A micro-grant program for alumni of the Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship – Ethiopia (AFF-ETH) Cohort I has been launched by the European Union-funded #defyhatenow-Ethiopia project. In order to enable fellows to carry out community-driven projects and directly transfer their fact-checking and media literacy skills to local communities, this program offers small-scale funding. In order to combat false information and promote critical thinking, fellows will plan and carry out community-specific projects like seminars, awareness campaigns, or the production of digital material. The micro-grant stream increases grassroots resilience against damaging myths and guarantees sustainable knowledge transfer by providing these skilled fact-checkers with tools to increase their effect.
#defyhatenow in Ethiopia seeks to support those voices acting against the conflict to go ‘viral’ within and outside the country – bringing the diaspora into the online peace building framework, bridging gaps of knowledge and awareness of social media mechanisms between those with access to technology and those without.