PRESS RELEASE: 50 fact-checking organisations in Africa signal pact on data integrity

Fifty fact-checking organisations in Africa, with a presence in a minimum of 30 nations, have signed a declaration to work collectively to sort out dangerous false data on the continent. 

The declaration is an final result of the sixth annual summit of African fact-checkers held in Accra, Ghana, on 9-10 October.

The summit was convened by Africa Check, the continent’s first non-partisan fact-checking organisation, underneath the auspices of the Africa Facts network.

“For the final decade, we have now been talking in regards to the worth of sincere public debate, sustaining data hygiene, and guaranteeing that public figures in Africa make choices primarily based on high quality knowledge and info. Now, we have now put all of the concepts on paper as a primary step to constructing – or rebuilding – data resilience and integrity on the continent,” mentioned Noko Makgato, Africa Test’s govt director. 

In signing the Accra Declaration on Info Integrity and Resilience, the organisations pledged to have interaction civil society, responsive governments, expertise platforms, regional, world and multilateral establishments and communities to construct data hygiene, integrity and entrench data resilience. 

The actual fact-checkers will provide data resilience clinics to Africa’s younger folks – who make up more than 60% of the continent’s population – to assist them learn smarter, hear objectively, spot dodgy data and debunk falsehoods.

An urgency to innovate

The organisations will even search to broaden their outreach to neighborhood radio and native media, which are sometimes the go-to sources for information in rural communities with spotty or non-existent web entry. The International Telecommunications Union experiences that only 37% of the continent’s inhabitants makes use of the web. 

Truth-checkers will even go immediately into colleges, neighborhood centres and even houses with out web entry, equipping folks with the know-how to query what they learn or hear, test their sources and in the end push again in opposition to dangerous falsehoods. 

“Seeing the Africa Info Community’s footprint in additional than 30 nations inside twelve years of Africa Test’s pioneering function on the continent alerts the enormity of the hurt carried out by false data and the urgency to innovate and work collectively to battle mis- dis- and malinformation,” mentioned Dr Hlalani Gumpo, Africa Test’s head of outreach and influence. 

The declaration highlighted gendered disinformation, linguistic variety, susceptible and offline communities, the local weather disaster, public mistrust of the media, useful resource challenges and politically delicate environments as a number of the areas of concern for African fact-checkers.

The declaration additionally recognises that fact-checkers and investigative journalists are at nice threat of harassment and even violence. Thus, in partaking governments and advocacy teams, it’s pushing for insurance policies and speedy response methods to maintain these truth-tellers protected. 

The organisations have additionally pledged to discover AI-driven instruments with tech companions, particularly researchers and platforms, to future-proof their very own operations and assist communities clear up dodgy data. 

The declaration is obtainable in English and French.