CheckDesks Fellowships in West Africa 2025: (Deadline 4 March, 2025)

Applications are open for the CheckDesks Fellowships in West Africa 2025. The Code for Africa (CfA), through its flagship network, the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA), is offering a seven-month incubation programme to established media organisations or watchdog civil society organisations (CSOs) based in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal to help them set up or expand CheckDesks.

A CheckDesk is a dedicated fact-checking/verification unit within a news organisation or CSO that uses the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)-compliant techniques to research and debunk misleading or harmful information.

The fellowships are part of the project ‘Strengthening Resilient Information Ecosystems in Africa,’ an initiative co-financed by the European Union, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in cooperation with diverse partners, including Code for Africa (CfA) and DW Akademie.

The initiative seeks to strengthen the capacity of local media and watchdog organisations to expose, dismantle, and destabilise disinformation networks. It will also promote information integrity through the digitisation of credible sources and supporting influencers to counter online manipulation.

Benefits

The programme will consist of:

• Financial support: The chosen organisations will receive a grant to cover eligible activities and costs.
• Publishing support: The newsrooms will publish the fact-checking products generated under the project on their respective media platforms. The newsrooms will also be supported to publish internationally.
• Organisation building: The selected organisations will receive online consultations with CfA to better understand their audience, refining fact-checks and developing potential revenue models.
• Growing reach: CfA will offer amplification/growth support, including scaling/syndication support.

Eligibility

• The organisation must not work for any paramilitary or security organisation.
• The organisation must be based in one of the following countries: Côte d’ivoire and Senegal.
• The organisation must have an existing online presence, including an actively maintained website and/or social media profiles, or a commitment to establishing a digital footprint at the beginning of the programme.
• The organisation must have internet access to enable participating journalists/trainees/researchers to access project resources and undertake their fact-checking assignments.
• The media organisation or newsroom must be a member of the AFCA network. If not a member at the time of application, fill out this form to become an AFCA member, before applying.
• The organisation must have managerial and editorial staff committed to participating in the programme during the agreed-upon period.
• The organisation must commit to timely and open communication from the management and seconded team members.
• The seconded trainees must commit to agreed-upon weekly online training and task-based class assignments.
• 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.
• The seconded trainees must be fluent in the language of tuition and mentorship: French.

Application

If your organisation is eligible, you must apply no later than March 4, 2025.

Click here to apply

For more information, visit CheckDesks Fellowships in West Africa.