#defyhatenow is changing the narrative and gaining new grounds in her fight against the spread of false information and all forms of violence through the Africa Fact-checking Fellowship (AFF) Cameroon program. Launching the AFFcameroon in the Northern regions this year has responded to our objectives in this part of the country known to have recorded an increase in hate speech which has greatly affected inter community relationships.
The second phase of the Africa Fact-checking Fellowship (AFF) Cameroon cohort 6 gathered 15 Fellows again from all around the Northern regions of Cameroon (Adamaoua, North & Far North) in the merciless fight against hate speech, fake news and incitement to violence in a three days onsite session on the best ways to writing Fact-checking articles, Social media health reports and organized Meet-ups within the community. This is in a bid to do online monitoring and to analyze trends on social media for safe digital spaces. These training sessions shall be held between May 25-27, 2022.
After the completion of each monthly onsite training session, fellows are expected to provide monthly deliverables such as; production of timely fact-checking articles and Social media health reports through mapping and analyzing daily trends on social media and hosting of outreach activities through specialized meetups in their respective communities. Through continuous online and monthly onsite hands-on sessions, under the mentorship and technical supervision of Adisi Cameroun flung by some experts selected nationally and internationally to train these media professionals and civil society organization leaders, they equally get an opportunity to share experiences.
For the second phase and the first time fellows had this time around a three day session with day one consisting of discussions and expressing difficulties encountered during meetups, social media health reporting and Factchecking articles, day two consisted to remind themselves of the last session and reporting from activities carried out by teams in their respective communities, Fact-checking tools: Some basics tools, Study of the structure of a fact-checking text: local, regional and international fact-checking media and day three constitution of a Working Group for Fact-checking topic choices, Social Media Health Reports and organized Meet-Ups.
It is worth noting that the #AFFCameroon cohort 6 dubbed the Grand Nord Speciale has fellows from state run and private owned media organs among which CRTV, Cameroon Tribune, Galaxie Media Group and members of some civil society organizations, but it is important to underline that these fellows are all professionals who work in diverse domains but have chosen to join the #AFFCameroon team to fight against the spread of this vice.
Back to their communities these Fellows have been aggressive in their mission on curbing the spread of misinformation, disinformation, fake news and hate speech online and offline as they have been reaching out to youths, women, religious and community leaders in their communities educating and sensitizing them on the responsible use of social media and ways to communicate with relatives, neighbors and people of different backgrounds.
