Six grassroot African organizations from Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia received grants to support their work to highlight and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent.
These initiatives included a student-founded project in Nigeria to fact-check and verify viral health misinformation and disinformation that has affected people’s health and lives, a Somali language radio station that ran media literacy campaigns and radio reporting in Puntland and Galmudug regions to bring health facts to the public and a Guinean network of volunteers that tracked and deconstructed false information around the COVID-19 crisis.
Other awards included a Tanzanian campaign to document and share information around injustices, human rights abuse and repressions associated to COVID-19 interventions in the country in collaboration with human rights defenders, activists and local artists, a Kenyan social media campaign to highlight violence against women related to the pandemic, and a youth-led fact checking news bulletin to debunk fake stories trending on social media in Uganda.
The grantees will share their experiences at a knowledge-sharing forum where they can discuss their experiences and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic during an event on 17 November. Also invited to the panel are the Check Global partners from Sub-Saharan Africa, PesaCheck and CITE.
If you would like to know more about our Sub-Saharan Africa event, please contact Eric Mugendi at mugendi@meedan.com.
