Call for Applications: #AFFCameroon Fellowship – Season 2, Cohort I, 2026

1. Background

The Africa Factchecking Fellowship Cameroon – #AFFCameroon is a flagship program of r0g_agency and Civic Watch, which seeks to strengthen Cameroon’s information ecosystem by building a network of trained fact-checkers and information integrity defenders within the confines of the project: Protecting Civic Space Online and Offline: Countering Hate, Discrimination and Media Repression. In the context of increasing misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, AI-generated manipulation, and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), increasingly contributing to a surge in intentional policies and actions, shrinking civic space and silencing critical voices, keeps ideals like democracy and good governance under constant threat. Thus, the urgent need for efforts that ensures information verification and integrity through the Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship in Cameroon, to ensure the promotion and protection of democratic processes and freedom of expression; prerequisites for a peaceful society. The fellowship in other words, aims at equipping fellows with practical tools to respond to evolving digital threats with special emphasis placed on elections-related information disorders, where false narratives, deep-fakes, propaganda, and coordinated influence campaigns increasingly threaten peace, democratic participation, and social cohesion.

2. About the Fellowship

The Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship – #AFFCameroon is an initiative within the “Protecting Civic Space Online and Offline: Countering Hate, Discrimination and Media Repression” joint project by r0g_agency and Civic Watch aimed at:

• Recruiting and training a cohort of fellows capable of detecting, verifying, and countering harmful information online and offline.
• Strengthening local capacity to respond to FIMI operations and coordinated influence campaigns targeting Cameroon’s civic and political space while joining a national network of emerging fact-checkers.
• Promoting information integrity through evidence-based verification and responsible information sharing.
• Building a sustainable network of community-based fact-checkers serving as trusted information relays.
• Improving preparedness for election-related disinformation and AI-enabled manipulation.

These objectives, ties with the scope of the fellowship which centers around the selected fellows undergoing training for a period of three (3) months and upon completion are deployed to work on key thematic, with well-defined tasks around FIMI Monitoring and analysis, Information integrity and verification, community fact checking and more:

A. FIMI Monitoring & Analysis

• Monitor foreign and domestic influence operations affecting public discourse.
• Detects coordinated inauthentic behavior across digital platforms.
• Track propaganda narratives, troll activity, bot amplification, and influence networks.
• Analyze geopolitical narratives influencing electoral or civic processes.

B. Information Integrity & Verification

• Identify misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation trends.
• Conduct claim verification using OSINT and fact-checking methodologies.
• Produce evidence-based fact-checking reports.
• Support narrative correction and public awareness.

C. Community Fact-Checking

• Establish grassroots verification mechanisms within communities.
• Engage local leaders, youth groups, media actors, and civil society.
• Verify viral rumors originating from WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, and community spaces.
• Promote multilingual fact-checking (English, French, Pidgin, local languages where possible).

D. AI and Emerging Digital Threats

• Apply preventive threat management strategies, including pre-bunking (pre-emptive debunking), to anticipate, disrupt, and build public resilience against false and manipulated information before it spreads.
• Detects AI-generated synthetic media including deep-fakes, cloned audio, and manipulated visuals.
• Use AI-assisted verification tools responsibly.
• Understand risks of algorithmic amplification and AI hallucinations.
• Explore ethical use of AI for faster verification workflows.

E. Elections Integrity Monitoring

• Track election-related false claims and manipulative narratives.
• Monitor hate speech and incitement during electoral cycles.
• Verify political speeches, campaign claims, and electoral content.
• Support peaceful elections through rapid-response verification.

3. Roles and Responsibilities of the Fellow

The key responsibilities of the selected Fellows will be to:

• Participate fully in all training sessions and mentorship activities.
• Produce regular fact-checking outputs and verification reports.
• Monitor assigned digital platforms and communities.
• Submit alerts on emerging misinformation threats.
• Contribute to election monitoring and rapid response efforts.
• Participate in collaborative investigations and peer learning.
• Uphold editorial ethics, neutrality, transparency and be politically impartial.

