, Uganda or  Zambia
3. The organisation must have an existing online presence, including an actively maintained website and/or social media profiles, or a substantive commitment to establish an online presence at the beginning of the programme.
4. The organisation must have internet access and internet-capable devices for participating journalists/trainees/researchers to enable them to access project resources and undertake their fact-checking assignments.
5. The organisation must have skilled and available editorial staff (journalists and supervising editors) or managerial staff who are committed to participating in the period agreed upon.
6. The organisation must commit to timely and open communication from the management and seconded team members.
7. The seconded trainees must commit to agreed-upon weekly online training and task-based class assignments.
8. The organisation must commit to broadcasting or publishing content produced through the programme in the specified cadence and driving engagement on an appropriate public platform.
9. The seconded trainees must be fluent in either the language of tuition and mentorship: English or French.

Application Deadline

12 February, 2024

How to Apply

For more details, visit OFFICIAL LINK & APPLY