The Media Basis for West Africa (MFWA), in partnership with the ECOWAS Fee and the German Growth Cooperation (GIZ), has supplied skilled capability enhancement coaching to 500 journalists throughout West Africa.
The individuals had been drawn from Benin, Carbo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria. Applied via a collection of two-day trainings from March 2025 to January 2026, the initiative supported media practitioners within the 12 international locations. Reporters, editors and media managers had been outfitted with sensible expertise in fact-checking, digital verification, moral journalism and the accountable use of rising applied sciences.
Contributors realized to observe and promote info hygiene; together with figuring out and countering manipulated content material, coordinated disinformation campaigns and deceptive narratives circulating on social media and different on-line platforms.
The trainings additionally emphasised the self-discipline of newsroom verification and strengthened the values of scrupulous editorial scrutiny; obligatory for selling information credibility, stopping misinformation and disinformation, and difficult dangerous content material and anti-democratic narratives.
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The trainings additional addressed the rising use of synthetic intelligence and digital instruments in information manufacturing, highlighting each the alternatives for innovation and the dangers related to automated content material reminiscent of deepfakes and algorithm-driven amplification of false info. Contributors had been inspired to undertake moral and clear practices when utilizing expertise of their reporting.
Past particular person expertise enhancement, the initiative additionally fostered cross-border collaboration amongst journalists to allow coordinated regional responses to disinformation that always transcends nationwide boundaries.
The trainings had been applied in keeping with the MFWA and ECOWAS particular Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a four-year strategic partnership signed on December 5, 2023, to strengthen cooperation on media, democracy and regional growth throughout West Africa.
Explaining the importance of the initiative, Kojo Impraim (PhD), Director of the Media for Democracy and Good Governance Programme on the MFWA, famous that the trainings reply to growing considerations in regards to the affect of false and deceptive info on public belief, democratic processes, peace and social cohesion within the area.
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“To deal with these challenges, we should strengthen regional collaboration–enhancing civic activism, fact-checking, and data integrity to guard our democracies. The MFWA, in partnership with ECOWAS and GIZ, is dedicated to this trigger, constructing on present agreements to fight disinformation, overseas interference, and violent extremism,” he mentioned.
Dr Impraim emphasised that “the media stays a pillar of democracy, peace, and social cohesion,” including {that a} “well-trained press can harness its affect to empower residents, foster knowledgeable public dialogue, and counter the threats posed by disinformation and dangerous narratives.”
MFWA and its companions have reaffirmed their dedication to proceed supporting journalists and media organisations throughout West Africa to uphold excessive skilled requirements and promote credible info within the digital age.