These will culminate to the realization of well-defined deliverables which are:

• Verified fact-checking reports
• Weekly misinformation/FIMI trend briefs
• Community verification alerts
• Election misinformation monitoring reports
• AI-threat case studies
• Pre-bunking and inoculation content, including anticipatory messaging, explainers, and public guidance designed to build resilience against emerging misinformation narratives before they gain traction.
• Public awareness and media literacy content to promote informed civic participation and responsible information sharing.

4. Selection Criteria

Fellowship selection is highly competitive and based in the first instance, on excellence in the context of the applicant meeting the stated eligibility criteria which expects candidates to be:

• Journalists or media educators
• Bloggers or content creators
• Civic tech actors
• Digital/Human rights defenders
• Researchers / OSINT practitioners
• Community leaders or youth advocates
• Final year students
• Election observers and legal practitioners
• Be resident in the Northwest, West, Southwest, Littoral or Centre region

Added to the aforementioned eligibility criteria, applicants must:

• Demonstrate strong interest in fact-checking and digital rights
• Have basic digital literacy
• Accept diversity and be politically impartial
• Be active online or within communities
• Be committed to ethical information sharing and
• Be available for the full fellowship duration

5. Required Skills (Preferred)

Aspirants into the Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship – #AFFCameroon are expected to have the following skills:

• Fact-checking / verification experience
• OSINT skills
• Research and analytical skills
• Social media monitoring
• Writing and communication
• AI literacy (basic knowledge is an asset)

6. Duration

The Fellowship duration is expected to be 3 months (blended learning + field deployment) of active participation of the fellows ensuring the realization of the respective deliverables of the Fellowship.

7. Reporting

Fellows are expected to report to the #AFFCameroon Program Coordination Team with technical supervision from the Lead Trainers, OSINT/FIMI Monitoring Specialists, AI and Data Verification Experts throughout the Fellowship program.

8. Benefits

Applicants at the end of the fellowship are expected to have the following but not limited to the aforementioned benefits of the fellowship program:

• Gain experience in information verification and fact checking
• Join a national network of emerging fact-checkers
• Gain knowledge on responding to election-related information threats
• Exposed to a platform that can publish produced fact-checking articles
• Open to existing opportunities in the domain of fact checking

9. Expected Impact

At the completion of each cohort within the Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship – #AFFCameroon program in Cameroon, fellows shall be expected to accomplish the following tasks:

• Increased resilience against disinformation and FIMI
• Stronger community verification networks
• Better preparedness for election-related information threats
• Improved public trust in credible information
• Expanded national ecosystem of information integrity champions

10. Application Requirements

Interested applicants are required to submit a complete application comprising the following documents:

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) highlighting relevant academic qualifications, professional experience, and any work related to journalism, fact-checking, digital rights, OSINT, media, research, civic engagement, or information integrity.
• Evidence of Previous Fact-Checking or Verification Work, which may include:
  • Published fact-checking articles;
  • Verification reports;
  • Investigative or analytical publications;
  • OSINT investigations;
  • Relevant media content demonstrating verification skills.

Applicants without prior published fact-checks may submit other evidence demonstrating strong research, verification, or analytical capabilities.

• A Fact-Checking Project Pitch (maximum 300 words) outlining:
  • A misinformation, disinformation, AI-generated manipulation, or FIMI challenge affecting Cameroon or their community;
  • Why the issue is important;
  • How they would investigate and verify the issue;
  • The expected public value or impact of the proposed fact-checking project.
• Applicants may submit one recommendation letter from an academic institution, employer, media organization, civil society organization, or community leader attesting to their integrity, professionalism, and suitability for the fellowship. While not mandatory, a recommendation letter will be considered an added value during the selection process.

Complete applications should be submitted to info@civicwatch.cm / cameroon@defyhatenow.org by August 22, 2026 at 23:59 WAT. All documents should be labelled accordingly with “Application AFFCameroon_Your Name_2026” in the subject line.

11. Contract and Remuneration

Successful candidates for the fellowship program will be contracted by Civic Watch for three (3) months within the cohort period to ensure the realization of the stated deliverables. The fellowship shall provide a monthly/quarterly stipend and other necessary logistics during the cohort period.

For more information contact us at: info@civicwatch.cm